I wish airsoft was more popular here in Canada. Retailers that sell airsoft guns need full blown firearm retailing licenses, so the price of them here is about double. Same for shipping them in from importers.
I paintball alot with milsim weapons, and it's great fun, but it feels like a really crude and "unrefined" type of recreational wargame.
It's dirty and grungy (especially in indoor fields), and the weapons are really... utilitarian (no matter how tweaked out they are). What I mean is that the most effective way to use any paintball gun is as a straight up assualt weapon. Always flank, always maneuver, burn in close and light em up. They arn't accurate enough to reliably get the drop on someone from long range. You can never "surprise" someone from a distance, because 90% of the time, the first shot will miss.
And then there's the players. Paintball is a much more mainstream hobby, and there's always a low ratio of enthusiasts to casual or first time renters. Ripping up a gaggle of terrified asian girls and then having to apologize profusely afterward gets old pretty fast. I'd much rather test my mettle against fellow fighters, challenging each other with tactics and maneuvers.
If airsoft is a sniper rifle, paintball is a battleaxe. Don't get me wrong, its a blast to hack stuff up like a barbarian, but sometimes you want that satisfaction of a well planned and executed strategy against other people who appreciate it.
