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

 

[UngainlyTitan]

I don't expect they care. That would be mighty arrogant of me. But they are misrepresenting themselves and I won't let it go unchallenged.

There are not misrepresenting themselves, they are the owners of an IP and trademark called D&D, to admit to a wider category of things called D&D as you do, would endanger their trademarks by the term "Dungeons and Dragons" generic.

 

[FitzTheRuke]

Actually, its talking about WotC customers who responded to their survey.

Yes, that's true.

God I hope so.

Me too.

While I played 1st edition a little, I consider 2nd edition to be the one I started with because in 1989 that's when I had enough funds to start buying my own books. I would have expected more people to have started with 3.0 or 3.5. This is surprising to me.

Also me too. I played 1e a handful of times, but I bought 2e the day it dropped and after that... we played a LOT of D&D. I was selling D&D when 3e dropped, and I was selling it when 2e's Black Books dropped. 3e was MUCH BIGGER for my store, but I don't know what that means for the industry. I was always under the impression that 3e (or at least, 3.5) was a very very popular edition. I guess that's probably true, but maybe it didn't reach the "mainstream" quite like 1e & 2e, and was only as popular as it was among gamers.

5e hit the mainstream again.

Proportions.

There are more (or about the same) Boomers alive today as Xers alive today.
D&D existed when Boomers existed and they played the game.

Sure, but was it ever a big hit with them? I mean a BIG hit?

1) There are 15-20 times as many Gen Xers playing D&D than Boomers despite Boomers being equal or greater in population and having more free time due to having fewer minor children and more likely to be retired

That actually seems totally reasonable to me.

2) The "D&D" in the D&D player base is only a subset of D&D (ie one edition) that Boomer D&D typically do not fancy.

I mean, this was a 5e statistic, wasn't it? I expect that Boomers fancy 5e no more or less than other editions, but they may be spread across more editions than other demographics, which would make sense, really.

3) The numbers are off or the survey has an error in which actual Boomer numbers were not recorded, lumped in another group, or skewed through the method of surveying.

I mean, it's probably a little of all 3, really. They're probably lumped in with GenX in this survey (or at least the reporting of it) but could still be no more than 1%

The number should be small but not less than 1%.

Shrug. Maybe. I think it absolutely could be.

For example: In 30 years of selling D&D, I can only think of ONE SINGLE person who was a Boomer who bought D&D books for himself, and not for a child or nephew. There's probably a few more that I'm unaware of, but... I get it's just my experience, but... 30 years of selling it! I've sold thousands of books to GenXers and Millennials in that time!

 

[Parmandur]

ah, that maybe helps square this circle. If the intent was to say 'of the active players, more started with 2e than with any other edition, until recently 5e overtook it as the leading edition active players started with'

That might work, still a bit surprising to me, but at least it makes more sense than 'more people started playing D&D with 2e than with any other edition, until 5e recently surpassed it'

A sudden thought strikes me: a lot of people playing D&D now might identify as "starting with 2E" is they played the Infinity Engine games in the late 90's. 1E had the Gold Box games, but those were not mainstream, and 3E had Neverwinter Noghts, but that may have mainly been played by people who already played the Baldur's Gate or Icewind Dale games...

 

[Micah Sweet]

There are not misrepresenting themselves, they are the owners of an IP and trademark called D&D, to admit to a wider category of things called D&D as you do, would endanger their trademarks by the term "Dungeons and Dragons" generic.

Yes, they are misrepresenting what D&D means for clear financial gain. I know why they did it.

 

[FitzTheRuke]

Yes, they are misrepresenting what D&D means for clear financial gain. I know why they did it.

Why's that?

 

[Micah Sweet]

Why's that?

As was said, so they can present D&D as a concept to be equal to what they're currently selling. Since the survey results heavily favor young people who started with 5e, it is in their best interest to present the results as representative of all people who play D&D, as opposed to, "all WotC customers who responded to our survey", which seems the more accurate descriptor.

As I said, marketing for clear financial gain.

Note that I am not actually refuting the survey results themselves here.

 

[codo]

Yes, they are misrepresenting what D&D means for clear financial gain. I know why they did it.

So you alone get to define what D&D means, and not the company the owns the D&D trademark, and is currently selling the game called Dungeons and Dragons? If they don't use exactly the same meaning as you do, they must be lying and misrepresenting themselves? Sure that must be it.

 

[mamba]

Yes, they are misrepresenting what D&D means for clear financial gain. I know why they did it.

what financial gain is it that they are getting?

 

[Parmandur]

Yes, that's true.

Me too.

Also me too. I played 1e a handful of times, but I bought 2e the day it dropped and after that... we played a LOT of D&D. I was selling D&D when 3e dropped, and I was selling it when 2e's Black Books dropped. 3e was MUCH BIGGER for my store, but I don't know what that means for the industry. I was always under the impression that 3e (or at least, 3.5) was a very very popular edition. I guess that's probably true, but maybe it didn't reach the "mainstream" quite like 1e & 2e, and was only as popular as it was among gamers.

5e hit the mainstream again.


Sure, but was it ever a big hit with them? I mean a BIG hit?


That actually seems totally reasonable to me.


I mean, this was a 5e statistic, wasn't it? I expect that Boomers fancy 5e no more or less than other editions, but they may be spread across more editions than other demographics, which would make sense, really.


I mean, it's probably a little of all 3, really. They're probably lumped in with GenX in this survey (or at least the reporting of it) but could still be no more than 1%


Shrug. Maybe. I think it absolutely could be.

For example: In 30 years of selling D&D, I can only think of ONE SINGLE person who was a Boomer who bought D&D books for himself, and not for a child or nephew. There's probably a few more that I'm unaware of, but... I get it's just my experience, but... 30 years of selling it! I've sold thousands of books to GenXers and Millennials in that time!

3E and 4E both sold plenty of books...but if they mostly sold to people who started playing in the 90's, that would mean that eventually those Editions sales may have fallen off a cliff, as the next generation wasn't buying the books...

 

[Micah Sweet]

So you alone get to define what D&D means, and not the company the owns the D&D trademark, and is currently selling the game called Dungeons and Dragons? If they don't use exactly the same meaning as you do, they must be lying and misrepresenting themselves? Sure that must be it.

Their definition is far more narrow and sales focused than mine.