What do computer games teach us about airsoft? - part 1
Why in airsoft, hardly anyone carries two replicas and other tricks that we extract from video games.
Sometimes I hear voices that airsoft is a bit like computer games, but in real life. There is no doubt that there is a lot of truth to this. There are respawns, rounds, catching the flag. But let's not succumb to a collective hallucination. Just as there are big differences between real life and, for example, a movie, the same is true of video games. Let's go through my list of what ideas do not exist in airsoft. Hope we can remember them the next time we try to double jump from tree to tree on a skirmish. Maybe thanks to this we will revise our expectations.
We are mostly not so fit.
Probably playing the latest FPS title, hardly anyone wonders what distances the characters sprint. Furthermore! I think even fewer people realize that this distance is being travelled with all the equipment on. There will be a bit more about the hardware in a moment, but for now let's try to make a loose estimate. Two rifles, a pistol, ammunition, and some smaller equipment. It is easy to make a dozen or even several dozen kilograms of it. That's a lot. Now let's try to realize that our character in the game runs at full sprint with such a weight for several hundred meters. Or at least the equivalent of such a distance in the game. It's hard to make accurate estimates here, because the scales of video games are very different and their mechanics often allow us to improve the condition of our character as a bonus for levels. I don't know about you, but despite some training I feel tired when I sprint some distances with much lighter tactical equipment.
Another thing is that even when we do not press the sprint button, our character moves quite quickly. Usually the default way to "walk" is to "jog". Game characters rarely just walk. This makes sense from a game design perspective, as a slowly moving character would make the game boring. But on the other hand, it is a kind of realism limitation. There are games that try to be more simulating in this regard and game character just walks there but sometimes it is criticized by the audience. Apparently, we prefer to give a bit of authenticity at the expense of improving dynamics.
Let's think about one more aspect of how game characters move. Namely, it is about how (relatively) easily they overcome all kinds of obstacles such as boxes, fences and rocks. More than once, as a game character, I run away from danger and jump out of the window to avoid my enemies. Oh, if only it was that simple in real live! Every time I climb a wall during a shooting game or go through a window, I imagine all the cases when the character I control in the game did it without any problem, as if he was undergoing advanced gymnastic training. Meanwhile, I ... Well, let me just say that I don't have so much grace. Probably the only person in our airsoft world who I can say that has achieved a comparable level of fitness is Jdrek. Watching him climb various obstacles, I am full of admiration for his condition and, at the same time, I have some concerns about safety. Some of these feats are backbreaking. I certainly do not urge anyone to copy them.
You need a van to move all of that gear.
In the previous part of this article, I mentioned that game characters seem to carry quite a lot of equipment with them. It is also a kind of game designers' choice dictated by the desire to make a game that will be interesting. How much more would we be frustrated if it turned out that every time, we want to raise one type of grant, we have to get rid of the others? Well, let's try to list what the characters from the games have with them. Certainly, there is a group of pieces of equipment that have their airsoft counterparts. First of all, ammunition and magazines. In addition, more and more often on the market we can find grenades adapted to our hobby. Both for grenade launchers mounted under the barrel and thrown. It gets harder and harder. It's hard to find a good airsoft equivalent of landmines. I've seen replicas of Claymore, but I don't think they took on well. A whole group of specialist equipment elements also does not exist in our games, so we will rarely see someone with a wire cutter or a grenade launcher. In contrast, characters in games wear it. In addition, how much less an airsoft replica or dummy ballistic plate weighs less than its real counterpart!
Another issue related to the gear is how to use it. And I mean here, for example, that having many different types of equipment, we must be able to use them properly. Realism freezes here again. While changing the magazine is a skill that can be practiced even in airsoft, blow up buildings or repair vehicles can be left to computer games. By the way, I'd really like to be able to change magazines as efficiently as game characters. Even though I practice this skill at home sometimes, I haven't reached a satisfactory level yet. Maybe because I treat games as my determinant. There, however, no one has to change the magazine in an uncomfortable position under fire or nobody will fall out under the influence of nerves. How much easier it would be to play airsoft if we were not exposed to such factors?
Some games try to address one more topic that I want to discuss, namely the amount of carried weapons. It is true that these are still quite cautious attempts, but limiting yourself to one long unit and one shorter is perhaps the most realistic way to approach the subject. The fact is that you can see people on skirmishes who, for example, have a replica of a short shotgun attached to their backpack. Or they will carry a short submachine gun in addition to the pistol. But it is a definite minority. And no coincidence! It is simply impractical and quite difficult to carry a rifle, a sniper rifle and a pistol, as in video games. I won't mention the magazines for them. Calibre of rounds is less of a problem, because all replicas will shoot 6mm BBs, but different BB weights is an additional factor. And the most important. In a regular game, there won't be many opportunities to use both types of weapons efficiently. It is different in games where the levels dictated by design choices are built so that the tasks set before us are varied. Which, by the way, is also not entirely realistic.
What are our conclusions?
In the article I discussed a few examples of phenomena that, although they are quite common in video games, unfortunately do not exist in airsoft. First of all, game characters have a superhuman condition that is impossible to recreate in the real world. It allows you to cover long stretches of terrain at high speed and carry extremely extensive equipment, which in the real world would be a serious burden. In addition, due to the requirements of the game, they carry equipment that would rather not be useful in airsoft and in quantities that are not adequate for our applications. I believe that the most important conclusion from these considerations is not to take gaming situations too seriously and not be inspired by them to a large extent. It is definitely worth improving your skills and condition to get closer to what we represent in games. It is unlikely to hurt us. However, sometimes it is worth to take a walk around the wall instead of jumping over it and leaving an additional replica at home or in the trunk of the car. For sure our back will thank us for it.
Author: Boreq
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