How many people subscribe to D&D stuff?

[delericho]

True, but a 20% growth? When the benefit-to-cost ratio was at its lowest?

You actually gave a plausible explanation for this in your previous post - the DDI group total is those subscribers who have filled out their Community account. So, it's entirely possible that the total number of subscribers hasn't increased by much, but that many existing subscribers have filled out their accounts (the better to contribute to 5e playtesting discussions?).

Or, of course, the total could just have gone up by 20%.

 

[Jester David]

You actually gave a plausible explanation for this in your previous post - the DDI group total is those subscribers who have filled out their Community account. So, it's entirely possible that the total number of subscribers hasn't increased by much, but that many existing subscribers have filled out their accounts (the better to contribute to 5e playtesting discussions?).

Or, of course, the total could just have gone up by 20%.

I've been curious about those numbers for a while. I used to keep a monthly tally but stopped because they always went up. When WotC pulled the tools and people were rage quitting it always went up.
I even cancelled my account and checked the numbers using a friend's loggin, continually refreshing and they never changed. While that could have just been me (since it was a one-time test) it does suggest if you were ever a member of DDI and retain your account you're still a member of the DDI group.

 

[delericho]

I've been curious about those numbers for a while. I used to keep a monthly tally but stopped because they always went up. When WotC pulled the tools and people were rage quitting it always went up.

I can certainly understand that! Indeed, I'm rather surprised that they're still going up, what with 4e support being pretty minimal and with 5e on the horizon.

But, honestly, I'm not particularly bothered whatever is happening*. The number that I'm really interested in is the real number of subscribers. For obvious reasons, WotC isn't going to reveal that, and we don't actually know how the numbers in the DDI group match up with that total.

* YMMV, of course.

 

[AbdulAlhazred]

I've been curious about those numbers for a while. I used to keep a monthly tally but stopped because they always went up. When WotC pulled the tools and people were rage quitting it always went up.
I even cancelled my account and checked the numbers using a friend's loggin, continually refreshing and they never changed. While that could have just been me (since it was a one-time test) it does suggest if you were ever a member of DDI and retain your account you're still a member of the DDI group.

Well, except for the fact that I know from experience that if your subscription lapses you are no longer a member of the DDI group, and you can't JOIN that group, except by subscribing, thus everyone in that group is paying for DDI (or there's some bug/exception/deliberate misdirection going on).

I think Delricho's idea COULD be correct. I had a forum account long before I got DDI, so I am not sure how that works exactly, the logins are the same, but I guess there's some sort of setup you have to do be a forum member and thus be in groups beyond just getting a DDI account? Certainly the two are associated but not identical since obviously you don't get kicked off the forum when you stop buying DDI.

I think the whole group membership thing is SOME sort of indicator of something, but its hard to say what for sure, and its not unreasonable to be skeptical that it represents a simple tally of current DDI members. We will never know. It pays to be skeptical, but OTOH 80k users for a world-wide service where the whole community has millions of participants isn't far-fetched, and the fact that the number continues to go up still doesn't surprise me or conflict with personal experience.

 

[Jester David]

Well, except for the fact that I know from experience that if your subscription lapses you are no longer a member of the DDI group, and you can't JOIN that group, except by subscribing, thus everyone in that group is paying for DDI (or there's some bug/exception/deliberate misdirection going on).

I tink it's more a case if you unsubscribe from DDI you lose access to the group but are not technically kicked out, likely for some odd coding quirk, such as being kicked out being the same as banned from the group preventing people from rejoining or the counter only going up as long as people keep their forum accounts.

 

[Dannager]

There's a pretty straightforward way to test this. Find someone who had a subscription but let it lapse. Get his D&D Community username, then have someone with an active DDI subscription check whether that username is in the DDI group.

Also, notably, there was a point in the past where you were only added to the DDI group once you created a D&D Community account. I'm not sure whether the process is different now, but if it's the same then DDI group membership reflects only a fraction of actual subscribers.

 

[Nagol]

I tink it's more a case if you unsubscribe from DDI you lose access to the group but are not technically kicked out, likely for some odd coding quirk, such as being kicked out being the same as banned from the group preventing people from rejoining or the counter only going up as long as people keep their forum accounts.

I would hate to think that only 81K people have ever signed up for DDI. That population spread over a few years would be close to a catastrophic failure with even a minimal churn rate.

My guess is you're seeing the lag from long-term subscriptions keeping the numbers up and the service is cheap enough for the char bulder/compendium service for people to not bother cancelling while they play 4e. It's been just over a year or so since DDN was announced and less than a year since the playtest began. Keep your eye on the numbers during June-July this year. That's likely the time when disillusioned subscribers will start to drop.

 

[Hussar]

And, note, the rate of increase has decreased rather sharply. For a while there, it was growing by leaps and bounds. Now, it's just dribbles and drabs. It hasn't decreased overall, but, that's not really surprising. 4e, like it or not, is still the latest edition and likely the one that, simply because of branding, new players will be exposed to first.

And, considering the things like Expeditions and Encounters, there's a pretty solid base of organized play to draw in subscribers. "Hey, you liked this Encounters game, why not try a one years sub to DDI and get access to all those spiffy books you see other people have?"

 

[Jester David]

I would hate to think that only 81K people have ever signed up for DDI. That population spread over a few years would be close to a catastrophic failure with even a minimal churn rate.

My guess is you're seeing the lag from long-term subscriptions keeping the numbers up and the service is cheap enough for the char bulder/compendium service for people to not bother cancelling while they play 4e. It's been just over a year or so since DDN was announced and less than a year since the playtest began. Keep your eye on the numbers during June-July this year. That's likely the time when disillusioned subscribers will start to drop.

Well, that's the number who subscribed and set up a community account, which is an additional step.

 

[Hussar]

Well, that's the number who subscribed and set up a community account, which is an additional step.

But, that's the point. That number is pretty much verified. And the number does go down when people's accounts lapse.

I knew if I did a bit of digging, I'd find the post:

Just to add. I let my DDI subscription lapse. I'll resign up; however, my membership to that group was rescinded. So you do have to be a DDI subscriber to be a member.

And, for giggles, go back and read that thread. It's pretty funny.