Re: Changing demographic?

From: madcentral@aol.com (MadCentral)

Date: Tue, 12 Nov 2002 15:37:48 +0000

>>I'm intrigued as to whether the demographics of PBM players have
changed over the years. Is it generally agreed that numbers have
declined, i.e. that some groups have left the player population?<<

I think you'll find that virtually nothing is "generally agreed" in PBM. <grin>

>>Recent(ish) posts to this group have implied that IT people dominate,
followed by civil engineers and accountants. But was this always so?<<

Yes, pretty much.  PBM has always been populated mainly by intelligent folk
with a bit of money to spend, or with intelligent folk who will one day have a
bit more money to spend.  Consequently, many of the players do end up in the
sort of jobs you mention.

>>Some comments made on one game's mailing list talk about playing
alongside a wide range of ages and occupations, back in the 80s, and
the consensus seemed to be that this started to change with increasing
computerisation.<<

I would put the common age range to be 20's and 30's, but theres a lot outside
of that too.  Plus, the sports hobby has a very different age range to the
fantasy hobby and in turn to the wargame hobby.

>>So has the geek come to dominate commercial PBM as computer moderation
has become the norm?<<

There are no more or less geeks in PBM than there ever were, computer
moderation or not.  The word "geek" means different things to different people,
though, and isnt a massively useful word really, other than for colourful
phrasing.

>> Are potential players driven off by rigid rules
and coded orders? <<

Some are, of course.  They tend to go and play games without rigid rules and
coded orders.  Then you get the ones who have been driven away from the games
without, and come looking for the games with, as it were.

>>Or are they already getting their 'fix' through
simming, free rpg-style games, chatrooms and virtual worlds?<<

That seems a somewhat generic and pointless question.  Gamers play lots of
ways, and "get their kicks" lots of ways.  Its all good.

>> Now there are a plethora of ways to (Roleplay) do this, many of
them free.<<

PBM has always been a lot more than just roleplay.  More ways to play means
more explose to what it is, which means more potential customers.  There are
two ways at looking at such things.

Steve T.

References

Changing demographic?
keenuward@hotmail.com (Rob Alexander)
Tue, 12 Nov 2002 13:56:52 +0000

Referenced By

Changing demographic?
keenuward@hotmail.com (Rob Alexander)
Tue, 12 Nov 2002 13:56:52 +0000