Airsoft - the Favored Sport Over Paintball in Foreign Nations

Paintball is a sport which is extremely popular in the United States. For years, people have loved shooting these silicone balls full of oil-based paint at eachother. This sport is expensive, the guns are quite inaccurate, the equipment does not favor realitism, but people that play the sport are still extremely easy to find in the United States.

If one were to look anywhere in another nation, specifically Europe, the Middle East, and Asia, they would see that paintball players are rarely even existant in these foreign nations. Why?

Airsoft is much more popuilar and is the dominating sport in these regions. It's not necessarily that these people are uninformed or have no access to paintball equipment, but that they play airsoft by choice.

Why is airsoft more favored? Several reasons. Airsoft has been dominating the real action sports for years.

Cost. It's much cheaper to play airsoft. Typically, the setup costs are about the same as in paintball. You're going to pay about just as much to get a kit to start playing airsoft as if you were to do the same for paintball. However, paintballs are extremely expensive, especially in comparison to airsoft ammunition. Airsoft ammo is around 1/15th the price of paintballs. If you're looking for a sport that you can play all the time without wasting all of your cash, airsoft might be the way to go.

Airsoft is also cheaper because the majority of the guns don't require air. Some do, but most players choose not to use these guns. Most are spring or electric powered, which are both extremely cheap to keep maintained and functioning. You'll save tons of money in regards to paying for air, as opposeed to paintball where tons of money will be needed to purchase air for your tanks.

Location. It's true that in the United States, there are far more locations set up to play paintball. Even then, there are more places to play airsoft, in the fact that airsoft guns are legal toys in most states and can be used anywhere. Airsoft makes almost no mess in comparison to paintball and is more environmentally safe. In foreign nations, it's extremely easy to find someplace to play airsoft.

Realism. Paintball tends to have guns which look nothing like an actual, real gun. Airsoft guns are almost all 1:1 replica firearms. This means that they look, feel, fire, and weigh the same as an actual rifle or machine gun used in the Army. This is awesome because it'll feel much more like you're in actual combat while playing airsoft because you're not using a fake, never invented weapon.

There are still many more advantages to playing airsoft. However there are a few disadvantages, like the fact that it's a bit easier to cheat. However, most airsoft players tend to be extremely honest and only play for the sport.

Overall, airsoft is an awesome sport which dominates paintball!