D&D 5E Long time players and 5e’s success

[Belen]

Well reread what I wrote as needed.

My hypothesis is veteran gamers helped make 5e a success more than people want to admit and that WOTC is doing some thing even now to acknowledge the importance of long term players.

There are people that dislike veteran longtime gamers; I don’t think they know as much as they think they do.

When they rail about corporate whatever then crow about you being in the minority, and your unimportance, you know what you are dealing with…

I came back for 5 minutes and saw several posters dunking on older players. It is definitely a thing on the forums.

 

[Belen]

Some of us have been here on EN World for the entire time since Eric Noah's site.

I had kids. My free time for ENWorld and Circvs went away.

 

[Warpiglet-7]

While it would be hard to speak to which cohort spends the most money, GenX is a small and shrinking component of the player base, as has been shown by WotC's own data. We are vastly over-represented here, which makes it seem like we are more relevant than we actually are. Millenials -- aka 90s kids -- make up a lot more of the players as well as incoming designers, and you can see it very clearly in the aesthetics of the game for the past 5 or more years.

I am not questioning the number; I am questioning the impact on the game as well as proliferation and sales at a 1:1 level.

A lot of players grab a players. Me and my pals have many many books each…as we depart our 40s, I bet our purchasing surpasses a lot of the more numerous younger players by a factor of 4.

I would love to see sales broken down by age group instead of just number of players. In that respect from a business standpoint, I think we are more relevant than a headcount alone would imply.

 

[Warpiglet-7]

I had kids. My free time for ENWorld and Circvs went away.

Teach those kids to play man!

One of the wildest games I had consisted of my rascals!

 

[Micah Sweet]

While it would be hard to speak to which cohort spends the most money, GenX is a small and shrinking component of the player base, as has been shown by WotC's own data. We are vastly over-represented here, which makes it seem like we are more relevant than we actually are. Millenials -- aka 90s kids -- make up a lot more of the players as well as incoming designers, and you can see it very clearly in the aesthetics of the game for the past 5 or more years.

Like I said, wonderful to hear how little you matter regarding something that has mattered so much to you over most of your life.

 

[Reynard]

I am not questioning the number; I am questioning the impact on the game as well as proliferation and sales at a 1:1 level.

A lot of players grab a players. Me and my pals have many many books each…as we depart our 40s, I bet our purchasing surpasses a lot of the more numerous younger players by a factor of 4.

I would love to see sales broken down by age group instead of just number of players. In that respect from a business standpoint, I think we are more relevant than a headcount alone would imply.

I would too, but I suspect that GenXers don't contribute a hugely outsized portion compared to their numbers.

One thing I do wonder, is how much money is being spent that WotC is not capturing, from 3PP books to unofficial merch. Of course, I am sure WotC would like to know that too.

 

[Belen]

Teach those kids to play man!

One of the wildest games I had consisted of my rascals!

My son is going to run his own game this summer.

 

[Reynard]

Like I said, wonderful to hear how little you matter regarding something that has mattered so much to you over most of your life.

I look at it this way: how much IT matters to ME is far more important. Just because I loved Star Wars as a kid and young adult didn't mean I ever mattered to Star Wars. And now that I don't care for Star Wars, I don't matter any less to it. That isn't the nature of the relationship. If we take joy in a thing, we should embrace that and not expect any "return."

 

[Belen]

I would too, but I suspect that GenXers don't contribute a hugely outsized portion compared to their numbers.

One thing I do wonder, is how much money is being spent that WotC is not capturing, from 3PP books to unofficial merch. Of course, I am sure WotC would like to know that too.

I know my bank hates KS. I fund a lot of gaming stuff.

 

[Micah Sweet]

I look at it this way: how much IT matters to ME is far more important. Just because I loved Star Wars as a kid and young adult didn't mean I ever mattered to Star Wars. And now that I don't care for Star Wars, I don't matter any less to it. That isn't the nature of the relationship. If we take joy in a thing, we should embrace that and not expect any "return."

Well sure, but that only works the way you say if you stop caring. I never stopped caring about the stuff in D&D to which I am now told I am irrelevant.