Spoiled for choice

i left airsoft for about 9 months all together, local skirmishes and ww2 (admitedly ive only done two events so far) but i left because of money and a sudden lack of traveling ability. getting back on the band waggon and hoping to find another game this year and keep up to one or two a year, but thats about all i can afford being a "poor student" and all that

I do think there are, to put it simply, too many games. A very small 'community' spread throughout all the "choices" means more games become just not viable.

You also get cycles - so you have a year full of, say, Russian games - where the few Russian players are forced to choose between them, and then a year where there are no Russian games, leaving Russian players dejected and at a loose end.

I could pontificate on the subject indefinitely, but to be honest I just don't feel the motivation to.

Well this is the only second time I had to cancel going to games
Due to money issues now and I have decided to cut out the amount of games going now

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I'd gladly do one game every two months or something like that, but I have some practical constraints. It will take me some time to add enough gear to be able to cover multiple British impressions. I don't really have much interest in the Americans, I could never put on a German or a Soviet uniform and this serves as a natural limiter.

Maybe it would be easier for some people to attend if more games concentrated on resistance/guerilla warfare? Putting together a resistance "uniform" from captured scraps should be fairly easy.

I would love to come to a WW2 game but as most(if not all) local games would mean leaving my 15 year old son at home due to age limits we just go to open days

Cad

Always been a three game a year for me on average for money/family reasons and only do another if a) its close enough to be viable to travel rather than cost of staying over and or a single day game and b) if i have done all the household chores and be really nice to the wife to give me some more pocket money

Money is clearly a major issue for many of us at the moment. Im certainly having to cut down on the number of events I attend and like yourself I am less likely to pay too far in advance. Im sure this is a factor in many game organisers cancelling it must sometimes seem that there is no interest when in reality too many of us just dont have the spare cash to book up months in advance when your wondering how to pay the bills at the end of the month. Its a tricky one....roll on those green shoots of recovery

On a side note too this is probably a good guideline for me. As some of you maybe aware I am in plans for organising my first event so some of the points this discussion will bring up will help calm my nerves of no one booking on as soon as I have announced the game
Have don the registering interset thread though just to get an idea that its something people are interested in and have in the back of my head the timeline where things need to be looked at regarding numbers, but like i said no i know that people have to wait till they have the available funds then it makes it a bit better.

Hmm, ah well there you go; not enough games for my liking. I don't like regular airsoft and although I've never attended one I don't think open days would really be my thing. So I am reliant on WW2 airsoft to get my fix and use my kit.

Realistically money is not the problem, I have spent too much on this hobby already and am contemplating the Garand and/or some short mags for the Thompson. The cost of those makes the actual cost of an event even with travel pale into insignificance and the more so when I can at least then mentally justify the kit I have already bought as it is at least being used.

My big problem is other commitments and sod's law as far as the weekends events are organised, particularly this year. I see Josh has just pulled the game on 6th July - Unfortunately I have something on that evening but was thinking as it was local I would pop along but that I may have to leave mid afternoon - because of that uncertainty I had not booked. Unfortunately the game in August falls the weekend I come back off holiday and even if I have made it back to the country it is too far away to be sure of making it and the one in September clashes with Goodwood Revival.

If I know I can make a game I will book on immediately, I'd rather register my interest as soon as possible to support the organisers but that probably leads to more disappointment in the end as I'm still upset at Chariot and Foxley having to be pulled (not blaming the organisers).

Cheers

Charlie

In terms of running a game I prefer people to register interest and show support as soon as they can it helps get some idea if what we are doing is the right thing and what people want. In terms of the money I prefer to only ask for it about 1 month before the event, that way there is less problems with people having to sell their place if life gets in the way as it tends to.

Maybe it would be easier for some people to attend if more games concentrated on resistance/guerilla warfare? Putting together a resistance "uniform" from captured scraps should be fairly easy.

Certainly for myself, it's the 'uniformity' for want of a better word, that interests me in ww2. Seeing two sides in a cohesive uniform, in units, makes for the event. Having one side turn up in a mish-mash of random kit, even if it is 40's era, just makes me think 'open day' and would instantly put me off. Just a personal view, though.

For me, my lack of attendance at events is down to 2 things: Time, and health. I do Ww2, Cold War, 'Nam, Western and Post Apocalypse airsoft. That adds up to a lot of weekends, usually 1-2 a month in summer, add into that the odd re-en show, and wargames stuff, and I'm pretty much booked up just with the Gunman stuff I help out at.

My health also dictates that spending large sums on events where I'm not in a position to command, means that it'd effectively be a waste of money as I'd have to not engage in most of the running around and sit at the back/in the safezone for half of it.

As much as I'd love to go to everyone's games, it's just not feasible.

can be so many factors that can affect folks , for us mainly can we come 1 day , can we play usa though we may drift a little into russian , and i am happy to wait around for those games , we just dont have any interest in playing British.

we also mix it up by doing a few open days but in our ww2 kit, or trying to get a few local sites to run ww2 theme games every now and again so we get to play at the open days but we get to wear our kit to add to it , like few weeks ago 10 of us in Usa infantry placed at stormforce was a cracking day , yes its not going to be as good as say gothic was but we had fun working as a unit

we will always try our best to get to any games that have Usa we can do 1 day and not really over 2 hour drive.

but all games can't please everyone , kit , time , cash , larpy , non larpy take your pick

I don't know from week to week if Ill be home. That makes booking games even trickier.
Originally I wast around for this weekend so I didn't book for Crete. Now I am.
A little more flexibility on booking practice would give me more chance to play.

it would seem we all have our own reason's for how and when we book onto a game i was just wondering if any of the games that were cancelled due to lack of interest would have filled up nearer the date but it seem's to be the nature of the beast rather than a question that can be answered .

i was just wondering if any of the games that were cancelled due to lack of interest would have filled up nearer the date

Almost certainly. The problem is that sites want deposits, props need building etc, and if you're doing it as a labour of love, rather than a business, it all comes out of your own pocket, until those fees come in. If I'd only got 7 people booked on with a month or so to go, I probably wouldn't bother, and ditch the game.

Without the guarantee of enough people to pay the site fee (let alone any props, supplied pyro etc), organisers could find themselves up to a grand or so in personal debt, depending on the site.

That's a lot of personal risk.

To answer the OP's subject. Yes, there is. I've made this point before. There are just too many games on offer for such a small market.

But do we want a smaller number of bigger games? A bigger game would also increase some risks for the organiser and might not produce as good an experience for the players.

I would only agree that there are too many events if all the events were run along the same guidelines, but seen as each organiser has their own individual principal core of what their type of event is then I dont think there is any saturation of the calender at present.

i certainly don't want less games or variety , i was hoping that we could find a way not to lose games because of players leaving it too late to book, maybe if planners posted that they needed this many paying players by this time to make it viable, then that would be enough to get me to pay up rather than wait till nearer the time for a game i want to attend.