Are kids playing tabletop D&D these days?

[Panamon Creel]

Just curious. My own kids are far too little yet, and I don't know any junior high or high school kids (except those that I stalk on the internet . . . JUST KIDDING)

My guess would be no. I'm guessing they play WoW/computer stuff and maybe Warhammer mini games. But I don't see some kid wandering into a hobby store or book store and randomly picking up the PH/DMG/MM and then learning to DM and then teaching his friends, like many of us did back in the day. I'm guessing if kids have played tabletop RPGs, a parent or relative showed them how.

Interesting to think about because with 4E it seems WOTC wants to start marketing more to the kids and less to old farts like myself. (I could be wrong, but they implied as much in parts of the commentary of R&C; plus, just look at the cover of the new PH, the scantily clad female fighter just cries out to 12 yr. boys; plus tieflings and dragonborn will be marketed to the younger folk).

 

[Baron Opal]

Well, I'd harly call the female warrior "scantily clad"...

Anyway, I'm starting a kid's game with a couple of 6 year olds and an 8 year old shortly. Knight and Wizard are the main classes, based off of fighter and warlock. Works nicely.

 

[jdrakeh]

Some are. That said, I do not believe them to compose a majority. I think that, as a hobby, tabletop RPGs are becoming increasingly more obscure.

 

[Steel_Wind]

Just curious.

My guess would be no. I'm guessing they play WoW/computer stuff

My belief is that you are essentially correct. Electronic games are a huge business. Halo 3 unleashed as big as any Hollywood blockbuster. Serious money.

And WoW makes enough to treat Halo 3, Madden 08 AND Guitar Hero 3, collectively, as chump change.

World of Warcraft is the gaming business at a level that is a few orders of magnitude greater than anything else.

Interesting to think about because with 4E it seems WOTC wants to start marketing more to the kids and less to old farts like myself. (I could be wrong, but they implied as much in parts of the commentary of R&C; plus, just look at the cover of the new PH, the scantily clad female fighter just cries out to 12 yr. boys; plus tieflings and dragonborn will be marketed to the younger folk).

Well that may be. In fairness to WotC, they need to sell the game to a new generation. I believe that WotC largely believes that they will likely retain most relevant "lifestyle gamers" who will purchase new products with 4E anyways - and those old fogeys that don't come along as they prefer to play their 1st/2nd/3e versions of the game? Well - then they had essentially bought all the products from WotC they were likely to anyways, so no big loss.

The one concern I have in all of this treatment of older gamers and buying habits, however, is that Ryan Dancey's comments on it stem from product surveys WotC conducted nearly 10 years ago.

I have some misgivings that the timing of such a market survey and the milieu during which that survey was conducted may no longer hold true. A snapshot in time is exactly that - a snapshot.

As for the buying trends of the current gamer, without access to that current market data - we're just all speculating. Par for the course I suppose.

 

[Rl'Halsinor]

Two things:

1. My FLGS has many grade school and teens (along with us "oldsters") involved in many table top games, not just D&D. It is a very healthy gaming store in the quality in which it is run as well as from a business sense, i.e., it actually makes money. When I talked to the teens and asked them what got them curious in trying tabletop D&D 99% pointed to the PC game Baldur's Gate and the follow-up BG2. NWN is in the mix as well.

That being said, the only D&D stuff that sells here is the WoTC. White Wolf and Necromancer (teo companies that I loved their stuff) were discontinued over 2 years ago as welll as Green Ronin, etc. They just didn't sell enough to make them a viable offering. I would agree with jdrakeh in that tabletop RPGs are becoming more obscure and I would add that it will take the experienced gamer/DM/GM to keep it viable. I say this because when BG and BG2 came out and the younger generations were curious as to what D&D was, it was the mature gamer that was able to lead and teach them how to play.


2. After an almost 14 year hiatus due to life changes such as school and moving, etc., a bunch of us reconnected and tried out first 3.0 and then 3.5. Five years ago we started up with Return to the Temple of Elemental Evil. At the time (2002) my daughter and niece were 14 and my nephews were in 5th and 6th grade. They love playing but we get together so few times. Now they are either attending college or are in senior high.

It is highly doubtful we will even spend any $ on 4.0. And, yes, they love their electronic gaming.

 

[javcs]

As someone in my teens, I can say that part of why I don't game in person regularly is that it takes a good sized block of time where everybody can be there.

I know enough people in my age-bracket who would play, but our schedules are almost completely irreconcilable with each others.

That is a major reason why electronic games are so popular - you don't really need another person available at the same time you are; if you want a multi-player game, you can just connect to an online server and play there; occasionally, you'll get friends together and game, but, it's much more irregular.

 

[Rl'Halsinor]

As someone in my teens, I can say that part of why I don't game in person regularly is that it takes a good sized block of time where everybody can be there.

I know enough people in my age-bracket who would play, but our schedules are almost completely irreconcilable with each others.

That is a major reason why electronic games are so popular - you don't really need another person available at the same time you are; if you want a multi-player game, you can just connect to an online server and play there; occasionally, you'll get friends together and game, but, it's much more irregular.

Very valid and excellent points. To play a good game of D&D (or any tabletop game) means one must a) find the time and b) want to spend the time in said manner.

 

[Orius]

That is a major reason why electronic games are so popular - you don't really need another person available at the same time you are; if you want a multi-player game, you can just connect to an online server and play there; occasionally, you'll get friends together and game, but, it's much more irregular.

Yeah, that's definitely a plus. Tabletop games suffer from people not being able to get together becaus they have more important concerns. With electronic gaming, you can just log on, join a group of players and you're good to go. I think WotC is well aware of this, hence DDI.

 

[S'mon]

I tried WoW on free trial recently - it seemed incredibly tedious, all the starting quests were "collect 10 pieces of wolf meat" or "kill 5 troll-thingies", which involved risk-free combat against brainless monsters, that didn't even gang up on me, while I regenerated all damage in a few seconds. Totally dull. In terms of plot and interest made 'Warlock of Firetop Mountain' (my dungeon-crawl Fighting Fantasy gamebook intro to fantasy gaming ca 1983) look like 'Lord of the Rings'.

 

[megamania]

I started the table top game with my kids last year.

The closest thing we have to a game store however is a place where kids can play video games by renting them and playing there within the store. The store has some DnD that the kids tend to ignore as they get the newest video games. It is only us "old farts" that look at the books.


Times are changing and WoTC is attempting to change with it.