Post by Whiterook on Jul 6, 2024 9:47:40 GMT -5
THE OLD DAYS OF YESTERYEAR
The Avalon Hill game company featured a reader’s poll, which they discussed the results of in their JUL-AUG issue of The General magazine. Of the data they collected, the one I zeroed in on was what they gleaned as the average age of readers, which can easily be extrapolated to being Wargamers. Now again, keep in mind this is 1973:
This is fascinating stuff to me, some 51 years later to the month, as not only a window to the past, but most intriguingly as comparison to where we are today as a wargaming hobby culture.
Let’s assume and take for granted that the average age of a Wargamer back in the summer of 1973 was 23 years old (…I’ll round up for benefit of the doubt 😊). That sounds about right to me, from the context of responses I see on Facebook on the perennial question of, “when did you start wargaming, and of people saying when they started wargaming — the overwhelming answer I see is, when they were young, in or just out of college or the military, which is about the early ages of their 20s. Heck, that’s when I started! The poll also reveals that many of those gamers began in their late teens. Also of interest is the number of games typically played — this point needing a. Little extrapolation due to the inclusion of Avalon Hill games but no other companies referenced — I would venture that a good estimate would be about 8 games played @ 24 hours/week (…and yes, that does surprise me, as being impressively high!).
FAST FORWARD TO TODAY
So yes, personally and from many perspective alone, I do see a very small number of young folks in their pre-teens to 20s playing wargames — usually at conventions, expos, and clubs. I never see them playing wargames in the game store playing areas, as the young sect all seems to love the fantasy card games, like Magic; interviewing store owners over the past several years now, they all tell me they primarily stock and sell those Elf Lord type games because they sell a lot and that’s their overwhelming customer made…
…that’s a very interesting side-observation right there, in that, back in the 1980s you could go to a hobby or game store and the shelves of wargames stretched a majority of the store. I had my haunts in and around the metro Boston area where it could well be defined a Wargames store, as the stock that was not, was very small…like Monopoly and Life. Today, it’s quite the opposite, with many stores not even carrying wargames.
What I am saying is, I don’t see a lot of young people playing wargames, but they are out there and the hobby doesn;t appear to be doomed to a catastrophic cricket invasion of disinterest and neglect.
What I am also saying is, the average Wargamer is nowadays, more likely in their 40-50-60-70s, the middle numbers being the lion share (…in my estimate, of course). Those are the people mentioned on the other side of this fast forward, that began the hobby back five or so decades ago.
The new blood just mentioned a moment ago are of course, the future and we should encourage their participation and learning in every way we can to pay the hobby forward.
The average age of the Wargamers I see at conventions, expos, and clubs are all white haired or bald, retired or close to it, and very experienced… most of which are in their 50-60-70s. I see a smattering of 30-40 year olds, but they are definitely in the minority of the crowds.
Am I Wrong? …could be, as this is just my gut reactions and observations, but I would say I am not far off.
ANOTHER VIEW FROM THE EDGE
Back in 2011, BoardGameGeek did a poll of 799 members on this subject and these were the results:
Interesting numbers once again, and I would dare say that a similar poll of 800 folks would generate about the same response and numbers, with small variance. In 2011, that’s roughly 90% inclusive within the ages of 40-70+.
THE FUTURE
Is this alarming? Well, that’s a bigger question than can be answered here, and is of the ultimate opinion and responsibility of the reader, however, my guess is the industry is healthy, with many new games of far superior quality than what we old geezers were introduced and grew up with…it’s gonna be just fine!
The Avalon Hill game company featured a reader’s poll, which they discussed the results of in their JUL-AUG issue of The General magazine. Of the data they collected, the one I zeroed in on was what they gleaned as the average age of readers, which can easily be extrapolated to being Wargamers. Now again, keep in mind this is 1973:
…we found that the average reader was 22.5 years of age and a sophomore in college who hs been active in wargaming for 5.4 years and owns 11.3 Avalon Hill games. Only 38% of you play by mail but those who do average 7.8 games a year. Africa Korps, Stalingrad, and Bulge are the most commonly [played by mail games] with PanzerBlitz and D-Day close behind. Waterloo and Blitzkrieg share a respectable 6th place in this respect with the other land battle titles and Luftwaffe following along with roughly a third of the [play by mail] popularity of the others.
On the average, you play 5.2 Avalon Hill games per month, 6.2 simulation games per month and devotes 23.3 hours to the art every month. 54% favored the intermediate complexity level as opposed to 38% who opted for tournament-style games. The land element was by far the most popular game environment — polling 68% of the vote compared to 27% for naval games. Strategic-level games outpolled tactical and grand strategic types by 56%, 34% and 10% respectively. The balloting on favorite periods was of special interest to us — showing a few changes we didn’t expect.
On the average, you play 5.2 Avalon Hill games per month, 6.2 simulation games per month and devotes 23.3 hours to the art every month. 54% favored the intermediate complexity level as opposed to 38% who opted for tournament-style games. The land element was by far the most popular game environment — polling 68% of the vote compared to 27% for naval games. Strategic-level games outpolled tactical and grand strategic types by 56%, 34% and 10% respectively. The balloting on favorite periods was of special interest to us — showing a few changes we didn’t expect.
- WWII @ 24%
- Modern @ 17%
- Revolutionary @ 13%
- Ancients @ 13%
- Civil War @ 13%
- Nuclear @ 8%
- Napoleonic @ 5%
- WWI @ 4%
This is fascinating stuff to me, some 51 years later to the month, as not only a window to the past, but most intriguingly as comparison to where we are today as a wargaming hobby culture.
Let’s assume and take for granted that the average age of a Wargamer back in the summer of 1973 was 23 years old (…I’ll round up for benefit of the doubt 😊). That sounds about right to me, from the context of responses I see on Facebook on the perennial question of, “when did you start wargaming, and of people saying when they started wargaming — the overwhelming answer I see is, when they were young, in or just out of college or the military, which is about the early ages of their 20s. Heck, that’s when I started! The poll also reveals that many of those gamers began in their late teens. Also of interest is the number of games typically played — this point needing a. Little extrapolation due to the inclusion of Avalon Hill games but no other companies referenced — I would venture that a good estimate would be about 8 games played @ 24 hours/week (…and yes, that does surprise me, as being impressively high!).
FAST FORWARD TO TODAY
So yes, personally and from many perspective alone, I do see a very small number of young folks in their pre-teens to 20s playing wargames — usually at conventions, expos, and clubs. I never see them playing wargames in the game store playing areas, as the young sect all seems to love the fantasy card games, like Magic; interviewing store owners over the past several years now, they all tell me they primarily stock and sell those Elf Lord type games because they sell a lot and that’s their overwhelming customer made…
…that’s a very interesting side-observation right there, in that, back in the 1980s you could go to a hobby or game store and the shelves of wargames stretched a majority of the store. I had my haunts in and around the metro Boston area where it could well be defined a Wargames store, as the stock that was not, was very small…like Monopoly and Life. Today, it’s quite the opposite, with many stores not even carrying wargames.
What I am saying is, I don’t see a lot of young people playing wargames, but they are out there and the hobby doesn;t appear to be doomed to a catastrophic cricket invasion of disinterest and neglect.
What I am also saying is, the average Wargamer is nowadays, more likely in their 40-50-60-70s, the middle numbers being the lion share (…in my estimate, of course). Those are the people mentioned on the other side of this fast forward, that began the hobby back five or so decades ago.
The new blood just mentioned a moment ago are of course, the future and we should encourage their participation and learning in every way we can to pay the hobby forward.
The average age of the Wargamers I see at conventions, expos, and clubs are all white haired or bald, retired or close to it, and very experienced… most of which are in their 50-60-70s. I see a smattering of 30-40 year olds, but they are definitely in the minority of the crowds.
Am I Wrong? …could be, as this is just my gut reactions and observations, but I would say I am not far off.
ANOTHER VIEW FROM THE EDGE
Back in 2011, BoardGameGeek did a poll of 799 members on this subject and these were the results:
- 34% (272 votes) declared they were ages 41 and 50
- 28.2% (225 votes) declared they were ages 31-40
- 15.8% (126 votes) declared they were ages 51 and 60
- 14.9% (119 votes) declared they were ages 21 and 30
- 3.4% (27 votes) declared they were ages 61 and 70
- 1.5% (12 votes) declared they were ages 16 and 20
- 0.9% (7 votes) declared they were ages 15 or under
- 34% (272 votes) declared they were ages 41 and 50
- 0.6% (5 votes) declared none of our business!
- 0.4% (3 votes) declared they were ages 71 and 80
- 0.4% (3 votes) declared they were over 80
Interesting numbers once again, and I would dare say that a similar poll of 800 folks would generate about the same response and numbers, with small variance. In 2011, that’s roughly 90% inclusive within the ages of 40-70+.
THE FUTURE
Is this alarming? Well, that’s a bigger question than can be answered here, and is of the ultimate opinion and responsibility of the reader, however, my guess is the industry is healthy, with many new games of far superior quality than what we old geezers were introduced and grew up with…it’s gonna be just fine!
