This is very interesting stuff! I'd love to see a breakdown of prior tabletop experience by age. I'd also be interested in seeing data on how many MMORPG players abandon RPGs for online gaming.

(Of course, I work in the tabletop RPG business, so I'm biased. But any data you could share would be interesting.)

This kind of data seems to support general assumptions about the kinds of people who play games. Many people assume that female players prefer a role-playing experience and the data on previous games played seems to agree. I wonder though, if the data on age groups for having played table-top RPGs might be affected by the fact that that age range coincides with the rise in popularity of such games. My 3-cents

I'd be interested to know what the population was that was sampled to produce these numbers.

Ideally, you want an unbiased sample, but it's difficult to get truly unbiased data. The method of sampling is going to affect what population you're getting, which in turn affects your results.

Matthew - Links to online surveys are publicized on main portals catering to specific games. Respondents from past surveys are also notified of the available surveys. Most surveys are multiple choice and consist of 30-50 questions, and usually take about 5-10 minutes to complete. Approximately 2000-4000 respondents participate in each survey phase.

[copied from http://www.nickyee.com/daedalus/archives/000198.php#methodology]

This to a large extent reflects what I have seen in my last couple of years of playing EQ1. I am female, and have been playing computer games.. for like.. forever. But most other girls I know in EQ have not.

The majority of other girls I meet in the game have had little prior experience with computer games, and for most EQ is their first and only MMORPG. And I the vast majority of girl players that I know also started playing because someone they know introduced them - most often a spouse or boyfriend.

I am curious as to the trend over time with respect to this data. By a non-scientific observation of the data plotted, it seems that "Female" players are gaining an intrest in Video Games which allow Role Play. I note that in my experience, most "Male" players seem to be achievement oriented, and have little interest in Role Play (note, most, not all), while "Female" players - I reference "Women of WoW" - tend to be interested in both Role Play, and high achievement.

I would be interested to see if - over time - the population tends to shift to the right, meaning that the number of experienced "Female" players moves toward a higher corellation with the population of "Male" players, now that game play acutally allows for a certain degree of avatar social interaction (Role Play), and not just "Chat".

"Experience with table-top RPGs is most likely among those who are currently between 29 - 35 of age - people who would have been teenagers in the 80s when D&D was popularized (and then demonized)."

Actually, someone who was 35 in 2006 (when you wrote this) was only 9 when the 80s started. 29 yr olds would have been 3. DnD was popularized and demonized in the early 80s - for folks who are now in their 40s. People who are 29-35 are most likely those who came into contact with the recent (late 90s and onward) resurgence of DnD, at which time they were more like 18-24.

Nitpicky, but just wanted to point that out.

Hi Nick.

On page 2 there is a genre "TBS". What does that stand for? It doesn't say anything about that abbreviation in the text.

I hope you'll clarify that for me.

Thora - It stands for Turn-Based Strategy (games like Civilization, Master of Orion, Heroes of Might and Magic, etc.)