POLL: Age-o-meter
by Natalie Mootz 
Jul 11th 2008 at 6:00PM
Some of the best and worst times I've had in WoW have come from playing with people who were not anywhere near my own age. My very first WoW friend was 20 years younger than me and we had a blast. In fact, I ended up playing with her sister and her parents too. But just yesterday I was reminded that sometimes age does matter when I pugged with a bunch of, well, real doofuses (doofii?) whose every other comment was a poop joke. I have never before logged in mid-air while between flight paths, but that's how much they annoyed me. I'm sure that some of my comments that start with "Dude..." or contain the phrase "teh awesome" are just as annoying to other people. So, anyway, it got me to wondering about the game's age ranges. I think everyone assumes that most people who play the game fall into their own age group so I thought it might be fun to find out how the ranges really do break down -- at least for folks who read WoW Insider. So spill it! No one will know what you answered, but it should be interesting to see the results.
| Kidlet | |
|---|---|
| Preteen | |
| Teen | |
| Twenties | |
| Thirties | |
| Forties | |
| Older than that |
Filed under: Polls, Analysis / Opinion
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 3)
Orm Jul 11th 2008 6:07PM
in b4 "all wow players are 13"
Corvidae Jul 11th 2008 6:13PM
FIRST
But also, while it seems that younger players all seem to fall into one common category, there are rare exceptions out there who show maturity beyond what a certain age would often suggest. It will be interesting to see if Blizzard does anything in response to the age ranges in the game. My guess is... probably not. Isn't that part of what makes it more real?
Zamn Jul 11th 2008 6:15PM
Look at that, a perfect bell curve
Bunkai Jul 11th 2008 6:55PM
Ah yes... the defacto graph of any and all age-related, demographical surveys in existence...
...who would have thought?
:-)
Ugly Flower Jul 12th 2008 6:49PM
Doesn't this only show the age of wow players who come to wow insider?
Natalie Mootz Jul 12th 2008 7:25PM
Yep! Please see my comment #10.
Spoonmaster Jul 11th 2008 6:21PM
I'd suspect that alot of the groups under the teenage range, doesn't really visit WoWInsider or big blogs to read.
Thus, the poll might be a bit inaccurate. BTW, I'm 16. =)
Rob Jul 11th 2008 6:26PM
Right, this and the group bins are too large. I'd say 5 year spread would be interesting. I'd really like to see some unbiased demographics of WoW. My sense is that about 90% of players are male, and at least half are teenagers. The real die-hards tend to be older, ie late twenties to early thirties. I imagine for casuals the age spread is very large, while for diehard BT raiders its significantly smaller.
Hurode Jul 11th 2008 6:40PM
You might think you're along, but there are more of us than you might seem to think. I'm 17 and I like to read up on wow for multiple reasons.
A) I enjoy reading blogs to begin with. Tech blogs, gaming blogs, political blogs, whatever. This site combines two of my favorite internet pastimes together, so why shouldn't I subscribe?
B) I want to be good at the classes I play, and generally be knowledgeable about the game. I remember an instance group I was in when I was leveling my holy priest (my level 61 main and first character on US realms; I started on EU just before 2.2 hit and my current US account was started just before 2.4) where just nothing could go right. It was me, a druid tank, a hunter, a rogue, and an enh shaman wiping our way through mara (or ST, or something).
Hilariously enough, the hunter was the only other person in the group who understood what he was doing and what was going on. Turns out he was leveling his 4th character and was in one of the higher end raiding guilds on my realm, with his main working his way through Black Temple. He and I spent the whole time giving advice to the other three players, and all five of us ended up being better in the end (those three actually took the advice, I practiced quick healing and he practiced pet offtanking and trapping). Afterwards he asked me how many 70s I had and he was shocked when I said that was my main and highest character. I have this website, wowhead comments, and the occasional thread on the Elitist Jerks forums to thank for that.
C) Comments sections on blogs are always quite fun. I like reading through them to get the viewpoint of multiple people and get different perspectives on various topics, so I don't get shoved into one way of thinking. It's another reason I like this website as a whole: there are 20 WoW Insider bloggers, so you know you don't get one person telling you the same thing over and over again.
So we exist, you just have to look for us. Just like there are a bunch of plenty mature people in our age range, but that's another comment entirely.
Deanta Jul 11th 2008 6:43PM
I agree with you Spoonmaster - a WoW Insider poll probably won't catch all the 12-year-old and similarly mentally-aged noobs. But I'm a 16-year-old girl gamer, so I guess I'm breaking a few of the stereotypes anyway.
Juneau Jul 11th 2008 7:55PM
I'm with Hurode, I'm 16 but I generally like reading blogs and reading up about stuff I'm into.
A few people online have been surprised when I tell them my age, and have told me I'm mature for my age. Although naturally that goes to pot when I'm with my mates, teenage boys can't help being immature sometimes ;D
Natalie Mootz Jul 12th 2008 7:18PM
Yep, I even mentioned that in my article. This is DEFINITELY NOT any sort of scientific poll whatsoever. Just a curiosity, really. Something for fun! Imagine!
Knucker Jul 14th 2008 10:46PM
Is this more of a poll to see who reads your blog? It seems like it, even if it was not your original intention.
Braundo Jul 11th 2008 6:34PM
Mid-20s.
Hurode Jul 11th 2008 8:05PM
Not at all, I just never had the idea :D
Hurode Jul 11th 2008 8:07PM
Damn it, replied to the wrong person :(
G Jul 11th 2008 8:51PM
@Hurode - It's hell getting old, isn't it? :)
G Jul 11th 2008 6:40PM
Damn, I just dinged an entire category 7 days ago. I feel old.
Hurode Jul 11th 2008 6:41PM
Wow. When I turn 18, I'm going to wake up and shout "DING!" as my first way to celebrate.
G Jul 11th 2008 6:46PM
You say that like it's a bad thing.