Changeover Poll

[Wulf Ratbane]

This poll unscientifically measures the preferences of regular posters at these boards. That is a big deal on some level, because these are big message boards. But it's not market research.

I'd like to see the results from a similar poll taken when ENWorld launched, if they exist. Six months after the launch of 3e, how many went back to previous editions?

(I was not an early 3e adopter, either... I was extremely skeptical, even hostile to 3e.)

In any case, even highly 'scientific' surveys are hardly perfect. Take this poll for what it's worth.

It's a weather vane.

No matter how you spin it, failing to grab over 50% of ENworld ain't exactly a good thing. These are the grassroots. Now, if suspicions are correct, and they are rebuilding a new base with a more accessible 4e (by design), that's fine by me.

 

[Jack99]

Yes, I had assumed from the beginning that the purpose of this poll was to gauge the preferences of EN World members (who participate in the general forum). Clearly, any attempt to generalize the results to the population of gamers across the world is dubious at best.

I'm actually more interested in the preferences of our community, anyway. It helps to know your audience, and it helps to know the leanings of my single greatest source of D&D information! (For example, I may make more of an effort to specify what edition I have in mind when I toss around terminology such as "saving throw" and "diagonal movement".) I have been surprised to see that 4E support is not as widespread as I had assumed, but as others have pointed out, it seems natural that a community of dedicated gamers would have some investment in the previous editions that held sway for decades.

That said, do you think that the biases mentioned so far, including self-selection and the holiday timing, are significant? My hunch is that the current percentages are probably fairly close to the true percentages of active EN World members in this forum.

Yes, I wasn't implying that the poll was useless, I also find it interesting to know what the people I "talk" to a lot play. I just mean that trying to extrapolate the meager and highly biased data to the world-wide audience of D&D is not the greatest of ideas, at least not if one wants a correct approximation.

But yeah, it's probably not far off, if we consider the regular posters. It's a pity, but there isn't much to do about it.

I'll start with the standard caveat that all internet polls are craptacular when it comes to providing any meaningful data. (And yes, Psion, this even applies to polls that display results you don't agree with.)

That said, I bet this poll is fairly accurate when judging the leanings of the EN World community. I suspect this community is the second toughest* one to crack to get people to go with 4e. EN World was, and in many ways still is, a site founded on 3e and dedicated to 3e gaming.

We've seen some astounding numbers from Morrus about new registrations since the 4e launch - something like 20% of our community has joined in the past six months, whereas we've been around 8+ years. I'm sure many of those folks are hapless 4e geeks looking for a home. Whether they stuck around after witnessing the Edition War...who can say?

Snip..

* The toughest community for 4e to penetrate would be those hardy souls at Dragonsfoot.

I think the Paizo enclave might be even harder to crack. 4e fans seem few and far between over there, sadly. I really enjoyed those boards until 4e was released, anyway.

We've seen some astounding numbers from Morrus about new registrations since the 4e launch - something like 20% of our community has joined in the past six months, whereas we've been around 8+ years. I'm sure many of those folks are hapless 4e geeks looking for a home. Whether they stuck around after witnessing the Edition War...who can say?

Just wanted to quote this again, because it's quite amazing (the original thread is in the meta forum) and I do not think enough people know this.

 

[Brown Jenkin]

We are still playing a 3.5 Ptolus campaign. After that we are going to a HERO System Champions game. We have always alternated between D&D and HERO so going there is not an indication of giving up on D&D. 4E however is nowhere on the horizon and its prospect is not talked about at all at the game table.

Now all I have to do is head over to the NASCAR forums and talk Indy Car. Its pretty much the same thing, right?

 

[Mallus]

I dig the Burne story hour, btw. Been reading since Destan pointed there in the days of old.

Thanks. That's the beloved 3.5e campaign in need of finishing in the new year. I'm going to try to pick up writing the Story Hour now that Burne --Rolzup-- is too busy for it.

Well, that depends on how the polls line up with their preconcieved opinions, doesn't it.

Sure does.

 

[Wulf Ratbane]

Now all I have to do is head over to the NASCAR forums and talk Indy Car. Its pretty much the same thing, right?

How DARE you improve upon my facile analogy!

 

[Quantarum]

All 4E, we're done with 3.5 for good, even the common hold books have hit the shelves at the local used book store. One of my players wants to run a superhero campaign, but he can't decide between M&M and Champions.

-Q.

 

[Alikar]

4E all the way. The only people that I know of who are running a 3.5 game are going to upgrade to 4th edition when their current game is over.

 

[FallenTabris]

I'm fourth edition all the way now for D&D. It took a bit to convert over my play group but most of them were casual enough to not be invested in anything but having a good time. One player nearly had a fit over the 'downgrading' of wizards. Yet he also was greatly pleased in that he'd never run out of spells. I ran them through most of Keep on the Shadowfell before scheduling conflicts put it on hold. I'm about to pick back up the game with them a few rooms away from the BBEG.

I don't get this high percentage of those who've tried 4e and changed right back. It boggles my mind. I always thought the so called Edition Wars were merely fought by vocal minorities.

 

[Darkwolf71]

I don't get this high percentage of those who've tried 4e and changed right back. It boggles my mind. I always thought the so called Edition Wars were merely fought by vocal minorities.

Well you can never please everybody, and with all the drastic changes made to the game some folks were bound to be put out by it. Even some who may have wanted to like it. Although the numbers are suprising, even to me.

 

[Grimstaff]

I'd be interested in a poll specifically targeted towards how many folks changed over from 3.5 to 4E (or not) as opposed to "earlier editions". Folks already playing 1E, 2E, C&C, True20, can kind of skew these results, as I'm sure the intention here is to get some sort of guage on the success of 4E so far.