My biggest bugbear, and I only really think this is a U.K. problem, is that the majority of players are 100% nonchalant about the outcome of the game.

This means that these people are not motivated to put effort in, engage in any team work, push objectives, play aggressively, and sometimes even leave spawn. And to make it worse, there is a subculture of people in the community that look down their noses at you for playing to win.

As a preface to the below, I would like to highlight that I do not consider myself to be an elite spec ops milsimmer, or even very good at Airsoft. I’d say I am a player of average skill, and I apply myself and play to win. I don’t confront people about non hit taking and 9 times out of 10 give the benefit of the doubt. In the other 1 out of 10 times I will tell a Marshall.

Case in point, I recently played a woodland game on a big site. When the teams were defined at the beginning of the game, I was happy and it looked to be an even split.

Then for the rest of the day, our team was battered, literally destroyed all day, because about half of the team did not leave the spawn - they were in the spawn having stupid photos taken, cracking cringe jokes, lying down with their arms folded behind their heads, rolling cigarettes etc etc.

When I made this point in UK Facebook group after the fact, the overwhelming responses were in essence along the lines of: *“who cares who wins” *”we’re grown men with toy guns” *”as long as people had a good time it doesn’t matter what the outcome of the match was” *”I really can’t stand these try hards that go to a game and have to win it”

It really grinds my gears that people in Airsoft look down on you for putting effort in and playing to win, when in any other sport, it’s respectable, hell, it’s even admirable.