Potential massive schedule expansion, your opinion needed.
Posted: Fri Apr 22, 2011 9:50 pm
Please read and consider the following thoroughly and in full:
Currently we play four fields every other week on Saturdays. TT in the midlands, AF in between the upstate and midlands, and RF and FP in the upstate. I have noticed that a lot of people only play the fields near them, so about once a month or every other month most people play. I am not sure if this is a matter of not wanting to invest the gas and money to go to the games further away, or if that is simply all they want to or can afford to play anyway. In other words, would those of you who only play fields within an hour drive play more often if there were more games near you? Now, I'm sure you are asking why I am asking you this. Well, several different things have recently coalesced on me. and I am seriously considering starting to run games on all the other weekends we do not currently play. This is why:
1) There are now more fields available. I have four additional fields I should be able to host games on very soon, one in the midlands, one in the upstate, one in between, and one near Augusta. This would mean we would have 8 fields played regularly. It would double our number of games and the variation of fields they are played on.
2) I think this would grow the sport a lot in the near future, as there would be more options both in places to play near people, and dates that people could play. I have always wanted to play more, even though I already play nearly every game. I know if I were younger and could only make it to the games near me, I would LOVE to see this happen.
3) I am finally at a point where I can feasibly do this, and would really like to. Yes, it will mean I will spend a lot more time than I already do on airsoft, however, I should be able to make enough money hosting these games in addition to the money I make doing tech work and hosting the games I already do to cut back my hours at my day job. I need to do this anyway, so I can spend more time on the forums and phone with airsofters, do all the AOSC stuff I already do, plus build and grow my business. Since most of these games will have low overhead, I will hopefully net something from them. No one gets rich off of running airsoft games of course, myself included. However, after all the time and effort put into planning for a game, coming up with scenarios, posting and keeping up with game details, negotiating with field owners, taking responsibility for chrono, registration, rule enforcement, the field owners property, fronting all the costs ahead of time, providing equipment, etc. hosts do make something for all their work in hosting a game. Since I will be doing it a lot more, it (combined with the money I make doing tech work) should be enough to offset cutting my hours back at work to give more time to airsoft. I don't make much money as it is, so it doesn't take much to offset what I will lose cutting back my day job. Eventually I want to quit altogether and do nothing but run SCAS, do tech work, host games and run the AOSC (last one pays nothing of course) full time.
I think this can really grow the sport, give current players more time on the field, and give me more time to spend working for you all.
[*For the sake of full disclosure I explained #3 in detail. I think you all have a right to know who gets your money, and that there are also monetary reasons for me wanting to host more games. At all airsoft games the field owner obviously gets most of the money, but a few bucks goes to the host for all of the reasons mentioned above. Usually this means we walk away with something for our effort. I am posting this because I genuinly believe points 1 and 2 above, but want to disclose the other reason as well to be fair to you as the consumer. Money is always a touchy subject in an organization like this, which is why I think honesty and disclosure is the best policy. If you ever have any questions or concerns about money in the AOSC or from AOSC games, feel free to PM me and I will answer any questions you have. Remember, I and the other Reps always work for you, the player.]
The average field fees at these other fields would be comparable to the other ones, nothing will be increased any time soon and I don't want you to think I am talking about raising field fees at all. More games means more varied scenarios, more MilSim AND more non-MilSim games, more special training type scenarios, and a larger variety of places to play.
So, the question for the poll: (IF you have read everything above) Would you play a good bit more often if we doubled the fields and doubled the number of games to every weekend, bearing in mind that this would mean more games without a long drive for you? If you WILL play more often, vote for "A", if you WILL NOT play more often if this happens, vote for "B".
Currently we play four fields every other week on Saturdays. TT in the midlands, AF in between the upstate and midlands, and RF and FP in the upstate. I have noticed that a lot of people only play the fields near them, so about once a month or every other month most people play. I am not sure if this is a matter of not wanting to invest the gas and money to go to the games further away, or if that is simply all they want to or can afford to play anyway. In other words, would those of you who only play fields within an hour drive play more often if there were more games near you? Now, I'm sure you are asking why I am asking you this. Well, several different things have recently coalesced on me. and I am seriously considering starting to run games on all the other weekends we do not currently play. This is why:
1) There are now more fields available. I have four additional fields I should be able to host games on very soon, one in the midlands, one in the upstate, one in between, and one near Augusta. This would mean we would have 8 fields played regularly. It would double our number of games and the variation of fields they are played on.
2) I think this would grow the sport a lot in the near future, as there would be more options both in places to play near people, and dates that people could play. I have always wanted to play more, even though I already play nearly every game. I know if I were younger and could only make it to the games near me, I would LOVE to see this happen.
3) I am finally at a point where I can feasibly do this, and would really like to. Yes, it will mean I will spend a lot more time than I already do on airsoft, however, I should be able to make enough money hosting these games in addition to the money I make doing tech work and hosting the games I already do to cut back my hours at my day job. I need to do this anyway, so I can spend more time on the forums and phone with airsofters, do all the AOSC stuff I already do, plus build and grow my business. Since most of these games will have low overhead, I will hopefully net something from them. No one gets rich off of running airsoft games of course, myself included. However, after all the time and effort put into planning for a game, coming up with scenarios, posting and keeping up with game details, negotiating with field owners, taking responsibility for chrono, registration, rule enforcement, the field owners property, fronting all the costs ahead of time, providing equipment, etc. hosts do make something for all their work in hosting a game. Since I will be doing it a lot more, it (combined with the money I make doing tech work) should be enough to offset cutting my hours back at work to give more time to airsoft. I don't make much money as it is, so it doesn't take much to offset what I will lose cutting back my day job. Eventually I want to quit altogether and do nothing but run SCAS, do tech work, host games and run the AOSC (last one pays nothing of course) full time.
I think this can really grow the sport, give current players more time on the field, and give me more time to spend working for you all.
[*For the sake of full disclosure I explained #3 in detail. I think you all have a right to know who gets your money, and that there are also monetary reasons for me wanting to host more games. At all airsoft games the field owner obviously gets most of the money, but a few bucks goes to the host for all of the reasons mentioned above. Usually this means we walk away with something for our effort. I am posting this because I genuinly believe points 1 and 2 above, but want to disclose the other reason as well to be fair to you as the consumer. Money is always a touchy subject in an organization like this, which is why I think honesty and disclosure is the best policy. If you ever have any questions or concerns about money in the AOSC or from AOSC games, feel free to PM me and I will answer any questions you have. Remember, I and the other Reps always work for you, the player.]
The average field fees at these other fields would be comparable to the other ones, nothing will be increased any time soon and I don't want you to think I am talking about raising field fees at all. More games means more varied scenarios, more MilSim AND more non-MilSim games, more special training type scenarios, and a larger variety of places to play.
So, the question for the poll: (IF you have read everything above) Would you play a good bit more often if we doubled the fields and doubled the number of games to every weekend, bearing in mind that this would mean more games without a long drive for you? If you WILL play more often, vote for "A", if you WILL NOT play more often if this happens, vote for "B".