How Much Would You Pay?

[wvwcsniper]

im fairly new to airsoft and i feel paying 20 bucks to play isnt bad at all. i played paintball for a long time before i switched to airsoft and i paid a lot more then 20 for field fees and air. i think a small fee to help with the field supplies and maybe some concessions is perfectly fine.

[rig]

Forgot about paintball. a lot of paintballers convert. Some of those fees can be steep for paintball.

[sdk1968]

LMAO....

yeah to me the paintball thing is dying out and THIS is the way to go.

drug DemonDave into this from his paintball events... dont like the non realistic guns in paintballs..

but that is another story. back on the topic:

if i could have went to both days last weekend would have had NO PROBLEM paying $15 to play at FAW.

[Kool-Aid]

As long as F2P fields were still the primary games and P2P were once a month I would not mind droping 15-20 a game as long as the quality of the field was not equal or lower than a F2P or the money given by the players showed no effect to the field in more games to come.

Say you use the same field for games that run free but once every two months you have a P2P game with a $20 a head fee and that money goes back into the field for insurance, maintainence and construction for following games then that would be perfect in my opinion. Also, note that you can set up a donation sytem that I am sure people would gladly use as long as they are able to continue to play in the area.

You could also do P2P matches in the middle of the week for private games or team practices that cost $5-10 a head. As long as you are not soiling the game with greed or hard terms, then I see no harm in it as long as it is done properly and fair for the owner, buildiers and players. Like some said you are already dropping cash on your loadouts, gas, food...ect. So, paying more fees too often or too much can kill any sport real quick and that is something no one wants.

[Specs]

Even though it does not give you a choice I would go up to $25.

[79stang]

Kool-aid, the problem with your idea of have pay games and non pay games at the same field is that people will go to the non pay games, but benefit from the upgrades, insurance, props, etc of the pay games, when they themselves did not pay. Also, why go to a pay game when the week after it would be free? This results in low turnouts on pay days, no money and a bad situation.

I suggest that a field charges 15 bucks to play, every game. Its not that much and 10 would go to insurance 5 to the field. Then for bigger events 20-25, but with more props and maybe t shirts or game patches.

You are correct that over pricing can kill a sport, but look as the field fee as an investment in the sport. Also, the games, especially the big ones, need to be of good quality, otherwise they turn into 25-30 dollar open plays.

[sdk1968]

you'll be seeing the info from the Scary Creek discussion here pretty soon....

you'll see from that exactly what we're up against in trying to get a field.

hey STANG.... PM ME.

[rig]

Few more things to think about. There are other things that can kill a sport or community. Not having fields can kill a sport. With out stable full time fields that people can go to. New and old players will fade away or leave to go other places. Good examples are Morgantown. There are a lot of airsofters up there. If you want to find most of them. You have to go to WPA. If there is no place for a new player to try the sport out or get started. There time in this sport will be short. I've seen it over and over again here.

[jonahm740]

I am trying to figure a way to put this in a way that doesn't come off as gruff but I don't know that it is going to happen so to hell with it .

I agree wholeheartedly that if you are going to have a legit pay field it HAS to be done for the right reasons (improvement of the sport/experience over lining ones pockets.) or players will quickly become disenchanted with the process. However, like Stang said, if you offer some pay and some free at a field you will get little to no turnout on the pay days and you will be in the same boat as you were to begin with.

Field insurance alone often runs a few THOUSAND dollars annually and I don't know about you guys but I know I don't have that kind of disposable income laying around. That is also to say nothing for the cost of materials to build/improve/repair structures with or the time investment required to maintain them. Plainly put, if a community as a whole isn't willing to chip in (in the form of field fees) for a high quality field to play you are going to be left with fields that while fun will never live up to the experience of playing on a large scale field where the money goes back into it.

I don't even want to think about how much of the Raiders team money has been spent on improving MAM but I can tell you it is well over 1,000 dollars. That is to say nothing to the countless work weekends we have getting together to make it happen. Is it hard work? Yes. Is it worth it? Hell yes. Like the rest of the Raiders we are proud of what we have helped build at that field and wouldn't trade those days laboring for anything.

The point is, this is an expensive sport to get into, even if you are going the JG, Echo 1, G&G route. Gear, bb's, guns, batteries, gas, time off etc. all adds up pretty quick. Some realize this before hand, some realize it after the bug has already bit them hard. To me the payoff is worth the money I put into it because I get exercise, meet great people and when we host events give something back to our community in the form of donations. None of what we do as a club would be possible now if we didn't collect money for the games we host.

If you aren't willing to have a dedicated pay to play field that you support I am afraid that there won't be much of a sport left to enjoy outside of a few people playing on private land. If that is your cup of tea, more power to you. If not, come to a Raider's open, go to Red Dragon or Roseville. Check out a field where the money goes back into it and I promise you'll see what I am talking about.

[sdk1968]

hey Jonah....

you dont like it when my cheapy CYMA or JG hits you..... LOL


we mentioned this in another thread and in several PM's on this site:

once you go play somewhere like the Raiders set up with people who are not "dickheads"... you'll see right off the difference.

ive had a great time playing at Jokers and even in the pasture in B'ville... all with good people.

the people make the game. but the field makes the event.

the best field in the world blows chunks if the people there are dicks.... same thing in reverse a crappy field with great people can still be a lot of fun.

put the best of both together? hey then you have something and thats what your gonna have to establish over in WVA in order to really get off the ground & have continual play.

makes it tough to stay interested when someone like me can only play 4-6 matches a year & theres no place to go.

anyone who can make the trip really should try out a RR event to get a good idea of what you can do with a decent amount of space... you dnt have to have 100acres, you have to have the people who will commit to every weekend.

my hats off to those guys as i cant give that much time and thats why im more than happy to PAY TO PLAY.

s

[79stang]

Thanks SDK,

You bring up some good points. From an event organizer stand point the other key to a successful place to play is the field owner. The old Ruins (old School House) was an amazing place to play, but the owner would not let us expand the field and he would no let us play during hunting season, then turned around and wanted 3k up front to play there.

Mike at MAM, encouraged us to build on the field, it helped out his paintball and was extremely nice about everything. Even though the field is challenging to play on, the field owner made it worth the work to build things. Also, what is interesting is that his paintball business, field wise, has been so slow I think he has hosted one game in the year that we have played there. We are keeping the field open for him and he knows it.

Anyway, I encourage any of you who are on the fence about the advantages/disadvantages about pay to play to come to our event next month. See the difference and if the drive and 15 bucks is not worth it to YOU, then thats fine. However, I feel that the majority of us joined this site for organized plays and if you want a good built up field it will cost you a little bit of out of pocket expense.

[Kool-Aid]

Hands down after reading the above posts I can understand it and I say that paying for the event is no problem. If it is well made and the people that run it and play it are friendly and the game experience is great every time, then why not help the airsoft community by getting a real field out there for the state.

A real field would intitle promotions and media to bring new players in and to teach the area more about the sport. Plus if someone already has spent 1000+ in gear and there is a pay to play field that is within driving distance, I would rather spend 15-20 dollars and the drive then to shoot at targets in the back yard.

With that being said I believe we have came to the conclusion that an inexpensive pay to play field (some fields around the US cost a ridiculous amount, 15-20 is fair imo) is an A+ deal and that is what's going to happen. -Game On

[zombie]

Ok, here's my opinion. I've traveled to many games over the years with the old O.V.M.B. crew, only two of us are still around on a "semi" regular basis... I've payed up to $40 to play before and had to drive roughly 3hrs just to get to the field. When we hosted large scale games in Huntington at the field house(all day cqb, from 9am to midnight) we charged a fee of $25. This was because we had to rent the facility, it was nothing to have 50 to 60 people show up every time we did it. I personally have no problem paying to play, the event would dictate how much. For FAW for example, I wouldn't have cared to pay 5-10 to play just to put some of that cash back in Saacs pocket...