What's your guild's age spread?
by Alex Ziebart 
Mar 22nd 2008 at 1:00PM
One of my favorite WoW podcasts(besides our very own, of course) is Casually Hardcore from WoW Radio. They're a very fun bunch and they cover the topic of age fairly often in their fan mail.I realize a lot of young people play WoW, but I haven't had much direct experience with the really young crowd. As far as I know, I've only played with someone under 16 a couple of times since late 2004. I'm 21 now, and I'm actually the third youngest person in my guild, and there's only a few others younger than I am in our entire guild alliance. We probably just fall short of 200 people across all of the guilds, so the idea of people so young playing WoW is actually quite strange to me. I see parents saying "AFK, my daughter needs me" more often than kids or teens saying "sorry guys, I have school in the morning."
While there are definitely mature younger people playing WoW(I like to think that I was/am one... maybe) but I haven't honestly had much experience with the younger crowd at all. I'm willing to bet money that my guild's average age is somewhere in the high 20s. What about you guys, willing to take a guess? Is your guild younger? Older? A mix of all sorts?
Filed under: Analysis / Opinion, Odds and ends
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
Jason Mar 23rd 2008 1:43AM
I'm the 2nd youngest person in our guild, the youngest being 17. I think our oldest member is in his 40s, but we've got mostly 20s college students and 30s.
Dedaim Mar 22nd 2008 1:12PM
My guild is probably most adults, but I'm just a kid (16) and I've been playing for like 2 years. I always talk with my friends about WoW at school and I enjoy playing with them. I think the #1 reason why you don't see as many children in WoW is because of the money involved. Parents don't want their kid playing a game for $15 bucks a month when they could be at the park playing games and hanging out with friends.
Liitz Mar 22nd 2008 1:12PM
My guild has a mix of all ages, although probably more older than 21 than younger. We have a couple people with kids and also some people who are restricted by school the next morning and that sort of thing. We once had a warrior in the guild for a fair amount of time who was 11 years old, main tanking in SSC and TK.
Zghuk in vacation Mar 22nd 2008 1:56PM
18-4o... mainly 25-3o
Zareena Mar 22nd 2008 1:21PM
Our guild has a wide range. Most are in their 30s and 40s with kids, but some have their kids in the guild also. We also have a group of low-20s (which would be where I fit) and then a few still in high school. I do agree that money is a factor, because one of our tanks, a high schooler, quit for a while for money and time constraints.
gokufencer Mar 22nd 2008 1:23PM
I'm probably one of the youngest out of the group of people I play with (16 in a month!) and the oldest I'd say is 24/25? I really don't know, we just call him old man all the time :p.
But for the most part a lot of the people I play with are around 21 besides Mr. Old Guy.
Sunus Mar 22nd 2008 1:24PM
I think it depends on the guild. I'm 20 and I'm in my 2nd guild right and this ones seems to be made up of more younger then the old one that I was in. I feel like guilds that have been around for a long time have a older average age while newer guilds get the younger crowd.
Tolyre Mar 22nd 2008 1:26PM
Our guild has at least a 30 year spread is my guess. ranging from 16 (tiaao) to 46 (tiaao), it could be bigger.
I would take a stab at an average age of 30ish.
epsilon343 Mar 22nd 2008 1:31PM
All of the people I play with are college age or above but I've grouped with kids who were younger and people who were older. The example you listed applied to me yesterday actually.
JParris Mar 22nd 2008 1:41PM
My guild's youngest member is 15, I believe. He's a great kid. Plays his rogue very well. If we had class leaders in our guild he'd actually be first on the list for the job.
Our oldest is in his mid-40s with kids. His kids are too young to WoW just yet but I'm sure they will sometime soon. Hahaha
So yeah, I think a 30-year age gap is what a lot of guilds see, with a majority of members in their 20s.
Varatil Mar 22nd 2008 1:50PM
I figure most of my guild is in the mid-late 20's. I think our oldest member's a 30-something and I'm all but certain I'm the youngest.
Charlie Taylor Mar 22nd 2008 1:58PM
My first real guild had a 60+ grandmother in it, so she titled the average quite a bit! ;)
My current guild probably hovers around the 30 year mark.
Super_Duck Mar 22nd 2008 2:00PM
My raiding guild has ppl from the age of 13 to 50 or so :P
Kos Mar 22nd 2008 2:04PM
I know that the officers and other key members of my guild are between 25-40ish but we have quite a few younger people. I'm just 21 myself and one of our MT's but it's the younger ones who don't get to raid, usually because of school. I always thought it was the high schoolers who spent the most time playing...
William Mar 22nd 2008 2:30PM
quoted
LOL!! You'll NEVER see a kid who actually would quit WoW in order to go to bed so they could get up in the morning for SCHOOL. Kids will sleep through all their classes and fail every test miserably in favor of WoW. It takes Responsible adults to AFK for a moment to make sure their kids are alive and not completely destroying things or whatever. Just my two cents on that...
In answer to guild age - (Mid Twenties) 23 is probably the youngest and there are several of them. 26-27 would be the oldest and might only be one or two... Everyone else falls in between. A lot of us are friends from RL and met in college or through mutual friends. That's about it.
William Mar 22nd 2008 2:31PM
oops.. apparently my quoted thing didn't show up. I was quoting:
I see parents saying "AFK, my daughter needs me" more often than kids or teens saying "sorry guys, I have school in the morning."
and that's what I lol'd about...
JohnC Mar 22nd 2008 2:47PM
i do, im just 16 and have been playing for nearly a year. i take responsibility and good to bed at reasonable times. im not that sad to sit up till like midnight just so i can get this "leet epic piece of armor" ill just do it another day. school is more important than an internet game
William Mar 22nd 2008 3:23PM
@ John C
I hope there are more kids like you then! I remember High School for me (my parents didn't let me stay up late... they'd pull the plug on my box if I tried to stay up or protested...) but I remember hearing from Kids who said they were up till 1AM-2AM playing whatever game it was at that time and got such and such armor... geesh I was jealous cuz I wanted the gear, but then again, I got better grades than them. Glad you have your priorities straight. Someday when you're making good money they'll be delivering pizza to your condo! hahaha...
Hurode Mar 22nd 2008 2:45PM
When I was in my RP guild in Steamwheedle Cartel-EU, I was 16 at the time. The rest of the guild averaged around age 25-30; they basically only let me in because I made a good impression on the forums, both OOC and IC. Now I lost my EU account and am ordering the US game this weekend.
Jess Mar 22nd 2008 3:22PM
Average age is 18-30 but the youngest ones are around 11 or 12, oldest two are both 51.
Pretty awesome to have that kind of age spread.