Thank you for doing what you do Luke.

I'm sure there are many like myself that saw a lot of what happened today without much frame of reference or insight as to why things went down the way they did, but the forums still feel like a safe place, for now.

Here's to keeping it going, being respectful, keeping a level head, and loving the game. Cheers!

-Troutzor

I think a lot of good points have been made so far.

A couple of things come to mind:

a) Making MIA the central resource for all things Michigan Airsoft.

Content is king. I think we have already made some moves in the right direction here. If we can drum up interest and conversation the forums will heal themselves. To be honest, even the Facebook page has gotten stale lately. I find myself wandering over to the page multiple times a day looking for interesting content, just to find nothing. I've always been more of a follower than a leader in that regard, I'm happy to give advice, answer questions, discuss opinions, etc. I think I'll be trying to generate more discussion threads here, and participate in active ones.

b) Statewide events

I love the idea of quarterly events around the state.  How about "MIA Field Days", bring them back! Perhaps organizing a community swap meet or product show. There was mention of something earlier this year, but I never heard anything come of it. 

c) Engaging new players, leading by example, expanding the community

Absolutely! The best thing you can do is to be friendly, get the kid in the hoodie and paintball mask to follow you into the bushes, or help clear a room. Talk about gear, share your experience. A lot of us already do this, as was said "Lead by example" don't judge.

Also, you'd be surprised by the people around you that might be interested in the hobby. I've recruited a coworker and his son, and two different coworker's husbands into airsoft.  Hell, we're practically building an office league over here. What's crazy, is these guys are all over 40, go figure.

So yeah, be an AMBASSADOR to airsoft and MIA.

d) What is the end goal of this conversation?

I think everyone is going to find something different here, to some a research resource, to others a way to interact with people across the state, still others might find a team or guys they want to play with and get to know in person on the field. To Gimpalong's point,

Is this conversation about getting people back to the forums and participating in the knowledge base?
Is this conversation about increasing the number of a "big game"/scenario/milsim events?
Is this conversation about addressing the fragmentation of the community and figuring out a way to bring people together?
Is this conversation about trying to foster a tighter, less antagonistic community?

I believe it to be all of the above.

Okay---so the last part...

As was said above, Michigan Airsoft (MiA) is not a team, hosting organization, or a field. We are an non-profit, loose organization, made up of airsoft players, event hosts, fields, retailers, and teams. Granted, Michigan Airsoft has been viewed as "elitest" in the past. I'm not sure why either. There is a non-centralized leadership structure for the organization, but again it's not centralized. There is no one single entity in charge and that is going back to the old proboard days.

Let me preface this: The following is an insane thought, I know the implications are far reaching, and incredibly complicated and I may get grilled for saying any of this, but here goes--

d) MIA isn't a team, an authority or sanctioning body.

Should it be? Or has the opportunity passed us up at this point? I'm sure this discussion was had years ago. It has so much potential to be a sticky subject.  I'm sure many cringe at the idea of trying to form an organized NPO. If MIA had that level of organization, what could it do to affect positive change in the community?

If you look at it like companies look at things like ISO and similar regulatory bodies. It has potential to standardize, organize, sanction, sponsor, and certify. MIA would become a huge part of the community in a ton of new ways, strengthen Airsoft as an industry in State of Michigan (heck as scary as it is, it could go as far as lobbying in the State legislature, imagine things like tax breaks to small businesses, grants or loans for startups, even allocation of public lands for public fields...)

MIA would have to partner with shops, fields, teams--everyone, and those would become a part of MIA in a new way. In the same way things like ISO are like that, you join it, you comply, you become a partner, it becomes you, you become it.

Okay---you may need to go an wash after reading that dirty mess of an idea.

Sorry.

This thread has sort of drifted a little bit, but I'll throw my thoughts out there too.

After playing at MCA this past weekend, and having played at several events in the metro area over the summer I also have noticed a change in the player base.

1. There is a new generation of airsofters: This is fantastic! This means our sport is growing! This new player base is growing around the aforementioned casual walk on venues like MCA.  A lot of these young players have never even attended an organized rec game or scenario, they are fairly uninvolved in the community, they may be on Facebook, but they're not here.

2. Airsoft Etiquette is disappearing:  There is an increasing level of ignorance/arrogance amongst the newest generation. I believe to some extent, this is where the unfriendliness is coming from, this is why disagreements breakout between teams. There is some tribal knowledge that hasn't spread to the new generation.  Things as simple as:

> Don't call out other players, because you think they're cheating; i.e. "CALL YOUR HITS A$$HOLE!" --Just tell a referee.
> Proper firearms handling practices.
> Engagement rules, playing safe, being considerate of other people
> "Ye Olde Good Sportsmanship"

3. New players are learning Airsoft from places other than the MIA community. Some of these new places choose to NOT adopt our practices and rules.  Lets face it; a lot of work went into the MIA Standards, a lot of though and trial and error, its tried and true at this point. While its every business owner's right to run their business how they see fit, it doesn't help the sense of community and continuity that MIA has set out to establish.

4. Us vs Them. The old guard versus the new.  Without calling out anyone, there is definitely tension between some field owners and the MIA community. Its been observed on multiple occasions on the Facebook group. I think this coincides with some of what we see in the above bullet points. Rather than working together its driving a wedge between these entities. Lets face it, some of these owners could care less. They've got this new generation of young players eating out of their hands. Who cares if it turns off some of us "Old Guys".

5. The Old Guard, or what is left of it, has moved on to the next stages of life. Myself, I've got a career, wife, baby, mortgage, etc. Most of "us" have that now. Its okay, but it means we only get out once or twice a month (sometimes less). Its hard to lead the charge with so many things vying for attention, I don't think I need to explain any further.
(I must note however, I definitely have more money to allocate to hobbies now, but Time =/= Money.)

 
The community would benefit from outreach; new players need to be welcomed in. While its nice to reminisce about the "Old Days" or look inward for solutions, new players need to engage, they need to know we are here, and why.

I know this is easier said than done.

You mentioned a TW5. What have you got for that beast? Do you have a compatible rail system available? I might be interested in goodies pertaining to the TW5. I'd love some more details!

It looks like you'll be about a half hour from three fields.

Action Paintball in Taylor
Matrix Airsoft in Romulus
Hell's Survivors in Pickney

All sound like good options to me!

Details please!! 

Pm'd.

^Puma1: A man after my own heart, looking at the load out in your signature--of glorious King Arms guns....

...Anyways, I have seen the FN A5M on the evike before, its good to have some feedback on the externals. Might be a great body to build into, especially if the internals are garbage.

Still real curious about the Well MB44XX series of guns. Those are pretty tacticool. Plus if they are actually, like, 80% VSR10 compatible, that could be a lot of fun. Again not sure of the actual build quality on those.  (I think wmy last Well was an MP7 AEP and everything metal externally on it eventually broke off, it was pretty junky, 5+ years ago.)

Example: http://www.evike.com/products/48511/

So anyone seen one of those in person?

As always, thanks for the feedback.