I just went airsofting with some friends the other day (and got quite a nice sunburn). I haven't ever gone paintballing, but I think that I'd enjoy airsoft more for a number of reasons. First, with airsoft, all you need in terms of protection is a pair of goggles, whith paintball, even with protection you get a giant welt. The whole prospect of painball guns being so strong is kinda a turnoff. Although airsoft does have its down sides, especially how much your shots are effected by wind, there are a lot of up sides: it can be done in a lot more places that paintballing, it's safer, you can reuse pellets, shots aren't as painful, you don't need to pay for gas (unless you have a gas gun), and so on. The good part about airsoft is that a person can understand how to respect it, because it can be dangerous, but still remain reasonably safe. Just my take...