D&D 5E Let's help discover who shares this hobby with us! (anonymous poll)

[Harzel]

As in many similar circumstances, my feelings are split between the need to acknowledge a lack of diversity where it exists and the undesirability of focusing attention on superficial traits that appear to divide us into categories that, in an ideal world, would be well-nigh meaningless, at least in the context of gaming. (For more on the downsides of activating mental frames even for the purpose of opposing them, google George Lakoff.)

In the end, with all due respect to the good intentions of the OP, this poll seems IMO to have a very low chance of generating data that says anything interesting about the hobby as a whole. So it looks to me like mostly downside. I would discourage others from undertaking similar exercises.

EDIT: Oh, and before anyone mistakenly generalizes what I am saying - my comment is very specific to this thread. I am fully supportive of conversations aimed, for instance, at alleviating specific identified diversity-related problems in our hobby, or anywhere else for that matter.

 

[iserith]

I'd be interested to hear everyone's ideas on why you think this particular hobby appears to have a lot of white males engaged in it.

(I'll give you XP whether I agree with your take or not.)

 

[BoldItalic]

I'd be interested to hear everyone's ideas on why you think this particular hobby appears to have a lot of white males engaged in it.

Perhaps because D&D was originally designed by white males and they, consciously or unconsciously, were biased towards making it the kind of game that would appeal to them. If a non-white, non-male person had invented a game, would it have been like D&D? My feeing is that no, it would have been something entirely different.

 

[Sunseeker]

I don't disagree with your hypothesis. I disagree that this particular poll is a good way of collecting good numbers to back that hypothesis up.

Self-selection polls are always terrible to gather statistical data.

But I don't think I need to back up the OP's hypothesis, since ya know, it's been rather well proven in the past.

 

[Harzel]

I'd be interested to hear everyone's ideas on why you think this particular hobby appears to have a lot of white males engaged in it.

Off the top of my head, with the caveats that you'd probably get better answers out of a cultural anthropologist or similar, which I am not, and much of this is speculation with no proof...

First level: It was invented by white males in a cultural milieu dominated by white males and my naive possibly incorrect observation is that cultural artifacts tend to be culturally 'sticky'.

Second level: The accouterments (exemplary descriptions, other fluff, and cultural references like weapons and armor selections) to the more abstract game structure are (despite attempted adjustments) still mainly derived from European-origin white male experience, which makes it difficult (though not impossible) for others to "see themselves" as PCs.

Third level: There is something about the basic structure of the game (things like GM and player roles, dice as arbiters of uncertainty, engagement with make-believe worlds) that is for some reason more likely to be appealing to white males than others. Intuitively, this one seems unlikely to me, but if not, then why do we not see similar games evolving in other cultural milieus? Or have such games evolved and we just don't know about or recognize them?

I have no idea if this ramble is an answer to your question or not.

EDIT: Oh, and by the way, I think this sends the thread in a direction that, given the low tolerance for contention on certain topics in this forum, presents a significant possibility of the thread eventually being locked. Just as a preemptive plea - let's try to conduct ourselves in a way that avoids that. Thanks in advance.

 

[Wulffolk]

I'd be interested to hear everyone's ideas on why you think this particular hobby appears to have a lot of white males engaged in it.

(I'll give you XP whether I agree with your take or not.)

Simple . . .

The game is based upon the culture and myths of medieval feudal Europe.
In that setting few women wielded much power or influence, and gender roles were well defined.
That setting was decidedly not tolerant of racial or cultural or religious diversity.
One of the founding principles of the game was to slaughter other intelligent beings based solely upon racial and cultural differences.

Due to colonialism, England has had a greater influence upon the world than most other nations, and supplied the majority of America's early population. So it stands to reason that we were most influenced by their culture and myths when creating our entertainment.

If you base a game on those aspects, and sell it in a country dominated by people descended from that background, then it should come as no surprise that it is dominated by white males.

Had the game originated in Brazil or Mexico it would be more influenced by Spain, and perhaps have been more diverse. If it came from Japan or China it probably would be even more xenophobic and less diverse. If from Africa it probably would have faced even more bias from American culture, if our history is any indication.

 

[Wulffolk]

On a side note, it is ok if D&D is dominated by caucasian males. There is nothing wrong with that. There are other things that are dominated by other groups of people. D&D would be well-served to diversify and become more inclusive of race, gender, culture, sexual identity and whatever other category comes up. However, just because it is dominated by white males does not mean that it is somehow bad or wrong.

I was born as a heterosexual Caucasian male to a middle-class family in the USA. I had no choice in it. Sometimes in this current hyper-politically-correct culture that we live in I feel villified for my origins. Most polls like these tend to insinuate that something dominated by white males is stuck in that past and actively discourages others from being involved. Sometimes, as in the case of D&D, it just happens to appeal to white males more than other groups.

D&D and it's community seem to be doing things to encourage diversity, but I doubt that we will ever see a perfectly balanced pie-chart, and that should be OK too. I don't think that it is possible for D&D to become too much more diverse without divorcing it from it's medieval feudal European origins, but then if you do that it won't really be D&D any more.

 

[redrick]

I'd be interested to hear everyone's ideas on why you think this particular hobby appears to have a lot of white males engaged in it.

(I'll give you XP whether I agree with your take or not.)

White males dominate a lot of things, even things they didn't create. (See rock and roll and the blues.) D&D, and table-top roleplaying in general, originated in a time when the United States was even more segregated than it is now. The source material that inspired it, fantasy fiction, was also dominated by white males, and steeped in western European mythology. Not to mention that much of the source material ranged from the slightly racist and slightly sexist to the incredibly racist and sexist. (Looking at you, HP Lovecraft.) Honestly, much of the Appendix N stuff is hard to read today without putting a great deal of distance on my part. (I read Conan stories in a foreign language.)

Also worth adding that, just because the hobby is dominated by white males, there are still plenty of people of color who participate and have participated. Ta-Nehisi Coates wrote a great deal about playing D&D as a youngster in Baltimore.

As far as to why, in 2018, the hobby might not be welcoming to women and people of color — it might be difficult for a group of, according to the pole, predominantly white males to speculate. I can say what makes me, as a white male, feel welcome in the hobby:

Most of the source fiction features white males. It's super easy to see myself as the hero of one of those stories. (5e cites recommended fiction featuring men and women of color, so that's a step in the right direction!)
In the older editions of D&D, most of the artwork featured protagonists with light skin, and lots of the women were featured in a titillating manner. (Again, 5e makes a huge step forward on this front.)
When I show up at a gaming table, I can bet that most of the participants will be white men like me.

That last one is a big one. I believe that there is a snowball effect with exclusion and inclusion. As long as most of the participants are of a certain group, they will naturally include participants also of that group and, intentionally or not, exclude participants not of that group. We have to work hard to overcome that inertia.

 

[SmokeyCriminal]

Woah! I fully expected the White males to be in the 90%. But it's a lot lower, I was way off. I feel a little silly for my assumptions now.
Hello to only about 75% of the people here, were you as pleasantly surprised as I was?

POC males and Females I expected to be about similar, but I did assume there would be more POC males.
How's it going to the POC males, are you as lowkey happy to be outnumbered by the Females as i am?
Hi ladies, I hope your enjoying yourselves.

The biggest shock to me is the amount of non-binary (I think Non-Binary is a more polite term then Other) people here. I thought there would be less then 1% honestly. It's nice to see it as high as 5% and on par with POC males and Females.
What's up to all my non-binary and LGBTQIA+ people, I'm glad you're here.

Actually since there is 5% that voted Other, maybe one of them could let us know if they think the term Non-binary is better or equal to Other, or if there is an even better term then those two, to represent someone that identifies as neither male or female?

I know the poll isn't usable for anything more then just fun and curiosity. And I've noticed some people see it as just pointing out the lack of diversity or how far we still need to go, which I can understand. Someone pointed out that only 1 out of 10 people are female, But keep in mind that the way we grow is through small individual nudges. POC males nudge, the Non-binary nudge, the Women nudge, and next thing you know 1 out of every 4 Isn't a White male.

To me, the fact that 1 out of 4 people here isn't a White male was a surprise, and seeing it in a poll gave me a little smile, and smiling is always nice.

Also, I've noticed that sometimes I hesitate to post my opinions or I'll spend a long time thinking over what exactly I want to say, and how exactly I want to say it. I'm sure most of it comes from not being used to posting in forums in general, but IF some of it is because a part of me, consciously or subconsciously, is worried about the White male demographic then maybe this poll will remove that anxiety or hesitation from me, or anyone else that might feel it. 3/4 is a lot more manageable then 9/10.

Lastly, Usually the only times you really see the other groups in the poll peak their heads up is when a thread about sex/gender/race pops up and the thread is long, and heated, and going sideways. And in the middle of it all a post will sneak in and be all "I'm sex/gender/race" and they'll put themselves out there and speak their mind. And I love it. Those post are always so interesting, and brave, they are my favourite, and the reason I like this forum above others, and why I joined, and started posting. Just, thank you so much.

And shout out to all the White males holding it down in those Threads, and being cool about it, and making space for everyone. I honestly thought there were a lot more of you. But the fact that there isn't just makes the parts you contribute that much larger. Thanks.

 

[redrick]

Woah! I fully expected the White males to be in the 90%. But it's a lot lower, I was way off. I feel a little silly for my assumptions now.
Hello to only about 75% of the people here, were you as pleasantly surprised as I was?

POC males and Females I expected to be about similar, but I did assume there would be more POC males.
How's it going to the POC males, are you as lowkey happy to be outnumbered by the Females as i am?
Hi ladies, I hope your enjoying yourselves.

The biggest shock to me is the amount of non-binary (I think Non-Binary is a more polite term then Other) people here. I thought there would be less then 1% honestly. It's nice to see it as high as 5% and on par with POC males and Females.
What's up to all my non-binary and LGBTQIA+ people, I'm glad you're here.

Actually since there is 5% that voted Other, maybe one of them could let us know if they think the term Non-binary is better or equal to Other, or if there is an even better term then those two, to represent someone that identifies as neither male or female?

I know the poll isn't usable for anything more then just fun and curiosity. And I've noticed some people see it as just pointing out the lack of diversity or how far we still need to go, which I can understand. Someone pointed out that only 1 out of 10 people are female, But keep in mind that the way we grow is through small individual nudges. POC males nudge, the Non-binary nudge, the Women nudge, and next thing you know 1 out of every 4 Isn't a White male.

To me, the fact that 1 out of 4 people here isn't a White male was a surprise, and seeing it in a poll gave me a little smile, and smiling is always nice.

Also, I've noticed that sometimes I hesitate to post my opinions or I'll spend a long time thinking over what exactly I want to say, and how exactly I want to say it. I'm sure most of it comes from not being used to posting in forums in general, but IF some of it is because a part of me, consciously or subconsciously, is worried about the White male demographic then maybe this poll will remove that anxiety or hesitation from me, or anyone else that might feel it. 3/4 is a lot more manageable then 9/10.

Lastly, Usually the only times you really see the other groups in the poll peak their heads up is when a thread about sex/gender/race pops up and the thread is long, and heated, and going sideways. And in the middle of it all a post will sneak in and be all "I'm sex/gender/race" and they'll put themselves out there and speak their mind. And I love it. Those post are always so interesting, and brave, they are my favourite, and the reason I like this forum above others, and why I joined, and started posting. Just, thank you so much.

And shout out to all the White males holding it down in those Threads, and being cool about it, and making space for everyone. I honestly thought there were a lot more of you. But the fact that there isn't just makes the parts you contribute that much larger. Thanks.

Fist bump for peaking your head up. Well said.