I haven't gone paintballing in over a decade but did it a few times as a teenager at birthdays and it was really fun. Thought it might be a good time to go again for my upcoming birthday. However, airsoft has also become a big thing over the past few decades so maybe that would be more fun instead. Thoughts, experiences, opinions?

  • Babs [she/her]
    ·
    3 days ago

    Paintball is run around hahaha shoot friends good times.

    Airsoft is larp as a badass soldier with realistic looking guns and gear and maybe some camping.

    Both are a lot of fun but paintball is less cringe-coded.

    • GalaxyBrain [they/them]
      ·
      3 days ago

      Airsoft sometimes involves camping? Cause gotta be real, whatever the equipment, I've always thought playing non lethal guerilla war with friends would be fun as hell. I wanna see if I can be snake in mgs3 and stealth for like 3 days to a destination

      • Babs [she/her]
        ·
        3 days ago

        Yeah this was me and my friends every high school summer. Camp gear, MREs, airsoft guns, and my friend's racist veteran dad giving us "special forces" tactical advice. Would be fun to do again without that last one.

        • GalaxyBrain [they/them]
          ·
          edit-2
          3 days ago

          Leftist airsoft nerds should really be more of a thing. Camping with your friends is our style of warfare dammit! This is just the Cuban revolution but with non lethal weapons

    • OprahsedCreature@lemmy.ml
      ·
      3 days ago

      I might be wrong but isn't airsoft cheaper?

      As to which is more environmentally friendly though I'd assume paintball because of biodegradation. Maybe the pellets are biodegradable too now though.

      • Babs [she/her]
        ·
        3 days ago

        Airsoft bbs are also biodegradable (very slowly).

        And yeah airsoft guns and the essentials (battery pack, charger, mask) are pretty affordable as an adult, and the bbs are very cheap, but don't you also wanna wear sick camo and a chest rig with extra mags and a radio and maybe some grenades and shit? And maybe you want a gas pistol as a sidearm, so you need mags and gas for that too. And that sniper on the other team had a really cool ghillie suit, maybe you should try that some time...not to mention camping gear, since this is gonna be a weekend-long game.

        Airsoft is much cheaper for the basics, but it's so easy to get larpy with it.

        • GalaxyBrain [they/them]
          ·
          3 days ago

          Fuck, that sounds fun. I wish there was even a remote chance anyone else who does it around the area isn't the worst. I just wanna play Rambo

      • EmoThugInMyPhase [he/him]
        ·
        3 days ago

        Yes it is. In paintball you’ll probably waste half of your ammo just trying to load your gun lol

    • culpritus [any]
      ·
      edit-2
      3 days ago

      This is pretty funny to me because back when I used to do paintball over a decade ago, it was a mix of the two. The operator larpers going with the 'soft' instead of 'ball' just makes me laugh too much.

  • hypercracker [he/him]
    hexagon
    ·
    3 days ago

    One thing I do notice is that all the airsoft stuff is a lot more Epic Tier One Operator coded which is cringe

  • Beaver [he/him]
    ·
    3 days ago

    Paintball is super fun, and typically the fields have more "gamey" layouts. I have more fun with it. The paintballs themselves are more visible and visceral, so it's easier to perceive when you're getting shot at... and makes tags against other players all the more satisfying.

    Both are fun, and are fundamentally the same sort of game. I think paintball works way better as a walk-on game. But airsoft is much easier to play in an outlaw setting (that is: not on a paid field).

    In both cases, you're going to be playing with some chuds.

  • SorosFootSoldier [he/him, they/them]
    ·
    3 days ago

    Only ever played paintball. I had an airsoft rifle but I didn't know anyone who played it. PB is great because you can either play it tactical and use teamwork or go rambo and run and gun.

      • EmoThugInMyPhase [he/him]
        ·
        edit-2
        3 days ago

        Because you can hit a windmill with a golfball instead of arguing with some meat head larping as Delta Force about whether you hit him or not. Plus, probably more diverse people

      • miz [any, any]
        ·
        edit-2
        3 days ago

        I dunno minigolf is fun you can dick around on a colorful course for like four dollars. they don't take up tons of land or have a bunch of fertilizer runoff (at least I've never seen minigolf with real lawns)

  • EmoThugInMyPhase [he/him]
    ·
    edit-2
    3 days ago

    You’re gonna meet weird people and rich gear hogs in both, but I’d say more weird people in airsoft and more rich people in paintball.

    Airsoft is often mixed with children, teens, and adults unless it’s a specific event/location. This is where people get to cosplay as elite operators or any other soldier (i.e., nazi), so you will meet conservatives and libertarians. Not necessarily a bad thing, but you can spot them. I don’t enjoy it because it’s hard to stay organized or larp when so many themes and playstyles are active. If you prefer to be more thematic and methodical, you’ll need to seek out milsim events. I don’t like the people because it only takes a little for them to reveal how much of an NPC they are.

  • Assian_Candor [comrade/them]
    ·
    3 days ago

    Do the airsoft pellets hurt? Bc the pellets hurting is what makes paintball fun I think.

    If it's all the same then whatever is cheapest

    • EmoThugInMyPhase [he/him]
      ·
      edit-2
      3 days ago

      It can hurt, but all those chest rigs and gear will probably pad it off nicely lol. That’s why it’s superior to larp as a guerrilla and just wear an adidas track suit with a minimalist Chinese civil war chest rig

      • GalaxyBrain [they/them]
        ·
        3 days ago

        Okay, I've found out airsoft inves camping in this thread and would fucking love to LARP guerilla warfare with other leftists. Wae and violence suck, but holy hell do I love doing safe simulations of it cause they're also fun as hell. I also just like camping and bushcraft stuff cause i used to have essentially a kilometer of farm and another kilometer of forest to myself.

      • Assian_Candor [comrade/them]
        ·
        3 days ago

        Yeah it's gotta hurt to be fun imo, otherwise you're not scared of getting shot. And then you may as well be playing laser tag

  • copandballtorture [ey/em]
    ·
    3 days ago

    For a one time thing? Paintball. Airsoft is much more of a "build" experience over "play"

  • abc [he/him, comrade/them]
    ·
    3 days ago

    paintball if you're bringing friends.

    airsoft if your friends are all into airsoft already