Respawn, talk about an antiquated term in airsoft that just needs to die already. With Milsim ruling the airsoft universe we should evolve past this word and how getting hit in this game is handled. Respawns are for speedsofters and video games, not a community driving toward realism and an atmosphere of simulation over just competition. The first step is taking a simple term/system and looking for a better one that fits the more common form of gameplay at events. It does not end there though because you have to be able to scale up and down for the scenario or size of a given event. Will respawn ever truly go away? No, not at all. But at least we can start to enjoy a better alternative more in line with the direction of the larger community.
Now before I go into how I would reshape the whole respawn concept I have to say that it looks like a few op producers have noticed the need for change too. Some like minds have done some of what I am going to talk about. I do not think anyone has embraced or taken the full package as far as I am going to talk about. I am not reinventing the wheel here guys, I am just looking to put on the right tires for the terrain. That way we move beyond an outdated simplistic concept that only makes sense to me at the earliest levels of play.
Let's go full-scale national event with hundreds of players with multiple sides outlined by an event producer and medic rules. Then we can work our way down in scaling back to how we use the alternative to a simple respawn.
Photo:Respawn point, Ground Zero NAE 2012
Before I can talk about medics, casualty card, casualty collection points and aid stations we need to look at higher level event organizer interaction with the player command. In order to help facilitate better event fluidity and organization, the staff must become the theater or AO command that views the battle from an overhead perspective feeding information and helping make command choices for the player command. You may say that already happens and they pass down fragos or orders based of intel or objectives you reach but, you have to ask yourself if the staff truly knows the flow of battle and how it is unfolding. I have been at plenty of games where the staff does not really know the big picture. They are just waiting for the right message then send out info they planned for. There is no reacting to the actual battle, in order to do that they would need to be in a TOC (Tactical Operation Center) looking at a map knowing where all the elements are. That is just not happening most of the time.
This higher level of command establishes your FOB (Forward Operating Base) or CP (Command Post). That is already happening at plenty of events, nothing new there. Now the purpose of these assets on the map is what is always up in the air. You keep extra supplies there, you go there when you die and it is a bit of a rallying point. It is the good old respawn that we all can just not seem to shake. Now imagine if there was a dedicated command element there actually controlling the movements and actions of your side in a battle. Let's also imagine that you had to defend this asset in order to maintain that command and control. It changes dramatically how you allocate troops and where you leave supplies. It is not a foreign concept, there are op producers doing something like it.
Let's add something very important to your FOB or CP. Let's add an aid station or field hospital. So within this position is now a troop/player management system. You should be looking at players as assets or as a resource that is not just constantly recycling in. There is nothing realistic or gameplay driving about walking back to a building and now just walking back out with a random group to find another random fight. The FOB and field hospital within it can control this flow and allocation of battle winning resources. How does a participant end up back at the FOB or field hospital? Well, as you run out of fighting resources like ammo and water’ you have to withdraw back as it would be needed in real life, unless you can get a resupply mission to keep you in the field. This is a critical movement that command at the FOB would facilitate. The other way to end up back is if you die in battle and are sent to the aid station for a designated time period or until the organization of a command decided appropriate element. But there is a stop for you if you get hit before you end up having to go back to the field hospital.
Here is where the CCP (Casualty Collection Point) comes into play in keeping the battlefield organized and the flow of battle more structured for the chain of command. This is where we start to redefine the way casualties work during an event. Each player receives a casualty card showing some kind of wound for when they are hit. So when you get hit your squad medic hops into action to secure you (the casualty) and move you to the CCP to be assessed. A medic will not just be slapping on a bandage while shots are firing. They will secure you and move you to the CCP. This means that the CCP cannot be far away from the front lines in a random corner of the battlefield. Each platoon gets their own CCP to collect and assess their wounded. The location is established by command at the FOB based on where they feel it is best to keep the troops in it, and the higher level staff command decides if that location requested is best for the event.
Photo: CCS/MED Airsoft Electronic Wound System
Your CCP is a highly mobile asset that can be lost and relocated as needed. Each platoon gets one so that the troops are kept together better during battle. If you are in first platoon you need to fight and stay near first platoon to use your CCP if you get hit. You cannot use another platoon CCP or you have to go all the way back to the FOB for aid. This forces platoon and squad integrity and forces wiser choices when sending small elements on far or isolated missions away from the rest of their team.
At the CCP you present your card to the medic or platoon leader in charge and the card will dictate what comes next based on how serious your wound is. It can be a simple flesh wound meaning you get a bandage and are sent right back into the battle. You could have a clean non-life threatening wound and after a period of time in the CCP, you can return to the battle. Time off the field is to simulate time the troop would be down and unable to fight because he is being treated. Or you could have a serious sucking chest wound that requires immediate movement to the field hospital for a longer time out of battle. The casualty cards would be handed out randomly because in a real battle you never know what will happen. If you get treated at the CCP or field hospital, you are given a new random card before you head back into battle after having been treated. This system now creates a drastic change in how the game flows.
You no longer just get hit and head back to a respawn to then reenter the game. You fall back to your CCP to be treated and reenter within your platoon staying together, or you fall back to your aid station in the FOB for a longer period out before returning back in through your platoons CCP to rejoin your actual team.
Placement of your CCP and how you defend the aid station at your FOB are more realistic command decisions. Place your CCP to close to the fighting and it could be lost forcing all casualties back to the FOB until you win the CCP back, don't secure your FOB and the aid station could be lost preventing you from redeploying troops. Disruption in these key elements will change the whole battle in your favor or against you, and now you can't just throw random groups of guys at a problem. You have to be careful with what you use and how you use it because the individual has now become a much more valuable resource that must be managed.
That is it at the highest possible level. Now let's scale it down for smaller events. Start at the front line with simpler casualty cards and simply timeouts at the CCP or a flat out death card sending you back to the FOB. It is still random but simple. In smaller game play organizers might also nix the CCP and just use the cards and FOB. Still there should always be a time period off the field forcing the slow down of game flow and there be an actual feeling of hurt to command knowing they have troops out of action that they have to wait to use again.
So that is my idea when it comes to reapawning. Add or take away elements to make it fit your backyard battle or your 500 player battle, but let's move beyond just a respawn where there is no command organizing troops, where there is no designated out of action time and where you touch the wall just to walk back into the fray with no real plan. There is room to work with what I have laid out and the more intricate you go with it the more immersive your event will become. Isn't that what everyone wants, more emersion. Let's leave respawn for the video games and update that part of airsoft just like we have updated so many other elements.
Just one grunt's opinion,
Javier "Darkhorse"
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About The Author
Javier "Darkhorse" Franco, formerly from This Week In Airsoft, runs his own Airsoft Blog on Facebook called "One Grunt's Opinion." This article has been posted here with the author's permission.
Teaser Photo: "No respawn past this point." Australian soldier at a FOB in Afghanistan. Photo Source: Reddit.