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

 

[Umbran]

Probably read "Gen X as "Gen X or older."

Really, you shouldn't do that. I mean, if they were doing the job right, statistically it won't make a difference, but in terms of thinking about the data, it can matter.

In the past, they were reporting the age of players.
In this case, they were reporting the generation players identified as.
Those aren't the same information.

They also are not counting Gen Alpha players, like my kids.

Well, given that not all of Gen Alpha has been born yet, you don't really expect them to answer surveys and identify as part of a particular cohort.

 

[R_J_K75]

Likely not even looking at us Gen-x people anymore.

As a member of Gen-X, WotC no longer cares about me, and that's fine with me because at this point I don't care about WotC either, so its a draw I suppose.

 

[Lord Rasputin]

I'm willing to bet this is a survey of players who are playing 5e, rather than any version of D&D. There's a good question as to what actually counts as D&D anymore, given the proliferation of retroclones and the existence of Pathfinder. But from WotC's standpoint, it needs to count the customer base, not those of us who are playing older versions and not buying current books (though I think most of us do own the 5e core books).

 

[payn]

As a member of Gen-X, WotC no longer cares about me, and that's fine with me because at this point I don't care about WotC either, so its a draw I suppose.

Even if you did care about WotC you cant really take it personally.

 

[el-remmen]

As I've grown older, I've become more and more accustomed to marketers not really caring about me

I don't know, in my experience marketers really care about serving me ads for various medications, cruises, and AARP membership now that I've passed 50.

 

[SkidAce]

I don't know, in my experience marketers really care about serving me ads for various medications, cruises, and AARP membership now that I've passed 50.

My age is always 18 for most trivial web sites I go to.

 

[Hutchimus Prime]

... Of people who filled out this survey, or even knew it existed.

 

[Clint_L]

These are PR numbers - I wouldn't take them too seriously unless WotC publish a methodology. Consider them a rough estimate.

Back in the 80s and early 90s, seeing a girl or a woman at the game store was a fairly rare sight in my area. I can't remember exactly when, sometime after 2000, but girls and women became a more and more common sight. Boys and young men still out number girls and woman at my local game store, but they're a common enough sight.

Of our 60 or so members at my high school D&D club they probably are around a 55/35/10 spit, so similar to these numbers but with way more non-binary representation.

 

[DarkCrisis]

Gen X. (young though almost Millennial aka Xennial)
Play Weekly. Physically only.
Started with 2E. Still prefer it, though I've played/DMed a lot of 5E.

 

[Parmandur]

Well, given that not all of Gen Alpha has been born yet, you don't really expect them to answer surveys and identify as part of a particular cohort.

For sure, which is part of my point that their market research is going to focus on relevant data.