Age Limit on Fields

[Keeper]

Just saw a local field here in PA change their age limit to 18+ for all games. I am sure they had their reason, be it good or bad.

What do you feel should be the age limit on Fields for Airsoft? Just interested in your opinions, not wanting to get slammed.

[sonic]

I think this really depends on the event. For a pickup game/skirmish, I am thinking 14+ because that's really the field's bread and butter and the games are shorter so problems can be dealt with quickly.

For "scenario" games 16+ with adult notorized waivers.
For "milsim" 18+, period. Just my opinion.

[Alchy-ops]

For major events with complex rules it should be 18+. For large games it should be 16+ with guardian. For regular sessions it should depend on the time of day, pre 8pm should be 10-16 age, post 8pm 18+.

[Keeper]

I guess it all depends on the Field's Liability and how they want to run it like everyone said. I have met & fought along side some very mature 16 years olds and I have also played with some very immature "older" players as well.

Sometimes Age is not a gauge on Ability or Maturity.

[sonic]

I guess it all depends on the Field's Liability and how they want to run it like everyone said. I have met & fought along side some very mature 16 years olds and I have also played with some very immature "older" players as well.

Sometimes Age is not a gauge on Ability or Maturity.

Well said and I think we can all agree on that point.

[Keeper]

Decided to add this here as it does keep in line with the topic so what. This happened several years ago to someone on my team.

-Parents Field Range
Father brings his young son to an airsoft field. Age is under 16 at least. During an intense battle, the son gets major lit up and the father gets upset over it to the point of physically confronting several individuals from the other team. Is this an Over reaction?

My thoughts: A BB does not know the Age of a player. When you see someone shooting at you from cover, you might only see the gun and/or part of the player's head and arm. Telling the age of a player from that limited perspective is hard to do. Sometimes other players do not know you are hit and continue to fire unless you hold up you arm/dead rag and yell hit.

Did the younger player do that? Maybe not and that could be a combination of him not knowing what to do when hit or the rules not being explained to him correctly. Maybe he did not listen or maybe his father did not make sure he was aware of the rules. A lot of maybe's to consider.

Should the father have physically grabbed the one other player to confront him? In my opinion, No. There should have been other avenues for him to resolve the issue such as talking to a ref or owner of the field. If you bring your son/daughter to the field, you have to understand that they will be shot by BBs from other players. That is the game.

If you have to resort to physical contact to resolve an issue on the airsoft field, you have already lost control of resolving the problem.

[MudOnYourFace]

I had a similar experience at a paintball field recently, except a few things were flipped. I brought my father out to play, and since we were walk-ons, we got put against a team of young kids (10-13ish). The youngest of the bunch managed to light my dad up pretty hard, from inside of 10 feet, TWICE. My father, I'm embarrassed to say, proceeded to blow up at this kid (who had no concept of safe engagement distances or when to stop shooting). He got into a fight with the refs over it and the day was over.

I think about this incident a lot. Obviously my father was wrong to blow up at a kid like that; he's a man of little patience, and he should expect to get shot playing paintball or airsoft. But I also think about that little boy, firing a paintball gun the size of his torso. He could run and shoot, but he simply didn't know how to play the game safely or courteously. There really was no reason for him to keep firing after my father called his hit. It makes me wonder whether either of them, in spite or because of their respective ages, belonged on the field that day at all.