TTRPG research project results

As I mentioned in the 'About' section, this blog is the result of a research project I conducted in the first half of 2022 in order to understand how people are now playing TTRPGs, and how things could be improved to help improve player experiences and to help groups to keep playing.

This is an exciting time for TTRPGs. Numbers are increasing, and publishers are creating interesting content alongside innovative companies such as Roll20. I believe this is one of the most rewarding hobbies someone can play, but it requires a huge amount of commitment from DMs in particular that leads to some people dropping out of the industry. Over 70% of respondents stated they wanted to play more often than they do, and only 30% of DMs felt that preparation was an appropriate amount of time. This project looks to help understand how publishers and other creators can help reduce these hurdles and create a better experience for people (including building some of the tools requested by DMs/GMs in the project).

Over the next few posts I will do some deepdives into the data, but this post will give an overview of the key findings. I am not an academic researcher so I am sure there are things that could have been done better with the data collection, but hopefully this research provokes some thoughts. Please feel free to reach out if you have any questions or want any bespoke data breakdowns.

Process

I interviewed 15 players in a semi-structured manner to try and understand why people play roleplaying games, and how the digitalisation of the hobby has impacted each of those facets. I then used these conversations to develop an online survey which I circulated through friends and on relevant Reddit communities. This means findings are more indicative than representative, but over 160 people responded to the survey (thank you if you are one of those people!), so there is a decent foundation for understanding how people are playing and preparing.

Findings

Predominantly, the feedback from interviews were that people play because it provides a social outlet, to create collaborative stories, and because they enjoy the settings and mechanics that provide a framework for them to create on top of.

This then breaks down further into benefits and necessities (often these things overlapped). Rolling dice is obviously a necessary part of playing D&D, but people also enjoy the tactile nature of dice, and enjoy the randomness that they bring to the storytelling.

To do this, I overlayed research conducted by Yuan (2001) who evaluated how people played tabletop games remotely (available here: https://dl.acm.org/doi/abs/10.1145/3411764.3445512).

How the Pandemic changed things

We know that the Pandemic had a significant impact on how people played and prepared for games. Many of public ordanances had been relaxed by the time of the survey in May 2022, but the survey showed that people continued to play online despite this.

Only 35% of people who had only played in offline settings prior to the 2020 played in the same way now; the majority of people either played in a hybrid fashion, or still played entirely online. In part this was due to habits and patterns of behaviour having changed, but players have become accustomed to playing online, and the medium offers flexibility for people who's schedules are tight or who have other commitments that make in-person play difficult. Previously, these people may have stopped playing altogether, so the option to play at all online is welcomed.

How does Online compare?

Online play is ultimately a different experience for players and DMs. Online has an advantage in the 'Mechanical' elements of play such ascombat, where the experience is often improved as online tools and virtual tabletops speed up encounters. DMs also found preparation was improved- whilst digital assets are often dispersed across the internet, it is still quicker and more convenient than creating multiple maps offline.

Access to digital asset libraries (both free and paid) also offered DMs the chance to impress their players with attractive and dynamic maps, which was highlighted as an overall improvement.

In terms of 'Socialisation', however, online play is less appropriate. People use TTRPGs as an escape, and often it is an excuse simply for meeting new friends, or hanging out with existing ones. Players who overindexed in this area were less likely to enjoy online gamings and more likely to be playing inperson where possible.

The caveat to this was for players who live rurally and are unable to find a group to play with. Here, the ability to find a group and play with them remotely was highly valued.

From a 'Roleplaying' perspective, players found it difficult to know when to jump in, and sessions often felt uneven and lacking in flow. The counter to this is that many professional real-play podcasts play remotely without these issues, but for the average player this is a significant challenge. Roleplaying is critical to the enjoyment of players (duh...), so creating

Improvements

I will be doing an indepth breakdown of where technology could be used to help improve online play, offline play, and streamline preperation. Broadly speaking, there

1) Utilising technology to streamline prepration; DMs spend an average of 4 hours preparing for each session- often longer than they spend playing. Whilst a lot of this is enjoyable, a lot of the more mundane tasks should be automated or interoperable across the different sources and VTTs that they use.

Content should also be digitally native; can official content be laid out in a more ergonimically beneficial way? Should DMs have to flick back and forth on a PDF during sessions, or can content be laid out better?

2) Use technology to improve play sessions; online VTTs are well liked, and there have been huge strides in implementing sound effects and digital maps to utilise the opportunitiies that online play offers. More could be done however, including having more interoprable systems. Technology could also be adapted to help make roleplaying online more organic (e.g. a spotlight mechanic). Currently, generic video tools are being used for a specific function, but more could be done here to make bespoke options for player groups.

The larger publishers could also play a leadership role in helping groups find the right set up that works for them. The industry is beginning to move in this direction (e.g. WOTC buying D&D Beyond and Paizo launching Pathfinder Nexus), but the whole playing chain should be interoperable and less of a hurdle for groups.

3) Create online specific content and modules. We know that offline play differs from online play (for better and worse). We do not need to just shift our offline play styles online. Game rules and mechanics could be adapted, and matericals should be created for online play. A number of small publishers have launched simplified game engines to help reduce the barrier to entry for players, and these systems could lend themselves to online optimisation.