Actual age of the 4th edition player base

[The Ubbergeek]

2) 8 - 10.

D&D would never be targeted at this age - you looked at the things in the game, like tieflings and dark cults? Pure nighmare stuff for kids.

 

[Lackhand]

I do not think the age here at ENWorld is that disparate from the rest of the DND world. It might be a year or two higher, but there is no way that the overall median, mode, or mean are in the mid to low 20s. High school and college age players, even those who do not purchase books, visit the Internet too.

I wonder what we'd get if we compared those results to a parallel poll on the wizards site itself, though.

I posit that the reason EN World is so wonderful is precisely *because* it is an older community, and that's why we're so laid back, productive, and generally "wise". Well, except for me, apparently.
Their website is much more popular than ours (though that's extremely unscientific, just using the domains, and of course says nothing about age groups)

I guess my point is that EN World is *precisely* different from the rest of the Internet.

Any ideas how to prove that?

 

[Gwathlas]

Edited because when we ask someone to be civil, we mean it.

 

[KarinsDad]

I posit that the reason EN World is so wonderful is precisely *because* it is an older community, and that's why we're so laid back, productive, and generally "wise".

I posit that the reason EN World is relatively polite is because the moderators do not put up with inappropriate posts from people. If one misbehaves over at the Wizards site, nobody really cares. People make a lot of statements over there that would be nixxed here right away.

And, politeness does not have to do with age.

Any ideas how to prove that?

A poll could be taken over at Wizards site. It wouldn't prove anything, but it would be a reasonsable age gauge.

 

[RandomCitizenX]

I would say the average age is mid twenties. Yes there are still alot of old school players, but there are also many teens and college students playing. Now that average age of people who actually own books may be a bit higher.

Target audience should be early teens to mid twenties if they are smart. The game won't last if they would only try to market it to the existing older fanbase.

I got into D&D through my older sister who bought a Ravenloft box set without realizing she needed to buy the PHB. Once she got that straigthened out I kept borrowing the book and pouring through it. Finally found a decent group to game with when I got to 8th grade or so.

 

[KarinsDad]

Target audience should be early teens to mid twenties if they are smart. The game won't last if they would only try to market it to the existing older fanbase.

I disagree.

The target audience should be 30 to 40 if they are smart.

The reason for this is that this is the relative age range where many people settle down and slow up on other activities like sports and many more "further away from home" hobbies. Sure, many people still do sports in their 30s, but this is the age range where many people enter a more sedentary lifestyle. They start buying homes and raising families and mowing lawn on the weekends instead of partying at a nightclub or heading off into the mountains for backpacking or kayaking.

So, this is the age range were many people look to other less active forms of social interactive entertainment like going to the movies with friends or playing DND. And, I think WotC understands this.

There is a reason why there are currently about 60% of all DND players between the ages of 30 and 40, not between the ages of 20 and 30 (which is probably closer to 20%, another 10% under 20 and 10% over 40). And, it is for social and cultural reasons. And as the years go by, the bell curve on age will probably not move or change shape a lot. More people entering their late 20s and early 30s will start playing DND and more people entering their 40s or 50s will stop playing it and find other activities.

Theoretically, 30 to 40 (give or take a few years either way) should be the target audience of WotC and DND forever because age based social pressures and influences do not change that drastically.

 

[Aaron L]

1. From my own personal experience (and thus entirely anecdotal) the youngest player I know is 27 (my little brother) and the oldest is 35, my friend who is our DM. As I am 31, I am the average age. However, I only know two groups of people who actually play D&D, the younger set plays World of Warcraft. I do, however, have a very close 24 year old friend who used to play 2E (and who sometimes tells me about how he once DM'd Dragon Mountain), and played WoW extensively, but doesn't play anything anymore due to him now having a girlfriend (an exchange of priorities which I would gladly make, I must say... )


2. I'd say probably aiming for a group of new players in the 15-22 range (high-school to college age) while seeking to keep the 30-something group of current players.

3. I had read about the game in various sources (ads in the backs of comics books, etc.), intensely desired to play, and vigorously sought out people whom I could actually play the game with since I was about 12, but never actually found any until I was about 16 or 17 and found some new friends at a program called Upward Bound where I stayed at a dorm at Penn State over the summer and took special (high-school level) classes (and a few college level classes) while there. 4 years of that every summer and I got a permanent group of friends with whom I still play to this day, losing players and acquiring new ones until I and the DM are currently the only original members of the gaming group left. (my very much more outgoing and charismatic little brother/best friend/link to the outside world having moved away to Pittsburgh two years ago )

 

[The Ubbergeek]

Sorry but I have to disagree with you. It's being animed, starwared, wowed, and simplified so 7 or 8 yo's will understand it easily. Secondly they may have lost 10 to 45% of current players, mostly displeased FR fans and a few grognard/FR fans.

Strawman argument. But then, it seems that the current culture is bad, that young ones are stupid, etc... or so it's the classical grognard message. Yuck.

D&D and fantasy needs to open his eyes and do not fear other influences by default. It may not be so bad, finally - it' snot like D&D have NOT been 'soiled' by such 'trash culture' already....

And the game may well needs some simplification to be accessible more...

note that unlike the logical fallacy, simplification =/= stupidification. Rules-light rpg shown us that.

 

[Khairn]

1) 25-30 Average Age of players
2) 13-15 WotC target market
3) 17 Senior in High School during the 70's

It appears clear to me, both from the nature of their marketing campaign and the direction of the new rules that WotC is targetting the young teen-ager for 4E. They clearly are willing to do this at the cost of some of their older customers. Whether this will end up being a good decision in the end is still to be determined.

 

[hexgrid]

It appears clear to me, both from the nature of their marketing campaign and the direction of the new rules that WotC is targetting the young teen-ager for 4E.

The only 4e marketing I've seen so far has been directed entirely at the existing player base.