by Brant Guillory, 11 January 2024
Last month, we asked you about your 2023 wargaming and last week we brought you the first look at the results. Today, we’re going to dig into a few deeper comparisons with some cross-tab lookups, comparing different questions we asked you to see how they interact.
Note that we are not doing tests of statistical significance, since this was just a convenience sample, and not a particularly large one at that. As we mentioned before, 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”.
Overall, did you play more in 2023 than the previous year? (Across)
by
Overall, did you buy more games than last year? (Down)
| Time played in 2023 ➡️
⬇️ Games bought in 2023 |
No, I didn’t play nearly as much as last year | No, didn’t play as much, but it was close | Yes, played more, but not a lot | Yes, played a lot more | Grand Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| A lot more than 2022 | 2 | 7 | 18 | 25 | 52 |
| More, but not by a lot | 6 | 15 | 56 | 21 | 98 |
| Not quite as many as last year | 9 | 28 | 37 | 15 | 89 |
| Way fewer games than in 2022 | 11 | 9 | 9 | 1 | 30 |
| Grand Total | 28 | 59 | 120 | 62 | 269 |
Many of the responses seemed to cluster around the middle of this chart, indicating that most folks were close to the same amount of games they bought, and the amount of time they spent playing, from year to year, if slightly above or below what they’d done the previous year.
These types of response options drew a variety of negative comments from folks online; the complainers wanted to pick “same as last year” over and over. You might be close to what you did last year, but are you exactly the same as last year? Unlikely. So lets take our best estimate: did you go up or down, even if it wasn’t much…
Overall, did you play more in 2023 than the previous year? (Across)
by
Thinking about how many different games you played compared to last year, as well as the overall time spent wargaming… (Down)
| Time Played in 2023 ➡️
⬇️ Titles + Time Played in 2023 |
No, I didn’t play nearly as much as last year | No, didn’t play as much, but it was close | Yes, played more, but not a lot | Yes, played a lot more | Grand Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Less of both than last year | 26 | 28 | 1 | – | 55 |
| Played more titles, but didn’t get as much overall time as 2022 | 1 | 24 | 9 | – | 34 |
| Played fewer different titles, but still got more time than last year | 1 | 6 | 38 | 11 | 56 |
| More of both than in 2022 | – | 1 | 72 | 51 | 124 |
| Grand Total | 28 | 59 | 120 | 62 | 269 |
These trends seem to be intuitive: if you played more than last year, you probably also played more titles than the previous year.
How long have you been wargaming? (Across)
by
How much of your wargaming is played solo? (Down)
| Years Wargaming ➡️
⬇️ % of Solo Play |
0-3 years | 3-10 years | 10-25 years | 25-40 years | More than 40 years | Grand Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| None | 1 | 5 | 3 | 2 | 11 | 22 |
| Less than 25% | 3 | 4 | 6 | 14 | 30 | 57 |
| 25-50% | 4 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 19 | 50 |
| 50-75% | 9 | 4 | 4 | 16 | 14 | 47 |
| Over 75% | 11 | 14 | 3 | 16 | 41 | 85 |
| (blank) | – | – | 1 | 1 | 6 | 8 |
| Grand Total | 28 | 35 | 26 | 59 | 121 | 269 |
Interestingly, across the entire sample, we have more people that are solo gamers than those at 25%-to-zero solo gaming. It seems we still have trouble finding opponents1. While older wargamers have a reputation as curmudgeons, our sample here actually found a higher percentage of newbies that are solo gamers than veteran solo gamers. Maybe the newer players just haven’t been in the hobby long enough to find some established gaming partners?
How long have you been wargaming? (Across)
by
What’s your favorite type of wargaming media content? (Down)
| Years Wargaming ➡️
⬇️ Preferred Type of Wargaming Media |
0-3 years | 3-10 years | 10-25 years | 25-40 years | More than 40 years | Grand Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pre-recorded video (reviews, how-to-play, strategy guides, etc) | 10 | 5 | 11 | 15 | 28 | 69 |
| Written content, online (review sites, company newsletters, etc) | 3 | 6 | 8 | 14 | 28 | 59 |
| Independent online forums | 2 | 5 | 1 | 4 | 21 | 33 |
| Written content, dead tree edition (books & magazines) | – | 1 | 1 | 2 | 17 | 21 |
| Social media (short-form / high interactivity) | 2 | 3 | 1 | 6 | 10 | 22 |
| Podcasts | 5 | 7 | 2 | 9 | 9 | 32 |
| Live video (talk shows, interviews, etc) | 3 | 3 | 2 | 4 | 5 | 17 |
| Online forum (company-sponsored) | – | – | – | 1 | 2 | 3 |
| (blank) | – | 2 | – | 4 | 1 | 7 |
| Discord discussions | 3 | 3 | – | – | – | 6 |
| Grand Total | 28 | 35 | 26 | 59 | 121 | 269 |
Our veteran wargamer respondents seem to prefer longer, less-interactive forms of wargaming media, as 3 of their top 4 preferred options are one-way traffic. However, pre-recorded video was pretty popular across all levels of wargaming experience.
Overall, how did your opponents compare to last year? (Across)
by
Overall, did you play more in 2023 than the previous year? (Down)
| Who I Played With ➡️
⬇️ Time played in 2023 |
A whole lot of new people | Some of my prior opponents, but more new ones than the previous year | Mostly my same gaming buddies, with a few new faces | The usual suspects | Primarily a solo gamer | Grand Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| No, I didn’t play nearly as much as last year | – | 1 | 5 | 9 | 13 | 28 |
| No, didn’t play as much, but it was close | 3 | 7 | 17 | 18 | 14 | 59 |
| Yes, played more, but not a lot | 7 | 16 | 43 | 24 | 30 | 120 |
| Yes, played a lot more | 15 | 12 | 12 | 9 | 14 | 62 |
| Grand Total | 25 | 36 | 77 | 60 | 71 | 269 |
The more you played, the more likely you played with some new faces. Whoodathunkit?
That said, aside from our pure solo gamers, most folks in our sample had at least some new faces. Let’s all resolve to get at least 1 new face to our gaming tables this year, eh?
Overall, how did your opponents compare to last year? (Across)
by
Thinking about how many different games you played compared to last year, as well as the overall time spent wargaming… (Down)
| Who I Played With ➡️
⬇️ Titles + Time Played in 2023 |
A whole lot of new people | Some of my prior opponents, but more new ones than the previous year | Mostly my same gaming buddies, with a few new faces | The usual suspects | Primarily a solo gamer | Grand Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Less of both than last year | 3 | 4 | 12 | 19 | 17 | 55 |
| Played fewer different titles, but still got more time than last year | 2 | 9 | 21 | 13 | 11 | 56 |
| Played more titles, but didn’t get as much overall time as 2022 | 1 | 3 | 8 | 10 | 12 | 34 |
| More of both than in 2022 | 19 | 20 | 36 | 18 | 31 | 124 |
| Grand Total | 25 | 36 | 77 | 60 | 71 | 269 |
Reinforcing the previous question, folks who played more titles and for more time had newer people around their tables. However, folks that player fewer new titles, but for overall greater time, still got some new opponents with whom to face off.
Again, we’re still working our way through the data, so come back and see us after The 2024 ACDC to see what we dig into next. Looking back at the original survey, which crosstabs would you like us to run that we hadn’t already? What do you think would be of interest in those comparisons? Sound off below, or in the 2023 year-end research thread in our forums
2023 YEAR-END WARGAMING SURVEY
THE ORIGINAL SURVEY ~ DESCRIPTIVE STATS ~ CROSSTABS PART 1 ~ CONVENTIONEERS ~ CROSSTABS PART 2 ~ FAVE GAMES ~ OPEN RESPONSES
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