Are gamers chronic loners

[Treebore]

I've wondered if the stereotypes are true and I haven't seen any data. But how many people who play traditional table-top, pen and paper, "real" roleplaying games are unmarried adult loners? Just want to see. If there is a poll that did this earlier, please let me know.

Lets see, out of everyone I game with most are married, but all the single people are under 26 years of age. I think. 1 or 2 may be over 30. So 8 are single and 7 are married. 2 of the 4 have had serious long term SO's, but the other 2 have had only short term relationships. Include me to take the married side up to 8 as well. So I guess its 50/50 in terms of being married, but add in SO's its 10 out of 16, and 3 of the 16 are ages 14 to 18.

 

[Mr. Wilson]

I'm married. No children. Never want them.

Of my long running group of 5, with a sixth that comes and goes, 3 are married, 3 are single. The other two married guys have kids.

In my second group of 5 that no longer plays (but did for 2 years), we're all married now (no overlap in players except myself). No kids in this group yet.

 

[arscott]

• 3 are married (with two of those, including me, on Wife 2.0)

That decimal is mildly disturbing. I'm not sure I even want to contemplate what "Wife 2.1" might indicate.

My gaming group is on its way to becoming "single dudes only" unfortunately. A player is likely going to break up with his girlfriend (whose brother is also in the gaming group).

 

[Gilladian]

FtF group:
2 married (to each other, longterm, no kids)
1 father, 1 son (teenaged, no girlfriend; dad's marriage is longterm, 2 kids)
1 divorced older male with custody of teenaged son. Has indicated some other relationships ongoing.
1 unmarried female in her early 40's. Lives at home with mother and cats! If she were male, she'd be closest to the stereotype, but since she's quite social and outgoing, I think she actually breaks it.

Online group
2 married females (no kids or kids grown and left home)
1 divorced male (no kids) but has had at least one other SO
1 unmarried female
1 male in relationship

 

[ExploderWizard]

Strange poll.

Current AND past status? I started playing RPG's at age 10, but didn't get married until age 30 so was my choice correct?

Our group:
Six male players, 4 married and 2 unmarried.

 

[Aeolius]

But how many people who play traditional table-top, pen and paper, "real" roleplaying games are unmarried adult loners?

I've been married since 1993. My last face-to-face game was in 1994, as my regular players, all friends I had known for years, had all moved away after college (my wife is not a gamer). We rarely had the occasion to get together, after that.

Enter the internet. In 1995, I started running online games, starting with a play-by-post adventure that began in AOL's RPG forum, moved to TSR's AOL forum, and followed TSR to their fledgeling website before I set up my own website for the game.

Nowadays, I have 8 kids to take care of. My current game is a chat-based adventure I run on Sunday nights, as that tends to be a quiet time when school is in session.

On Tuesdays, I gather with my childhood friends in a chat-room. Most of them either have no interest in a D&D game or simply cannot stay up as late as I do (midnight isn't late, is it?), so we choose to kick back, have a few beers, and catch up with one another's lives.

 

[Achan hiArusa]

Strange poll.

Current AND past status? I started playing RPG's at age 10, but didn't get married until age 30 so was my choice correct?

Our group:
Six male players, 4 married and 2 unmarried.

We'll just go with current status.

 

[Starman]

That decimal is mildly disturbing. I'm not sure I even want to contemplate what "Wife 2.1" might indicate.

No doubt it means a slight upgrade of the current model ala her rather than going for a brand new model.

 

[knightofround]

I think it's interesting to note that from the poll's results so far, the average gamer is slightly more likely to be married than the average American.

Not that I'm very surprised by this. Nerdy math-love aside, D&D is still very much a social game. In this day & age I would expect loners to move away from RL gaming like D&D and more towards online gaming like MMOs.

 

[Mark CMG]

My experiences defy the voting scheme presented.*





*That's what she said.