I blame a lot of this on the influence of paintball. Airsoft is losing it’s re-enacting element. Paintball even woodsball is so loosey goosey it’s just guys chasing each other around the woods in real tree camo. Their objectives are flags or a pallet fort, not much forethought or planning..... It’s all about how fast your marker shoots or how fast you can dump your pod into your hopper. Overshooting is the norm in paintball, and most importantly the whole sport revolves around WINNING. It’s no different from Motorcross or the NBA.
I see this mindset more and more in Airsoft as well.
Airsoft was originally something different, it was about realism and reenactors. Guns were 1:1 replicas that functioned closely to their real steel counterpart for a REASON. People chose to model their teams after real military units, and strived to look and act like that unit. Event coordinators strived for balance with an OP, with no clear winner and everyone coming away friends with smiles on their faces.
It’s what drew me to the sport originally. It was different, it was a cut above.
I’m doing Cowboy Airsoft now because the rifles and pistols are virtually NON upgradeable. It’s cut and dried. No B.B. hoses here. Just good clean fun and plenty of realism.