Are There More People Playing D&D Now Than In the Glory Days?

S'mon · May 07, 2018, 01:56:21 AM

Not sure I believe the 40% claim, but I guess maybe 40% female for 18-25 year olds playing D&D for the first time might be possible.

RPGPundit · May 08, 2018, 05:15:57 AM

Quote from: vgunn;1037872Can you give a link to that? I'd like to take a look.

Hmm, I don't have it onhand. I saw it on Twitter. I've seen someone else post it here somewhere, on some thread though.

Charon's Little Helper · May 08, 2018, 07:01:09 AM

Quote from: Gronan of Simmerya;1037114When we see kids playing D&D in the #1 movie of all time again, then we can say "yes".

One of the most popular TV shows (Stranger Things) doesn't count?

Though - arguably not since it takes place in the 80's.

Madprofessor · May 08, 2018, 03:07:52 PM

There are D&D groups coming out of the woodworks here on campus. They are sprouting like weeds. Students are eating up my office hours asking for GM advice, and I have half a dozen dates booked this summer to run one-shots for new groups. It's pretty awesome. They are almost all playing 5th or pathfinder, mostly 5th, and most of them haven't even heard of other games except for maybe Call of Cthulhu. I haven't seen this kind of interest on campus... ever.

Mistwell · May 08, 2018, 06:56:11 PM

According to WOTC, yes, more people are playing now than at any other time in history.

danskmacabre · May 08, 2018, 07:19:36 PM

I don't have any data, but given a higher population, The Internet making it easier for people to get in touch and find clubs etc and the huge success of 5E.
I'd say there's more people than ever playing DnD.

RPGPundit · May 10, 2018, 01:12:25 AM

I never actually expected that to happen. But I'm glad it did.

jhkim · May 10, 2018, 02:08:03 AM

Quote from: Mistwell;1038114According to WOTC, yes, more people are playing now than at any other time in history.

Thanks for the article, Mistwell. Very interesting. I'd be curious to see any more details on the 2017 survey that they report having done, that found 40% women players - and their estimation of 12 million to 15 million players in North America. i.e. How many are monthly players, how did controls work, etc.? I can't see anything from casual search, though.

That is more than I expected, both for women players and total number of players.

S'mon · May 10, 2018, 02:58:54 AM

I can't say I believe the 40% figure. Their previous figure of 18% was lower than what I was seeing, but 40% is definitely higher. Been running games publicly in London for 10 years now and it's still at least 2 m to 1 f registering for my Meetup; I can believe something in the 25%-33% range for female players. However younger players skew much more female, there are relatively few 40+ women playing or coming back.

Edit: However I can definitely see "40% of D&Ders female!" is good PR, both for the media in general and for attracting male players too.

Charon's Little Helper · May 10, 2018, 11:14:28 PM

Quote from: S'mon;1038352I can't say I believe the 40% figure. Their previous figure of 18% was lower than what I was seeing, but 40% is definitely higher. Been running games publicly in London for 10 years now and it's still at least 2 m to 1 f registering for my Meetup; I can believe something in the 25%-33% range for female players. However younger players skew much more female, there are relatively few 40+ women playing or coming back.

Edit: However I can definitely see "40% of D&Ders female!" is good PR, both for the media in general and for attracting male players too.

It could be (pure speculation) that the more hardcore gamers are predominantly male. So - 40% total are female, but per game it could be approx. 80% male if females only game half as much. (I have zero clue - I'm just speculating on a way that the % is technically correct while still having males be a large majority of most games.)

Krimson · May 10, 2018, 11:33:43 PM

Quote from: S'mon;1038352I can't say I believe the 40% figure. Their previous figure of 18% was lower than what I was seeing, but 40% is definitely higher. Been running games publicly in London for 10 years now and it's still at least 2 m to 1 f registering for my Meetup; I can believe something in the 25%-33% range for female players. However younger players skew much more female, there are relatively few 40+ women playing or coming back.

Edit: However I can definitely see "40% of D&Ders female!" is good PR, both for the media in general and for attracting male players too.

It's not like they would be the first company in the history of business to embellish facts. I don't care. More players the better. I don't care what you are so long as you can roll the bones.

RPGPundit · May 12, 2018, 04:03:19 AM

Or the 40% female gamers figure could just be true. In which case every goddamn Feminist SJW attacking D&D with demands that the hobby should be put under their control and radically altered no longer has a leg to stand on.

TheShadow · May 12, 2018, 05:25:57 AM

Quote from: RPGPundit;1038672Or the 40% female gamers figure could just be true. In which case every goddamn Feminist SJW attacking D&D with demands that the hobby should be put under their control and radically altered no longer has a leg to stand on.

You think if there were accurate stats then the rabid SJWs would pack up and go home when women reached 50%? University undergrads are solidly majority female, that's just the beginning for them.

RPGPundit · May 14, 2018, 02:57:30 AM

Quote from: The_Shadow;1038675You think if there were accurate stats then the rabid SJWs would pack up and go home when women reached 50%? University undergrads are solidly majority female, that's just the beginning for them.

Of course you're right, but this 40% claim is something that can be used to take the wind out of the sails of their arguments.

Just Another Snake Cult · May 14, 2018, 03:09:20 AM

Quote from: Gronan of Simmerya;1037114When we see kids playing D&D in the #1 movie of all time again, then we can say "yes".

A local drive-in screened E.T. just this very weekend. I hadn't seen it since it first came out when I was 11 or 12. For all the film's flaws the D&D scene was very true to my memories of early 1980's middle-school D&D, with some of the boys smoking and all of them bragging about their characters, talking over each other, and generally exhibiting dorky kid machismo.