From: mavra@cpac.washington.edu (Peter D. Adkison)
Newsgroups: rec.games.frp.misc
Subject: Survey for Wizards of the Coast
Date: 20 Dec 92 20:52:29 GMT
Organization: Wizards of the Coast, Inc.


Greetings friends, peers, netters, et al,

At Wizards of the Coast we are working on a business plan for a new
gaming company called Garfield Games--a company that will be closely
affiliated with Wizards of the Coast.  As a part of this business plan
we need to estimate as closely as we can several factors relating to
the gaming industry.  Unfortunately gathering good statistical data in
the gaming industry has proven to be a fairly difficult task.  While
we've been able to get *some* data, we haven't been able to find out
everything we'd like.

Rather than simply take our in house "best guess" at some of these
questions we'd like to conduct a rather strange survey designed for
making a "best guess" that includes the opinions of those of you who
answer the survey.  In other words, this survey not only asks you how
you feel about certain issues, but it also asks you to provide your
insight on the nature of the gaming industry (and related industries)
at large.  In each case we want your opinions on the nature of the US
market.  If you live outside the US and would like to answer the
question for that nation, we encourage you to do so, but please make
sure you mention what nation you're from in your posting.

Also, if you have any data sources that could cast illumination on any
of these questions, please let us know about them!  To save blind
alleys, we have already solicited demographics on who reads Dragon
Magazine, and the various sales demographics released by Capital City
distributors.  We'd like to hear about any data you have outside of
those two sources.

Yes I realize that we'll need to be very careful about what sorts of
conclusions we draw from the results of this survey, and we promise
that we will do just that.

I'd prefer you respond by e-mailing me at mavra@wizards.com, but I'll
try and catch all the usenet posts too.  Feel free to let this thread
digress into discussions of any of the various questions, since that
discussion may bring additional insight to bear.

Please take the time to respond to this.  By doing so you'll be
contributing to an industry you know and love by helping a growing
gaming company to optimize their marketing strategy.  And I know that
a lot of these questions are very difficult to answer, but trust your
instincts and simply make your best guess.

===========================================================================

Gaming Industry Survey
Wizards of the Coast and Garfield Games

Definition of terms
-------------------

	Adventure gaming: Roleplaying, wargaming, miniatures, live
action roleplaying, paraphenelia, etc.  Examples: AD&D, Squad Leader,
dice, hex paper, Napoleonics miniatures.  Does not include computer
games.

	Parlor games:  Card games and board games that don't fall into
the above.  For example, Trivial Pursuits, Monopoly, Poker, Chess.
Does not include computer games.

	Computer games:  All games that require some sort of
electronics to run.  For example, computer games for a personal
computer, online games, arcade games, or cartridge games you plug into
your television.

Anything in the field of gaming should fall into one of the above.

	Selected related industries: These are select industries
related to the gaming industry and for the purposes of our survey
represent comics and trading cards only.

	For the purposes of this survey, the term "game" is used to
include anything in that gaming field.  While a GURPS module isn't
technically a game in and of itself, it is assumed here to be included
in that term.

Survey Questions
----------------

Remember that in all cases I'm assuming the US market unless you
specify otherwise.

The first six questions are going to ask you to characterize the
purchasing habits of the gaming public.  In these questions, a kid who
maybe only spends $10 a year on adventure games but has parents who
buy him or her $100 worth of adventure games as gifts would be counted
as having spent $110 on adventure games.

1.	This ultimate purpose of this question is to try and determine
	the number of people who play adventure games.  Please answer one,
	two, or all three of the following questions:

	a.	How many people would you estimate play adventure
		games?
	b.	What percentage of the overall population would you
		estimate plays adventure games?
	c.	Of all the people who play adventure games, what
		percentage of them would estimate subscribe to Dragon Magazine?

2.	Out of all the people who play adventure games, what
	percentage of those people, on the average:

	a.	Spend less than $20 a year on adventure games
	b.	Spend $20-$49 a year on adventure games
	c.	Spend $50-$99 a year on adventure games
	d.	Spend $100-$199 a year on adventure games
	e.	Spend $200 or more a year on adventure games

	All of the above percentages should add up to 100%.

	f.	How much would you estimate you spend each year on
		adventure games?

3.	Of all the people who play adventure games, what percentage of
	those people use as their primary reason for not spending more on
	adventure gaming:

	a.	That they don't have enough money to spend more than
		they currently are spending
	b.	That they already have most of what they want
	c.	That most of the material on the market isn't worth
		buying
	d.	That someone else in their gaming circle buys most of
		the material
	e.	That their interest in adventure gaming isn't strong
		enough to warrant additional expense

	All of the above percentages should add up to 100%.

	f.	What's your primary reason for not spending more money
		on adventure games?

Questions 4-6 are similar to 1-3 except that they pertain to parlor
games instead of adventure games.

4.	In trying to estimte the size of the parlor gaming market,

	a.	What percentage of the overall population would you
		estimate plays parlor games?
	b.	For every person who plays adventure games, how many
		people would you estimate play parlor games?

5.	Out of all the people who play parlor games, what percentage
	of those people, on the average:

	a.	Spend less than $20 a year on parlor games
	b.	Spend $20-$49 a year on parlor games
	c.	Spend $50-$99 a year on parlor games
	d.	Spend $100-$199 a year on parlor games
	e.	Spend $200 or more a year on parlor games

	All of the above percentages should add up to 100%.

	f.	How much would you estimate you spend each year on
		parlor games?

6.	Of all the people who play parlor games, what percentage of
	those people use as their primary reason for not spending more on
	parlor gaming:

	a.	That they don't have enough money to spend more than
		they currently are spending
	b.	That they already have most of what they want
	c.	That most of the material on the market isn't worth
		buying
	d.	That someone else in their gaming circle buys most of
		the material
	e.	That their interest in parlor gaming isn't strong
		enough to warrant additional expense

	All of the above percentages should add up to 100%.

	f.	What's your primary reason for not spending more money
		on parlor games?

Questions 7-9 are similar to 1-3 except that they pertain to computer
games instead of adventure games.

7.	In trying to estimte the size of the computer gaming market,

	a.	What percentage of the overall population would you
		estimate plays computer games?
	b.	For every person who plays adventure games, how many
		people would you estimate play computer games?

8.	Out of all the people who play computer games, what percentage
	of those people, on the average:

	a.	Spend less than $20 a year on computer games
	b.	Spend $20-$49 a year on computer games
	c.	Spend $50-$99 a year on computer games
	d.	Spend $100-$199 a year on computer games
	e.	Spend $200 or more a year on computer games

	All of the above percentages should add up to 100%.

	f.	How much would you estimate you spend each year on
		computer games?

9.	Of all the people who play computer games, what percentage of
	those people use as their primary reason for not spending more on
	computer gaming:

	a.	That they don't have enough money to spend more than
		they currently are spending
	b.	That they already have most of what they want
	c.	That most of the material on the market isn't worth
		buying
	d.	That someone else in their gaming circle buys most of
		the material
	e.	That their interest in computer gaming isn't strong
		enough to warrant additional expense

	All of the above percentages should add up to 100%.

	f.	What's your primary reason for not spending more money
		on computer games?

10.	Out of all the people who play adventure games, what
	percentage of those people would you estimate regularly spend money in
	the comics or trading card industry?  Do you regularly spend money on
	comics or trading cards?

11.	Out of all the people who collect comics or trading cards,
	what percentage of those people would you estimate play adventure
	games?

12.	Out of all the people who play adventure games, what
	percentage of those people would you estimate only play wargames or
	historical miniatures games and are not very interested in other
	adventure games?  Do you only play wargames or historical miniatures
	games?

13.	Out of all the people who play adventure games, what
	percentage of those people would you estimate only play fantasy
	adventure games and are not very interested in other adventure games?
	Do you only play fantasy adventure games?

14.	Out of all the people who play adventure games, what
	percentage of those people would you estimate only play science
	fiction (including cyber) adventure games and are not very interested
	in other adventure games?  Do you only play science fiction and cyber
	adventure games?

Thank-you very much for taking the time to fill this out.  Please mail
your responses to me, or post them on Usenet.