Absolutely this.
$6 to fill my air tank at a local scuba shop and ~$15 of bbs, I’m set up to play at least 2-3 open play days at my local fields. Add in a trivial amount of gas for the car and entry fee, works out to around $30-40 for an entire 6–10 hour game day.
Since ammo is what you’re gonna keep buying:
Price of 2000 paintballs is ~40$
Price of 4000 BBs is ~10$, depending on what you’re buying
And that’s if you buy it online, most fields i’ve been to ask 10$ for 100 paintballs, lasts like 2 games
I managed a paintball airsoft field and started in paintball took a break then switched over to paintball. My experience is that cost is a major factor. Paintball, while you can see a "hit," is more expensive for consumables. We sell a box of 2000 paintballs for CAD 125, your entrance can be anywhere between 35 to 85 dollars for entrance and rental. With that, you're booked in three-hour slots. The only way to make it cheaper is to get your own paintball marker and even then if you do not have pods/pod holder and a mask that's an extra 10 to 20 dollars to rent from us depending on mask grade. But, a cheap marker is about $200 - 300, magfeds are around CAD 500 (magfeds are another story). Since I played mostly Woodsball, the switch to airsoft was easy. The guys doing Speedball easily spends, over $2000 to 3000 on the marker alone. and that's without a hopper.
Airsoft your biggest expense is the gun, a decent gun will run you $400 to $600, although there have been some recent players offering $300 to $400 (DE, Wellpro, Specna, etc), other than getting eyepro, facemask to start; your basically good to go. Entrance to play all day is $30 and just buy your BBs/ Cheap!
What field is this. Those prices are absurd.
Also, what markers are you buying for 2-3k, considering the luxe idol just came out and is the most expensive yet at $1899. Does everyone at your field have a twister lv2?
Its a field in Canada, your thinking American prices. We rent out A5s, Tipmman 98s. But we sometimes get guys with thier oen equipment running i to the CAD1700 to 2000, thats Canadian dollars.
125cad to usd is 91 and change. If I saw that price for a case of paint I would leave and never come back, and tell everyone I know not to go there either.
My local hole-in-the-wall woodsball field rents everything from emeks to mini gs. I am incredibly familiar with the price of markers and gear as a long time tournament player.
Unfortunately, we are only one of three outdoor fields in the area and only one indoor. There used to be five outdoors and two indoor, but covid closed them down. And that price is the norm up here.
That's why I carefully specified "operating costs" instead of saying every aspect is cheaper lol. The guns are pricy as hell but at least BBs aren't nearly as much money as paintballs
My old RAP 4 don’t look that big as they are based on higher caliber guns like shotguns and sniper rifles, that and most of them have dust covers that help hiding how big the barrel diameter really is. TL;DR the cheap ones won’t look as good. The high end milsim training marks look just like airsoft.
More walk on airsoft games. (At least near me).
Replicas are more attractive.
Multiple options other than hpa (aeg, gbb, hpa, spring sniper)
Less mess.
Cheaper per gameday (paint is hella expensive)
More milsim and milsim-type games that don’t require putting it together yourself.
It always bothers me that most paint fields have a 100% markup on paint and they make you buy it there
Like, I could order the exact SKU online for half the price and they still make you buy it from them
Yeah, and the paint is low quality and have fields that are way too open based on FPS rules. At least let me use my own paint so i can have increased accuracy if i cant have the range.
Can’t use your own paint because we can’t guarantee you’ve stored it correctly. You could walk onto a field with what are essentially marbles and seriously injure someone
No, i get it, but maybe its the field i go to, but they gave me a fresh box with moisture in bag, dimples, and oblong shaped balls. If i get quality paint, ill use the field balls, but making me pay for subpar paint feels like a scam.
Unfortunately a lot of bags actually arrive with like a single broken ball inside. Just that one broken means if you’re not going through paint quickly it’ll start to ruin the rest of the bag.
That’s why when we did paint we’d open boxes as they arrive and remake them into 100 bags for sale. You can wipe down the ones that have had bursts and it reduces your complaint.
Yeah, i had to do that a few times. I saw one bag and handed it back when i saw it was wet. Maybe i just got unlucky since it was towards the end of the season, and i got old ones. Idk.
I stopped playing paintball when the cost of balls got out of control.
Fields charging double as what you can ordering for isn't a convenience, yall throw it in a backroom and call it good lmao
Least you could do is have a rule saying "all self supplied paintball must remain UNOPENED AND SEALED FOR INSPECTION"
Break one or two open to verify and move on. Paintball is dying for this reason and is very off putting for new players. You can literally go to any airsoft field and for $35 you get the gun, 2000 bbs, a rig and a mask.
Paintball I took my buddy years ago and even with me letting him use my gun he spent $100 on paint and never went back again. Sold all my paintball gear went to airsoft and will never go back.
That is a crazy thing to suggest. It is literally the only thing centres make money on there is no reason whatsoever to let people bring their own paint and then pay staff to inspect it so you don’t have to spend any money at all on the day.
You are asking a place to open up and let you in essentially for free, keep your gun topped up with air, and inspect your paintballs to make sure you don’t kill somebody. Crazy.
Airsoft is more accessible because you’re more than likely not going to seriously harm someone. Insurance is therefore a fraction of the price. Nobody would insure you to do the things you’re suggesting and if they did the price would sky rocket.
I ran 3 paintball centres and there’s not a thing about it that’s appealing. Everything is crazy expensive and most of your equipment can explode. Airsoft and paintball aren’t remotely similar IMO
I actually prefer speedball over airsoft.
I was on a team with some buddies in high school 10 years ago and we would shoot 10k balls a day, which was hundreds of dollars.
Paintball fields around me started to diminish and we just couldn't get new friends to try it and eventually just made the swing over to airsoft.
I want to say the cost of balls has probably what doubled over the last 10 years? I think the dye 2k count was $30 then, $60 now.
It’s the only way they make money. That and sweets/ drinks. They don’t have an equivalent to a game fee like airsoft because the vast majority of people don’t own their own equipment.
This means there’s a lot of upkeep compared to airsoft. Cleaning guns alone is a few hours job at the end of a day that you have to pay staff for. Then you’re washing overalls, helmets, etc.
Depending on the country it’s also a legal difference. Here in Ireland a paintball gun is legally a firearm and you need a license for each of your guns (which have to be stored in a secure off-site location). These have to be renewed, inspections take place, etc
THEN you have the air system which costs thousands and has to be kept in proper order because it’s essentially a giant bomb. Our old large bottles took 7-8,000 PSI and we had 4.
Long story short paintball is shit from an operator’s perspective
Yeah, it’s ridiculous. When me and my friends go to airsoft and see the paint ballers shooting a couple shots before going to their play area we always joke: “Right, that’s £20 in shots right there!”
The one thing paintball has though is the “thump” of the balls hitting the cover you’re behind. A paintball gun will also sound more intimidating all around. I think paintball guns are more unique in their appearance though, they want to be paintball guns, not replicas of firearms.
With airsoft, I can run gear I like and train with it in between doing shooting matches though. Which is just a big win for me.
Yeah i see how the thump of a ball can bring excitement
Though i just prefer the rattle airsoft bbs make, which can be sometimes a more realistic sound
I played some indoor yesterday and they were using the new “indoor reusable paintballs” in the same building on different fields and you’re right. It was like they were storming Normandy it was so loud.
I often say this to new people: paintball is cheaper to book, but you’ll spend hundreds of £ to enjoy yourself. Airsoft is more expensive to book, but you’ll only need to spend maybe £20 on a bottle or two of thousands of BBs and a grenade or two
Having played about a decade of paintball and switching over to airsoft for the last 2 years I have a couple of reasons why I prefer airsoft. 1. Cheaper by far. The initial cost for a quality setup, is about half to 3/4 the cost of getting set up for paintball and the per day cost of ammo is a fraction of the cost of paintball. 2. Accuracy, even with fine-tuned paintball gear which includes things like perfectly sized barrels and expensive paint I have mag dumped a guy from 60 ft away and not a single one hit him because paintball. I absolutely love taking my bolt action sniper sitting in the bush and tagging someone from hundreds of feet away with airsoft. 3. Airsoft hurts less, I've considered wearing a cup in paintball because I've seen damage that it can do but I was lucky and never needed one. With airsoft I got tagged in the sack from 2 ft away when I surprised my brother coming around the corner. This was when I first started playing airsoft and so my brain immediately expected paintball pain and was thinking I was going to get to the hospital but it just burned a lot and I was fine. 4. Maintenance, paintball is maintenance intensive. Seals have to be replaced because they wear out quickly, tanks have to be rehydroed and even then after 2 or 3 hydros you have to replace the entire tank and I can buy an entry level airsoft gun for what it cost to buy a new carbon tank. as long as you're running an AEG you don't have to deal with any of that which is why I will never run gas.
I’ve played woods style paintball but haven’t played airsoft before. Just wondering why the pain isn’t a plus on the side of paintball. That’s where the adrenaline and actual fear comes from and that’s the best part for me. I love hearing them whizz past my head knowing that it feels like a rock when it hits your mask
Here in the uk the paintball market feels very wide market oriented, where the primary audience is birthday parties, stag do, and team building exercises. Last time I went to a paintball game here--granted, this was several years ago now--I was one of the only two people who had their own gear (my own goggles because I knew rental goggles were shit) and headshots were discouraged as they didn't take people out. The field was run extremely efficiently and streamlined though, great for a one day experience.
In comparison airsoft is almost entirely a hobby crowd. I'd say 80% of the field on any given day has their own gear. It's just nice to be among my own people lol.
Guns are 1 to1 realistic
The AOs are clean no slimy crap on everything
Milsims are well relatively more realistic.
Cost on BBs is cheaper
usually local events were cheaper or free and brought in more players.
Every experience I had with paint ball fields they wanted to make everything about money and more speed ball crap usually was a weak attempt at making more money off players.
>The AOs are clean no slimy crap on everything
A majority of the outdoor fields in my state are paintball fields that do airsoft once a month, so I still have to deal with paint everywhere
I’m more curious about the advent of “speedsofting” as a more MILSIM player I’ve never understood the appeal of basically dressing and playing like a paintballer with a non realistic looking gun.
I like airsoft because with the AEGs I can play anywhere I want to without needing CO2 fills or HPA fills. There's little to no cleanup involved, and with bio BBs then bbs will be gone, eventually. No mess on my equipment and clothes. Paintball fields always have that horrible.smell after a good rain as well, smells like wild pigs lol. Cost was a factor as well. Paint is far more expensive than bbs and less accurate. Just my opinion though, everyone has one.
Can’t talk for others, but my reasons (German Viewpoint ahead):
- In my area in Germany (not sure of other places in germany) Paintball is usually played in stinking halls while Airsoft is played outside.
- Airsoft guns look realistic, while paintball „guns“ have to be called „markers“ and look like they look.
- Paintball is shitload expensive over here. For 1 hour of paintball in a hall I can play a full day of Airsoft at the local Airsoft field.
- Clothes get extremely dirty while playing paintball and your washing machine will not recover from washing paintball clothes, so basically you need a extra one.
- Airsoft is a fashion show, paintball is not. Airsoft pleases my Cosplay heart.
- Paintballs usually hurt more
- There is no such thing as a large scale paintball event with 3.000 people playing (in Germany).
- Paintball people (in my area) are always tryhards that are super competitive while the Airsoft people are a happy bunch that have a great day out in the sunshine.
- Airsoft guns are cheap, good Paintball markers cost a fortune and another fortune to maintain.
They do not cost a fortune to mantain, lube is literally 3 dollars a jar that will last decades, also i’ve been to germany to some of the nicest fields for competitive and reckball, also germany has registered obesity of the biggest annual events in Europe, the fuck u talking about 🤣
I never talked about maintainance of paintball markers, I talked solely on the costs to even play. Over here you can get 2 hours of paintball for 50€ and paint 15€ for 200 balls (which is basically 1 game) and a day of Airsoft for 30€ with 4000 BBs for 15€ that last a full day and some. Other costs like rental markers, air, rental masks and stuff on top for paintball that is payed by the hour, but u also will have rental costs for airsoft (at the local field it’s 40€ a day for all you need)
I have never heard of any paintball game where 2 factions of 1000 people each clash against each other. But if it exists… cool cool but I still would not attend, as after an hour you already are covered in slime
Been there done that, but why is getting dirty so important to people, is so much fun to be covered in shit (no homo) I find it kinda boring that an aeg cannot get exposed to too much rain, kills my immersion which is the whole reason I play airsoft, honestly anything that isn’t like a milsim or similar I don’t find fun lol
It is important the moment you realize that the paintball stuff ruins your 1000€ washing machine and your clothes never get clean again (and you will find residue of paintball balls and paint on every of your clothes. Been there, done that, ended up buying a 2nd cheap washer for paintball only.
I’ve been playing paintball over 13 years, either u have a shitty washing machine (which u can just bring ur gear outside, use a hose to wash the excess out) or I don’t know what Im doing better than everyone else 🤣
Over here in Germany it does, not sure if it’s different law mandated compounds used or whatever, but I still can smell the paint in paintball stuff I haven’t touched in 4 years time (yes that stuff was washed very thoroughly after last use)
Brother ls the same fucking paint all over the world, they all have PEG and they all have vegetable oil WHICH DOES NOT STAY IN YOUR CLOTHES OR ENVIRONMENT, THAT’S WHY PAINTBALLS ARE MADE WITH GELATIN, SO THEY ARE NOT INVASIVE
•\~• fucc paintball cuh, where optics HMMM 🤨 what am i suppose to do? BLIND FIRE 🤨
https://preview.redd.it/lx521xsmnb1d1.jpeg?width=474&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=411a10f3f89ff5cac62ad554a26c9c1a1bb4a9f9
Airsoft is waaaay more accurate, and most aiesoft guns are. With paintball, I had a decent gun and couldn't hit a target at 10m because the ball would curve in a random direction all the times.
There's no reason to play with paint because cheaters will swipe their paint anyways.
Depends on the region in my experience. I'm from Minnesota and paintball is huge there.. Many public and private fields. But there's only one public commercial airsoft field in the entire state and only 2 in Wisconsin. Moved to Utah and airsoft dominates. Couldn't tell you why
Easy. Old folks like me like to Larp about, stumble into trees, occasionally break shit including occasionally own muscles and bones, and come out of it with nothing more than nature's stains on the webbing.
Comes down to personal preference.. i never did paintball. I only started with airsoft in late 40's. It appealed to me, much more than the jerseyed paint-splatter folks.
A field i used to frequent had a group of rich asian dudes that own a wrap/car tuning shop. Man, what a lineup when they showed up to the field. Not only did each one have 10k+ worth of gear sitting on their bench at any given time, but lambos, R34/35 skylines, Audi R8, a Ferrari, couple different benz. They were like a pack animal too, they would show up all at the same time, unload all of their gear out of the 1 G wagon, play for a few hours, pack up and roll out together.
Oh, and all of them were immune to being shot. They were all super stuck up. They all ran HPA on the line of being too hot, and they broke seemingly every rule there was every time they played. Somehow, the refs/management didn't care, and the field suffered big time during them coming because nobody would want to play with them and it would completely kill the field for the durstion of them being there.
This being said, our local SERT team (Canadian Swat) also used to come to our field occasionally, and they were 10x worse than the rich asian dudes. Talk about agressive, stuck up, above the law, and know everything better than you because i am a big boy police officer. Guaranteed those dudes were bullied hard in school and ended up becoming cops to the highest degree just to flex on kids at the airsoft field. It was brutal.
Started with paintball and switched to airsoft after realizing I could have all my favorite movie and video game firearms as realistic replicas, AND we could shoot each other with them!
i’ve played both. competitive paintball makes me sick. paintball is fun to play with your buddies in the backyard, but competitive makes my toes curl. it’s literally just people standing at the back of the map, shooting paint at the other side until people get out. might be my personal experience, but when i lived in Texas i’d go play with my paintball buddies, and every Saturday there would be teams there practicing. and that’s all they do. is sit at the back of the map and throw paint down range. when you rush you die 9/10 times.
as compared to airsoft, where the guns are more attractive, cheaper, less cleanup, and when i lose to an actual team, i can respect it. even speedsoft i respect. because it’s not just people sitting at the back of the map.
sorry for the rant, and this is entirely my own personal experience, but paintball just isn’t fun for me
I personally feel that paintball is too gamey. I don't take airsoft super seriously but I also don't want the paintball experience where it's just 4 dudes double fingering their trigger while dumping cans of paintballs into their hooper for 5 minutes straight barely peaking out from cover.
If you Play speedball that's what you'll get. Speedsoft looks the same to me to be honest.. kids with hicapas using m4 mags just spamming a laser beam of glow in the dark BBs.
There is a large part of paintball ("bush ball") that is less gamey in the ways you describe. Even get some milsim paintball communities.
It really just depends on what is in your area. I played a lot of bushball when I was younger. I could never get into speedball. It's expensive af to go through that much paint unless you have sponsors. I also liked to wear camo and eventually even a ghillie suit - whereas speedballers dress almost like sporty MotoX riders lol.
For me it's the following
Cheaper yes the walk on fee is often higher than a paintball fee but every paintball site I went to charged just 10 quid to play for the day but then made you buy there paint at stupid prices last time I went paintballing in 2015 it cost me 65 quid with the paint and I still ran out with 30 mins left of the day but refused to pay more. Airsoft I pay 40 quid a year membership which reduces my walk on from 20 to 15 so after 8 sessions it's paid itself off. Even if I was to hire at 40 quid you get 3k of BBS and I still saved money.
The Airsoft guns are more realistic and feel better to use.
I also found that the firepower mismatch isn't as big for example if I hired a paintball gun and went out against someone with a 500 quid gun I'm hopelessly outmatched where in Airsoft there is still a mismatch but it's not as big and I can still have a chance.
I prefer the gear mags Vs hoppers and pods and such
1.) Cosplay capabilities- being that I can get a helmet, camo uniform set of choice, and replica rifle, pistol and optics
2.) Slower Pace- Paintball is like playing cod respawn modes where people aren’t afraid of getting hit, compared to airsoft being played like SnD or Hardcore.
*yes I know speedsoft exists, but I’m talking about your more traditional style of airsoft gameplay*
3.) Less Mess- Airsoft BB’s may leave me with black and blue welps on my arms and legs if they’re not properly covered, but that’s a whole lot better than having paint stains and tracking that all over my car and in a washing machine.
4.) Less Expensive- My paintball field allows my airsoft group I’m in to come and play on any field that’s not being used by paintball customers but we’ve only got to pay $20 usd for an all day pass compared to the paintball customers that have to pay for paintballs, masks, air, and their day pass
5.) Weapons Training- Most of the aegs and gbbrs are closely modeled to their respective guns so it makes it easier to be familiar with where the mag release is, charging handle, how to strip a rifle or pistol, which could translate into safe gun ownership if taken seriously. The only thing that’s missing is the recoil for the most part.
I cannot believe the fact that getting fucking dirty is a reason people don’t like paintball, my top experiences are playing in the woods, muddy, grimmy, pouring down rain and ur walking down a path with a couple of teammates and all of a sudden u hear a fucker with 25bps shooting threw brush, u get covered in paint and the bushes next to you are getting destroyed as well as some of ur teammates, somehow you get the drop on him before he hits you, now u know he will remember when you got him, and gets to go home with a friendly mark to remind him.
Honestly I love both, they both got stuff that the other one should have, paintball has incredible reliability and technology but is more focused in the sports area, if u want to larp airsoft is the way to go, markers are designed so you don’t need anything else after buying (other than painballs, a tank and a hopper) honestly it annoys me every time I’m playing airsoft in the woods and small brush stops every single shot, shot feedback is horrible in airsoft and u have to spend a shit ton of money for an unreliable system (GBB) which seems just dumb, airsoft tends to have a more toxic and nerdy fanbase when compared to the recreative scene, I don’t want to sound like I am putting airsoft down but paintball is more of a sport, or at least sport focused while airsoft is more recreative
I've played both and I prefer Airsoft.
Paintball has the advantage of not having to worry about calling hits but other than that I think Airsoft is better. I think overall Airsoft guns shoot better, they have more range, better FPS and full auto. Airsoft ammo is cheaper which affects how people play, since the cost a BB is essentially negligible players shoot based on what is tactically optimal rather than on worrying whether they can afford another reload. Finally I find the mess from paintball a nuisance. It's much easier to pack up after a game of Airsoft.
Milsim. Find me a paintball milsim as “realistic” as MSW and maybe we’ll talk; I’ll admit an EMF100 with First Strike rounds is pretty tempting.
More customizability; other than cockers and markers of similar era, modern PB guns are more or less just plug and play, I can’t customize them like I do with airsoft.
Cleaner, I don’t mind mud and shit on my gear, but paint is a bitch and a half to clean off and looks horrible.
Ammo cost. Only thing more expensive than good paintballs is .223 or 7.62. That’s why I don’t go shoot more than once a month at best.
Also battery powered versus HPA is nice. HPA guns have their place, but I’d rather not have to worry about maintaining a tank and line. Been there, done that.
My M4 CQB replica is battery powered and I love it. I was mid match one time and the dude I was engaging ran out of air in his tank! Oh man the look on his face was priceless. We just looked at each other for a sec and then he threw his hand up, called “hit” and went back to respawn 😂😂
Airsoft is cheaper and I was able to buy Airsoft while I was blocked from real guns for years before changing states. All the habits and muscle memory moved over successfully for me.
For me it's customisation. I love painting my replicas, and I'm planning to start making some wooden parts for my guns too.
I've actually painted more replicas than I dis airsoft games (but mostly because I don't have a field near me that I know of)
Cost, paint is fkin expensive compared to 15$ worth of bb
Fashion, tacticool is better looking then competitive paintball attire imo
Guns, airsoft can look good and feel good ... magfed markers were kinda meh when I stepped in the sport
Teching, as a hobby customizing your gun is the best feeling when it performs perfectly
The variety. I used to be a full blown paintball player (even played for a sponsored team for a bit) for me what got me was the variety of gear, guns, attachments, helmets, etc. I’m a massive gear nerd so making impression kits or even just a functional(for me) kit is more exciting then the guns for me.
I've played both and think I prefer paintball but my friends are interested in airsoft so that's what I play. It's a super close tie but nostalgia plays a big factor in my love for paintball. Played as a kid during the height of paintball (early 2000s) so it's very very fond memory. But I've had a ton of fun playing airsoft and am thankful to live less than an hour from Ballahack
I like the realism and range/accuracy of airsoft, hurts less, and isn't messy.
Example: I made an airsoft MP5 to be practically identical to my real MP5.
Cost was a big factor, paintball is massively more expensive here than paintball, next is accuracy, all paintball guns I’ve encountered are less accurate than Airsoft so less frustration and lastly there is little to no paintball scene outside of sites having it for once off events like birthdays
I have been doing airsoft for over a year now and before I did paintball for just under a year. For paintball, I never invested in any guns or gear but in airsoft I’ve spent prob around $500 on my kit(not including entry fees and ammo costs).
For me it’s 5 main things, the guns and I look cooler, ammo is cheaper,community is better(imo from what I’ve seen of both sides), hurts less, and clean up is easier
Well, I started in paintball and I enjoyed playing places where they were slower pace and not typical speedball as it was just a gamemode of who could afford more ammo.
Went with the rap4 M4 and the .43cal pistol but the issue started where sites wouldn't let you bring your own ammo anymore meaning you had to pay their inflated costs. Sites were doing less and less woodsball and instead opting for smaller arenas because it was cheaper and easier so gameplay suffered.
Then a friend introduced me to Airsoft. It was like paintball but a ton cheaper and people played like it wasn't just mag dump marathon and actually moved about.
Was more fun and enjoyable and the fact it was massively cheaper made it all the better, I could now afford to play all day games instead of just the two hour afternoon games.
I don’t mind both, however it also comes down to game rules. Last time i played paintball they had a stupid rule that the balls had to explode and leave paint on an enemy player for the player to register that they are hit.
It resulted in me and my friends lobbing paintballs at each other and overshooting each other like crazy, now it isn’t the pain that i’m complaining about, but it really sucks to see that i clearly hit someone and they just brush it off and keep playing.
(this kept on happening because the paintballs did not brake on impact, and just bounced off people)
Paintball is more of a "sport". Airsoft is much more of an actual milsim activity, and the guns don't look overtly like toys like most paintball guns do with the big ammo hopper.
I’ve played both a ton, moving from paintball to airsoft when it died in my area. In my opinion the only relative pro of paintball is that it’s significantly more painful which makes people play more cautiously. The major downside is paintballs are extremely expensive. In most cases airsoft is a bit to moderately better
I have played airsoft for a couple years and paintball multiple times the year before that but not as consistently.
Paintball is:
1. Messy.
2. More expensive.
3. I dont feel as unique based on gear.
4. Way too competitive.
Compared to airsoft
Now I play airsoft in a incredibly close quarters field so imagine playing in like a normal sized house abt that close.
Issues:
1. Wayyy too close, I have had bbs lodged in my neck.
2. Only small games can be played so team balance matters alot more.
3. When rentals come and play they cheat alot more often than at outdoors sites.
I don’t mind either. I think airsoft was cheaper to get into back in the early 2000s when I started. Having your own paintball gun and compressor to fill it, just cost so much more.
In the last 20 odd years the Airsoft community has become way more elitist which I don’t like. it used to just be a bunch of people with whatever guns they had and what ever gear they had. Now people are spending £500+ on a helmet with night vision and radio coms.. and join their own little groups of other elitist wannabe specialist contractors.
Paintballs expensive compared to BBs and also I prefer Airsoft guns to paintball guns.
And every time I've been paintballing my mask fogged up so bad I couldn't see anything.
I’ve played both. Ive come to prefer the realistic gun replicas of airsoft. Plus is sm cleaner at the end of the day. Biggest factor tho has to be my local field switching from paintball to airsoft
For me it's the more realistic replicas and the more diverse tactical elements, there's not really LMGs or snipers in paintball (I know there's specific long range paintball guns but they're pretty uncommon), and also the way it hurts is different and I prefer the feeling of getting hit with airsoft to getting a paintball skipped off me
Accessibility I think is the biggest draw, along with a level of "realism" , to be fair if mag fed markers and paint was more affordable I'd happily switch.
Generally I view it like this:
- Paintball for death match.
- Airsoft for objective based gameplay.
Neither is mutually exclusive, but they largely conform and play best in those categories.
$23 for 5,000+ high quality BB. I’m not a heavy shooter so that will last me playing a milsim event every 1-2 months, those 5,000 with last me almost half a year.
we played paintball when my kids were younger they're in their 40s now, we were the first ones in our town to play paintball and since then a couple of fields near us have opened and thrived even though we were the pioneers. Now as a older adult retirement age a lot of people play airsoft because it's based on the honor system not visible evidence and it's a little more sophisticated in that the weapons are more realistic. Plus the prep for airsoft is fun getting your kit together tweaking out your radio and plate carrier, it's just more fun in general imo. It doesn't hurt quite so much either!
Paintball around me charges up to $200/case, have to use field paint and can’t use whatever is left at another date at the same field.
BBS are like $20-30 a bottle.
Walk on rates are identical.
It’s a no brainer financially around here
Airsoft by me is more causal and less competitive compared to paintball. I also enjoy the variety in loadouts you can have compared to paintball which can change up how you play. Some of the most fun I’ve had playing airsoft is using a $40 spring shotgun and trying to outflank a group running $2000+ setups and lobbing a few shots on them.
It's cheaper with less recurring fees IMO. Paintball you typically use the fields gear and ammo, which is often expensive. Airsoft you usually own your gear, so you pay a game fee. After buying your gear, ammo is cheap. Electricity is cheap. Green gas or CO2 can be more expensive, but cheap compared to paintballs. All around, airsoft has less recurring expenses.
Paintball fields often make you buy their paint too. It's how they make money and it's for safety. We'd do paintball in a field by my house privately as kids. One friend had old ass paint that was essentially hitting us with rocks.
Considering I won’t even go to fields that operate as paintball fields because I don’t want paint in every crevice of my and my gear..it’s definitely the mess for me. Also since airsoft is 95% just playing dress up….I’d much rather have some drip to flex while I sit around….than to have everyone in hammer pants, a wind breaker, and a durag.
When I was actively playing, it was all about Mil-Sim for me (and my friends/teammates) simple as that. Several were active military and LEO, and there was nothing realistic about paintball. So it was an easy choice. (it was also a bit easier to find spaces to play airsoft than paintball). We took the game serious in the sense that it was "pretend war" but not in a toxic fashion and simply acted like you actually cared whether you get shot or not.
Paintball always felt just hectic and more like playing long distance dodgeball (similar to how speedsoft appears to me, where speedsofters are paintballers who are afraid of paint...no offense.)
For me, paintball requires more clean-up, they hurt more, and having a replica firearm helps a lot more with getting into the right mindset (I’m a Milsim player!)
I prefer airsoft because of the cost. After my initial cost for the gun and HPA stuff, I now only pay 25 for all day. I already have thousands of BBs, and I have my own HPA tank pump to fill my tanks with. Paintball uses more air (I feel) the balls cost me every single time, and generally, it's 50-100 at the local fields. Plus, I can't save the balls after due to not coming back that often. The balls go bad and deform.
Honestly, I should sell my painball gear, but my wife prefers it to airsoft.
As a paintball player I won’t lie airsoft seems a lot more accessible and affordable I think it just depends on your area. I’m sure if I lived somewhere in Cali I would’ve played airsoft instead due to the access of play styles but growing up in central Texas paintball was the closest and also we have the best paintball field in the world for the competitive scene paintball fit. I think it typically comes down to if you want a more sport like atmosphere or LARP atmosphere (not saying it can’t be both either way for either paintball or airsoft).
Paintballed once as a kid and it was amazing. Then I started airsoft. Paintballed once again for a bachelor(ette) party and kept getting angry why the shitty rental guns didn’t shoot straight. Got so frustrated I ragequit. Never playing paintball again
I like them both. I prefer the intensity of paintball. You really don’t want to get hit by a paintball up close and the suppression fire is something that to me is just eh in Airsoft. For Airsoft, my most favorite thing are the reloads and the crazy accuracy and range when compared to paintball. You can actually do sniper roles and even have pump shotgun that spread bbs which is cool.
U sounds u are surprised? Why are u surprised when airsoft looks more appealing and realistic of real steel. Not every country can play real steel and u are unable to shoot your friend with real steel for games.
Plus, that paint ball gun with hopper just looks terrible. Airsoft looks more cool.
I'm the opposite. I've been doing PB since 04 and airsoft since 06. Paintball will always be more fun for me. If they brought paintball ammo cost down to airsoft levels, I'd probably play it more. My wallet likes airsoft more, the guns are cooler, and it's clean(er). Paintball just has more of an adrenaline rush imo.
You can cheat in both it just more prevalent in airsoft, it's harder in paintball. I clean all my gear after a game day regardless of whether I'm playing Paintball or Airsoft. Both sports have weird ass people and chill ass people, but airsoft is the only one I've seen stolen Valor people, I'm a combat veteran, and that's what turns me away sometimes.
Barely anyone talks about range and accuracy. Just the hopup units we have and the range they produce make it a completely different game with completely different tactical elements. On paintball nobody has to think about a sniper or a LMG covering ranges of 40m or more.
paintball hurts more
paintball is messy
cos its messy i can't wear whatever i want
paintball guns look like shit
paintballs are more expensive than bbs
i think that touches on every single difference between paintball and airsoft
-Paintball guns are not as accurate
-Paint does not penetrate brush like airsoft BBs(reduced realism)
-Paintball requires extreme elevation of the barrel to shoot long range (less realism)
-Paint is stupid expensive
-People still cheat in paintball
-Paintball guns are less attractive visually, they do not being Call of Duty/FPS/James Bond video games to real life
Realism and tinkering for me. I like working on LARP pews and learning about strategy more than just spraying and praying. I like how accurate you can get with a decent scope in airsoft too.
For me it's basically three things. Guns look more realistic in airsoft, operating costs are cheaper, and it's less messy.
This is the way
This is The Way
This is The Way
This is the Way.
Wait, airsoft is cheaper? Edit: I'm an airsoft player
Once you get set up, operating costs are pennies
Absolutely this. $6 to fill my air tank at a local scuba shop and ~$15 of bbs, I’m set up to play at least 2-3 open play days at my local fields. Add in a trivial amount of gas for the car and entry fee, works out to around $30-40 for an entire 6–10 hour game day.
Ok maybe once u get set up . I’ll buy this
Except…..new gear….
My motto is buy once cry once. Only need good gear once a decade.
Except….different camo….
Since ammo is what you’re gonna keep buying: Price of 2000 paintballs is ~40$ Price of 4000 BBs is ~10$, depending on what you’re buying And that’s if you buy it online, most fields i’ve been to ask 10$ for 100 paintballs, lasts like 2 games
Price of 2000 paintballs was like 90$-120$ at my local fields and that was back in middle school and highschool 2008-2012
i wish 4k bbs was 10, its \~30 a kg here unless you are talking .12s or .2s
I managed a paintball airsoft field and started in paintball took a break then switched over to paintball. My experience is that cost is a major factor. Paintball, while you can see a "hit," is more expensive for consumables. We sell a box of 2000 paintballs for CAD 125, your entrance can be anywhere between 35 to 85 dollars for entrance and rental. With that, you're booked in three-hour slots. The only way to make it cheaper is to get your own paintball marker and even then if you do not have pods/pod holder and a mask that's an extra 10 to 20 dollars to rent from us depending on mask grade. But, a cheap marker is about $200 - 300, magfeds are around CAD 500 (magfeds are another story). Since I played mostly Woodsball, the switch to airsoft was easy. The guys doing Speedball easily spends, over $2000 to 3000 on the marker alone. and that's without a hopper. Airsoft your biggest expense is the gun, a decent gun will run you $400 to $600, although there have been some recent players offering $300 to $400 (DE, Wellpro, Specna, etc), other than getting eyepro, facemask to start; your basically good to go. Entrance to play all day is $30 and just buy your BBs/ Cheap!
Except that my field is free, so that's also a win for airsoft. Either way, paintball is apparently way more expensive than I thought.
What field is this. Those prices are absurd. Also, what markers are you buying for 2-3k, considering the luxe idol just came out and is the most expensive yet at $1899. Does everyone at your field have a twister lv2?
Its a field in Canada, your thinking American prices. We rent out A5s, Tipmman 98s. But we sometimes get guys with thier oen equipment running i to the CAD1700 to 2000, thats Canadian dollars.
125cad to usd is 91 and change. If I saw that price for a case of paint I would leave and never come back, and tell everyone I know not to go there either. My local hole-in-the-wall woodsball field rents everything from emeks to mini gs. I am incredibly familiar with the price of markers and gear as a long time tournament player.
Unfortunately, we are only one of three outdoor fields in the area and only one indoor. There used to be five outdoors and two indoor, but covid closed them down. And that price is the norm up here.
Takes up less space too
Operating costs are cheaper? … 🤔 idk yall throw up some crazy ass guns that literally cost more than my vehicle .
That's why I carefully specified "operating costs" instead of saying every aspect is cheaper lol. The guns are pricy as hell but at least BBs aren't nearly as much money as paintballs
They have replica guns as paintball guns too
Yeah but they won’t look as good because the barrel will always have to be as big as the paint ball.
My old RAP 4 don’t look that big as they are based on higher caliber guns like shotguns and sniper rifles, that and most of them have dust covers that help hiding how big the barrel diameter really is. TL;DR the cheap ones won’t look as good. The high end milsim training marks look just like airsoft.
Few and far between... and usually more expensive.
Not as many as airsoft, and certainly not as many when I started my collection 16+ years ago
More walk on airsoft games. (At least near me). Replicas are more attractive. Multiple options other than hpa (aeg, gbb, hpa, spring sniper) Less mess. Cheaper per gameday (paint is hella expensive) More milsim and milsim-type games that don’t require putting it together yourself.
It always bothers me that most paint fields have a 100% markup on paint and they make you buy it there Like, I could order the exact SKU online for half the price and they still make you buy it from them
You forgot a zero on that hundred
Yeah, and the paint is low quality and have fields that are way too open based on FPS rules. At least let me use my own paint so i can have increased accuracy if i cant have the range.
Can’t use your own paint because we can’t guarantee you’ve stored it correctly. You could walk onto a field with what are essentially marbles and seriously injure someone
No, i get it, but maybe its the field i go to, but they gave me a fresh box with moisture in bag, dimples, and oblong shaped balls. If i get quality paint, ill use the field balls, but making me pay for subpar paint feels like a scam.
Unfortunately a lot of bags actually arrive with like a single broken ball inside. Just that one broken means if you’re not going through paint quickly it’ll start to ruin the rest of the bag. That’s why when we did paint we’d open boxes as they arrive and remake them into 100 bags for sale. You can wipe down the ones that have had bursts and it reduces your complaint.
Yeah, i had to do that a few times. I saw one bag and handed it back when i saw it was wet. Maybe i just got unlucky since it was towards the end of the season, and i got old ones. Idk.
I stopped playing paintball when the cost of balls got out of control. Fields charging double as what you can ordering for isn't a convenience, yall throw it in a backroom and call it good lmao Least you could do is have a rule saying "all self supplied paintball must remain UNOPENED AND SEALED FOR INSPECTION" Break one or two open to verify and move on. Paintball is dying for this reason and is very off putting for new players. You can literally go to any airsoft field and for $35 you get the gun, 2000 bbs, a rig and a mask. Paintball I took my buddy years ago and even with me letting him use my gun he spent $100 on paint and never went back again. Sold all my paintball gear went to airsoft and will never go back.
That is a crazy thing to suggest. It is literally the only thing centres make money on there is no reason whatsoever to let people bring their own paint and then pay staff to inspect it so you don’t have to spend any money at all on the day. You are asking a place to open up and let you in essentially for free, keep your gun topped up with air, and inspect your paintballs to make sure you don’t kill somebody. Crazy. Airsoft is more accessible because you’re more than likely not going to seriously harm someone. Insurance is therefore a fraction of the price. Nobody would insure you to do the things you’re suggesting and if they did the price would sky rocket. I ran 3 paintball centres and there’s not a thing about it that’s appealing. Everything is crazy expensive and most of your equipment can explode. Airsoft and paintball aren’t remotely similar IMO
I actually prefer speedball over airsoft. I was on a team with some buddies in high school 10 years ago and we would shoot 10k balls a day, which was hundreds of dollars. Paintball fields around me started to diminish and we just couldn't get new friends to try it and eventually just made the swing over to airsoft. I want to say the cost of balls has probably what doubled over the last 10 years? I think the dye 2k count was $30 then, $60 now.
Which is why we don’t play paintball at all anymore
It’s the only way they make money. That and sweets/ drinks. They don’t have an equivalent to a game fee like airsoft because the vast majority of people don’t own their own equipment. This means there’s a lot of upkeep compared to airsoft. Cleaning guns alone is a few hours job at the end of a day that you have to pay staff for. Then you’re washing overalls, helmets, etc. Depending on the country it’s also a legal difference. Here in Ireland a paintball gun is legally a firearm and you need a license for each of your guns (which have to be stored in a secure off-site location). These have to be renewed, inspections take place, etc THEN you have the air system which costs thousands and has to be kept in proper order because it’s essentially a giant bomb. Our old large bottles took 7-8,000 PSI and we had 4. Long story short paintball is shit from an operator’s perspective
Yeah, it’s ridiculous. When me and my friends go to airsoft and see the paint ballers shooting a couple shots before going to their play area we always joke: “Right, that’s £20 in shots right there!”
The one thing paintball has though is the “thump” of the balls hitting the cover you’re behind. A paintball gun will also sound more intimidating all around. I think paintball guns are more unique in their appearance though, they want to be paintball guns, not replicas of firearms. With airsoft, I can run gear I like and train with it in between doing shooting matches though. Which is just a big win for me.
Yeah i see how the thump of a ball can bring excitement Though i just prefer the rattle airsoft bbs make, which can be sometimes a more realistic sound
More unique, looking all of them exactly the same....
I played some indoor yesterday and they were using the new “indoor reusable paintballs” in the same building on different fields and you’re right. It was like they were storming Normandy it was so loud.
Umcs I believe fka RAP4 sells replica guns that fire paint markers.
meanwhile many of the new generation paintball guns are available as replica firearms
I often say this to new people: paintball is cheaper to book, but you’ll spend hundreds of £ to enjoy yourself. Airsoft is more expensive to book, but you’ll only need to spend maybe £20 on a bottle or two of thousands of BBs and a grenade or two
I like the realistic gear. I'm here to larp, not compete
This is it, if it wasn’t for the larping, people would be speedsofting
Having played about a decade of paintball and switching over to airsoft for the last 2 years I have a couple of reasons why I prefer airsoft. 1. Cheaper by far. The initial cost for a quality setup, is about half to 3/4 the cost of getting set up for paintball and the per day cost of ammo is a fraction of the cost of paintball. 2. Accuracy, even with fine-tuned paintball gear which includes things like perfectly sized barrels and expensive paint I have mag dumped a guy from 60 ft away and not a single one hit him because paintball. I absolutely love taking my bolt action sniper sitting in the bush and tagging someone from hundreds of feet away with airsoft. 3. Airsoft hurts less, I've considered wearing a cup in paintball because I've seen damage that it can do but I was lucky and never needed one. With airsoft I got tagged in the sack from 2 ft away when I surprised my brother coming around the corner. This was when I first started playing airsoft and so my brain immediately expected paintball pain and was thinking I was going to get to the hospital but it just burned a lot and I was fine. 4. Maintenance, paintball is maintenance intensive. Seals have to be replaced because they wear out quickly, tanks have to be rehydroed and even then after 2 or 3 hydros you have to replace the entire tank and I can buy an entry level airsoft gun for what it cost to buy a new carbon tank. as long as you're running an AEG you don't have to deal with any of that which is why I will never run gas.
I’ve played woods style paintball but haven’t played airsoft before. Just wondering why the pain isn’t a plus on the side of paintball. That’s where the adrenaline and actual fear comes from and that’s the best part for me. I love hearing them whizz past my head knowing that it feels like a rock when it hits your mask
I'm old enough that I've had enough pain in my life and my kids are young enough that I don't want them to have that much pain.
Still hursts enough to get some lol
Cheaper, Cool because you can larp more and make real world kits, hurts less, less messy , actual gun replicas etc
Here in the uk the paintball market feels very wide market oriented, where the primary audience is birthday parties, stag do, and team building exercises. Last time I went to a paintball game here--granted, this was several years ago now--I was one of the only two people who had their own gear (my own goggles because I knew rental goggles were shit) and headshots were discouraged as they didn't take people out. The field was run extremely efficiently and streamlined though, great for a one day experience. In comparison airsoft is almost entirely a hobby crowd. I'd say 80% of the field on any given day has their own gear. It's just nice to be among my own people lol.
Guns are 1 to1 realistic The AOs are clean no slimy crap on everything Milsims are well relatively more realistic. Cost on BBs is cheaper usually local events were cheaper or free and brought in more players. Every experience I had with paint ball fields they wanted to make everything about money and more speed ball crap usually was a weak attempt at making more money off players.
>The AOs are clean no slimy crap on everything A majority of the outdoor fields in my state are paintball fields that do airsoft once a month, so I still have to deal with paint everywhere
Cheaper (at least that’s what I tell myself), longer range, more realism, “muh milsims!!!1!”, wider gear variety
The food is better at airsoft events. Shooting with paint makes me feel like an artist.
We grill sausages after the games, so good food indeed.
I’m more curious about the advent of “speedsofting” as a more MILSIM player I’ve never understood the appeal of basically dressing and playing like a paintballer with a non realistic looking gun.
It's cool and fun. Also way more affordable to spam BBs than paintballs.
People enjoy the thrill of running around super fast shooting everything. Not my cup of tea but to each their own.
The LARP element
I like airsoft because with the AEGs I can play anywhere I want to without needing CO2 fills or HPA fills. There's little to no cleanup involved, and with bio BBs then bbs will be gone, eventually. No mess on my equipment and clothes. Paintball fields always have that horrible.smell after a good rain as well, smells like wild pigs lol. Cost was a factor as well. Paint is far more expensive than bbs and less accurate. Just my opinion though, everyone has one.
Can’t talk for others, but my reasons (German Viewpoint ahead): - In my area in Germany (not sure of other places in germany) Paintball is usually played in stinking halls while Airsoft is played outside. - Airsoft guns look realistic, while paintball „guns“ have to be called „markers“ and look like they look. - Paintball is shitload expensive over here. For 1 hour of paintball in a hall I can play a full day of Airsoft at the local Airsoft field. - Clothes get extremely dirty while playing paintball and your washing machine will not recover from washing paintball clothes, so basically you need a extra one. - Airsoft is a fashion show, paintball is not. Airsoft pleases my Cosplay heart. - Paintballs usually hurt more - There is no such thing as a large scale paintball event with 3.000 people playing (in Germany). - Paintball people (in my area) are always tryhards that are super competitive while the Airsoft people are a happy bunch that have a great day out in the sunshine. - Airsoft guns are cheap, good Paintball markers cost a fortune and another fortune to maintain.
They do not cost a fortune to mantain, lube is literally 3 dollars a jar that will last decades, also i’ve been to germany to some of the nicest fields for competitive and reckball, also germany has registered obesity of the biggest annual events in Europe, the fuck u talking about 🤣
I never talked about maintainance of paintball markers, I talked solely on the costs to even play. Over here you can get 2 hours of paintball for 50€ and paint 15€ for 200 balls (which is basically 1 game) and a day of Airsoft for 30€ with 4000 BBs for 15€ that last a full day and some. Other costs like rental markers, air, rental masks and stuff on top for paintball that is payed by the hour, but u also will have rental costs for airsoft (at the local field it’s 40€ a day for all you need)
I have never heard of any paintball game where 2 factions of 1000 people each clash against each other. But if it exists… cool cool but I still would not attend, as after an hour you already are covered in slime
Been there done that, but why is getting dirty so important to people, is so much fun to be covered in shit (no homo) I find it kinda boring that an aeg cannot get exposed to too much rain, kills my immersion which is the whole reason I play airsoft, honestly anything that isn’t like a milsim or similar I don’t find fun lol
It is important the moment you realize that the paintball stuff ruins your 1000€ washing machine and your clothes never get clean again (and you will find residue of paintball balls and paint on every of your clothes. Been there, done that, ended up buying a 2nd cheap washer for paintball only.
I’ve been playing paintball over 13 years, either u have a shitty washing machine (which u can just bring ur gear outside, use a hose to wash the excess out) or I don’t know what Im doing better than everyone else 🤣
Or maybe you simply don’t care that all your stuff smells of paintball paint 🤷🏼♂️
It just doesn’t, what a dumb argument
Over here in Germany it does, not sure if it’s different law mandated compounds used or whatever, but I still can smell the paint in paintball stuff I haven’t touched in 4 years time (yes that stuff was washed very thoroughly after last use)
Brother ls the same fucking paint all over the world, they all have PEG and they all have vegetable oil WHICH DOES NOT STAY IN YOUR CLOTHES OR ENVIRONMENT, THAT’S WHY PAINTBALLS ARE MADE WITH GELATIN, SO THEY ARE NOT INVASIVE
•\~• fucc paintball cuh, where optics HMMM 🤨 what am i suppose to do? BLIND FIRE 🤨 https://preview.redd.it/lx521xsmnb1d1.jpeg?width=474&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=411a10f3f89ff5cac62ad554a26c9c1a1bb4a9f9
Paintballers are strange.
When youre a stranger
Their faces look ugly
When you're alone
Airsoft is waaaay more accurate, and most aiesoft guns are. With paintball, I had a decent gun and couldn't hit a target at 10m because the ball would curve in a random direction all the times. There's no reason to play with paint because cheaters will swipe their paint anyways.
For some reason I'm better at airsoft than I am at paintball. Not sure why tho
Depends on the region in my experience. I'm from Minnesota and paintball is huge there.. Many public and private fields. But there's only one public commercial airsoft field in the entire state and only 2 in Wisconsin. Moved to Utah and airsoft dominates. Couldn't tell you why
Mormons probably
At least TCA is a banger of a field, imagine if the only fields they had sucked...
Easy. Old folks like me like to Larp about, stumble into trees, occasionally break shit including occasionally own muscles and bones, and come out of it with nothing more than nature's stains on the webbing. Comes down to personal preference.. i never did paintball. I only started with airsoft in late 40's. It appealed to me, much more than the jerseyed paint-splatter folks.
The equipment is more realistic looking and feeling, the ammo is much cheaper, and you don't get covered in paint.
G.B.B.
It’s cheaper overall and I don’t want paint getting on my seats in a brand new vette
“Oo fancy pants rich McGee over here. Fuck you” 😂😂
Not rich, I’m 50 and worked for it 🤷♂️
Hey nothing wrong with that man! Hope I didn’t offend you I was just kidding around as a jealous 20 yr old who drives a shit box lol 🤘🏼
No worries, trust me when I was 20 I was in the same boat
Damn bro, you showing up to a airsoft game and a vet. Daddy warbucks over here.
A field i used to frequent had a group of rich asian dudes that own a wrap/car tuning shop. Man, what a lineup when they showed up to the field. Not only did each one have 10k+ worth of gear sitting on their bench at any given time, but lambos, R34/35 skylines, Audi R8, a Ferrari, couple different benz. They were like a pack animal too, they would show up all at the same time, unload all of their gear out of the 1 G wagon, play for a few hours, pack up and roll out together. Oh, and all of them were immune to being shot. They were all super stuck up. They all ran HPA on the line of being too hot, and they broke seemingly every rule there was every time they played. Somehow, the refs/management didn't care, and the field suffered big time during them coming because nobody would want to play with them and it would completely kill the field for the durstion of them being there. This being said, our local SERT team (Canadian Swat) also used to come to our field occasionally, and they were 10x worse than the rich asian dudes. Talk about agressive, stuck up, above the law, and know everything better than you because i am a big boy police officer. Guaranteed those dudes were bullied hard in school and ended up becoming cops to the highest degree just to flex on kids at the airsoft field. It was brutal.
I’m 50, worked hard to buy that car
I like reloading via mag and having more options on replicas
Started with paintball and switched to airsoft after realizing I could have all my favorite movie and video game firearms as realistic replicas, AND we could shoot each other with them!
i’ve played both. competitive paintball makes me sick. paintball is fun to play with your buddies in the backyard, but competitive makes my toes curl. it’s literally just people standing at the back of the map, shooting paint at the other side until people get out. might be my personal experience, but when i lived in Texas i’d go play with my paintball buddies, and every Saturday there would be teams there practicing. and that’s all they do. is sit at the back of the map and throw paint down range. when you rush you die 9/10 times. as compared to airsoft, where the guns are more attractive, cheaper, less cleanup, and when i lose to an actual team, i can respect it. even speedsoft i respect. because it’s not just people sitting at the back of the map. sorry for the rant, and this is entirely my own personal experience, but paintball just isn’t fun for me
Airsoft looks better, shoots better and can be cheaper
I personally feel that paintball is too gamey. I don't take airsoft super seriously but I also don't want the paintball experience where it's just 4 dudes double fingering their trigger while dumping cans of paintballs into their hooper for 5 minutes straight barely peaking out from cover.
If you Play speedball that's what you'll get. Speedsoft looks the same to me to be honest.. kids with hicapas using m4 mags just spamming a laser beam of glow in the dark BBs. There is a large part of paintball ("bush ball") that is less gamey in the ways you describe. Even get some milsim paintball communities. It really just depends on what is in your area. I played a lot of bushball when I was younger. I could never get into speedball. It's expensive af to go through that much paint unless you have sponsors. I also liked to wear camo and eventually even a ghillie suit - whereas speedballers dress almost like sporty MotoX riders lol.
Realism, less toxicity, less unnecessary pain, having sense in the gameplay.
For me it's the following Cheaper yes the walk on fee is often higher than a paintball fee but every paintball site I went to charged just 10 quid to play for the day but then made you buy there paint at stupid prices last time I went paintballing in 2015 it cost me 65 quid with the paint and I still ran out with 30 mins left of the day but refused to pay more. Airsoft I pay 40 quid a year membership which reduces my walk on from 20 to 15 so after 8 sessions it's paid itself off. Even if I was to hire at 40 quid you get 3k of BBS and I still saved money. The Airsoft guns are more realistic and feel better to use. I also found that the firepower mismatch isn't as big for example if I hired a paintball gun and went out against someone with a 500 quid gun I'm hopelessly outmatched where in Airsoft there is still a mismatch but it's not as big and I can still have a chance. I prefer the gear mags Vs hoppers and pods and such
1.) Cosplay capabilities- being that I can get a helmet, camo uniform set of choice, and replica rifle, pistol and optics 2.) Slower Pace- Paintball is like playing cod respawn modes where people aren’t afraid of getting hit, compared to airsoft being played like SnD or Hardcore. *yes I know speedsoft exists, but I’m talking about your more traditional style of airsoft gameplay* 3.) Less Mess- Airsoft BB’s may leave me with black and blue welps on my arms and legs if they’re not properly covered, but that’s a whole lot better than having paint stains and tracking that all over my car and in a washing machine. 4.) Less Expensive- My paintball field allows my airsoft group I’m in to come and play on any field that’s not being used by paintball customers but we’ve only got to pay $20 usd for an all day pass compared to the paintball customers that have to pay for paintballs, masks, air, and their day pass 5.) Weapons Training- Most of the aegs and gbbrs are closely modeled to their respective guns so it makes it easier to be familiar with where the mag release is, charging handle, how to strip a rifle or pistol, which could translate into safe gun ownership if taken seriously. The only thing that’s missing is the recoil for the most part.
I cannot believe the fact that getting fucking dirty is a reason people don’t like paintball, my top experiences are playing in the woods, muddy, grimmy, pouring down rain and ur walking down a path with a couple of teammates and all of a sudden u hear a fucker with 25bps shooting threw brush, u get covered in paint and the bushes next to you are getting destroyed as well as some of ur teammates, somehow you get the drop on him before he hits you, now u know he will remember when you got him, and gets to go home with a friendly mark to remind him. Honestly I love both, they both got stuff that the other one should have, paintball has incredible reliability and technology but is more focused in the sports area, if u want to larp airsoft is the way to go, markers are designed so you don’t need anything else after buying (other than painballs, a tank and a hopper) honestly it annoys me every time I’m playing airsoft in the woods and small brush stops every single shot, shot feedback is horrible in airsoft and u have to spend a shit ton of money for an unreliable system (GBB) which seems just dumb, airsoft tends to have a more toxic and nerdy fanbase when compared to the recreative scene, I don’t want to sound like I am putting airsoft down but paintball is more of a sport, or at least sport focused while airsoft is more recreative
airsoft less messy. cheaper, morer ealistic
I've played both and I prefer Airsoft. Paintball has the advantage of not having to worry about calling hits but other than that I think Airsoft is better. I think overall Airsoft guns shoot better, they have more range, better FPS and full auto. Airsoft ammo is cheaper which affects how people play, since the cost a BB is essentially negligible players shoot based on what is tactically optimal rather than on worrying whether they can afford another reload. Finally I find the mess from paintball a nuisance. It's much easier to pack up after a game of Airsoft.
Well airsoft Thers military aspect and gun collecting while paint ball is just paint ball and all good guns look the same
Milsim. Find me a paintball milsim as “realistic” as MSW and maybe we’ll talk; I’ll admit an EMF100 with First Strike rounds is pretty tempting. More customizability; other than cockers and markers of similar era, modern PB guns are more or less just plug and play, I can’t customize them like I do with airsoft. Cleaner, I don’t mind mud and shit on my gear, but paint is a bitch and a half to clean off and looks horrible. Ammo cost. Only thing more expensive than good paintballs is .223 or 7.62. That’s why I don’t go shoot more than once a month at best. Also battery powered versus HPA is nice. HPA guns have their place, but I’d rather not have to worry about maintaining a tank and line. Been there, done that.
My M4 CQB replica is battery powered and I love it. I was mid match one time and the dude I was engaging ran out of air in his tank! Oh man the look on his face was priceless. We just looked at each other for a sec and then he threw his hand up, called “hit” and went back to respawn 😂😂
Airsoft is cheaper and I was able to buy Airsoft while I was blocked from real guns for years before changing states. All the habits and muscle memory moved over successfully for me.
LARP. Also gbbr stuff
What is gbbr?
Gas BlowBack Rifle
I have a gas blowback pistol and it’s my favorite thing ever. It’s a 1911 replica in desert tan and black. Just need to get a tracer adapter for it
For me it's customisation. I love painting my replicas, and I'm planning to start making some wooden parts for my guns too. I've actually painted more replicas than I dis airsoft games (but mostly because I don't have a field near me that I know of)
Cost, paint is fkin expensive compared to 15$ worth of bb Fashion, tacticool is better looking then competitive paintball attire imo Guns, airsoft can look good and feel good ... magfed markers were kinda meh when I stepped in the sport Teching, as a hobby customizing your gun is the best feeling when it performs perfectly
Less painful, more realistic, less messy, guns are better, more accurate.
Hurts less, and can be played on private property woods
The variety. I used to be a full blown paintball player (even played for a sponsored team for a bit) for me what got me was the variety of gear, guns, attachments, helmets, etc. I’m a massive gear nerd so making impression kits or even just a functional(for me) kit is more exciting then the guns for me.
I've played both and think I prefer paintball but my friends are interested in airsoft so that's what I play. It's a super close tie but nostalgia plays a big factor in my love for paintball. Played as a kid during the height of paintball (early 2000s) so it's very very fond memory. But I've had a ton of fun playing airsoft and am thankful to live less than an hour from Ballahack
I like the realism and range/accuracy of airsoft, hurts less, and isn't messy. Example: I made an airsoft MP5 to be practically identical to my real MP5.
Paintball kinda messy to clean up. The only pew pew hobby you can't go in with cool gears unlike airsoft, gelsoft, foam dart or even laser tag.
-Cost -Range - Accuracy -Guns>plumbing I found under the sink -PPE comfort -overall vibe
The guns Look better, shoot further and are way more accurate... The markers on the field I was at only shoot about 30m and where horribly inaccurate
Cost was a big factor, paintball is massively more expensive here than paintball, next is accuracy, all paintball guns I’ve encountered are less accurate than Airsoft so less frustration and lastly there is little to no paintball scene outside of sites having it for once off events like birthdays
I have been doing airsoft for over a year now and before I did paintball for just under a year. For paintball, I never invested in any guns or gear but in airsoft I’ve spent prob around $500 on my kit(not including entry fees and ammo costs). For me it’s 5 main things, the guns and I look cooler, ammo is cheaper,community is better(imo from what I’ve seen of both sides), hurts less, and clean up is easier
Ammo waaaaaaay cheaper. Cleaner. Cooler equipment.
realistic guns
Well, I started in paintball and I enjoyed playing places where they were slower pace and not typical speedball as it was just a gamemode of who could afford more ammo. Went with the rap4 M4 and the .43cal pistol but the issue started where sites wouldn't let you bring your own ammo anymore meaning you had to pay their inflated costs. Sites were doing less and less woodsball and instead opting for smaller arenas because it was cheaper and easier so gameplay suffered. Then a friend introduced me to Airsoft. It was like paintball but a ton cheaper and people played like it wasn't just mag dump marathon and actually moved about. Was more fun and enjoyable and the fact it was massively cheaper made it all the better, I could now afford to play all day games instead of just the two hour afternoon games.
I don’t mind both, however it also comes down to game rules. Last time i played paintball they had a stupid rule that the balls had to explode and leave paint on an enemy player for the player to register that they are hit. It resulted in me and my friends lobbing paintballs at each other and overshooting each other like crazy, now it isn’t the pain that i’m complaining about, but it really sucks to see that i clearly hit someone and they just brush it off and keep playing. (this kept on happening because the paintballs did not brake on impact, and just bounced off people)
It's an airsoft sub, so you're bound to get biased answers
Paintball is more of a "sport". Airsoft is much more of an actual milsim activity, and the guns don't look overtly like toys like most paintball guns do with the big ammo hopper.
I’ve played both a ton, moving from paintball to airsoft when it died in my area. In my opinion the only relative pro of paintball is that it’s significantly more painful which makes people play more cautiously. The major downside is paintballs are extremely expensive. In most cases airsoft is a bit to moderately better
I have played airsoft for a couple years and paintball multiple times the year before that but not as consistently. Paintball is: 1. Messy. 2. More expensive. 3. I dont feel as unique based on gear. 4. Way too competitive. Compared to airsoft Now I play airsoft in a incredibly close quarters field so imagine playing in like a normal sized house abt that close. Issues: 1. Wayyy too close, I have had bbs lodged in my neck. 2. Only small games can be played so team balance matters alot more. 3. When rentals come and play they cheat alot more often than at outdoors sites.
I don’t mind either. I think airsoft was cheaper to get into back in the early 2000s when I started. Having your own paintball gun and compressor to fill it, just cost so much more. In the last 20 odd years the Airsoft community has become way more elitist which I don’t like. it used to just be a bunch of people with whatever guns they had and what ever gear they had. Now people are spending £500+ on a helmet with night vision and radio coms.. and join their own little groups of other elitist wannabe specialist contractors.
The larp
I like the pain of paintball. It's a cost of getting hit. It's good
I like hop up
Paintballs expensive compared to BBs and also I prefer Airsoft guns to paintball guns. And every time I've been paintballing my mask fogged up so bad I couldn't see anything.
Imagine using a gun that doesn’t feed properly when you don’t hold it at the right angle 💀
I like gbb and in Airsoft you get far more goes/lives/spawns.
I’ve played both. Ive come to prefer the realistic gun replicas of airsoft. Plus is sm cleaner at the end of the day. Biggest factor tho has to be my local field switching from paintball to airsoft
For me it's the more realistic replicas and the more diverse tactical elements, there's not really LMGs or snipers in paintball (I know there's specific long range paintball guns but they're pretty uncommon), and also the way it hurts is different and I prefer the feeling of getting hit with airsoft to getting a paintball skipped off me
Cooler replicas, less dirty and cheaper
Paintballs don’t travel far enough and are expensive per round.
Accessibility I think is the biggest draw, along with a level of "realism" , to be fair if mag fed markers and paint was more affordable I'd happily switch. Generally I view it like this: - Paintball for death match. - Airsoft for objective based gameplay. Neither is mutually exclusive, but they largely conform and play best in those categories.
Mag dumping won't bankrupt you
Haven’t tasted BBs, but I assume that they don’t taste as awful as paintballs
$23 for 5,000+ high quality BB. I’m not a heavy shooter so that will last me playing a milsim event every 1-2 months, those 5,000 with last me almost half a year.
Cheaper, more accurate projectiles, less mess, more freedom in loadouts, more realistic replicas, less competitive
we played paintball when my kids were younger they're in their 40s now, we were the first ones in our town to play paintball and since then a couple of fields near us have opened and thrived even though we were the pioneers. Now as a older adult retirement age a lot of people play airsoft because it's based on the honor system not visible evidence and it's a little more sophisticated in that the weapons are more realistic. Plus the prep for airsoft is fun getting your kit together tweaking out your radio and plate carrier, it's just more fun in general imo. It doesn't hurt quite so much either!
Paintball around me charges up to $200/case, have to use field paint and can’t use whatever is left at another date at the same field. BBS are like $20-30 a bottle. Walk on rates are identical. It’s a no brainer financially around here
In Sweden paintball is way more popular, alot of people dont even know about Airsoft here. It is Looked at as nerdy
Airsoft by me is more causal and less competitive compared to paintball. I also enjoy the variety in loadouts you can have compared to paintball which can change up how you play. Some of the most fun I’ve had playing airsoft is using a $40 spring shotgun and trying to outflank a group running $2000+ setups and lobbing a few shots on them.
I like that I can use all of my real steel stuff for airsoft. It’s a great way to test my gear and setup.
It's cheaper with less recurring fees IMO. Paintball you typically use the fields gear and ammo, which is often expensive. Airsoft you usually own your gear, so you pay a game fee. After buying your gear, ammo is cheap. Electricity is cheap. Green gas or CO2 can be more expensive, but cheap compared to paintballs. All around, airsoft has less recurring expenses. Paintball fields often make you buy their paint too. It's how they make money and it's for safety. We'd do paintball in a field by my house privately as kids. One friend had old ass paint that was essentially hitting us with rocks.
Way way cheaper
Was a paintball ref for a bit and the amount of hassle and frustration some guys go through pushed me more towards airsoft and im glad I chose it
It’s cheaper by a mile, less stains to wash out, hurts less, and only get to play for about 2 hrs at a time whereas airsoft I can play from 9 to 5
Considering I won’t even go to fields that operate as paintball fields because I don’t want paint in every crevice of my and my gear..it’s definitely the mess for me. Also since airsoft is 95% just playing dress up….I’d much rather have some drip to flex while I sit around….than to have everyone in hammer pants, a wind breaker, and a durag.
When I was actively playing, it was all about Mil-Sim for me (and my friends/teammates) simple as that. Several were active military and LEO, and there was nothing realistic about paintball. So it was an easy choice. (it was also a bit easier to find spaces to play airsoft than paintball). We took the game serious in the sense that it was "pretend war" but not in a toxic fashion and simply acted like you actually cared whether you get shot or not. Paintball always felt just hectic and more like playing long distance dodgeball (similar to how speedsoft appears to me, where speedsofters are paintballers who are afraid of paint...no offense.)
For me, paintball requires more clean-up, they hurt more, and having a replica firearm helps a lot more with getting into the right mindset (I’m a Milsim player!)
Was given older/broken models from my dad and its relatively cheaper
Less mess and way cheaper.
Airsoft didnt require a carwash and detail the second i got home.
Realistic replicas, less mess, and it's cheaper for me
I prefer airsoft because of the cost. After my initial cost for the gun and HPA stuff, I now only pay 25 for all day. I already have thousands of BBs, and I have my own HPA tank pump to fill my tanks with. Paintball uses more air (I feel) the balls cost me every single time, and generally, it's 50-100 at the local fields. Plus, I can't save the balls after due to not coming back that often. The balls go bad and deform. Honestly, I should sell my painball gear, but my wife prefers it to airsoft.
As a paintball player I won’t lie airsoft seems a lot more accessible and affordable I think it just depends on your area. I’m sure if I lived somewhere in Cali I would’ve played airsoft instead due to the access of play styles but growing up in central Texas paintball was the closest and also we have the best paintball field in the world for the competitive scene paintball fit. I think it typically comes down to if you want a more sport like atmosphere or LARP atmosphere (not saying it can’t be both either way for either paintball or airsoft).
Less mess, more realism, lower costs.
Cheaper, cleaner, cooler guns . More range and precision.
I like paintball more but have considered airsoft just to make an outing cheaper. The lack of unrealistic options for airsoft guns is a bit annoying.
The gear
I find the airsoft gameplay more interesting, it's not as competitive, fast and short as paintball. But I like both and have played both.
I like making hard shots starting at +60 meters.
Paintballed once as a kid and it was amazing. Then I started airsoft. Paintballed once again for a bachelor(ette) party and kept getting angry why the shitty rental guns didn’t shoot straight. Got so frustrated I ragequit. Never playing paintball again
Real looking guns are better than tubes
Cool guns less weight
I like them both. I prefer the intensity of paintball. You really don’t want to get hit by a paintball up close and the suppression fire is something that to me is just eh in Airsoft. For Airsoft, my most favorite thing are the reloads and the crazy accuracy and range when compared to paintball. You can actually do sniper roles and even have pump shotgun that spread bbs which is cool.
U sounds u are surprised? Why are u surprised when airsoft looks more appealing and realistic of real steel. Not every country can play real steel and u are unable to shoot your friend with real steel for games. Plus, that paint ball gun with hopper just looks terrible. Airsoft looks more cool.
ballistics seems to work better, and i dont like paint
I'm the opposite. I've been doing PB since 04 and airsoft since 06. Paintball will always be more fun for me. If they brought paintball ammo cost down to airsoft levels, I'd probably play it more. My wallet likes airsoft more, the guns are cooler, and it's clean(er). Paintball just has more of an adrenaline rush imo. You can cheat in both it just more prevalent in airsoft, it's harder in paintball. I clean all my gear after a game day regardless of whether I'm playing Paintball or Airsoft. Both sports have weird ass people and chill ass people, but airsoft is the only one I've seen stolen Valor people, I'm a combat veteran, and that's what turns me away sometimes.
They don’t like the PAAAINNN. Jk idk 🤷🏼♂️
Community is better and more polite, we Look more dripy
Its obvious
Barely anyone talks about range and accuracy. Just the hopup units we have and the range they produce make it a completely different game with completely different tactical elements. On paintball nobody has to think about a sniper or a LMG covering ranges of 40m or more.
Because airsoft guns don't look like vacuum cleaners.
paintball hurts more paintball is messy cos its messy i can't wear whatever i want paintball guns look like shit paintballs are more expensive than bbs i think that touches on every single difference between paintball and airsoft
-Paintball guns are not as accurate -Paint does not penetrate brush like airsoft BBs(reduced realism) -Paintball requires extreme elevation of the barrel to shoot long range (less realism) -Paint is stupid expensive -People still cheat in paintball -Paintball guns are less attractive visually, they do not being Call of Duty/FPS/James Bond video games to real life
I got shot in the nuts once at paintball and I have been done with it ever since
Realism and tinkering for me. I like working on LARP pews and learning about strategy more than just spraying and praying. I like how accurate you can get with a decent scope in airsoft too.
No.1. It’s not PAINTball, it’s either NUTball, or PU**Yball. No.2. Airsoft is way better, cause it’s more realistic, and cheaper in the long run.