Chuckers vs. Floppers. . . The war continues.

One of guys I game with mentioned that there was a significant debate of about D&D on CBC radio which I can only assume they discussed the many myths surrounding the activity. I haven't be called upon to defend the gaming community in a while so I thought it would be interesting to revisit the subject by doing a bit of reading on the internet. Found an interesting website called The Escapist that has a lot of information about various myths associated with D&D and gaming in general.

An interesting aside, Wizards of the Coast did some market research back in 1999 and made some rather interesting conclusions. First, floppers and chuckers don't mix. There are few of what they call "general gamers", i.e. gamers that play all gaming types. There actually are females that game. Excerpt:

Conclusions:

1. Few 'General Gamers':
The first, most notable conclusion we can draw from this information is that the mythical 'hobby gamer' who plays TRPGs, CRPGs, MWGs and TCGs comprises a very, very small portion of the total market. A minority of gamers play more than one category of hobby game; very few play all three. The largest overlap, though still a minority, is with CRPGs and TRPGs.

This is an exciting conclusion, because it indicates that a company can successfully create brand in one of the three hobby categories, and extend that brand into the other two without significantly cannibalizing sales. In other words, the people who buy the RPG are not likely to be the ones buying the MWG or the TCG.

2. There are 'Women in Gaming'
Second, it is clear that female gamers constitute a significant portion of the hobby gaming audience; essentially a fifth of the total market. This represents a total population of several million active female hobby gamers. However, females, as a group, spend less than males on the hobby.

3. Adventure Gaming is an adult hobby
More than half the market for hobby games is older than 19. There is a substantial 'dip' in incidence of play from 16-18. This lends credence to the theory that most people are introduced to hobby gaming before high-school and play quite a bit, then leave the hobby until they reach college, and during college they return to the hobby in significant numbers.

It may also indicate that the existing group of players is aging and not being refreshed by younger players at the same rate as in previous years.

Note:
TRPGs = Tabletop Role-Playing Games (D&D)
CRPGs = Computer Role-Playing Games (Neverwinter Nights, Final Fantasy)
MWGs = Minitures War Games (Warhammer)
TCGs = Tradable Card Games (Magic, Pokemon)