D&D General Some Interesting Stats About D&D Players!

The full cover spread for Phandelver and Below, by Antonio José Manzanedo​

GeekWire has reported on the recent D&D press event (which I've covered elsewhere). Along with all the upcoming product information we've all been devouring over the last day or two, there were some interesting tidbits regarding D&D player demographics.

• 60% of D&D players are male, 39% are female, and 1% identify otherwise
• 60% are “hybrid” players, who switch between playing the game physically or online
• 58% play D&D on a weekly basis
• 48% identify as millennials, 19% from Generation X and 33% from Generation Z
• The majority of current D&D players started with 5th Edition

 

[Reef]

You can say that, but I don't believe it.

Other than the fact that you individually are not happy, and are (apparently) old, where is the correlation?

 

[Micah Sweet]

I don't doubt some of our age bracket aren't happy. I'm also very sure there are some younger players not happy. I have seen zero evidence that our age group is being unfairly excluded, outside some posters who coincidentally are not happy and are older.

Every time the question of how they are specifically excluding our age brackets, it's always a response of what that individual poster isn't happy about. I don't even think there is consensus among the not-happy-oldsters about what is wrong.

You are well within your rights not to be happy. Trying to claim you speak for an entire age bracket (when you obviously don't) is where the dissent is. And yes (as a happy oldster) I also do not speak for the entire age bracket. But I'm not claiming to. The fact we both exist shows that it's not as black and white as you seem to think it is.

I'm not claiming to either. I'm making suggestions about motivations, because a question was asked about feelings. Whether or not I even agree with the suggestions I'm making, or if I do whether or not I feel its unfair of WotC, is immaterial.

 

[FitzTheRuke]

You can say that, but I don't believe it.

Sure, that's your right, but then you're making judgements based on how you feel about things, rather than on what you know about them. I mean, we all do that, so it's natural, but you're going to find that people will try to talk "sense" into you when you do, just because they're trying to be objective.

 

[Dire Bare]

Younger players also have their parents buy things for them, so I don't think that "the older audience is the one with money in its pocket" is really that meaningful in the long run. I patently disagree with older players having a wider circle—schools are great for creating gaming circles (and have been since at least the Eighties). They also are more likely to have a wide online social group than oldtimers. They also outnumber us (just like most generations outnumbered the previous generations)—the influx of new players is simply astounding.

Yup.

As you age, your social circle usually shrinks for most folks. And your life becomes more complicated, leaving less time for D&D. And your gaming group all moves away or stops playing. And then you die. WotC "losing" the older audience isn't about WotC abandoning the older audience . . . that's just how life works.

And the idea that older folks should be catered to, because they have all the money, is laughable. When I was a kid, my parents didn't play D&D, but they did buy me D&D books. And all sorts of glorious plastic toys in the 80s . . . Masters of the Universe, Transformers, GI Joe, Star Wars . . . that's all big business, and its kid driven. Some of that business has shifted to "collectibles" as the initial audience grew up, but they are all still kid driven franchises.

 

[Micah Sweet]

Sure, that's your right, but then you're making judgements based on how you feel about things, rather than on what you know about them. I mean, we all do that, so it's natural, but you're going to find that people will try to talk "sense" into you when you do, just because they're trying to be objective.

This entire conversation has been about feelings. I don't  know anything, and neither do the rest of us. If you disagree with my speculation, that's fine.

 

[FitzTheRuke]

This entire conversation has been about feelings. I don't  know anything, and neither do the rest of us. If you disagree with my speculation, that's fine.

I just don't like seeing you sad, man!

 

[Dire Bare]

Or their data, as presented, is curated to justify their behavior.

Take off the tinfoil hat man! Who do they need to justify their behavior to? Why would it benefit them to make decisions that run counter to the "real" data, and then publish "fake" data to "justify" their poor decisions?

What, you think if the grognards only truly knew their power, they would rise up in great numbers and cast down the fools running WotC and D&D?

 

[Reef]

I'm not claiming to either. I'm making suggestions about motivations, because a question was asked about feelings. Whether or not I even agree with the suggestions I'm making, or if I do whether or not I feel its unfair of WotC, is immaterial.

I'm sincerely sorry you're feeling neglected. I can see why that probably sucks. But suggesting it's because of some game-wide plan to alienate older players is a weird way to explain it. Isn't it more reasonable (considering the pushback your theory is getting), that it just has more to do with your general preferences and not your age?

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

There are more Boomers than Gen Xers.

It's a rapidly plummeting number. Baby Boomers used to tower over everyone, but now they're behind Millennials and Gen Z.

It is not a growth market, by any means.

the survey is in a space Boomers don't frequent, or the classification of what WOTC is calling D&D is something Boomers would not call D&D (aka 5e).

I think it's very likely they're not going into Boomer areas, but on the other hand, WotC measuring how many people are playing games other than 5E isn't really that important to them, given that more people are playing the current version of D&D than ever in history. They're not trying to save the brand like they were during D&D Next.

 

[Dire Bare]

We’re talking about a market demographic survey here. Its purpose is to catalogue data, not to make people feel good about having supported the company. Like, yeah, of course those 100 people are all very special. But that has nothing to do with what’s being discussed here.

He's not arguing for WotC to start worrying about old people's feelings.

He's just explaining that it may be WHY some older gamers refuse the reality of the game today.