Looks.
What is used (gear and markers)
Availability.
Amount of people playing.
Range of what is used, to a certain extent(flatline anyone?). Although the difference can be minimal at times, and greater at others.
Projectiles involved.
Sadly, price.

Anything else is pretty false.
All bias aside, this is what I believe are the TRUE differences.

agreed,
except airsoft is a lot cheaper
I love both sports though

I agree, although it is a trade off for availability or price. Which flat-out sucks.
I love them both, but I do like airsoft more for certain reasons.

This post has been edited by borninshadows: Feb 14 2009, 07:48 PM

Both are super fun to me. I'm planning on getting into paintball this summer, as I don't have a gun yet. I like airsoft for the realistic looking guns, and the accuracy you get. I like that you can just play with friends a lot easier and don't have to always pay for an expensive field. I also think airsoft requires a totally different kind of skill than paintball, especially in terms of ambushes and sneaking around. On the other hand, paintball is really fun because of the sheer adrenaline rush, high speed play, and the satisfaction of lighting someone up with a line of paint! I also like that paintball makes it much harder to cheat...it pisses me off so much when I'm spraying someone in airsoft and they are not calling their hits. If I'm going to go to a field, overall I prefer paintball, even though I don't play it much. But if I'm not going to a field, I like airsoft. Overall I prefer airsoft a little more because it's cheaper.

I tend to differ on the opinion of different skills are needed. If you woodsball or scenario ball, it's all about the same. Aim, shoot, don't be an idiot, thnink about your actions and evaluate consequences, plan out your attack/defense, use natural cover, ect.

Just think of the two as two different mediums. Each has it's pro's and con's. Paintball's a little pricy, but has a much broader market. Airsoft is cheaper, way smaller market though. Just many of the comparisions that can be made. No single person can be unbiased and say one is better. What about the people in a more rural/remote region that can access a paintball market more cheaply than an Airsoft market? See the point?

Isn't this kinda sorta completely exactly what isn't supposed to be here?

Right On. I've played a lot of paintball, and a little airsoft, and those are the only real differences. I have to switch though because ammo and guns for paintball is expensive. (And I have to refill air all the time.)

I started out playing paintball, then I switched to airsoft because of price. both are alot of fun. paintball has a whole different vibe, atleast for me.

Gameplay is different. Almost no one plays speedball airsoft. Also paintball is more accepted by the public. Airsoft is still an underground sport.

that's about every single thing that's different, isn't it?

sure the basics are there, but that's like saying Ford and Lamborghini are not that different, since they share the same basic aspects (bad analogy, not meaning airsoft or pb is better)


KK21

Took the words out of my mouth. If it looks different, is played with different gear, is played at different places, with different people, and costs different amounts, it is very different.

It is like saying that cricket and baseball are really similar. Sure, they involve balls and running, but that is pretty much it.

I really like laintball but I like airoft more and I would love to sell my paintball gear. I played paitball for 5 years and then I played airsoft and liked it more, but yes the price for bbs is a lot less than for paint

Paintball can be much longer range than airsoft. All paintball guns can shoot 200-215 feet stock. A tiberius T9 with tiberius first strike rounds can hit some one from 543 feet away AND the paint will still break.

Paintball also has a lot less cheaters. It's harder to wipe than to not call hits.

I agree with Zed though, they are totally different games.

This post has been edited by CAW58: Feb 28 2010, 04:23 PM

Nice necro, check dates.

I lolled. That is an extreme exaggeration. You could only ever do that if you were pointing the gun off a cliff.

LOL. NO.

and I've seen more cheaters in paintball honestly, I saw people wipe off paint all the time.

Paintball and airsoft are different, speedball wise the only similarity to airsoft is that your using guns.

The main difference I see in paintball is less cheaters.

Its a lot easier to not feel a bb than it is to not feel a .68 caliber paintball. In paintball you typically have to be consciously cheating, while in airsoft you could get shot and you might not notice it.

Other than that its just two totaly different groups of people that play. A paintballer typically does not equal an airsofter (this is coming from some one who plays airball every weekend)




And @ not so kurz. No that is not BS. Ive don it and measured it. A paintball doesnt lose velocity as fast as n airsoft bb. Sure, you would halve to arc it but it will go that far at its max range.

video: http://www.youtube.com/user/paintballtechp...h/0/5DXDm4LzuMY

Again, this is how far they will go, not effective range.

Sorry I didn't know my previous post was a necro, my bad.

This post has been edited by CAW58: Jul 29 2010, 09:15 PM