by Brant Guillory, 7 January 2024
Last month, we asked you about your 2023 wargaming. It wasn’t a long survey. It wasn’t a complicated survey. It still created a mountain of complaints. Why? Well, we’re wargamers, it’s kinda what we do. Nonetheless, we soldiered on, and here are some of the results.
Today, we’re going to look at the basic descriptives of the population that replied, and in a future article, we’ll dig into some details on the rest of the survey.
Of note, the stats you’re going to see here are not trying to describe “the wargaming population” but rather “these are the people that replied to the survey”. It’s an important distinction but one we always feel needs to be called out.
click images to enlarge
This is an experienced bunch of wargamers!
Good news! Folks got in more gaming than they did in 2022. Some of you a lot more; most of you at least somewhat more, but 2/3 of this group managed to play more wargames than the previous year.
Folks were willing to try more games this year, too, as over half of the overall group tried a greater variety of titles in 2023 compared to the previous year.
Over half of the group bought more games this past year, but the bulk of the game-buying responses hover around the middle. What we didn’t ask was how the overall dollar amounts compared to previous years, as loading up when older games are on sale is a little different than splashing around full price on a lot of new games.
Not a lot of folks played with new faces this year, but that’s OK, since we all got more games in overall. Maybe next year we can all resolve to get at least one new gaming buddy and spread the wargaming love a bit.
Most folks are playing at home, but people are playing in other places too. Next time, we’re going to ask not just where you usually play, but give you a multi-select option for all the places you play, too.
We’ve asked before about what your favorite form of wargaming media is, and pre-recorded videos still seem to rule the roost. Nice to see that online written content is close behind, though, since that’s a lot of what we do!
We asked about your conventioneering last year, and while most of you did not make it to a game convention, over 120 of you did make it to one.
Most of you picked your conventions based on proximity, which makes sense, considering that the bulk of the attendance cost is not your game shopping.
We’ve got more details to bring you, including the games you played this year, and your other thoughts about 2023, in future articles.
2023 YEAR-END WARGAMING SURVEY
THE ORIGINAL SURVEY ~ DESCRIPTIVE STATS ~ CROSSTABS PART 1 ~ CONVENTIONEERS ~ CROSSTABS PART 2 ~ FAVE GAMES ~ OPEN RESPONSES
Thank you for visiting The Armchair Dragoons and mounting up with the Regiment of Strategy Gaming.
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There once were Dragoons in their chairs,
Wargaming expertise beyond compares.
With passion they’d play,
Strategizing all day,
The Armchair champions, nobody dares.
In the hobby, they stand proud and tall,
Wargaming prowess, they enthrall.
In each tabletop fight,
They prove their might,
Armchair Dragoons, the best of them all!
