AbdulAlhazred
Legend
Thank you both.
I am not a business manager, nor an academic, but the idea that WotC's survey data is worthless is one I can't take seriously. The idea that the gaming practices might be radically different from what their data suggest I find pretty unlikely. The idea that any significant number of those 20-session campaigns started at a level much above 3rd I also find pretty doubtful, but that last point is my own intuition and not itself inherent in the example.
Yeah, I have to say, such suggestions strike me as simply people refusing to accept how things really are. I've VERY rarely started past level one or participated in a campaign where that was a practice, etc. The fact that the survey data matches my own observations over more than 3 decades of RPing just gives that last added ring of authenticity.
Beyond that, if WotC is concentrating mostly on low-mid level play, and that seems to be what they've consistently done for a long time with very limited exceptions then it stands to reason THEY believe the data is good. No doubt they've continued to collect data over the last 15 years and have a pretty good handle on how people play. It really just isn't that hard, even a small market data research firm can do a study like that for small money.