3 Takeaways from the 2023 Great Wargaming Survey

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8 ай бұрын

Today on Little Wars TV, we're joined by Jasper Oorthuys of "Wargames, Soldiers & Strategy" magazine! Jasper started the Great Wargaming Survey over a decade ago, collecting annual responses to track trends within the miniature wargaming hobby. We're unpacking the results of this year's 2023 survey, focusing on three key takeaways.
But WSS makes all of the survey results public on their website, sharing insightful blog posts on relevant questions. You can explore the results of previous surveys and start reading more about the 2023 survey on their Great Wargaming Survey blog below:
www.karwansaraypublishers.com...
What do you think of the topics discussed in today's video? Do you have a 3D printer or are you thinking about getting one? Will you try virtual tabletop gaming in 2024? And what about the dreaded "graying of the hobby?" What are you seeing in your own club and region?

Пікірлер: 173

@todd636

Regarding the graying of the hobby. I don’t think it helps when people complain about sci-fi games being run at a historical convention. Historical games should have priority but not be exclusive. Young people are more drawn to the sci-fi games. Get them in the door and introduce them to historical gaming. Telling them their not welcome is not growing the hobby

@ashleybishop9937

Jasper alluded to what I have believed for a long time, wargaming is 25% research, 25% modelling, 25% playing and 25% talking siht with your mates, and sometimes its 50% talking. Its a social activity for like minded people, I hope it lives on.

@stoatmuldoonfanclub7885

As a younger person who wants to get into historical war games is (as mentioned) the difficulty of finding groups or clubs. The other is just that there is so many different systems for just about any setting, the nice thing out getting into a fantasy or sifi system is that it’s a lot easier sell it like a board game (plus expansions) rather than requiring someone to do the research to find minis with right kind of hats and uniforms along with learning the rules for the particular system that group plays.

@kaj9245

Firstly, Little Wars TV, thank you for being a positive influence on the hobby. As a young wargamer, under the age of 30, I think it is important to say why we struggle with the hobby. The reasons are diverse and many, and I won’t be able to sum them all up here, but I will attempt. Maybe the most important reason is the cost. While many others and I would dispute this, it is a barrier to entry for many. The wargaming hobby being split on if they should include 40k, fantasy or other point-based competitive competitions doesn’t help either. It grows even worse when many sneer or make fun of younger hobbyists and what they are into. An attitude of elitism and mocking isn't helpful and rather discouraging to us. This attitude when it comes to historical wargaming is no better. Playing a fair pointed battle in the ACW, 100YW, or TYW isn't wrong. Another key factor is folks under the age of 30 are still establishing themselves in the world. We are buying our first cars, getting married or dating, trying to find affordable housing, maybe even starting a family, not to mention starting our first jobs as professionals or part-timers. None of these are cheap or leave much time for wargaming. I do hope the wargaming world lives on and I will continue to play and enjoy many games. Once again thank you for all you do.

@The1JHorton

I disagree with the virtual gaming results as there is a growing group of young people only doing virtual gaming that I suspect aren't captured in your survey at all.

@glenmurie

One thing about the greying of the hobby. There's a greying of the population in general. People stopped having as many kids in 2008, and never started up again. Universities are soon facing a massive decline in enrollment.

@frankdonatelli343

To comment on the virtual games topic, if I'm going to play a miniature wargame I want friends around a table and a ton of little dudes on the table. A computer simply can't replace that. There's loads of amazing computer wargames and strategy games but I play them for different reasons. The feeling of moving armies around in physical space and seeing them laid out is magical. For some context here I'm a 30 year old guy from Philadelphia.

@hangarflying

Virtual gaming wasn’t ever nor is ever supposed to be a replacement for physical miniature wargaming. It’s a stop-gap measure for when you can’t play in person (COVID restrictions, friends scattered all over the country, wanting to play a game now while you are painting the physical miniatures, etc.). It’s pretty unfortunate so many people are dismissive about it, specifically about how virtual gaming doesn’t give the same feel as in-person, as if they were expecting it to be a 1-to-1 exchange.

@2smallbroswarroom140

As a low teen wargamer I think we really need school clubs and games at libraries to even have a hope to get the next generation in.

@Dan-uu6wg

Unpainted miniatures (or yet-to-be-printed STLs) is neither a pile of shame nor a pile of opportunity. Instead, it's best to think of them as bottles of wine (or whiskey) in a wine cellar -- waiting to be consumed at the right time.

@gruntysskim4145

In regards to the graying of the hobby, Ill say that I think with how niche of a hobby Tabletop wargaming is, and with the retention rate being 98%, it will always be true that the population will trend older. When I was a kid playing with legos and the little green plastic army men, I wanted so badly for there to be rules and structure so that what was happening in my imagination could be expressed to others in a way that made sense for everyone involved, and tabletop wargaming very much scratches that itch.

@j.b.macadam6516

Thanks for the info. I recently opened a game shop in our small town. One of my objectives is to get People out of their computers and cell phones, and into tabletop gaming. Thus far, our club membership seems to follow your data, with about half of the members over 50. We really have to work at getting kids and teens into the hobby. I have found that an impressive miniature game layout seems to work best. Let's admit it....we're just big kids with cooler toys!

@gvdeutekom

To attract younger people to the historical hobby, it's important to make it more easy and affordable to start. Starter boxes with all you need to play helps, like the ones from Battlefront or Warlord. I fully agree with Jasper that pre painted armies would also help to make wargaming more accessible. When you like playing games, the effort to build and paint the armies before you can start can be a dissatisfier. Esspecially for a generation who grow up with the easy access of digital gaming.

@TraitorsGambit

I would say despite a relative greying of the hobby I dont think its a massive cause for concern. The economics of the last 20 years have been prohibitive and I think coupled with GW's predatory commercialisation of game balance, those war gamers who love the hobby will shift to the massively more affordable historicals even if by way of something like Bolt Action as the 'arcade' historical. Personally I havent touched my 40k collections in what I realise writing this comment has been years and yet being able to build and play 3mm modern for less than a 'value' 40k set (rules and all) AND be able to play it on a tiny kitchen table in a tiny apartment....the future is very bright for wargaming.

@richardsmith988

I stumbled onto this KZbin "site" so I am on the outside of this survey of sorts. I got into historical miniatures back in my college years (1972-1977) at SIU (Southern Illinois University) where I ran into Tim Kask, the editor of the Dragon Magazine and who introduced me to D&D (First addition). Yes, I am at this time closing on 71 years old this April, so I am one of those "Graying". I painted a regiment of Austrian Light Infantry with a howitzer battery for support that was bought off of me before I left college. In those days we used Tri-color rules as I remember it. This should give me some value in looking at your issue of the "Graying of the hobby" as you put it. With this in mind, my focus back then was in doing seminars on rules for whatever we would be doing the following week/month as a way to bring new people into the fold. It goes a long way if you teach the younger people "the ropes" to any game. This is harder because of the shorter attention span the younger people exhibit these days, so you need someone that is skilled at presentation that makes it interesting. Seminars should be broken down into Basic/beginner, Intermediate/Tell me more, and Advanced/Fine print.

@peteenglish8773

Wargames, Soldiers & Strategy is the best wargame magazine in print, in my opinion.

@Burzuj89

I'm a younger gamer (34), and I've been playing historical games for 20+ years. think what was said about attracting younger players was valid. They're less likely to want to spend money, and have plenty of other options for gaming. They also are likely to have less storage and hobby space than older hobbyists. I do think that the "traditional" form of historical gaming, with hundreds of ranked up 28mm or 15mm minis just isn't going to appeal to younger gamers. I think the way forward is to focus on providing a fun gaming experience that doesn't require a lot of miniatures, gaming and storage space or painting time, with rules that are accessible, and easy to understand. GW did great at getting people into sci fi and fantasy gaming through boxed sets, community support and mainstream appeal. I think if we had more of that in historical gaming, it would be a lot easier to draw in new players.

@BillsHistoricSites-ip3su

It is interesting on how views are so different about the hobby many younger gamers complained that fall in did not have enough sci-fi or fantasy while several other gamers older one is quite a famous GM that there was too much fantasy and sci-fi , these surveys are so interesting.