Airsoft?...What's that?

McGilla

Plain and simple it's a stupid name!

It does nothing to suggest to people what the sport entails!

I find my self having to do the whole "Its like paint-balling with pellet guns!" - and i know that's not doing it justice by a long way but its an easy explanation.


- Any way, lets hear your ideas for a new name for our kick ass sport!:cool:

thermo

com-sim,,,,,,,,,,,,, combat-simulation (kinda)!!
waits for you cant use the word "combat" in context of airsoft

Shanewalsh

Yeah i hate having to explain what airsoft is to people.

NakedDex

Pellet guns? And you're worried about "airsoft" being a bad name?



I know the Chinese clones have dried up and slowed growth of the sport a bit, but I didn't think a by-product of a scarcity sub-€200 AEG's would be a crashing downfall in the Airsoft forum thread/post quality.

McGilla

NakedDex wrote: »

Pellet guns? And you're worried about "airsoft" being a bad name?



I know the Chinese clones have dried up and slowed growth of the sport a bit, but I didn't think a by-product of a scarcity sub-€200 AEG's would be a crashing downfall in the Airsoft forum thread/post quality.

Most people who don't know what Airsoft is, aren't going to be familiar with the term AEG (just a guess), and yes those cheap springers people buy on holidays in Spain are known as pellet guns in layman terms. - if you will?

Maybe you can enlighten me as to how you explain the sport, or a new name you suggest!

Not aimed at last poster; This thread has been opened for a light hearted discussion about better name for our sport, please no replies from key board generals about correct terms and laws, please no lectures, I f I wanted a lecture I wouldn't have finished college!

Hivemind187

McGilla wrote: »

Most people who don't know what Airsoft is, aren't going to be familiar with the term AEG (just a guess), and yes those cheap springers people buy on holidays in Spain are known as pellet guns in layman terms. - if you will?

Maybe you can enlighten me as to how you explain the sport, or a new name you suggest!

Not aimed at last poster; This thread has been opened for a light hearted discussion about better name for our sport, please no replies from key board generals about correct terms and laws, please no lectures, I f I wanted a lecture I wouldn't have finished college!

Spend five minutes on the IAA website and your questions should be answered.

If you cant construct a simple sentence to explain it then, honestly, you shouldnt be trying to explain the sport to anyone.

However, try any of the following

"It's basically fat-dads running around a field playing soldier."

"Weekend warrior funsies"

"It's an alternative to jogging"

"Ever played Quazar? Well its that for grown ups."

... really, its not that hard.

NakedDex

Cheap springers are not pellet guns. Pellet guns fire pellets. Pellets are metal and, often, shaped. They are generally designed to injure or kill.
BB guns fire BB's. BB's are plastic and, universally, spherical. They are designed to be safe.

I don't get the concept of changing the name just because someone who doesn't know what it is, may need a two sentence tagline explaining it. "F1" isn't a particularly descriptive name, but no mention was ever made of it being changed to "Extremely expensive, purpose built, highly aerodynamic and extremely fast, single seater car racing".

I get asked to explain airsoft regularly for customers, and it's never once bothered me. I explain it differently to each person, because not everyone will understand anything. You have to cater your explanation to the knowledge of the person you're talking to.
That said, the paintball analogy, while lacking in depth, is the generally accepted easiest answer, and not really far off the mark.

thermo

Hivemind187 wrote: »

"It's basically fat-dads running around a field playing soldier."

ex-squeeze me,,,,,,,,,, im not a dad!

Blazer

I get the same looks from people when I mention airsoft...
I just tell them it's like paintball but a more tactical game aka wargames..they seem to get it after that. I also explain that the guns?? are realistic looking and fire 6mm plastic bbs rather than a paintball.

McGilla

Hivemind187 wrote: »

If you cant construct a simple sentence to explain it then, honestly, you shouldnt be trying to explain the sport to anyone..

I'm not struggling to explain the sport.

I normally explain it with the above, or - "Its like playing guns when we were kids only now we're adults, and guns fire a small BB's!"

I just thought It would be good for a few suggestions on a cool / funny name instead of Airsoft!

So people would either understand it straight away, or it wouldn't sound so girly!

Thanks for the replies - Try and keep it light hearted - thanks.

MagicIRL

NakedDex wrote: »

Cheap springers are not pellet guns. Pellet guns fire pellets. Pellets are metal and, often, shaped. They are generally designed to injure or kill.

Im slightly off-topic with this but as a kid growing up, and before I even started Airsoft, I and everyone I knew refarred to those springer bb pistols as Pellet Guns. Im sure we weren't the only ones either...

NakedDex

Girly? I have a pink Fender Mark Hoppys signature bass guitar that I dropped a grand on a few years ago. I am rather infamous in my random singing of Avril Lavigne songs in skirmishes just to confuse and amuse people.
I've danced, in the middle of HRTA, to draw fire from my team.

No-one has ever called any of those things girly, and let's face it, they're exceptionally questionable. I wouldn't worry about the name if that's the main worry.


Magic, I'm sure you weren't. However, with airsoft at the level it is, and as conflicting in views as it can be, calling them pellet guns when talking to someone who has never heard of it can lead to misconceptions and poor reactions.

McGilla

Suggestion: NLCS - Non Lethal Combat Simulation

i don't think it will save explaining what it is, but it sounds cool!

And Pink fender is not girly in anyway!!!

Leftyflip

NakedDex wrote: »

Girly? I have a pink Fender Mark Hoppys signature bass guitar that I dropped a grand on a few years ago.

...I ...Hate ...You.

Airsoft "Think paintball with 6mm plastic balls", it's not that hard.

Beez

Airsoft makes it sound harmless which is a good thing imo.

Hivemind187

McGilla wrote: »

Suggestion: NLCS - Non Lethal Combat Simulation

Simunition.

Quazar.

MILES.

Paintball.

Anyone of a dozen hand-to-hand and riot related situational simulations. Unfortunately, the description doesnt say much to differentiate it from any of the above.

Airsoft = "Air" propelled "Soft" projectile.

... pretty accurate if you ask me.

Lemming

"It's like paintball, only no paint".

That leads onto "what do you fire then?", and mention of little 6mm plastic ball-bearings and how less it hurts than paintballs.

Most people get it at that point, if they didn't at the first.

NakedDex

Leftyflip wrote: »

...I ...Hate ...You.

Airsoft "Think paintball with 6mm plastic balls", it's not that hard.

Don't hate the player...

...hate that I spelled Mark Hoppus' name wrong. Goddamn iPhone autocorrect. Tragically, I rarely play it these days. Four bass guitars and they're all gathering dust.

Puding

What is it with this place and a wish to reinvent the wheel

yes the name is a little vage but airsoft covers a lot of areas you start introducing things like 'less than lethal ' and you back yourself into a corner

the vagness helps in my eyes as it helps lead conversations as lemming mentioned

hoplite

I say I'm off skirmishing with the lads and most people have a vague idea what I'm on about. If they display any interest after that they get a more detailed explanation.

Stercus Accidit

Competitive cos-play in a field.

Lemming

Stercus Accidit wrote: »

Competitive cos-play in a field.

Pickachu must die

NakedDex

They're bb's, not Pokéballs.

Lemming

NakedDex wrote: »

They're bb's, not Pokéballs.

just making sure

evilrobotshane

NakedDex wrote: »

Cheap springers are not pellet guns. Pellet guns fire pellets. Pellets are metal and, often, shaped. They are generally designed to injure or kill.
BB guns fire BB's. BB's are plastic and, universally, spherical. They are designed to be safe.

This seems like a strange set of semantics to be getting hung up on, frankly. By the dictionary, "pellet" means all sorts of things from balls of paper through regurgitated indigestible bits of prey vomited up by predatory birds to a bullet. It's perfectly reasonable to call what airsoft guns fire a pellet.

If BB still stands for ball bearing, then it's far more incorrect. That'd certainly conjure up images of metal spheres in my mind (whereas farmyard animal feed can come in pellet form), and airsoft BBs don't 'bear' anything.

I know the wider toy-gun-nut community has got its blinkered conventions for what names to put where, but that doesn't mean that Joe Soap is technically wrong in describing an airsoft gun as a pellet gun.

NakedDex

Not wrong, no. But in my experience, saying pellet, in this country at least, quickly runs the route to "can I kill rats/birds/etc" with them. Perhaps it's because I'm from a slightly rural area, but I get similar reactions in the shop. Whenever anyone asks what size animal they can kill with them, they say pellet. Anyone who already accepts they're harmless, generally says bb. Some even skirt it completely by saying "ammo" or any synonym they can think of.
Indeed, upon explaining that they're harmless, one person said "I thought they were supposed to be pellet guns".

Personally, those are my experiences, so I tend to use bb as a rule. Both before airsoft, and now, the word pellet reminds me more of my days with an Anschütz .177 Olympic rifle, than it does of any airsoft device.

touge_drift

i use the paintball comparision myself it seems to work the easiest.
i also like the way not everyone knows about it, although i should probally tell my neighbours why im walking around in camo in the garden or test firing my aeg so they dont think im up to something odd.

cheecch251

I recently just took up the sport and when i was explaing it to a mate of mine i basicly said it was kinda like playing cod online , but for real with bb's. The reason i used this was because when i got into the rules of the games (respawn etc) it was the easyiest thing to compare it to . He got it straight away and is now trawling shops with me looking for his first AEG. So if explained correctly we might get a few more peolpe taking it up.

Also I did have to stress to him the idea of safety guidelines and legal stuff ie the AEG's have to be under 1 joule, no whiping it out in your front garden to impress the kids next door etc and that these where not pellets which are dangerous and illegal. So after a five minute conversation not only was the sport explained we have a new player.:cool:

Stonewolf

I tell people myself and some friends shoot each other with BB guns, they generally understand what that means.

McGilla

Any body got any new (possibly even funny) name suggestions for Airsoft???

Sod'o swords

I always go with "it's like paintball just with more realistic" for starters. If they're interested, i'd explain more about AEG's, BB's skirmishes and what not. Though most people are usually happy with the comparison to paintball and it's easier for me to explain it that way, so i go with it.

evilrobotshane

McGilla wrote: »

Any body got any new (possibly even funny) name suggestions for Airsoft???

Fine, fine.

Painball!

(although paintball hurts more, pain is the main means we have of registering a hit)

Stercus Accidit

Attack-ball

Airsoft does sound wimpy, oh air, gah, soft, more like a detergent brand than an outdoor sport.

New Comfort Air Soft, as soft as air

andy_g

thermo wrote: »

ex-squeeze me,,,,,,,,,, im not a dad!

Not yet but ya do fit the fat part

thermo

andy_g wrote: »

Not yet but ya do fit the fat part

thats personal abuse,,,,, im going to report that post,,,,,,,, oh wait :mad:

TheDoc

Hivemind187 wrote: »

"Ever played Quazar? Well its that for grown ups."

What does that mean?!?!?!

Lemming

TheDoc wrote: »

What does that mean?!?!?!

It means no laser-induced cataract woes for the older generations

NakedDex

It means no putting duct tape on your vest sensor and running around like sodding Terminator.



Although, the airsoft equivalent is the box mag, so no game is perfect.

Sod'o swords

NakedDex wrote: »

Although, the airsoft equivalent is the box mag, so no game is perfect.

HE SHOOTS HE SCORES

JonnyTwoCombs

Hivemind187 wrote: »

Spend five minutes on the IAA website and your questions should be answered.

If you cant construct a simple sentence to explain it then, honestly, you shouldnt be trying to explain the sport to anyone.

However, try any of the following


"It's basically fat-dads running around a field playing soldier."

"
Weekend warrior funsies"

"It's an alternative to jogging"


"Ever played Quazar? Well its that for grown ups."

... really, its not that hard.

Funny :D cos its true

bullets

Mmmm How Cruel can I be :D:D:D

With the original question being "Airsoft?...What's that?"
my default answer has always been "its like paintball but with plastic BB's"
That does not really cut it with workmates as they dont see airsoft actually
being an actual "sport" but more along the lines of below:

Sport for Nerds
Walter Mitty types
Middle aged Identity crisis
Wanna be RDF's thinking they are real soliders
FPS gamer fanitics actually going outside their house!
Diceroller Larper types
Milsim for people that are not military
Warhammer fans
The odd bloke in the office with weird interests
Fat blokes or anyone that are convinced they will loose weight by playing airsoft.
40 year old virgin with comics and model figures

Answer YES to any or more than one of the above and your probably an airsofter.

~B
(Myself included being the fat work weirdo, with toy guns, models, games, and all
sorts of uber nerd stuff in my work cubicle)


[EDIT: Double Nerd points for me just now this very min getting a text on the phone from someone asking me
to tune into Channel 8 subchannel 3 on PMR band to see if I can recieve a signal from ""Up the Road""
more weird its a workmate! even more weird than that have not had a text from them in over 3 years!]

Ayrtonf7

Probably thee worst name ive seen (not sure if its been mentioned)

Softair...

pretty sure its just mistranslated from like...I dunno Asian ?

andy_g

Ayrtonf7 wrote: »

Probably thee worst name ive seen (not sure if its been mentioned)

Softair...

pretty sure its just mistranslated from like...I dunno Asian ?

Mainly being used in italy and spain or so my students keep telling me
Airsoft whats that??? oh you mean softair *head desk*

Sod'o swords

andy_g wrote: »

Mainly being used in italy and spain or so my students keep telling me
Airsoft whats that??? oh you mean softair *head desk*

Same in Germany I was told.
Must be an European thing.

Shiva

McGilla wrote: »

Any body got any new (possibly even funny) name suggestions for Airsoft???

Bitchfest

TheDoc

WOWOWOWOWOWOWWOWOWOW

BACK THE **** UP

When did Qzar stop being cool?!?!?!?!?





On related to the topic. My friends obviously asked me when I first started, gave them the lowdown.

Brought them out to the warehouse soon there after for a game and they loved it. Unfortunately just didnt take it up. They do however show a great interest in hearing my gaming stories or stuff from trips over beers or poker etc.

For relatives I bring them out to the shed and show them the varying rifles etc.

In work related stuff and or interviews I'd mention how its a military simulation game that encourages team work and enforces a command structure and pits factions against each other. ( they usually ask how so I go on about aeg's etc)

For girls I don't tell them I play airsoft I tell them I'm part of an anti terrorist branch.......then I tell them to suck it......

bullets

TheDoc wrote: »

WOWOWOWOWOWOWWOWOWOW
When did Qzar stop being cool?!?!?!?!?

No news update since 2008! :eek:
http://www.quasarireland.com/
Remember folks those Quasar guns can be dangerous....
...to Automan!

Saw some advertisement lately related to airsoft that reminded me of
Laser Tag/Quasar. It was similar to http://www.lasershot-military.com/
but aimed at airsofters/sites who wanted affordable gear so hits can be proved. Of course that would bring in all sorts of arguments about
strapping a system on to an airsoft gun etc.

Getting back to Airsoft?....What's that.
Before I heard the word Airsoft, I thought it refered to to Kids guns
that are known as Nerf Guns with the pink/orange foam.
Then saw Airsoft International and thought damn we'd never get these
in our country. Then I stumbled across the Pics thread on this board and went wow! some of them look real! Committed a sin and bought 2 from Mmmaad, Chanced my arm and got a pistol from England unsure if it would be sized, and then Eirsoft opened and that was the last time I remember having money.

~B

McGilla

andy_g wrote: »

Mainly being used in italy and spain or so my students keep telling me
Airsoft whats that??? oh you mean softair *head desk*

Definitely a tactical face-palm:( moment!

evilrobotshane

TheDoc wrote: »

In work related stuff and or interviews I'd mention how its a military simulation game that encourages team work and enforces a command structure and pits factions against each other. ( they usually ask how so I go on about aeg's etc)

And you don't have a job, right?

Tommyboy71

TheDoc wrote: »

For girls I don't tell them I play airsoft I tell them I'm part of an anti terrorist branch.......then I tell them to suck it......

And it's somewhere around there the laughter starts. Isn't it. Go on, you can tell us. We're all friends.:D

moggser

Tommyboy71 wrote: »

And it's somewhere around there the laughter starts. Isn't it. Go on, you can tell us. We're all friends.:D

it would be right about here that the laughter would start

.then I tell them to suck it......