How Many People Play Table Top RPG?

[lud]

Intro, the question is at the bottom...

I am just walking out of a local gaming convention, nice people, nice staff. I had a very nice day (I attended only the Sunday out of the 2 1/2 days convention)

... but we were only about 40 - 50 peoples...2/3 of them playing RPGs the other third on board games.

A few observations:

Location:

i. In one of the 10 largest cities in the US/Canada

ii. Was held in an hotel downtown less than a 5 minutes walk from 2 metro lines (subway) and close to free parking

Date:

iii. Mid October, no holidays, not in the middle of "vacation season", middle of school semester...

Cost:

iv. Cost per day is the same as a movie ticket

Web Presence:

v. Convention has a web site, forum and was making use of Warhorn...

Game selection:

vi. LFR (DnD4), Pathfinder, board game competition, an a variety of other RPG were on the schedule

Language:

Tricky part here, yes one of the 10 largest city in the US/Canada is in a region where more than 50% of the people speak the other official language of North America beside Spanish and English : French...

This could be an issue, but if I take DnD 4th edition as an example:

The books are translated almost as they come out in English, there is still a printed version of Dragon in French, even some of the setting originating from France have been upgrade to 4th edition (Sub note: The roleplaying industry in France probably generated as much material as the US one since the 80s...)

Game were availalble both in English and French, some were actualy bilingual...

So I'll assume for now that language is not the key factor...maybe I am completly wrong...

So, I am asking myself why only 40-50 people? Do so few people play board games or rpg?

The main questions:

How many people in the US/Canada have played a pen and paper roleplaying game at least once in the last year and plan to play again in the future?

Basically, how big is the pool of people to start with?

From there a few follow-ups come to mind:

What % of those players would be interested in going to a convention? (Those not in the "I know I really don't care" group)

Otherwise, if they are not at the convention, why? (Don't know about it, too expensive, ...?)

What do you think?

Lud

 

[Bullgrit]

How many people in the US/Canada have played a pen and paper roleplaying game at least once in the last year and plan to play again in the future?

That's kind of an odd question, to me. I play pen-and-paper RPGs at a physical table, face to face with other players every week. Have done so for many, many years. I've never played it any other way.

Other than the rare mention here of someone playing it online, I'd have no knowledge of any other way to play a PnP RPG.

As for going to a convention for such gaming. I'd like to go to Gen Con some time, but otherwise I'm not drawn to a convention setting for my gaming. <shrug>

Bullgrit

 

[Umbran]

The main questions:

How many people in the US/Canada have played a pen and paper roleplaying game at least once in the last year and plan to play again in the future?

Basically, how big is the pool of people to start with?

We do not have anything like decent data on that. I think estimates for the US population run in the 1 to 3 million play at least once a month, so that they can be considered "active RPG players"

What % of those players would be interested in going to a convention? (Those not in the "I know I really don't care" group)

I think that number is not high. Convention play, and overall convention atmosphere, is so very different from home play that it is attractive to only a small subset of everyone in the hobby.

This is by no means unique to RPGs, by the way. Virtually every hobby and subject matter of interest has cons - sci-fi, comics, model railroads, pets, anything. But only a small fraction of those interested in the topic go to a convention.

Otherwise, if they are not at the convention, why? (Don't know about it, too expensive, ...?)

1)Don't know about it - conventions generally don't have anything like a real advertising budget. Putting up posters run off a home laser printer is not really effective for attracting a real mass audience. A website is only useful if the perspective congoer is looking for a website about a con, otherwise he or she won't ever find the site. Websites are "pull" marketing, to get more people you need "push" marketing.

2)Just have no interest - The vast majority of folks who have an interest in the topic are already satisfying their needs on that topic with their own activities. They have no desire to seek it out more.

 

[Mark]

According to documents from the recent WotC vs PDF Pirates lawsuits, regarding D&D playing -

According to the lawsuits, about 20 million people worldwide are believed to have played the game, including 6 million at present.

In the Chicago area, there's a small convention or gameday almost every weekend where gaming takes place, though some are strictly wargaming and some mostly RPGing. Aside from this, there are CCG tourneys, as well. Most of the gamedays get around 50 people and full weekend mini-conventions get upwards of 100 people, some as high (that I have attended) several hundred. There are also semi-related field conventions like those for sci-fi or comics that wind up including gaming events.

 

[cattoy]

The main questions:

How many people in the US/Canada have played a pen and paper roleplaying game at least once in the last year and plan to play again in the future?

A better question:

How many people in [insert region] have played a pen and paper roleplaying game in a public location recently?

If the publicly announced figures are to be believed, the vast majority of RPG players do so exclusively in private settings and are not likely to be interested in attending RPG conventions.

A follow on question:

What percentage of recent game sessions in [insert region] of a pen and paper roleplaying game included complete strangers?

It is my observation that many gamers play regularly scheduled games with a fixed group and rarely stray outside their comfort zone. Many may not embrace the gaming convention as a place to play with strangers. I have known gamers who attended game conventions as a group, trolled the dealer's room, check out a few events and then go to their hotel room to play their regularly scheduled games with their regular group.

Having attended or worked at both anime cons and (RPG)gaming cons, it is my experience that gaming cons grow slowly and anime cons grow like weeds.

Probably, the difference is that RPGs are focused on small group activities and anime fandom is focused on large group activities. If you're into cosplay, the larger the con, the more people you can show off your costume to. If you're into RPGs the larger the con, the harder it is to get into a game you want to play.

 

[Theroc]

I get a chance to show how I'm an oddball.

My issue with cons primarily is not lack of awareness(if conditions are met, I will seek out cons), but a lack of funds and transport to afford them. I can't even afford to support my hobby privately, let alone pay extra money to go to a convention... >.>

 

[Skywalker]

This was included in the press release about WotC's recent law suits:

According to the lawsuits, about 20 million people worldwide are believed to have played the game, including 6 million at present.

 

[Kaladhan]

Hi Lud,

I'm guessing you're talking about Draconis, which was previously known as RoyalCon. I've attended the first 2 years, skipped the third and attended the fourth one.

Disclosure : I have been part of the organizing comity and had to leave to live abroad. So I do know a few things about past editions.

There was more then 40-50 people at the convention. You have to take into account that there was some games that took place in hotel rooms. I don't have any numbers, but I would guess around 80-100+ people were there in total.

This is a lot less then the ~250 players in the first year or the ~275-300 players in the second year (although you have to take account that the first year had a Magic : The Gathering tournament and both years had miniature wargaming).

This is also way less then the actual number of players in the Montreal region that supports the 4-5 gaming stores.

Why so few people? I've been out of touch with the convention before, but I do have a few ideas.

1. They haven't made contact with university associations / gaming groups.

The Polytechnique holds a convention in January. It's not a big convention, but it has at least 50 people. If they are lucky, maybe 1-2 are attending Draconis.

The Cégep Édouard-Montpetit has an active fanbase and creates their own larps.

The Camarilla Fanclub has a 20-30 players (maybe more now).

There's also the McGill gamers' guild and a few others I don't know about.

2. The francophones thinks it's an anglophone convention. To some extent, they are right. Most of the tables offered were in english. If you found the LFR and Pathfinder Live Society, it's probably around 75% of the offering.

3. The convention culture doesn't exist in Quebec.

To answer your main question, how many people play in Montreal? I would guess around 1500-2000 gamers.

 

[Toben the Many]

Okay, the last WotC estimate I had heard was 2 million people world-wide play D&D. Perhaps they only meant in the US when I heard that figure. That was on National Public Radio, BTW.

I totally believe that figure. Having moved around a lot, having been to many different cities, I've found a gaming store in every single sizeable city I've visited or lived in.

Now, with friends on the internet and whatnot, all of my online friends can also point to a gaming store in their area. So, gaming is a big enough of a hobby that it is supported in just about every single sizable city in the US.

 

[harpy]

I know among my circle of gamers more than half don't attend cons. Paying for something that they can do for free is the main deal breaker.

My wife and I will sometimes attend cons, and if we are playing rpgs then they are going to be some kind of "living" rpgs, as it is a chance to zoom through several adventures and level our characters in just a weekend of play.

However, if it wasn't for that opportunity I wouldn't bother with playing rpgs at a con, as I think the whole experience isn't worth the hassle. Cons tend to be LOUD with a large group of people in one room all talking at once. Trying to play an rpg in that kind of environment is distracting and tiring.