Running a Successful Airsoft Operation
Simplicity, Appeal, and Adaptability
During the summer of 2013, Team VOA hosted Operation: Black Hawk Down at Iron Triangle Paintball Field. OP: BHD brought out around 100 players – more than Iron Triangle has ever seen before. The Op was only successful due to its simplicity, appeal to players as well as the adaptability of the event personnel.
Simplicity does not mean that the event was simply two teams fighting over a single control point for 6 hours. Rather, simplicity applies to everything related to the event, ranging from objectives to the registration process.
Make the op as easy to understand as possible for the players involved. It's great to be unique and suspenseful by introducing a plot twist mid-game, but unless you work out the logistics for the plot twist ahead of time, it will likely end up with more players confused than entertained. Thus, objectives should be simple and straightforward: find an object, rescue an HVT, capture a flag, map the human genome, eliminate the enemy CO, etc. If players are spending half the day trying to figure out what the objective is, they aren't having fun.
Registration should likewise be easy. Before announcing the event, your staff should have most of the kinks in planning worked out and most if the answers available to the players. If you're not sure whether MultiCam will count as green or tan, or if a normal AEG with a box mag counts as a SAW, then you're not ready to post a Facebook event. Most prospective event attendees look at a page once before deciding whether or not to go and most players won't keep up with the updates. Have payment methods, rules/regulations and other details ready for players immediately. Assign certain members to answer questions to ensure none go unanswered.
In order to draw players to the event, you must appeal to their interests. While VOA typically hosts events that are strictly milsim (midcaps only, semi only, no lone wolfing, etc), we knew that the players drawn to Iron Triangle were a mix of casual and milsim Airsofters. In order to appeal to everyone's interest, OP: BHD blurred the lines by appealing to both parties. The squad requirements were relaxed, but the objectives and gameplay remained milsim. In order to ensure the chain of command remained intact, the CO's of both teams were VOA members. By changing the style of the event to match the demographic of the players, we were able to give them a unique and memorable Airsoft experience.
An event will seldom go as planned, so event hosts must be able to think on their feet in order to keep the game running smoothly. Adaptability can apply to something as rigid as the rules: MultiCam counted as tan for this event, but players were informed on the event page that MultiCam could be switched to green should the teams need balance. During BHD, the green team was pummeling tan during the entire first half and tan morale was running low. Because a good portion of the players were relatively new to Airsoft, we wanted players to have fun and therefore balanced the gameplay a little by having the CO pull back some of his forces in order to give tan a fighting chance.
The result of our staff's adaptability, simplicity and appeal resulted in a draw between the two teams, great gameplay, and even "the most fun I've ever had playing Airsoft" according to a few players.
-Erik “Chemist” VOA20
