Many recent MMORPGs have well-differentiated non-combat professions that are viable in and of themselves. In other words, unlike the EQ system, you don’t have to fight to get the resources or money (or rely on your guild) to buy the materials to skill up in crafting. The appeal of the resource and manufacturing classes were explored in comparison with the combat classes. Respondents rated the appeal of the following three broad classes:

If the following 3 types of roles were equally well-implemented and balanced, how much would each appeal to you?
Resource Gathering: Explorer/Geologist/Miner/Hunter/Trapper
Manufacturing: Blacksmith/Alchemist/Armorer/Tailor
Combat: Warrior/Archer/Healer/Sorcerer

Since most MMORPGs tend to be combat-focused, it was expected that the combat rating would be skewed higher. The goal was to explore whether particular slices of age, gender, or motivations would provide a reasonably good understanding of whether certain players were more likely to prefer certain non-combat professions.

The results seem to indicate that preference for these three board types of classes do not vary with gender or age very much, but may be better explored in terms of player motivations.