Recruiting from other hobbies

evilrobotshane

This is something I was typing into the Females thread, but I think it's worth its own thread. It was relating to someone assuming she'd like airsoft because she likes outdoor stuff (which is, or could be, a fair assumption I think):

Actually that raises something I've been thinking of recently - I don't know how it goes in other countries, but the airsoft scene in Ireland seems to recruit heavily from computer gamers. I'd say the serious majority of airsofters play computer games, and a lot of the standard skirmish games are based on computer game multiplayer scenarios. This in turn makes it easy for the players to get their other computer game playing friends into the hobby too.

But airsoft appeals to more than the (relatively minor) computer gamer in me, and I think there are communities that are ripe for recruitment that are kind of being ignored (not that I'm entirely sure how airsoft recruitment happens, apart from to the likes-guns types at military vehicle shows like Salute and Duncannon).

Table-top wargaming has an active community in Ireland - this is like highly elaborate board games using little toy soldiers. Not only do Games Workshop have numerous outlets and resellers here (we probably all know somebody who plays Warhammer) but the Irish have a disproportionate presence online in the less mainstream games too. I played wargames long before I ever heard of airsoft, and part of what drew me into airsoft was the tactical, objective-based thinking required in milsim games, which is also what I enjoy about wargames. It's in many ways the same thing on a different scale, and far more immersive in its way. Yet I've met few wargamers in airsoft.

Live-action role-playing (LARP) is a very niche hobby but also has a strong core in Ireland of people who construct elaborate costumes and travel to games in England multiple times per year. They enact characters in an alternate setting and often engage in combat, using sets of rules not unlike airsoft uses. As well as this group, there's a more casual style of LARP in the country which doesn't typically bother with costumes nor combat, just focussing on political manoeuvring, making and breaking deals, again in an alternate setting (this is the type I'm into). A game in the first style has been running for a few months in HRTA incorporating airsoft guns and combat. Berget, most obviously, contains huge LARP elements, with civilian factions some of whom aren't even armed going about their intrigues and interacting with the military groups within the battle zone, and it works magnificently, adding greatly to both play styles. Yet I've met few LARPers in airsoft.

Outdoor recreation is the furthest from these, because it doesn't involve any game element at all, but another of the things that drew me to airsoft was the opportunity to engage my outdoor streak. A massive amount of modern recreational outdoor pursuits originated with the military - hiking and camping being the most obvious - and still happen all the time in both military and civilian life. Basically all that's required for an airsoft game to incorporate some amount of fieldcraft is for it to be long - when taking care of business like cooking, sleeping, navigating becomes necessary. I love running around outdoors, and in an airsoft game it gives it a direct purpose - we need to camp here because it's protected, we need to walk here because it's where our objective is - whereas hiking and camping for their own sake bore me at this stage. Airsoft almost always takes place in the outdoors, yet I've met few outdoor types in airsoft.

In the time I've been airsofting there's always been a bit of complaint about the style of games. Obviously loads and loads of people are happy with the deathmatch style and more power to them, but many also think it'd be nice to expand the options. My thinking now is that it's to do with the preexisting interests of the community. It's heavily computer game style at the moment because most of us are computer gamers. Therefore, by increasing the diversity of the airsoft community, the diversity of games should follow. To oversimplify the concept, more wargamers would mean more demand and following for tactical milsims, more LARPers would mean more demand and following for immersive games, more outdoor types would mean more demand and following for long games that test survival skills as well as shooting.

In my opinion incorporating these elements would make for great games (Berget 8 was probably the best game of any kind I've ever played in my life, and I've played a lot of games), and I'm thinking that the way to make that happen is to get people into the hobby who can support the existence of such games.

To that end, I'd like to see (and this certainly isn't intended to come across as a demand, just a wishlist) the thinking on where's a good place to promote airsoft expanded a bit. The stand at Salute style has a lot of potential, and to have something like that at outdoor shows and gaming conventions, maybe posters up in outdoor shops and gaming shops, might prove to be a rich ground to get more folks into the game, and introduce some new elements to the hobby in general.

Naturally there are probably lots of other hobbies and groups I'm not thinking of, it's just that these are the ones I'm involved in.

MagicIRL

I think Airsoft is at a disadvantage when it comes to recruiting. Often I have strolled through Tesco or other supermarkets and seen "Paintball stalls" set up offering corporate and party discounts to the shoppers as the pass by. Generally informing members of the public about the game itself and how to go about playing it. Most recently I seen this at the Top Gear LIVE event in Citywest, where a Paintball stand was attracting an awful lot of attention- With my big elite Airsoft head I strolled by, seeing as I have seen the top of the preverbial mountain, and it is good.

However, I fear if Airsoft was to this, or advetise in any major way, we would be persecuted by the misinformed masses and idiodic sheep that seem to run the country. I mean, I have 2 AEGs and I've only attempted to rob a number of banks...

But theres the rub, our weapons of choice are realistic and as a result are frowned upon by the masses due to the inherent crime implications that they somehow posses.

I think the idea as stated above, of recruiting from other outdoor clubs and games is the way foward for airsoft, unfortunetly I do not think advertisements in Outdoor shop windows will go down even remotely well. Perhaps a country-wide radio advertisement for the Get out and skirmish day is in order, funded by the multitude of Airsoft sites within the country.

defenderdude

The thing with paintball is it's a money making venture - very serious money.

I suspect a paintball site will make more in a day than many airsoft sites make in a month (or 6).

I've been told figures that well run paintball sites make and it is shocking.:eek:

Hence the hard sell at the weekends in shopping centres. They are not doing it for the love of the sport - they are employees - making a stack of money from it.

Dont get me wrong - I'm all for promotion of the sport, but in a controled measured and supervised environment/manner.

fayer

MagicIRL wrote: »

I think Airsoft is at a disadvantage when it comes to recruiting. Often I have strolled through Tesco or other supermarkets and seen "Paintball stalls" set up offering corporate and party discounts to the shoppers as the pass by. Generally informing members of the public about the game itself and how to go about playing it. Most recently I seen this at the Top Gear LIVE event in Citywest, where a Paintball stand was attracting an awful lot of attention- With my big elite Airsoft head I strolled by, seeing as I have seen the top of the preverbial mountain, and it is good.

However, I fear if Airsoft was to this, or advetise in any major way, we would be persecuted by the misinformed masses and idiodic sheep that seem to run the country. I mean, I have 2 AEGs and I've only attempted to rob a number of banks...

But theres the rub, our weapons of choice are realistic and as a result are frowned upon by the masses due to the inherent crime implications that they somehow posses.

Good point, I know of one major shopping center that banned the sale of airsoft equipment by a gadget shop. Could have been a good thing for the sport however.

Aiden hit the nail on the head re how paintball dose it. Major cash flow, I had a meeting with a paintball site before for the IAA, there takings in 1 day where larger than the anual revenue of the largest Airsoft site in the republic.

Stands at major events begin at around about €5'000 and for us need to be done in the right context to prevent the "think of the children" gang burning the ear of Joe the next day. Its alot of cash, for a small return per person.

MagicIRL wrote: »

I think the idea as stated above, of recruiting from other outdoor clubs and games is the way foward for airsoft, unfortunetly I do not think advertisements in Outdoor shop windows will go down even remotely well. Perhaps a country-wide radio advertisement for the Get out and skirmish day is in order, funded by the multitude of Airsoft sites within the country.

I have seen the nominations for the IAA for next year and Biohazard is in the running for PRO. Having a dedicated person doing PR for Airsoft (especially someone as experienced as him) could do major things for us. I do believe the IAA needs more volunteers behind it to support activities like this.

Rasherz

Lets not mention that thread but thanks for being reasonable and not flaming me either. Not sure about paintball or what it is like at the moment but i have heard it has become more of a commercial thing for partys and what not with not to many regulars with their own gear playing, so they cater for those groups if we did that in airsoft theres the whole honesty thing new players might not get (no offence most are honest) also with things like partys the games may not be as complex or diverse because of this, note: i could be completely wrong.
Another way to look at it is a team building activity, i remember a football team a while ago organised to go to an airsoft site for a day for this reason, a lot of them played again and this got a few into the sport. I think it has good potential through this and the other ways you mentioned as a lot are gamers like you said.

Arkslippy

I think the best way to promote and to encourage others to try airsoft is if you know of someone, be they computer gamer or not who you think

A - will play the game By the rules and in the spirit in which its intended

B - would be of a personality that you believe would look after the sport outside of the game - no brandishing and not acting like a fruit

C - you would be happy to leave in the community when you are not there and vouch for them with other players,

All it would take would be for even half of active players to make it their contribution to bring one person on board, we would likely double by extension the players in the game.

On the drive home tonight I heard the ad from MIA twice on nova and my wife, who is as open minded as anyone else, thought that we should not be advertising at all, as to anyone who knows nothing about the sport, it sounds like an advert you'd hear in Alabama .

evilrobotshane

Right, I'm not suggesting following the paintball promotion model, just going harder at what's already going on, and broadening the thinking on what are environments where the plugging would be interpreted in the right context. A flyer on the wall of an Internet and computer gaming cafe I'm sure would be considered reasonable - with different styling (pictures with emphasis on marching with full rucksacks through the forest, say, for the notice board of an outdoor shop) the same could be done. In fact, the style of advertising of, say, The Hot Gun Shop's "whatever your loadout" poster would be what I'd consider to be the type to most appeal to the computer game crowd with GUNS and ACTION, and therefore the style that'd be most prone to cause outrage. We've managed with that for years.

hightower1

Why not approach stores selling video games (video games ONLY)
Double sided panflet stack on the cash desk, as the game is bagged the cashier can include the panflet ether in the bag or the game case when inserting the actual disk.

Means only the right demographic are targeted, the "think of the chidren brigade" will be no where near video game stores, people receptive to the sport are made aware of it etc.

Lo cost and low profile.

Lets face it airsoft really appeals to males aged between 14-60 and thats exactly the clientel that these stores attract. Personally I tend to actually pay attention to these panflets included in the game box seeing as these days most are for DLC.

No gawdy posters as a prime target for closed minded people and the folks getting the information is getting it when they are alone, receptive and at a moment when they are activly looking.

I am sure a deal could be sorted with the likes of GAME or gamestop. Hell I am sure there are more than a few IAA memebers that are emplyees who could put us in contact with higher ups.

Arkslippy

I wouldn't dream of approaching any of the chain shops, regardless of their staff you see in the shop who mainly work there for the benefit of working in a trade where you might get discounts ect, the people who approve these things are business people, mainly based in the UK who steer clear of any non hr approved material, and no chance of that.

privately owned internet cafe are an option.

but I'm going to ask the question, why is everyone so keen to publicly promote the sport, using paintball as an example, they are not hobbiest operations like airsoft sites are, they are commercial entities like any other run to make money, not for the love of the sport.

Stonewolf

Video games are bought for kids by parents who wouldn't bat an eyelid at buying the latest gore fest for thier offspring but you put a fairly innocent flyer for airsoft in there and dear Joes ear will be red.

Inari

Shane has exactly the right idea for advertising; specific and targetted. That's the way to go, and he is 100% right.

Airsoft is not funded by the government. It is a series of privately owned companies that make this game possible. In order to make the games better, to improve the stock in stores, and to work on the game in Ireland in general, expansion in numbers is a definitive requirement. How do you incurr expansion? Specific and targetted advertising.

When you advertsie to a target audience, you tend to convert a much higher percentage of your audience. This means that it is more effective, but also means that it yields fewer naysayers (it does not avoid them completely, because most people don't like advertisements period) due to the audience already having something in common with the ad, and they just realise the service is not for them.

But yeah, some really good suggestions. For advertising in Games Workshop, you'd be looking at something like "Lead a Team of Real People to Victory!" etc. Appeal to their interests to entice them to give it a go.

Good thread.

Gatling

"Lead a team of real people to Victory" class slogan

evilrobotshane

Arkslippy wrote: »

I'm going to ask the question, why is everyone so keen to publicly promote the sport

To diversify the community by drawing in people from other backgrounds and thereby make the games more interesting to me. Sorry if I didn't make that clear. I'm not after bigger (don't care one way or the other as long as I've enough people to play with), just more interesting.

Arkslippy

Gatling wrote: »

"Lead a team of real people to Victory" class slogan

Class , much better than the reality " run into a murderous wall of flying plastic"

Just kidding

whatsamsn

Hey guys,
Only getting into Airsoft so still learning the ins and outs.

But advertising to the video game audience sounds about right. We all know how popular FPS games are, let alone Call of Duty games in particular. These are the people who you want to be targeting. No brainer huh :P

But I really am suprised that the Irish Airsoft veunes dont push the sport and their locations. Paintball has been pushing the whole 'company retreat' and 'company team building' as of the last few years. Why cant airsoft do the same?


Am I kinda right to believe that paintball pushes the games ... while airsoft pushes the idea of different guys?

swiftblade

whatsamsn wrote: »

Hey guys,
Only getting into Airsoft so still learning the ins and outs.

But advertising to the video game audience sounds about right. We all know how popular FPS games are, let alone Call of Duty games in particular. These are the people who you want to be targeting. No brainer huh :P

But I really am suprised that the Irish Airsoft veunes dont push the sport and their locations. Paintball has been pushing the whole 'company retreat' and 'company team building' as of the last few years. Why cant airsoft do the same?


Am I kinda right to believe that paintball pushes the games ... while airsoft pushes the idea of different guys?

Well the reason Airsoft sites/ retailers arn't pushing advertising as much as paintball is simply down to money.
But more importantly is i don't think thats what the airsoft community wants. Another "paintball" so to speak.

It's fine having your Sunday skirmishes and work retreats but as a whole what the community wants is to develop the sport. Not just go crazy trying to get numbers. Most Airsoft sites/retailers set up not to make a profit (of coarse they want to) , but to supply a service. They set up for the love of the sport. No airsoft site makes a killing, generally just enough to get by.

That is the difference between Airsoft and Paintball

whatsamsn

Thanks swiftblade.

Its interesting to hear from reading this thread that Paintball is on the up and up. While airaoft isnt. Personally I think airsoft is more fun.

whatsamsn

Actually how much does paintball make over here?
As said in the thread earlier, it can make in one day what airsoft could make in a year?

what we talking here tho ... good few grand or something?

swiftblade

whatsamsn wrote: »

Actually how much does paintball make over here?
As said in the thread earlier, it can make in one day what airsoft could make in a year?

what we talking here tho ... good few grand or something?

I really wouldn't know. But what i do know is that it would be a hell of a lot more than what your average airsoft site makes

bullets

swiftblade wrote: »

I really wouldn't know. But what i do know is that it would be a hell of a lot more than what your average airsoft site makes

A lad that I used to share a house with
Marshells in Combat zone Limerick
from chatting last time I met him a few months back
you'd swear the place made no profits at all, as he was talking about wages still need to get paid regardless of who turns up and high insurance prices etc.

One of their packages is only 50 Euros!
which includes
200 paintballs
3 hours play.
1 night accommodation in Jury's inn
and free in to a night club in Limerick.

Sounds a pretty good price! Unfortunately I've never seen
prices for Ammo refills so I have no clue what they charge.
I am guessing thats where they rape people and make a savage profit.

Also I reckon they would not cater for people who want
to turn up with their own ammo or markers!!! they would
probably give ya some we dont allow it over insurance line.

Anyone know what paint ball sites tend to charge for ammo top ups ?

~B

hightower1

lol might be a bit obvious but has anyone approached a site / retailer about advertising on HERE. The java banner ads for eircom are head wrecking but certainly do catch the eye. With a bit of thinking not only would it be a good idea to direct people to a retailer / sites URL but ALSO right here.

At any point of the day there are at least a dozen of us here to listen to the sound of our own voices help or answer questions.

I know boards was my main source for me getting a liking in airsoft and been a constant source of good info since.

Its a wide enough audience that would be hit too, a recent forum survey showed boards to be one of the most active forums in th EU.

sliabh

whatsamsn wrote: »

Actually how much does paintball make over here?
As said in the thread earlier, it can make in one day what airsoft could make in a year?

what we talking here tho ... good few grand or something?

Can't tell you exactly, but if you look at the standard of props out in Frontier Paintball in Bray (mock up helicopter, church, castle etc), facilities (seperate toilets, food, lockers, surfaced car park etc) that all costs money (quite apart from site rental and insurance). Then you see that they are charging €10 for 100 paintballs (i.e. 10c a shot!) and you can be sure they can well afford it.

mafiaboy

Iv posted a video clip up on eircom comp about Airsoft and a short story about how I got into Airsoft as something to do at the weekend and iv got a lot of votes so far and they can't be all from airsofters here the link
http://www.eircomwebmagic.com/videos/2011/01/10/a-day-airsofting-in-galway/ iv even posted some videos up on the HSE forum they where asking (on the forum) for things to do over the weekend for the staff do, some guy said paint ball and I had to jump in and say Airsoft could not let that one go,

Buceph

Sorry for the bump, butallow me to comment on the original post in this thread.

First off, I'm not into airsoft. I am a tabletop gamer. But I do like reading about niche, slightly nerdy hobbies, just to get a sense of what the the fun and community is like. And airsoft has always sounded like a laugh to me, so maybe when I get some money together and give up the fags I'll drag my lardy ass to an event and wheeze my away around a forest with an AEG strapped to my arm.

Anyway, I've been reading through this forum, and I saw the op about targeting wargamers and LARPers (and I presume people into RPGs and military boardgames and that.) I've been heavily involved in the tabletop gaming scene, running a university society, and helping run one of the biggest gaming conventions in Ireland (400 to 600 people at it depending on the year) and I spend a fortune going to conventions all around Ireland.

The thing that strikes me the most is that you seem to be having the very same conversation amongst yourselves as I used to have with the people I was involved with in tabletop gaming. If I replaced the technical words like "airsoft" with "gaming" and "site" with "convention" you could be talking about my pastime. Similarly, they both are hobbies with a bad rep (nerds talking about dragons versus nerds talking about guns, both of the hobbies involve grown men playing "children's games" and there has been Joe Duffy/concerned parents drama about both of them.) The other similarities seem to be that both are fairly immersive hobbies, if you get into it, you get really into it. There's a huge community aspect and people travel all around the country and sometimes further afield to pursue it. People pore a fortune into it. And although mostly made up of amateurs and volunteers the few commercial aspects to it seem to be run by members of the community willing to stake their savings on it, rather than businessmen looking at is a moneymaking exercise. So airsoft has the exact same appeal as a tribal thing as tabletop gaming.

The bad news, I don't think a huge amount of tabletop gamers would convert, even partly, to airsoft. We already have a large drain on our "play" time and money. That being said, I'd say a good percentage of gamers would acknowledge it as something that sounds cool. If there were sites or even a couple of sites who would split the costs of it looking to advertise, asking if you can get a stand at one of the many gaming conventions around Ireland might be a plausible avenue to go down. There might be some resistance to it though. At the convention I was involved with, we were selling "Big Boys Toys" from a local shop, and had to take all the airsoft weapons away because some complete eejits were acting the muppet with them, brandishing them in public places. And I know another convention bans them for similar reasons. But if you even agreed that there would be no guns, just pictures and a video of the site events, along with fliers, stickers and badges and the like plus some enthusiastic staff, I'd imagine a good few conventions would allow it. The stall prices range from about €75 for a weekend at the smaller conventions with 150 or so people, to a few hundred at the bigger ones with half a thousand people.


As I ramble on... Which I could do, for many, many pages and hours. I hope you don't mind me butting my non-airsofter opinion in here. I just think it's amazing how similar some aspects of the hobbies are, both good and bad. And I can see you having the same problems and concerns I used to have when I was running tabletop gaming things. I'm not too sure how successful having a stall at a gaming convention would be, but it can't hurt. And at the very least you expose it to some more people, and those people might even expose you to the fun that is gaming.

Lemming

Buceph wrote: »

If there were sites or even a couple of sites who would split the costs of it looking to advertise, asking if you can get a stand at one of the many gaming conventions around Ireland might be a plausible avenue to go down. There might be some resistance to it though. At the convention I was involved with, we were selling "Big Boys Toys" from a local shop, and had to take all the airsoft weapons away because some complete eejits were acting the muppet with them, brandishing them in public places. And I know another convention bans them for similar reasons.

Gaelcon (the largest 'con in Ireland; or was when I stepped down from the committee after 12 years) has (had?) a blanket ban. Even on LARP 'weapons', for two reasons; numpties waving them around defying all manner of common sense and hotels/convention centre management getting nervous about seeing them on display/brandished. Even traders selling LARP weapons was a tricky subject; so airsoft would be a step beyond again I should imagine. If you had a stand for information purposes, and maybe a couple of guns to show people at the table & cleared with the committee first it might work. But trading? I wouldn't hold out chance on that front unless you were handing bin-liner sealed boxes to people at the door to the convention centre as they left with instruction not to open until they got home. Even then, if one person is retarded enough to ignore that and the convention centre staff see anything in their car-park there'd be absolute murder for the 'con to deal with.

I do think that there is potential to get a reasonable return on 'casual' airsoft numbers by gamers - more so than almost any other demographic; and there is the LARP aspect, as the frequent sessions at HRTA proves.

evilrobotshane

Gaelcon 2009 had Hobby Airsoft with a stand on one of its days, selling non-gun items I think and displaying but not selling guns. Furthermore, airsoft guns were allowed as part of costumes - they had to be transported properly, declared on the way in, inspected for not containing batteries or gas, BBs nor a magazine (I did most of that, and trained certain staffers on doing it too), and tagged as inspected with a length of coloured wool hitched on. Despite airsofters' constant assumption that all airsofters except themselves are brain-dead, of course they were all very mature and careful about the whole thing and there were no problems at all. 2010's committee decided to go back to banning it though; less interest amongst that group, I think, to make it worth their while figuring out how to administrate it.

The IAA had an information stand at Warpcon 2009, too (thanks OzCam!). Those are a bit difficult to do though because there's no generic flyers to hand out or anything like that. That's why I've been suggesting having that kind of thing made; unfortunately I don't have the skillz to do a good job myself.

Buceph, I don't agree that gamers won't catch on to airsoft because they already have a hobby. There are many levels of immersion - sure, some airsofters live and breathe the hobby, like with gamers, but there are guys who just turn up for their weekly D&D session and don't bother with the hobby otherwise, and similarly there are all types of airsofters. On the contrary, I'd say that, like a new game, or getting into card games from board games, it's just adding a new aspect to roughly the same hobby. Some might find it replaces something else for them, others may want to squeeze it in as well as everything else, but peoples' hobbies are constantly evolving and changing. For me, airsoft struck me as a beautiful melding of two of my existing hobbies. That I already had those hobbies certainly wasn't a reason not to bother.

There are a few groups of gamers in Dublin who are into or getting into airsoft, so maybe it'll be more likely to turn up at cons again.

Lemming

evilrobotshane wrote: »

Gaelcon 2009 had Hobby Airsoft with a stand on one of its days, selling non-gun items I think and displaying but not selling guns. Furthermore, airsoft guns were allowed as part of costumes - they had to be transported properly, declared on the way in, inspected for not containing batteries or gas, BBs nor a magazine (I did most of that, and trained certain staffers on doing it too), and tagged as inspected with a length of coloured wool hitched on. Despite airsofters' constant assumption that all airsofters except themselves are brain-dead, of course they were all very mature and careful about the whole thing and there were no problems at all. 2010's committee decided to go back to banning it though; less interest amongst that group, I think, to make it worth their while figuring out how to administrate it.

That's a shame that the 2010 committee took a regressive step. 2009 was the first year that I haven't attended Gaelcon since 1993 alas.

It's hard to know what the 2010 committee were thinking since I've no idea who was/wasn't on that committee although I've a fair idea who was involved with 2009 and why airsoft would have been catered to. Coulld be that they're [2010 committee] all of the "guns, OMFG" brigade which I seriously doubt - being gamers and all - or the convention centre wasn't happy about it despite the checks in place and protested the prospect and/or the 2010 committee felt that they wouldn't get a return on the efforts required to check vs. the numbers turning up for games/etc. Or as you suggested they just aren't interested which strikes me as peculiar given Gaelcon's ethos has always been about inclusion (within all practical reason).

TerrenceAnth

Military shows people! What would stop a few adult airsofters to set up a stand and introduce people into the sport show them what it is about.

I know i was at a wedding fair about 3 years ago and there was an airsoft table and the attention they got as HUGE!!!!! Even when they where setting up they came storming in with there armor combats faces painted and all the guys in the room (including myself) went running over to see what it was.

So think about it people go to military shows because they like guns and the idea of being in the military. If we went to just one of these shows a few guys in there gear and guns and show people that the sport has friendly mature people and that its easy to get into. And also let people know you do not need to go off the deep end and buy mountins of gear because thats another thing that might turn people off.

It couldnt hurt to try it right. Even if it didnt go well it would be a lesson learned.


Gaelcon 2011 maybe?

evilrobotshane

TerrenceAnth wrote: »

Military shows people! What would stop a few adult airsofters to set up a stand and introduce people into the sport show them what it is about.

Expense - selling stand space is a major part of how these events make money or cover their costs.

Time - who wants to stand at a booth when they could be out playing airsoft? It's pretty hard to get volunteers for this kind of thing.

Dead right though, military shows are the obvious place to start, but are already being done, with the IAA at Salute and local clubs or something at Duncannon.

Edit: Haa haaaa, you went to a wedding fair.

se conman

We already do the military shows.
Wedding fairs are also ways to get ideas for hen/stag parties.Good idea , maybe a bit OTT. LOL

TerrenceAnth

evilrobotshane wrote: »

Edit: Haa haaaa, you went to a wedding fair.

I was working at it haha not that i wanted to go to it!!!

To be honest the guys that set up that airsoft stand got alot of stag partys booked up that day!!! Not a crazy idea :P

Buceph

It was Gaelcon where I was thinking about the blanket ban. I hadn't realised the IAA had had a stand at one point. And I was going on the blanket ban based on what a couple of ex-directors told me, including the 2010 director. It was Warpcon where we had to pull the airsoft guns after about an hour because people were being numpties. But there's far more to the gaming scene than Gaelcon. Itzacon had weapon trader's before, doing "real" swords and armour. And they had displays with them. If you go to one of the newer cons, something like Conspiracy I'd say they'd be far more willing to allow it as the smaller cons have less hassles over the weekend to deal with and can manage a tailored approach.

The big advantage to advertising at gamers is that there's already a community built up, and I can see people being converted over because they already know the ins and outs of a "scene." But when you have guys going to five or six different cons a year, using up their spare cash and holiday time, I'm not sure how big a convert they could be to anything else. It's certainly worth trying. And it's probably easier than converting guys who play COD or BF because there's already a built up community to target instead of an online wild diaspora.

All in all, I just think it's amazing seeing some of the similarities between the airsoft hobby and tabletop gaming. Like I said, this forum seems to be filled with the exact same conversations as I've seen for years with gaming.

TerrenceAnth

Agreed and good thinking buceph hit the newer ones!

I dont know gamers are very easy to hook onto the airsoft line. I was a big gamer and got into airsoft when i was in college doing games dev i then got all my classmates doing it! So getting gamers into the sport is pretty easy. Call on the cod and bf players!