D&D General Some Interesting Stats About D&D Players!

The full cover spread for Phandelver and Below, by Antonio José Manzanedo​

GeekWire has reported on the recent D&D press event (which I've covered elsewhere). Along with all the upcoming product information we've all been devouring over the last day or two, there were some interesting tidbits regarding D&D player demographics.

• 60% of D&D players are male, 39% are female, and 1% identify otherwise
• 60% are “hybrid” players, who switch between playing the game physically or online
• 58% play D&D on a weekly basis
• 48% identify as millennials, 19% from Generation X and 33% from Generation Z
• The majority of current D&D players started with 5th Edition

 

[FitzTheRuke]

Of course not, but I doubt I'm alone in thinking that D&D is more than the books WotC is currently selling or planning to sell.

I think it goes without saying that when they say "D&D" they mean, "The D&D that we are currently designing, printing, and selling". That (by itself) doesn't make them dishonest.

 

[UngainlyTitan]

Proportions.

There are more (or about the same) Boomers alive today as Xers alive today.
D&D existed when Boomers existed and they played the game.

The market penetration in the eighties was minuscule compared to the current level of market penetration.

Therefore in order for Xers to be 19% of D&D gamers and Boomers being statistically invisible then either

1) There are 15-20 times as many Gen Xers playing D&D than Boomers despite Boomers being equal or greater in population and having more free time due to having fewer minor children and more likely to be retired

So, in my opinion this is perfectly possible.

or
2) The "D&D" in the D&D player base is only a subset of D&D (ie one edition) that Boomer D&D typically do not fancy.
or
3) The numbers are off or the survey has an error in which actual Boomer numbers were not recorded, lumped in another group, or skewed through the method of surveying.

The number should be small but not less than 1%.

D&D has gone from a very minor thing to almost mainstream.

 

[Parmandur]

Likely they just call everyone born before (whatever relevant date) Gen-X.

~1965-1981 or thereabouts

 

[codo]

Of course not, but I doubt I'm alone in thinking that D&D is more than the books WotC is currently selling or planning to sell.

If you want to define D&D that way that fine, you can if you want to. Why is WotC lying just because they disagree with you?

 

[MGibster]

Well, no, that's the thing, the target audience at that time period would mostly be Gen Xers.

If the last Boomer was born in 1964 and the first Gen X popped unenthusiatically into the world in 1965, there's going to be some overlap in the late 70s to mid 80s. Who was the average D&D player at this time? I'm guessing it was a middle class white male ranging in age from adolescence through their mid-20s.

Do you? I think many of them would still count as GenX. Didn't it have a LOT of kids playing it then, even though it wasn't what they'd originally intended?

Sure. And the thing to remember is that generation divisions based on years are somewhat arbitrary. It's not like we collectively decide to stop having kids for 3-5 years to ensure there's a reasonable amount of space between the generations. Depending on when they were born in the year, it's entirely possible some Gen Xers and Boomers were in 1st grade together.

 

[Reef]

I think it goes without saying that when they say "D&D" they mean, "The D&D that we are currently designing, printing, and selling". That (by itself) doesn't make them dishonest.

Exactly. I’m not sure why anyone would expect a company to have to specify that their market research only applies to the actual current market. Or that when they refer to their product they only mean the current version. That’s just common sense, isn’t it?

 

[Parmandur]

If the last Boomer was born in 1964 and the first Gen X popped unenthusiatically into the world in 1965, there's going to be some overlap in the late 70s to mid 80s. Who was the average D&D player at this time? I'm guessing it was a middle class white male ranging in age from adolescence through their mid-20s.


Sure. And the thing to remember is that generation divisions based on years are somewhat arbitrary. It's not like we collectively decide to stop having kids for 3-5 years to ensure there's a reasonable amount of space between the generations. Depending on when they were born in the year, it's entirely possible some Gen Xers and Boomers were in 1st grade together.

That's a point, but when the game really hit big with Moldvay the target audience would have been solidly Gen X.

 

[Lanefan]

There are not misrepresenting themselves, they are the owners of an IP and trademark called D&D, to admit to a wider category of things called D&D as you do, would endanger their trademarks by the term "Dungeons and Dragons" generic.

That "wider category of things called D&D" includes all previous editions of the game that were at the time (and since) in fact called D&D.

They own - and are the custodians of - all of D&D, not just 5e. Their using the D&D trademark to refer to an older edition of the same game doesn't impinge on that trademark in the slightest.

 

[Micah Sweet]

If you want to define D&D that way that fine, you can if you want to. Why is WotC lying just because they disagree with you?

Well, it comes back to feelings again I suppose. As a D&D player that doesn't patronize WotC any longer, and uses other rules and/or non-current editions, I dislike the implication that I am not, in fact, playing D&D. I know there are plenty of folks who are in the same situation and may feel the same way. To me, it is a self-serving lie and I don't care for it. If you're going to advertise, take out an ad.

 

[UngainlyTitan]

Yes, they are misrepresenting what D&D means for clear financial gain. I know why they did it.

There is no misrepresentation. D&D is their brand. You may use the term to describe non WoTC games as D&D but WoTC cannot acknowledge that or risk loosing access to their trademark.

 

[Micah Sweet]

There is no misrepresentation. D&D is their brand. You may use the term to describe non WoTC games as D&D but WoTC cannot acknowledge that or risk loosing access to their trademark.

3e, 3.5, and 4e aren't non-WotC games, and they own all previous editions that ran under that name.

 

[FitzTheRuke]

If the last Boomer was born in 1964 and the first Gen X popped unenthusiatically into the world in 1965, there's going to be some overlap in the late 70s to mid 80s. Who was the average D&D player at this time? I'm guessing it was a middle class white male ranging in age from adolescence through their mid-20s.

Yeah, of course. I just think that the number of Boomers (who were in the majority when the game was imagined and designed) where quickly outstripped by GenX after it was printed and marketed. Not only does that make sense, but it matches everything that we know.

Sure. And the thing to remember is that generation divisions based on years are somewhat arbitrary. It's not like we collectively decide to stop having kids for 3-5 years to ensure there's a reasonable amount of space between the generations. Depending on when they were born in the year, it's entirely possible some Gen Xers and Boomers were in 1st grade together.

Yeah, but nobody's saying that No Boomers Were (or Are) Playing D&D. They are!

It's just that it's possible that it's less than 1% of current players. It's CERTAINLY possible that it's less than 1% of 5e players (it's possible that it's larger than 1% for early-edition holdouts, but that's not guaranteed; that just passes the "feel" test).

 

[codo]

That's a point, but when the game really hit big with Moldvay the target audience would have been solidly Gen X.

The youngest Boomers would have already been 17 by the time Moldvay came out. The oldest would be 35.

 

[Oofta]

It wouldn't be, to them. But D&D is more than what WotC is currently selling or planning to sell, and they're saying it isn't. That is misrepresentation.

But it wasn't what the presentation was about. The topic was the current plans for the game they publish. Talking about anything but the current edition would have been misleading the target audience. Assuming anyone even has hard data on people playing different versions of D&D.

It's kind of like people giving a presentation on what kinds of ice cream are popular and then saying they're being misleading because they didn't talk about pie. They weren't being misrepresentative of anything.

 

[Lanefan]

The market penetration in the eighties was minuscule compared to the current level of market penetration.

In terms of actual sales, maybe.

In terms of public awareness, D&D was a big deal for a time in the 80s. The Satanic panic saw to that.

 

[codo]

In terms of actual sales, maybe.

In terms of public awareness, D&D was a big deal for a time in the 80s. The Satanic panic saw to that.

We are talking about D&D players though, not the number of people who have heard of D&D.

 

[Parmandur]

The youngest Boomers would have already been 17 by the time Moldvay came out. The oldest would be 35.

Right, the youngest would be on the higher end of the target demographic, and a lot outside of it.

 

[Parmandur]

In terms of actual sales, maybe.

In terms of public awareness, D&D was a big deal for a time in the 80s. The Satanic panic saw to that.

By that measure, it's bigger now, since pop culture is using very specific references explicitly.

 

[Benjamin Olson]

Take off the tinfoil hat man! Who do they need to justify their behavior to? Why would it benefit them to make decisions that run counter to the "real" data, and then publish "fake" data to "justify" their poor decisions?

What, you think if the grognards only truly knew their power, they would rise up in great numbers and cast down the fools running WotC and D&D?

I mean, you ignored the rest of the posting where I emphasized that I was not a conspiracy theorist, but rather someone who is just deeply cynical about things the people doing corporate PR say, whatever the corporation, specifically to head off anyone taking the comment in the light you just have. But you do you.

 

[MGibster]

Yeah, but nobody's saying that No Boomers Were (or Are) Playing D&D. They are!

In this particular instance I was talking about the 1970s and 80s. I've got no problem with the idea that boomers today make up a tiny insignificant portion of D&D players in 2023.