I think the MiA community has always been mis-understood by outsiders. Many people still think that MiA is a team or a select group rather than a community open to everyone in the State of Michigan. To be fair to that attitude, MiA insiders haven't always been willing to educate and guide; MiA has, in the past, been clique-ish and somewhat elitist. A lot of MiA regulars are also apt to attack field owners and hosts pretty harshly rather than engage and try to correct bad behavior. Take a look at Futureball, for example. That field has gotten a terrible reputation in recent years - part deservedly and part undeservedly. To the point where people say "yeah, don't go to that field" whenever it comes up. The same thing could be said of Hell Survivors but for different reasons - the owners always seem to screw over event hosts.
A big difference between today and past years is that there are WAY more venues operated for airsoft. In the past, event hosts (like Team RAGE, the Hellfish, TFI, BTR, etc) would basically rent out a field for use. So someone would approach the management at Futureball or at Hell Survivors and schedule a date for a big event, take pre-payments, pay the field and then host the big event. The host or the host's team would coordinate the game play, act as referees, etc. The field itself was basically getting paid to unlock the gates and provide access to the land - nothing more.
Today, that model does not necessarily hold true. Many fields, including both Futureball and Hell Survivors, have started to host their own weekly/monthly rec events. TC Paintball in my neck of the woods does the same thing - they publish a schedule of airsoft rec play events for the entire year and personnel from the field run everything. For major events, however, TC Paintball still turns to a local player to set up, promote and run the scenario event that they host a few times a year. So that's sort of a hybrid model.
The point here is that, in many places, there's been a shift away from an actual airsofter planning an event and coordinating with a field to a situation where a field is trying to capitalize on the availability of airsofters. So a paintball field, while their bread and butter will always be paintball, also wants to tap into the airsoft market for some extra cash. The result is a lot of little rec games, but no incentive to host anything bigger.
So, if a major goal is to have more "big games," scenario or milsim style events, then airsofters need to start picking up the mantle to host by engaging with field owners. This may be a opportunity for some of the new teams in the state (looking at you RR313) to get out and start to host events themselves.
My suggestion would be to get some buy in from three or four event hosts (for example, Mosin of the Bastards
@Mosin , Pagan of the Suicide Kings
@Pagan , Yutanti of RR313
@Yutani-313 , Canton of FAH
@Canto , Deputy from Traverse City
@deputy865 ) to put together an event series. This event series would host a spring event, a summer event and a fall event at three separate fields in different parts of the state. The members of these groups could then hype up these events, provide additional educational information to help newer players prepare, etc, etc. These events would serve to initiate newer players into the "big game"/scenario style of play and get them ready to participate in bigger national level events or more serious milsim events like Operation Ambient/Fading Light or MSW. As Yutanti pointed out above, a lot of players are simply unprepared for bigger events, but who can blame them? A lot of these players have never had the opportunity to do anything beyond rec play - so they're still learning. Since Blacksheep and LC are basically no longer active in MI (for various reasons we don't need to get into) a lot of these new players never get an opportunity to have a "big game" experience that could contribute to them learning the "big game" ropes.
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.
And, you know, field hosts are entitled to do whatever they want. MiA was never really intended to sanction fields or to stop hosts from setting their own rules. It's better to have dialogue with fields rather than tear them down. Again, speaking for my neck of the woods, the guy who runs TC Paintball doesn't know airsoft. He doesn't understand that paintball formats don't necessarily work. And the airsofters up here have tried to work with him to fix things, get him to chrono properly, to create game formats that work for airsoft, etc. But it's a constant back and forth.
@deputy865.
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.)
This is me exactly. I have time to play maybe 4 times a year... once or twice a month would result in my wife murdering me.
The Old Guard also needs to take off their rose colored glasses every now and again and actually look around. The community we had in the past existed at that time due to some unique circumstances that no longer hold true. We've got a new set of players and a new community to work with and our focus should be on shaping that community as it exists. All the crying and moaning about "things were better in ye olden days, get off my lawn!" doesn't endear us old folks to the younger crowd.
