Ever wanted to have your airsoft event managed well online? Of course you do! Especially if you are an event organiser who wants to keep track of players, and be able to have a precise targeting of airsoft players that you want to invite to your airsoft events, then having this tool is a must. So far, we haven't seen any online events management tool that can handle airsoft events, and most of existing out of the box systems are mainly geared towards the usual concerts, mainstream sports events, and exhibit management. Only if there's one made that is very much appropriate for airsoft.

That's what OPS-CENTER aims to answer.

While is not yet ready for prime time, OPS-CENTER will have its beta launch on the 28th of April. It boasts of features aimed towards the following: airsoft player, game organizer, and airsoft vendors --- ingredients for a successful eco-system of airsoft games hosting.

There is already an existing service that have these ingredients, which is the Airbana Airsoft Maps (disclosure: Popular Airsoft uses Airbana Maps) and from what I have learned about OPS-CENTER is that it wants to go beyond from maps, featuring some basic social networking features, and ability to monetize this with advertising features for retailers.

If you are an airsoft player looking for an event to join, signing up for OPS-CENTER will connect you to other airsoft players, be notified of events and available slots, share such events to your Facebook friends, and check the maps to find airsoft event and plan journeys accordingly. The map feature allows you to increase or decrease the radius of the event venue to discover airsoft shops along the way.

As an airsoft games organizer, you can upload photos or embed YouTube videos about your airsoft event with the media manager and you can add your contacts list from Facebook, LinkedIn, Yahoo, and Gmail so you can have an integrated mailing list to fire off invitations to targeted players. There are already built in rule sets that have been developed through crowd sourcing that you can use as templates for events.

To support this project, OPS-CENTER allow airsoft vendors and retailers to develop targeted advertisements. While the service is in the English language for the meantime, they are working on French and Spanish language versions to cater to other airsoft players.  They have a "Benefactor System" which will allow anyone, whether an individiual or business to be associated with any airsoft event. Advertisers can access ready reports such as impressions and CTRs (click throughs) to gauge the effectiveness of ads placed.

All sound neat, but then we'll have to wait until the beta version is ready for testing. What I have immediately noticed is the lack of a booking system which is so integral to any event management system. This is what airsoft events organizers will look into immediately as they want a clean and well thought out booking system that will not only allow "sides" selection, but also to generate ticket/booking numbers, and the ability to take in reservations or payments via existing online payment systems.

Thanks to Yosser's Airsoft Odyssey for the information. Interested players, gamer organizers, and advertisers can check the OPS-CENTER website to learn more about the service. A video below gives you an initial understanding of what OPS-CENTER can do: