D&D Player Demographics

Mistwell · May 24, 2023, 03:45:45 PM

Often there is a lot of discussion here about who plays D&D these days. Here is some semi-official data on that I thought might be worth discussing here.

According to Wizards' internal studies of the player population:

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. This is a recent shift, as previously the most popular answer for this question was 2nd edition

Grognard GM · May 24, 2023, 05:21:42 PM

Quote from: Mistwell on May 24, 2023, 03:45:45 PM
60% of D&D players are male, 39% are female, and 1% identify otherwise

Gee wizz, I wonder if they used the same metrics where people say nearly half of video game players are women, by comparing playing candy crush on your phone to owning multiple consoles.

Mistwell · May 24, 2023, 06:27:16 PM

Quote from: Grognard GM on May 24, 2023, 05:21:42 PM
Quote from: Mistwell on May 24, 2023, 03:45:45 PM
60% of D&D players are male, 39% are female, and 1% identify otherwise

Gee wizz, I wonder if they used the same metrics where people say nearly half of video game players are women, by comparing playing candy crush on your phone to owning multiple consoles.

No I'd say just less than 40% seems about right. I played Adventure League games for a while and it was running 50% at those games very consistently so I don't think 39% is a surprise at all. What percent did you think it was these days?

S'mon · May 24, 2023, 07:00:26 PM

60-40 seems about right to me too. Back in 3e days it was more like 75-25; back in 1e days it was more like 90-10.

GeekyBugle · May 24, 2023, 07:11:11 PM

Not surprizing, D&D is more popular and lost the stigma tyherefore the younger generations jumped on board, since it's NOW popular more women play it when before it was the geek/nerd ones who did.

But with all those players and popularity they still are "undermonetized" and have a DM scarcity problem.

Given that more younger people are now their player base it stands to reason they want to build a walled garden where they can milk them with micro-transactions up the wazoo. The young-uns are used to getting shafted by the AAA Vidya industry.

hedgehobbit · May 24, 2023, 07:18:45 PM

Quote from: Mistwell on May 24, 2023, 03:45:45 PMAccording to Wizards' internal studies of the player population:

The main thing with polls like this is how they are getting their date. Neither me, nor anyone in my group, are in any way in contact with WotC. Nor are my kids and all their friends. With video games, the player base numbers can be detected, but I don't see how they could possibly know how many people are playing D&D outside of the WotC bubble.

So it is no surprise that most of the people playing 5e started with 5e (as they'd have nothing to compare it to).

S'mon · May 24, 2023, 07:38:16 PM

Quote from: hedgehobbit on May 24, 2023, 07:18:45 PM
Quote from: Mistwell on May 24, 2023, 03:45:45 PMAccording to Wizards' internal studies of the player population:

The main thing with polls like this is how they are getting their date. Neither me, nor anyone in my group, are in any way in contact with WotC. Nor are my kids and all their friends. With video games, the player base numbers can be detected, but I don't see how they could possibly know how many people are playing D&D outside of the WotC bubble.

So it is no surprise that most of the people playing 5e started with 5e (as they'd have nothing to compare it to).

Obviously WoTC will be polling 5e D&D player demographics, not 1e players or players of other RPGs.

Grognard GM · May 24, 2023, 07:39:12 PM

Quote from: Mistwell on May 24, 2023, 06:27:16 PM
Quote from: Grognard GM on May 24, 2023, 05:21:42 PM
Quote from: Mistwell on May 24, 2023, 03:45:45 PM
60% of D&D players are male, 39% are female, and 1% identify otherwise

Gee wizz, I wonder if they used the same metrics where people say nearly half of video game players are women, by comparing playing candy crush on your phone to owning multiple consoles.

No I'd say just less than 40% seems about right. I played Adventure League games for a while and it was running 50% at those games very consistently so I don't think 39% is a surprise at all. What percent did you think it was these days?

Honestly I think it MASSIVELY varies by area. Gaming in the 90's and 00's, it was a Caucasian sausage fest in all of my groups, where there was never more than 1 girl, and she was always a wife or girlfriend, normally just there to spend time with her guy.

Even a few years ago when I was playing at a gaming club, with what I found to be a surprising amount of women players, it was still only about 3-4 women to 20+ men.

But then other guys in the States have stories about playing in female dominated D&D games in college during the 80's.

I personally doubt we'll ever get anything near parity of the sexes in RPGs, but then we'll never get parity with knitting circles or romance novel conventions either.

Grognard GM · May 24, 2023, 07:44:13 PM

2 other points:

1) I'd bet dollars to doughnuts that a lot of the female players have few books outside of the player's manual, and most probably aren't too knowledgeable about the game mechanics.

2) Once the fad-bubble for acting nerdy pops, the hobby will shed a TON of the new type of players, and to play Nostradamus again, most of them will be the women.

Some will obviously stay, because some chicks are actually cool, and have minimal cooties.

S'mon · May 24, 2023, 07:46:13 PM

Quote from: Grognard GM on May 24, 2023, 07:39:12 PM
Even a few years ago when I was playing at a gaming club, with what I found to be a surprising amount of women players, it was still only about 3-4 women to 20+ men.

The London D&D Meetup was often like that, certainly in the 3e D&D era. With 4e D&D it started getting more like 2/3 to 1/3, and then with 5e more like 60-40.

Armchair Gamer · May 24, 2023, 07:50:22 PM

I'd be fascinated to see the religious breakdown of the current audience ...

Grognard GM · May 24, 2023, 08:21:53 PM

Quote from: Armchair Gamer on May 24, 2023, 07:50:22 PM
I'd be fascinated to see the religious breakdown of the current audience ...

80% Woke cultists.

Shrieking Banshee · May 24, 2023, 08:25:49 PM

Nah, this feels very accurate to me. 5e is the candy crush of TTRPGs so it fits.

Venka · May 24, 2023, 08:40:34 PM

I believe this is a reasonable poll for the plugged in dnd online crowd, sure. It's obviously not a poll of anywhere close to all D&D players and probably misses very statistically significant other groups.

jeff37923 · May 24, 2023, 09:33:39 PM

Quote from: Mistwell on May 24, 2023, 03:45:45 PM
According to Wizards' internal studies of the player population:

As interpreted by GeekWire.com, whoever the fuck they are.

I'd want to see the raw data before trusting Mistwell's cherry picked source.