You may have noticed a relatively recent change in the last few years, particularly at Milsim events, to weapon class distinctions. Historically, there were only a small handful of class options available to players with the vast majority of players falling into one category, rifleman. In recent years, greater class distinctions have arose, adding variety, strategy, teamwork, and most importantly tradeoffs to weapon classes.
At many milsims today, there are as many as 8 or more weapon classes that a player can choose to play in, typically driven by the weapon that the player chooses to run for that event. Each class can come with trade offs in joule allowance (max FPS), Semi vs Full Auto permissions, Minimal Engagement Distances, max BB weight allowance, magazine types (mid caps or high caps and box mags) and even carried ammo and grenade limits (depending on the event organizer).
These tradeoffs give each role a more nuanced purpose on the battlefield. Team planning becomes far more important as how you build your team's class diversity directly impacts how you will be able to handle different engagements on the field. Each class has certain strengths and vulnerabilities that can be played around, both on how your team operates and which enemy players are higher priorities based on their threat value in a current engagement.
Having distinct classes shouldn't disallow anyone from playing based on their available kit. It is simply a tool to give depth to the game. A player carrying a 25lb Heavy Machine Gun has the tradeoff granted to them of extra power and fully automatic fire! If you show up with an SMG firing at low joules, you may be allowed to fire fully automatic with a 0' MED. These are not restrictions to who can play with what, but are lanes that your kit put you in when you are on the field, encouraging a much greater variety of weapons on the field.
Our team has had a blast building out our team weapon class diversity at the last few milsims, as it really does impact how you play the game. Do we run an aggressive style (as we did at Cryptic City last Fall) with 50% SMG Class players and 50% Rifleman, or do we bring a few LMGs and a DMR for more ranged firepower? It is completely up to you and how you and your friends want to play the game.
In contrast to the increased class diversity we have seen at Milsims, open play events seem to be lagging way behind, often with the intention of "not over-complicating things" or "restricting the casual player." At our last open play event we attended this past weekend, we showed up with some of our newer builds to trial them on the field before our next big event, and immediately saw the detriment of the lack of class distinctions. 99% of the players at open play are running M4s. This is not a problem at all in it's own right, but I believe it is a symptom of the lack of class distinctions. Who wants to be the guy carrying around a 25lb saw (me at this open play), when the guy next to you is carrying a 5lb M4 with a 5,000 round box mag firing full auto. Who want's to run a bolt action sniper rifle when the guy with a high powered M4 build is allowed to fire on semi-automatic at the same power as you?
A lack of boundaries for different weapon systems doesn't increase a players freedom at open play games, it restricts it. When an M4 is all classes, it becomes the default for all players. As someone who owns or has owned weapons off all major classes, I almost always default to an M4 for open play, as their are no tradeoffs for carrying my heavier saw, or running my lower powered SMG, or bringing a slow firing bolt action.
Introducing a few of the classes to open play games would enable a more diverse playstyle to the game without restricting players. I hope that the few minor challenges of incorporating them won't stop fields and organizations from gaining the fun and excitement of adding a bit of depth to the gameplay! Run and gun deathmatch airsoft is a blast, but it has more potential!
That's just my 2 cents. Evan Valardi, 5/9/2023