Actual age of the 4th edition player base

[HeinorNY]

1) 30-35
2) I have no idea but I hope it's a yonger audience than 30-35. D&D needs new younger players, otherwise the current players will eventually die and D&D will die with them.
3) Friend.

 

[Thunderfoot]

1) somewhere in the early to mid 30s
2) 12 - 90 - I honestly think WotC is going to try to finally crash the mass market with this edition
3) Through my cousin (I still play, he barely has working brain cells)

 

[HellHound]

I'm wondering what WoTC's gameplan is these days, and If we happen to be part of it
So..
3 questions:

1) What do you think is the average age of the majority of current DnD players?

2) What age bracket do you think WoTC is targeting with the new edition?

3) How were YOU brought into the game? (Friend's, older relative, picked it up on your own, etc)?

The average D&D player is still quite young. I work for a High School and both my daughters go to high schools and I still see a LOT of D&D players in High School - at least as many as when I was there in my teens.

These aren't the people buying the most books (in fact, my own data collection has shown that 90% of them don't own a single book), but this many 13-18 year old gamers is certainly bringing the average age down from the 30-35 I keep seeing mentioned by people in these threads.

Hell, when I was in High School, for every person who owned the core rules to a game, there were at least six people who played the game. The same holds true today as far as my research has shown.

There are a LOT of gamers out there that we don't see now that we are in our 30's.

 

[Daztur]

No way in hell is the average D&D player anywhere near 30-35 in average age, far too many kids bringing the average age down. I would guess mid-20s would be closer to average.

 

[Lonely Tylenol]

I guess the big point of this question is the premise that the target market of 4e is something other that current players.

I really, really disagree with that. I mean, no doubt WotC would love to recruit new players and have strategies in place to assist with that goal, but honestly, this whole thread seems like a backhanded slam at WotC with the implication that 4e is "out of touch" with the current userbase. Just because you may not like some aspect of 4e that you've gotten a whiff of doesn't mean that someone else that otherwise fits your demographic doesn't like it. WotC would be stupider than words can express if they weren't first and foremost interested in having 4e mostly make conquest sales of existing 3.5 players.

Please tell me I'm reading too much into this. However, given the tenor of discussion here, I really don't think I am.

That sounds about the way I read it too.

 

[Thunderfoot]

No way in hell is the average D&D player anywhere near 30-35 in average age, far too many kids bringing the average age down. I would guess mid-20s would be closer to average.

But don't forget the folks that have been playing for 30+ years and still playing, they bring that average right back up. Besides most kids would rather play online games than pen and paper.

 

[cougent]

I'm wondering what WoTC's gameplan is these days, and If we happen to be part of it
So..
3 questions:

1) What do you think is the average age of the majority of current DnD players?

2) What age bracket do you think WoTC is targeting with the new edition?

3) How were YOU brought into the game? (Friend's, older relative, picked it up on your own, etc)?

1) 35

2) 15+ This was actually stated as a design concept way back in an early comment from GenCon, I will try to find the quote again and repost it.

3) college friends in 1981

 

[Daztur]

But don't forget the folks that have been playing for 30+ years and still playing, they bring that average right back up. Besides most kids would rather play online games than pen and paper.

Right, right back up to the mid-twenties.

For 35 to be the average age (assuming some kind of balanced distribution) you'd have to have as many people playing D&D who are over 50 as under 20. There's no way in hell that can be true.

 

[TwinBahamut]

1) I would guess in the 20-30 range. Maybe higher, but I doubt it.

2) I imagine they would target the 15-25 year old range. If you want new blood, then you need to find young blood. And the 15-35 age range is dominated by videogame players these days, so I think WotC has no problem finding people willing to play games for fun...

3) I heard about D&D somehow, I can't remember. My brother and I asked our parents to get us D&D, and then I DMed for my brother. Not much else to say...

 

[FireLance]

True. I've learned it on my own, mostly, although I had some experience with Jackson and Livingstone's Choose your own adventure book series.

Minor nitpick: Jackson and Livingstone did Fighting Fantasy. Choose Your Own Adventure was an entirely different (and IMO, inferior) series. For further thoughts on this issue, see my blog post Player Choice, DM Judgement, or Randomness?

Back on topic:

1. 30

2. 15-25

3. A friend loaned me the Basic D&D books when I was 13, I started "playing" by DMing for my 8-year-old brother.