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

 

[OB1]

Thinking ahead, Generation Alpha is just getting to the age to play D&D, and I'd assume that for the 2024 edition, WotC wants to do the same thing as 2014, bring in lots of new young players, focusing on Z and Alpha, while continuing to attract more female players. I wonder if they take those demographic breakdowns into consideration with the playtest survey results, giving more weight to the desires of younger players.

 

[UngainlyTitan]

Sudden statistical insignificance is a noteworthy thing though -

Looking back, all the prior surveys had a 40+ category, which would be both Gen X and Boomers. I wonder if someone's misreporting the survey.

From memory the last one I saw was a good few years ago and the 40+ number was very much a minority >20% or so. If the market has been expanding the way people have been reporting that minority could have shrunk really fast.
It would interesting to see Fantasygrounds or Roll20 numbers, if they have that data, (That is an age profile of their players).
We are seeing the WOTC numbers not the total market, but if we had some inkling of the Pathfinder market or the OSR market relative to the size of the official D&D market it would give us perspective.
I mean 12 years ago Pathfinder was 50% of the "D&D" market what is it now?

 

[Morrus]

Honestly the 0% Boomers makes me wonder about the survey - not that I think there's a ton of boomers (or at least that I still believe millenials are the bulk) but none?

They’re rounding, of course.

 

[TwoSix]

Sudden statistical insignificance is a noteworthy thing though -

Looking back, all the prior surveys had a 40+ category, which would be both Gen X and Boomers. I wonder if someone's misreporting the survey.

Yea, I wouldn't be surprised if they just didn't bother to sort out Boomers from Gen X. From a marketing standpoint for a game aimed at younger groups, the difference between a 45 year old and a 65 year old is probably immaterial.

 

[bedir than]

Sudden statistical insignificance is a noteworthy thing though -

Looking back, all the prior surveys had a 40+ category, which would be both Gen X and Boomers. I wonder if someone's misreporting the survey.

Millennials are part of 40+ now.

 

[DEFCON 1]

All you would need would be a pool of 201 players, with that one player being the Boomer to get the Boomer group rounded down to 0%.

 

[Oofta]

No. It is just that your table represents under 1% of the gaming population. If they are being really good about their numbers, under half of one percent.

Congrats! You are now justified in taking "Statistical Outlier" as your user title.

Then there should be a 1% entry. This has happened before with the released pie charts. They admitted that they just didn't break details down after a certain age.

 

[Morrus]

Then there should be a 1% entry.

Why? Figures below 1% probably just aren't worth breaking down for a quick conversation with a reporter. A broad overview is fine; that level of detail simply wasn't needed for the situation.

 

[Willie the Duck]

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

The Geekwire article doesn't have the actual WotC language. Do you know what WotC actually said? If WotC said something like 'X% of our respondents are _____,' that's a fair shake different from them saying 'X% of D&D players are _____.' I also note that the article says that this is how people 'identify.' However, generations are demographic qualities related to societal trends, not personal qualities.

Honestly the 0% Boomers makes me wonder about the survey - not that I think there's a ton of boomers (or at least that I still believe millenials are the bulk) but none?

Unless Morris did not report a line, they didn't say 0%. They included three lines which summed up to 100%, but that includes rounding and omission of categories below a certain threshold.

That adds to 100%. My father does not even count being a Boomer at age 75. I know that Wizards are not looking at him for their product stream, move to online play, or cultural sensitivity. Likely not even looking at us Gen-x people anymore.

Boomers are generally considered 1946-1964. You're dad would be a Boomer.

 

[payn]

I'm pleasantly surprised by the 60/39/1 male/female/nonbinary split.