Lame Questions About The Sport
 

Hello Everyone

My brother and I are considering joining the world of AS.* We both have a background in paintball mainly speedball (don’t be a hater) with tactical/scenario experience as well.* I just have a few questions about the AS culture and how games are typically played.*

1)***** Where / how often are games played (located in Peel Region)?* Can I expect to be able to play a few times a month without driving across the province?* From my understanding there really aren’t any places in the GTA that have “walk-on” type pickup games like paintball and AS matches are more like events planned in advance.

2)***** How far in advance are games typically planned?

3)***** What happens in the winter?* Is it considered an off season and only the hardcore remain outside?

Stupid questions I know but they are the kind of things that I couldn’t find on the website.

-Noob

winter play is fun but I try to limit it.... I don't like breaking guns. Games can be planned anywhere from a week in advance to a year in advance or more. Look at boarder wars for instance.

There are some fields that play on say every sunday as well. You will have to look in your regional listings.

Also I know in the GTA if you're not 18 you are pretty much SOL.

Firstly Welcome to the site, and the sport. please go through the FAQ and get yourself Age verified if you are 18+

There are games which take place weekly they are usually posted here
http://www.airsoftcanada.com/forumdisplay.php?f=68
you can meet verifiers at most events.

depending on the depth of the scenarios and scale anywhere from a week to a year +

There are some indoor fields that run airsoft games through the winter and there are the few players which host outdoor games (weather permitting)

As long as your questions are well worded and thought out, and you take the answers along with advice you will find we don't mind.

1. Even if a game is a "regular...it's at the same place/same time/every blah blah blah"...they tend to be still posted up as a notice for each distinct game, each with its own sign up, etc...

2. Anywhere from a year to just a couple of days. Obviously the more organized milsims tend to have longer notice periods...but even still some "good ones" get filled (aka capped) really, really quickly.

3. There is definitely a slow down...but there are still games outdoors. You'll find more indoor games once the snow hits the ground and stays.

Kind of an important note regarding question #1. Not many hosts like walk ons, that's why games are posted usually at least a week in advance so the host knows who's coming and how many people to expect. It's common courtesy to post that you will be in attendence for a certain game.

2. Depending on the size of the game, is how well planned they are. Example Operation Mason Relic 3 sign up was posted in January I think and the game was in Late May. But on our local forums small skirmishes are sometimes planned in 2 days advance.

3. In saskatchewan, summer is our prime, winter it slows down A LOT. We are lucky to have one game every 2 months.... but your area much be more active in the winter.

This is a Hobby, not a Sport.

Thanks for the replies everyone.* A concern of mine was that there wouldn’t be much opportunity to play but that doesn’t seem to be an issue.* 18+ is not an issue and I will get age certified whenever I can.

I appreciate the fact that walk-ons are not encouraged, I wanted to get a sense of what playing fields are available as with paintball I knew I could go to a different local field’s “busy night” and expect to play when I want.

-Noob

Walk-ons can be a good thing for new players who want to see how a game works before diving into it. But for actual paying game attendance, it's best to notify the hosts :)

I get it now....(I don't play paintball so didn't get your frame of reference).

I assume with paintball...that if you want to play you can just grab your stuff, head to a field and join into a game pretty much whenever you know they're not closed. (generalizing)

For airsoft it's a bit different since there aren't any dedicated airsoft fields that play games every day, all day. Hosts that arrange airsoft games have to book in with fields...so the airsoft games are set to a given date, for a given time. So if you were to show up this Friday night at Flag Raiders and say, "I'm here for the airsoft game"...they'd probably look at you strangely.

That said...when there is a game...the "typical" thing to do is:
1. Find and Read the Game thread in the games section...some games have specific rules/conditions/limits/etc...and there is a full expectation that anyone who is there for the game has understood what's put there in the thread.

2. Post in the thread that you're committed to attend. Helps the organizer know how many people (and who) to expect.

3. Be on time (this is not typical since most guys don't seem to own a watch on game day....)

If it's you first game...touch base with the organizer (just say, ""who's running this" when you get there) and let them know you're new to things. And if you're not AV'd...then there's usually an age verifier there too.

in terms of speedball, i actually prefer it, than the more milsim oriented style that lots of airsoft here in canada is based on, IM omw to hong kong now and back over there we play in speedball sized fields, obviously we dont use inflatable pyramids but we have car park senarios, we play High ROF guns shooting 30RPS at about 320 FPS engagement distances about 10 feet :) so actually i prefer speedball style games rather than the milsim like games here. but thats just me, but yeah WELCOME :D

Bang on! There are still organized games but from what I have seen they pale in comparison to Airsoft.

I agree phloudernow there is something wonderfully pleasant about speedball.

Thanks again for the help I hope to see some of you on the field.

-Noob