Everybody was new at something when they first started it, airsoft being no exception.
To help everybody get started on the right foot, here's a short list of tips for the new player.
1: Using correct eye protection.
Swimming goggles and ski masks are examples of inappropriate and inadequate eye protection. They are not ballistically rated and have a chance of shattering if hit by an airsoft gun. These shards are potentially more dangerous than the bb itself (although don't forget the bb can cause injury and blindness too). Use protection that has been ballistically tested and rated for at least airsoft use.
2: Never remove or adjust eye protection while in game or in a game area.
The coast may seem clear, you may no longer be in the game, or perhaps you goggles need de-fogging or adjustment. But there could always be someone unaware that you have removed your eye protection, or an unseen enemy, or even just stray shots. Do not remove your eye protection until you are inside a designated safe zone (and even then it is recommended you keep it on). If you are on the field and your eye protection becomes fogged or needs adjustment, either live with it or call yourself out and proceed to the safe zone to adjust or de-fog.
3: Clear and safe your gun before entering the safe area.
Even after removing the magazine from your gun there may still be a few BBs stuck in the hop up chamber. To clear your gun, remove the magazine, then turn your gun upside-down (don't do this with any gas guns) and fire a few rounds on semi in a safe direction, so that the BBs stuck in the hop up feed into the gun via gravity and are fired out of the gun, clearing it of all BBs. Remember to safe your gun after doing this.
4: Invert the bottle of liquid gas propellant when filling your gas magazines.
The 'gas' in gas guns is actually stored in liquid form where it boils off to create high pressure gas. To fill up a gas magazine, the liquid must flow downwards through the nozzle into the gas reservoir in the gas gun's magazine. Therefore the bottle must be upside down to fill the magazine with gas.
5: Do not fire gas guns upside-down
As mentioned previously, the 'gas' in gas guns is stored in liquid form. Firing a gas gun upside down allows the propellant to enter the blowback chamber of the gas gun in liquid form. Most blowback chambers are made from plastic and none are made to operate with pressurized liquid. This causes over-pressure and risks damaging the gun and possibly injury to the user.
6: Wind high capacity magazines the right way.
Winding high capacity magazines upside down and out of the gun often does not wind the magazine fully or at all. The proper method of winding it is to have the magazine inserted into your gun and wind it the right way up. This way, BBs in the magazine's hopper feed via gravity into the magazine's mechanism and provide backpressure for the spring to wind against.
