Mercurius
Legend
@TerraDave, I think that's clearly true--and thanks for reminding us old fools about this--but part of what makes D&D, and tabletop RPGs in general, a unique hobby is the wide age range. Aside from exceptions, I think it is safe to say that the oldest group of folks still playing D&D are those who were in their 20s in the mid-70s, when it first game out. So let's say ~1950 is the birth year for the first generation of RPGers (again, there are certainly people born before 1950 that play, but they are few and far between and the 50s-60s, or those now age 50-65ish, would be the first solid sized group of people).
The "Boomer" generation of gamers are those who started in the early to mid-80s, and tend to be folks born in the late 60s to mid-70s - people that are now 35-50ish, or true Gen Xers. I'm guessing that this would be the largest group on EN World.
Then you have the folks who started a bit later, in the 90s or with 3E ~2000. These are folks who are now 20-35, or G Yers.
The youngest generation, those age 20 and younger, are the folks that Mearls & Co must have in mind for "conversion" over the next few years. Of particular interest to WotC would be those age 10-20. These are kids who grew up in the Internet Age.
So we have a few people in their 50s and 60s still playing D&D, and a ton of people in their 20s-40s, with people age 10-20 starting to play. But the question is, how many will actually play a tabletop RPG? That's what remains to be seen.
But again, the point is that RPGs are one of the only hobbies that you have significant numbers of people from age 10ish to age 60ish actively playing. The upper end of this number will continue to go up as the first and second generation of gamers grows older and keep on playing.
But I ramble.
The "Boomer" generation of gamers are those who started in the early to mid-80s, and tend to be folks born in the late 60s to mid-70s - people that are now 35-50ish, or true Gen Xers. I'm guessing that this would be the largest group on EN World.
Then you have the folks who started a bit later, in the 90s or with 3E ~2000. These are folks who are now 20-35, or G Yers.
The youngest generation, those age 20 and younger, are the folks that Mearls & Co must have in mind for "conversion" over the next few years. Of particular interest to WotC would be those age 10-20. These are kids who grew up in the Internet Age.
So we have a few people in their 50s and 60s still playing D&D, and a ton of people in their 20s-40s, with people age 10-20 starting to play. But the question is, how many will actually play a tabletop RPG? That's what remains to be seen.
But again, the point is that RPGs are one of the only hobbies that you have significant numbers of people from age 10ish to age 60ish actively playing. The upper end of this number will continue to go up as the first and second generation of gamers grows older and keep on playing.
But I ramble.