The sport of airsoft was originally created in Japan, as were the original airsoft guns. One of the mains reasons for this is because in Japan, guns (especially pistols) are illegal to even own for almost everyone; and even shotguns are near impossible to own in a lot of cases.
When airsoft rifles/guns were first created in Japan, it was originally meant as a means to give the people something they could own and hold, that looked and felt just like a real firearm. For this reason, most of the airsoft guns were made as replicas of real guns, and looked and felt extremely realistic. The types of airsoft guns created ranged from cheap airsoft rifles (plastic) to expensive (and powerful) gas airsoft rifles.
Since these electric airsoft rifles (and pistols) could only fire non-lethal, plastic airsoft pellets, they were perfectly legal to own and operate by anyone. This is due to the fact that they are not at all capable of ever firing any real, live round, or even metal BBs or lead pellets.
Shortly after airsoft guns came about in the country of Japan, the actual sport of airsoft began, which quickly became very popular in other countries, such as Europe, Great Britain, and then the United States, among other places. The electric and gas airsoft guns quickly became a huge hit, and it seemed as though everyone wanted to own their own airsoft gun.
Now airsoft is played by people of all sexes and age groups, and there are many different types of games. The types of airsoft games played range anywhere from small skirmishes, to full blown tactical group battles. Sometimes airsoft guns are even used for historical re-enactments too. The possibilities were virtually endless it seemed.
In many cases airsoft rifles are even used for many different types of military and police training exercises. Most commonly the automatic electric airsoft rifles are used for military training purposes. In most cases a small handful of airsoft guns are used for this, which are the airsoft ak-47, the airsoft-m16, and the M14 airsoft sniper rifles.
The tactical gear used for airsoft games is quite diverse. Some of the common items and accessories used in airsoft are: camo face paint, protective airsoft vests, airsoft masks, throat mics, and much, much more. The sky is pretty much the limit when it comes to airsoft gear and what you can get.
Airsoft is an easy sport to learn, and can be played by virtually anyone, of practically any age group (within reason of course). Also, the cost of playing airsoft is generally a great deal lower than other comparable sports, such as paintball, for example. This is mostly due to how much cheaper the plastic airsoft pellets are than paintballs, among other factors as well.