Have we had 'The Golden Age of Airsoft' - or is it now?

[Adolf Hamster]

when it comes to hobbies like this i've always preferred the forum format. one thing i note about this place is as forums go it's pretty good, aside from the perennial school holidays the members who stick around tend to have a decent amount of dedication to the sport and it's a pretty good community. for some reason we also seem pretty adept at keeping the religious/political/clickbait news discussion pretty minimal although maybe that's just the other forums i'm on taking that a bit too far.

 

sites using facebook just seems to be an exercise in easy advertising, they're using a free platform with a large audience, it's annoying for sure but i'd rather an up to date facebook profile than a poorly maintained website. end of the day all i want to know is "is x site open this weekend?" and as long as there's an easy way to find out i don't care.

[M_P]

Personally I think the peak thus far was probably around the early 2010s.

Airsoft in the UK had survived the VCRA and people were comfortable knowing they could continue playing.

 

We had the 'legacy' big names still producing stuff- Classic army, King Arms, ICS and others, there was Jing Gong and Cyma who were producing clones that weren't terrible for little money. TM had come out with the recoil shock series, G&G had found its' feet and was making solid guns for all prices. PTS had their Magpul license and had in a way revolutionised how people were customising their rifles (looking back I think that was actually a more significant loss to the sport as a whole than it seemed at the time, and I was never a big magpul fan to start with).

The forums were in full swing, and had large user bases, Arnies, Zeroin, UKAZ and others, this site had just about started it's slow rise too. 

 

I think the point were facebook had it's rise in airsoft prominence was a sight downturn in the game for me at least (not saying it was the cause, just it happened around that time) The original manufacturers aside from TM regressed in a big way being replaced by newer ones, the focus on producing realistic rifles was somehow dropped and we ended up with made up stuff- that's not all bad though, and I felt that there was a slight drop in the sports interest during a sort of transition phase to where we are today where it feels like it's ramping up again somewhat. 

Nowadays we have newer brands and new ideas coming in all the time, people can get started for lower budgets and the social media aspect has helped businesses and sites get into the fold which is never a bad thing.

 

Then again maybe that's just me reminiscing over what has been- the past does generally seem better on reflection.

[Musica]

32 minutes ago, Adolf Hamster said:

i'd rather an up to date facebook profile than a poorly maintained website. end of the day all i want to know is "is x site open this weekend?" and as long as there's an easy way to find out i don't care.

ugh having to ask sites what days they run is like pulling teeth sometimes. I ask what days they run the following month get a reply telling me they are playing this weekend.......... that's not what I asked.

 

 

[emilianoksa]

I've certainly had my golden age of airsoft. 

 

It lasted one year and eight months.

[Tackle]

4 hours ago, Musica said:

ugh having to ask sites what days they run is like pulling teeth sometimes. I ask what days they run the following month get a reply telling me they are playing this weekend.......... that's not what I asked.

 

 

Exactly, when most sites had a website they usually had a calendar format showing games at least 3 months in advance.

Everything else just comes across as completely unprofessional.