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

 

[BookTenTiger]

I find the following
Maine Libary association
Maryland Libary association
Massachuetts libary association
Member of Legistative Assembly
Master of Liberal Arts
Master of Landscaping and Architecture
Meow Love Anytime
Montana Luna assoiciation
etc.

It obviously stands for "Many Lute Adventures," a style of D&D in which the whole party is made up of bards.

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

It obviously stands for "Many Lute Adventures," a style of D&D in which the whole party is made up of bards.

 

[Hussar]

Which seems odd, in that if the biggest cohort of players in - let's say 1983, during the 1e heyday - was in the 15-30 age range at that time, those same people would be in the 55-70 range now. Yet that age range doesn't even register on today's survey(s).

So where'd they all go?

In general, if over the years the peak age range among the player base is always in that 15-30 area, that just tells me they've consistently done a good job of marketing to teens and young adults and a consistently poor job of keeping them in for the long haul.

Were I WotC, I'd see an opportunity there.

They left the hobby. Seems pretty logical to me. It’s unlikely that someone who played a couple of years in college kept playing afterward.

People leave the hobby. shrug

 

[Azzy]

And before anyone ask, yes I have inside informatiom, no I won’t comment on it any further except to say that there are a bunch of people trying to fix this.

LOL. In my experiece, people that claim to have "inside informatiom" but don't cite sources or provide verifiable evidence don't actually have "inside informatiom" or anything else.

 

[TwoSix]

They left the hobby. Seems pretty logical to me. It’s unlikely that someone who played a couple of years in college kept playing afterward.

People leave the hobby. shrug

A lot of people just go through a passing D&D phase, although to all of us here in our 40s and 50s it seems unimaginable.

 

[LuisCarlos17f]

I wonder if there is source about the demography of the gamers, the videogame players, to compare some possible difference.

 

[Micah Sweet]

The relevant audience is not just about whose playing, its about who is spending. With greater experience--and hence greater likelihood to DM, and more money to spend, Gen X should not be counted out.

Boomers on the other hand are clearly irrelevant.

And yet they never say those you spend money on D&D. They say those who play D&D.

 

[Micah Sweet]

Boomer has also become more commonly referred to as anyone with old fashioned ideas. I was told that my putting two spaces behind a period at the end of the sentence marked me as a boomer. But as a Gen Xer, I don't really care what people call me.

I was taught to put the two spaces in, and that's what I do.

 

[Micah Sweet]

As far as WOTC is concerned? They aren't a target audience for new development.



This all assumes the information is at all accurate, which I would question. In any case, if you aren't buying current books they do provide a lot of the old material on DmsGuild, I think that's about all you can ever expect.

We don't know exactly where this data came from, what it's purpose is. An independent survey/study might get better detail and more information but I wouldn't hold my breath.

The issue is, they should not refer to "all D&D players" if they actually mean, "all our customers". They are not the same.

 

[Hussar]

Who puts two spaces "behind" a period? You put two spaces AFTER a period. Putting them behind a period would be just weird.