It’s almost impossible to now say 2020 without saying COVID-19 in the same sentence. It has clearly defined the year and even become the word invoked for anything sour about this past year. It goes without saying that it has had its impact on the hobby of airsoft. There’s no aspect of the game that hasn’t seen and felt what it means to live in the age of COVID-19. So, I asked myself how deep is the impact and what was the opinion airsoft community? To get the answers I moved away from my usual opinion pieces and decided to survey some members of the community. Now I’m not a professional pollster so I went through the process as scientifically as an amateur can. I’m pretty experienced as a writer but this was going to be a new process.

In creating my survey I asked 8 questions to a small pool of people in the community, since getting thousands would be an impossible task in a few weeks. If I couldn’t get thousands of people surveyed I would at least ask a wide variety. I went looking for business owners, media guys, event producers and of course players. This way the survey would give us a complete glimpse with the results. Everyone was asked the exact same questions in the same order with the exact same examples. None of the questions were given to the participants in advance and I even asked them to refrain from asking my opinion on the questions. The idea was to ensure the integrity of the answers and prevent potential for bias in the answers.

Here’s what the results show by looking at the numbers, what some of their responses told me and overall mood. After we look at the question data I’ll give my conclusions from looking at the data and listening to what the participants had to say on the subject in general.

Survey Questions:

Q1- Do you know anyone who has had COVID-19?

80% of those surveyed said that they knew someone that has had the virus so far this year. So it’s real and not a hoax.

Q2- Do you feel it’s safe to play airsoft during COVID-19?

100% of those surveyed believe it is safe to play airsoft outdoors as long as the recommended measures are taken to keep people safe and adjustments are made, i.e. no standing in large formations. Everyone felt that airsoft in many ways was an ideal hobby for the times because of its natural intent to keep people at safe distances. Now indoor airsoft raised a red flag with just about everyone.

Q3- Do you still play regularly or have you pulled back a bit until COVID-19 calms down?

The community seems to be evenly split in their response to this one. Half polled still regularly playing and half pulling back. Not all that pulled back say it was because of COVID but life changes like work, but when that work was effected by Covid you can see it’s still the underlying cause. Those that clearly pulled back because of the virus look forward to getting back in, but see the need to take a break as contributing to doing their part in mitigating cases.

Q4- Do you take extra precautions when going to airsoft events because of COVID-19?

Over 75% of those surveyed do take extra precautions because of COVID, often saying they are following those local government guidelines for mitigation. They don’t live in fear but do have a healthy respect for the situation, enough to not actively be that guy acting like nothing is happening. They choose to live with the virus knowing that once they’ve gotten through the administrative parts of airsoft responsibly they can get into the safer situation on the field.

Q5- Do you think airsofters over or under reacted to COVID-19?

60% of those surveyed believed that airsofters in the early days of COVID under reacted to the virus, being more concerned with their play time being hurt. Overall though, participants believed the virus was over hyped in general but players didn’t have a healthy respect for the situation.
Those that say there was an over reaction cite the actions by some online shaming private games or hounding event producers for going forward with certain events.

Q6- Do you think airsofters take COVID-19 serious enough now months into the pandemic?

This is a question that once again has participants divided down the middle. 50% the community does and 50% say the community doesn’t. But there is the belief by almost everyone that the response and concern shown is something coming from the event producers down. Now this is most likely being prompted by these companies working to be compliant with the recommendations of the local government their AO is in. They almost all are actively working to take the right mitigation steps and this leadership is having a positive effect down the line.

Q7- Do you think COVID-19 has helped or hurt the airsoft retail industry?

60% of those surveyed believe COVID is hurting the retail industry. Specifically, they cite the brick and mortar stores being hit and the shortage in the supply line from overseas. Overwhelmingly everyone agrees online sales have boomed and industry insiders confirm this as they see sales rocket up with people staying home spending stimulus money. Now this boom is also seen by those brick and mortar businesses that were already operating well online or quickly saw the signs to shift their business. Adapting is the key here.

Q8- Do you think COVID-19 has helped or hurt the airsoft event industry?

98% of those surveyed see COVID as hurting events and that’s pretty obvious with all the cancellations and reschedulings. But there’s a silver lining, Fall seems to be packed with options and new mitigation efforts being put in place. Event producers are bouncing back and may at least break even in 2020. As long as the local governments are not problematic, 2021 should see a return to more normal tempo with continued extra measures taken at events.

My conclusions:

There’s no doubt that COVID is having its impact on our hobby, it’s a real thing and not a conspiracy to dismiss. Anyone pretending like it is nothing is not in the main stream of those surveyed. I agree with the feelings of the vast majority of those surveyed. COVID-19 isn’t fake and it’s not just a bad flu, still it’s also not something to hide under a rock and wait until it passes. We can make the right choices in mitigating the potential for spread while continuing to enjoy airsoft. It is the ideal hobby for our times. I believe this is reflected in the influx in interest by the new people pouring into the airsoft groups asking about new guns and where’s to get started. Folks are sitting at home googling COVID safe activities and airsoft must be in the top ten because interest seems to be at an all time high.

It’s clear brick and mortar business that don’t adapt quick are in danger by just waiting for customers to come in and/or praying the local government doesn’t implement another round of lock downs. Event producers that don’t step up their game are going to see guys questioning where to put their money as budgets tighten in the household. Not to mention questions weighing if the risk is worth it for mediocre game play. Indoor arena airsoft I hate to say it, everyone sees the obvious red flags and I can’t say it’s wrong.

Regardless of you political views or personal views on COVID itself. I think we can all agree that we could do a better. Event producers are leading the way for the most part. There are exceptions and the same goes for fields. So let’s all do our part and keep airsoft one of the safest activities we can do during COVID-19. It’s a great stress reliever, it’s an opportunity to get out of the house safely and it’s a chance to catch up with friends. Ignoring the virus or giving those that are doing their part a hard time is just stupid. We all have a choice but ignorance in this case just can’t be one of them.

Again don’t live in fear but don’t pretend the virus is not real. Do reasonable/responsible things out of respect for your fellow airsofters and put aside your personal politics.

Just one grunt’s opinion

Javier “Darkhorse”

------------------------------------

About The Author

Javier "Darkhorse" Franco, formerly from This Week In Airsoft, runs his own Airsoft Blog on Facebook called "One Grunt's Opinion." This article has been posted here as shared by the author.