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

 

[Lanefan]

I can find, 3e to 5e just as easily, and 0e to 2e did not proliferate in the 70s and 80s that way when it might have been useful. These days you download a torrent of all 1e and 2e as PDFs and then it sits on your HD, almost never looked at and certainly not played

My point is that sales of 1e PHs in the 1e era probably related more closely to the size of the player base than sales of the 5e PH in the 5e era, as easy downloading wasn't a thing. Back then the best you could do was spend an hour or two with a xerox machine, which a few people did but not that many.

 

[mamba]

My point is that sales of 1e PHs in the 1e era probably related more closely to the size of the player base than sales of the 5e PH in the 5e era, as easy downloading wasn't a thing. Back then the best you could do was spend an hour or two with a xerox machine, which a few people did but not that many.

I am not sure it really makes much of a difference. Back then you borrowed the book from a friend instead, I assume the number of players per book sold has not gone up.

As I wrote earlier, the ratio of sales to players may have changed somewhat over time, but WotC might have a good idea how it changed. Personally I don’t think it changed all that drastically overall

I also doubt that people who pirate everything are a large part of the strategic direction for D&D, apart from not releasing PDFs and trying to get people to play via DDB (something they would want either way)

 

[Umbran]

Wotc always makes hyperbolic claims and expects us to believe them instead of giving evidence to support said claims.

So, if we are going to require WotC to provide evidence, we should hold ourselves to the same standard - what evidence do you have that shows WotC expects anything, or cares whether you/we believe the demographics they provide?

Note, speculation on a plausible reason why they would care is not evidence.

 

[LuisCarlos17f]

And we should remember Hasbro is more interested in D&D as brand but within into the videogame industry. Then here the internet polls are more important.

Other potential market is the fanfiction writters. In certain way they are also playing D&D when they are creating their own stories. Maybe here the D&D cosmology could need more creative flexibility to allow things in the begining could seem incoherent. For example the souls from Kamigawa could be reincarnated into "videogame virtual universes" in the afterlife, because the writter wants to tell her own D&D tensei story.

 

[doctorbadwolf]

Very true, and lately there’s been a significant increase in younger people identifying as nonbinary, presumably due to a combination of increased acceptance and broad cultural changes to how we think about and discuss gender in general.

Absolutely.

Go figure, a game built around inhabiting different identities would be especially appealing to those of us who’s identities are at odds with who society tells us we should be.

Yeah my D&D characters sure knew they were bi before I did lol don’t see any reason to think gender identity would be hugely different.

Some conspiracy-minded people have convinced themselves that basically every public figure is secretly trans. “The Q-angle” is their pseudoscientific way of trying to identify secret trans celebrities and politicians by drawing lines on photos of them and pretending that indicates anything meaningful about the person’s bone structure - particularly the angle their thigh bones descend from their pelvis.

Here’s a video where a couple of queer YouTubers point and laugh at these buffoons, if you’re interested:

Spoiler

Big oof.

 

[Parmandur]

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.

That makes you someone trained in MLA, the way God intended, not a Boomer.

 

[Vaalingrade]

I was told that my putting two spaces behind a period at the end of the sentence marked me as a boomer.

We can't be friends anymore.

 

[MNblockhead]

I feel ya. As a Gen-Xer who has one Boomer in his gaming group, I feel barely relevant. But I guess one of the nice thing about getting older is that I don't really care about that stuff much anymore. If I can sit down with friends, tell a good story, roll some dice, and have some laughs then it's a good day.

I think too much is made of these somewhat arbitrary generation groupings. I'm 50. Never felt that any D&D product was trying to exclude or alienate me. Nor do I feel that the game is any different playing with other people my age, or with people in their mid 20s.

Best to look for relevance among friends, family, and colleagues and not from corporate sales and marketing departments.

 

[MNblockhead]

Millennials are part of 40+ now.

I never bought into the snide remarks and digs at millennials, but one thing I REALLY hate about millennials is that they keep getting older. Reminds me that I so am I. ;-)

 

[Vaalingrade]

I never bought into the snide remarks and digs at millennials,

To be fair, I have the heads of the diamond, paper towel and tuna industries mounted on my wall.