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

 

[Audiomancer]

I get what you're saying, but . . . . being dead does kinda affect your continued playing of the game . . . .

I mean… we’re talking about a game that has Liches in it.

I think we can all agree that the immortal Undead should be WOTC’s new target demographic.

 

[codo]

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.

It wouldn't surprise me if in 1974, most of the players were boomers. D&D was an offshoot of the chainmail war game. Historical and Fantasy wargamers tended a lot older. Particularly before Warhammer and 40k.

However by the time Moldvay came out in '81, when D&D experienced its first huge surge in popularity, the vast majority of players would have been gen X. I would not be surprised if Boomers were only a couple of percent of players in the 80's!

 

[Azzy]

I think people who reject this data are failing to realize just how explosively D&D has grown since the release of 5e.

This! I believe Morrus has a thread that collects all the times that news articles about D&D show up. D&D's popularity these days is amazing!

 

[FitzTheRuke]

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.

No, I get what you meant. The larger discussion was around what that time means for now. I think that it's obvious that Boomers were the biggest group in 1974, but I suspect that they were quickly (like very quickly) outpaced by GenX players. Just like GenX is apparently (perhaps finally) being outpaced, first by Millenials and now by GenZ.

 

[Azzy]

Sure, can't fault your math. But those 100 aren't just a statistically insignificant demographic. They are 100 real people who love the game and may feel that they are being implicitly told that they don't matter anymore, without even a thank you for staying and keeping the game alive during the lean years when the company that no longer cares about them needed them. People's feeling affect their behavior.

Why the hell would you take the results of a marketing survey personally or interpret it the way you do?

 

[Micah Sweet]

Why the hell would you take the results of a marketing survey personally or interpret it the way you do?

The post you quoted isn't about me personally. It's a suggestion for an emotion-based reaction to numbers which seem to indicate that your demographic is rare past the point of irrelevance. A question was asked a while back about why some people are resistant to accepting the numbers (which I do accept, insofar as they represent WotC customers who responded to the survey). I speculated as to the reason.

I don't particularly like the results, but I do accept them.

 

[Azzy]

I am surprised because Hasbro is not selling more toys for childrens based in D&D, and the action figures of the characters from the action-live movie were for collectors, too expensive to be bought as gifts for children.

You could have stopped right there with the bold section. I'm not sure about other toy companies, but Hasbro really seems focused on older collectors rather than kids across the board—and I really think it sucks.

 

[mamba]

"Hey look! According to WotC, everyone is playing D&D! We should buy WotC's stuff too so we can play D&D!"

yeah, a survey of D&D players will show that 100% of them are playing D&D, that seems pretty obvious. My problem is seeing this as a reason for a non-player to become a player.

I mean if Toyota releases a survey of how many of their drivers are X, that does not make me any more likely to want to drive one.

If D&D wants to convince someone they should give it a try, it will have to do better than that too.
Even Roll20 or whatever showing that 70% of games are 5e is not something I think attracts people to give 5e a try.

 

[mamba]

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.

yes, it is also the books they sold in the past

 

[mamba]

For 3e-4e, if speculation is correct that it's mostly 5e players who are answering the surveys then those who started with 3xe or 4e would naturally be under-represented; because they're still playing those editions (or close enough) and never jumped to 5e.

I think we cleared up the first bit, it is about the edition current players started with. Not sure why 2e had more staying power, but apparently it did.

As to people starting with 3e or 4e still playing that rather than 5e, I doubt it, they too dropped off imo. No idea why 2e disproportionately did not however.