Let's begin by breaking it down a bit...
The two most complicated aspects of airsoft, overly detailed scenarios and medic rules. For many in our sport medic rules have become more of nuisance and irritation than an effective part of game play. Overwrought gimmicks like have turned what was supposed to be an integral part of the milsim experience into an tactical mess that has the ability to frustrate players and delay game play.
In a perfect airsoft world medic rules would be an effective and enjoyable part of game play. However, airsoft isn't perfect. Scenarios, teams and squads are prone to dysfunction. Hey that's life, adapting to your environment although difficult is the key to making things work in our world. Perhaps you think I'm being unfair or biased in my point of view? Maybe you're thinking just because I've been soured by my experiences with medic rules I am generalizing? Well you're right, I am generalizing and the reason I am doing so is because the logic behind my reasoning is universal. Whether you play in a different state or a different continent we all suffer from similar problems.
For the skeptics to my theory, here is a breakdown of my logic, one problem at a time...
Unfamiliarity- Being on a team is cool, having familiarity with each other and effective tactics based game play is even better. Unfamiliar teammates often decreases your ability to uses tactics against the opfor. But as many of you know more often than not you are placed on team that not only included your squad but a group of guys you don't know. Many times, due to this unfamiliarity squad based tactics are thrown out the window. Maybe you're stuck with a bunch of guys who don't listen and just want to assault hunting down every tango in sight. Maybe you're stuck with guys who are timid and all they want to do is defend. Either way you look at it your potential of being screwed is multiplied. Whether you pick a medic you are familiar with and can trust or a guy who said he wants it because he is the fastest, his chances of staying effective are slim.
Why?
What if you have a group of guys who don't listen because they think their tier one assassins and are running in different directions because they have different ideas on what it's going to take to win. How is a medic cover all that? They can't! Chances are the medic is going to stay with the most stable group of guys and those guys are the ones who are going to be respawning back in again and again. Where are the rest of the guys? They are hundred yards down the field calling for a medic on comms or yelling for one at the top of their lungs while the opfor over runs their position. There is no way your sending your medic to save that guy, and because of that your chances of winning the game just decreased by one gun.
# of medics- How many medics does it take to stay effective? At minimum one per squad, realistically you'll probably only have one or two depending on your teams size. There in lies the problem, if you are at a quality field who's admins run objective based scenarios one or two medics isn't going to cut it. As is often seen this type of field will run a scenario with multiple objectives and a time limit in which to complete them. In these situations the only choice maybe be to break up your team into even smaller groups to either beat the other team to the objective or complete each objective within the allotted time. So the question is, which squad do you send the medic with? There is no way to tell which squad has the greater chance of success in completing their mission. It's a toss up there is know right answer. So it may turn out that having to assign medics can be an unwinnable situation.
Comms- For more experienced airsofters, it's common knowledge that at any game you attend only 30%-60% of those involved will be running with comms. There lies the problem, in a good size field how can medics be expected to help others when the dead player has no way to contact anyone? They can't, so that means if your on a team where 60% of your guys aren't' running comms and they are have no other way to contact the medic, along with your assigned mission you just added the potential to lose 60% of your force. For anyone who has experienced similar situations, you know it can piss you off more than the opfor not calling their hits.
Solutions
There are multiple solutions to this problem. For my part, I am partial to the timed spawn in place rule, with the option to move depending on the position of the opfor or the spawn at a predesignated location rule. These are simple and they work, two important factors in developing medic rules. Some work better than others, effectiveness depends on the strength of your admins, your ability to simplify, the environment and the participants involved. This means that there is no perfect solution, with adaptability comes trial and error. Creating the perfect airsoft experience doesn't come easy, ask those who run games.
Thomas Edison, when asked if he was frustrated at attempting 1,000 different ways to build a light bulb before he succeeding said, "No, we now know a 1,000 different ways not to build light bulb."
Food for thought...
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