Guild Wars 2

Poll where I want you to answer can be found here: http://www.strawpoll.me/2696533/

If someone wonders why I made this poll it’s because my friend have several times said that players of Guild Wars 2 are mature and normally at least over 20 years old. My own experiences have been opposite and I would like to know actual fact now.

As template of age distribution I used this site: http://www.statista.com/statistics/246577/age-distribution-of-mobile-gamers/

I made this thread also to Reddit: http://www.reddit.com/r/Guildwars2/comments/2i6426/how_old_are_you/

How can you tell if your friend is right when one of the choices includes both under and over 20 years old? Lol.

If you look at the results, there are far more older anyway.

I’m 11 and half.

How can you tell? The largest portion of the graph is 18-24. Are they mostly 18 and 19 and 20? Or mostly 21, 22, 23 and 24?

To determine who was right there should have been a choice of something under and including 20 years old, and something over 20 years old.

Still, the survey definitely shows more players taking the survey are under 25 years old. (57% at the time of this post.)

271 votes right now are 18-24
167 votes right now are 25-34
25 votes are 45 and over
11 votes under 18 are like 23

So you have over 200 people over 24.

If you divide the population equally, which is as good a guess as any (there’s no real reason why the lower end of 18-24 would be all 18-20), then over 20 year olds would be far far more likely that under 20 year olds. Particularly when you see the other demographics.

The game looks like it’s more than half over 20. Probably far more than half. Sure there’s room for error…but not a whole lot of room. A pollster interpreting this breakdown would not put high odds on their being as many under 20 as over 20.

It would seem easier to answer the question, since OP created the poll, to have split one of the categories at 20 and below, and 21 and above.

Still, it truly doesn’t matter. I can’t say I understand the line ‘11 votes under 18 are like 23’, but I’m sure it means…something.

As for the 18 to 24 category, I’m not sure one can tell how many votes are on which side…3 age possibilities vs. 4 age possibilities…that’s pretty close. I’d hope it was tilted to the older side, but who knows these days? Anyone under 50 is a babe-in-arms, at my age. Lol. ; )

I agree it would have been better to make it something like:
Under 12 (which no one should pick, since the game is rated 12)
12 – 19
20-29
30-39
40-49
50-59
Over 59 (or keep going as long as it lets you add options).

The groups you used are good for marketing demographics, but not for answering your question.

Age and maturity are not always directly proportional. I know plenty of adults who act like children in games, or even outside of them.

Tenrai Senshi.2017:

Age and maturity are not always directly proportional. I know plenty of adults who act like children in games, or even outside of them.

kitten didn’t know other people who knew me in real life played this game :-P

Tenrai Senshi.2017:

Age and maturity are not always directly proportional. I know plenty of adults who act like children in games, or even outside of them.

Agreed.

I always find it amusing that most of the drama on my Facebook page comes from people older than me. I have a pretty wide range of ages among my friends (mainly as a result of meeting people online), and it’s far more likely for one of the adults to be involved in a ridiculous argument than the teenagers.

Although admittedly most of that is down to a few specific people. My mother being one of the worst offenders.

Danikat.8537:

Under 12 (which no one should pick, since the game is rated 12)
.

The games rating has nothing to do with it, they are actually not legally binding in most countries, as far as I know, beyond the ratings for 18 and possibly 15 or their regional equivalents.

Guild Wars 2 user agreement is a different story though. Of course the reality of the situation may be quite different.

By the way a 12 year old in EU can play GW2, but a 12 year old in the US can not as per their respective agreements (of course the requirement parental consent applies to both regions for minors).

Crise.9401:

Danikat.8537:

Under 12 (which no one should pick, since the game is rated 12)
.

The games rating has nothing to do with it, they are actually not legally binding in most countries, as far as I know, beyond the ratings for 18 and possibly 15 or their regional equivalents.

Guild Wars 2 user agreement is a different story though. Of course the reality of the situation may be quite different.

By the way a 12 year old in EU can play GW2, but a 12 year old in the US can not as per their respective agreements (of course the requirement parental consent applies to both regions for minors).

In practice even in places where all age ratings are legally binding (the UK for example) you’re far, far less likely to be asked for ID for a 12 rated game than a 16 or 18 rated one. (Partially because you’re even less likely to have officially recognised photo ID if you’re 12.)

But I was being sarcastic. I’m quite sure a lot of under 12’s play GW2, and I’m hardly in a position to comment. I grew up playing far worse games (Doom 2, Rise of the Triad, Mortal Kombat 1-3 to name just a few) and I don’t regret it at all. I’ve also never killed anyone, no matter what the Daily Mail might try and tell you.

Danikat.8537:

Partially because you’re even less likely to have officially recognised photo ID if you’re 12.

Yeah, that piece of plastic is kitten expensive considering it is only good for 5 years, the one alternative being an actual passport (which I think costs even more), and neither is rarely needed before you get something like a drivers license which most places accept even though I guess they technically should not (at least not over here, anything even remotely affiliated with the government is so annoying to deal with in that regard).

Danikat.8537:

But I was being sarcastic. I’m quite sure a lot of under 12’s play GW2

I figured as much to be honest but I was bored.

18-24 302 votes (49%)

Well, I can see what kind of audience this game can attract.

Tenrai Senshi.2017:

Age and maturity are not always directly proportional. I know plenty of adults who act like children in games, or even outside of them.

“Growing old is a requirement,
Growing up is optional”

grin

Why not ask the age of the player directly? Divide later to groups if you wish.

growing old is mandatory … growing up is optional

… ah, I see two great minds think alike.

I’m 67

These results are going to lack validity. What the poll really is measuring is the age distribution of forum-using GW2 players , not age distribution of GW2 players.

I would hypothesise that a lot of younger GW2 players aren’t interested in the forum as much as the more mature GW2 player population. My guess is that there are a lot more than just 5% of the player base between the ages of 13 and 17 (just that they are more interested in spending time inside the game rather than outside it). Just a gut feeling, I don’t have any evidence to back it up of course.

Crimson Clouds.4853:

These results are going to lack validity. What the poll really is measuring is the age distribution of forum-using GW2 players , not age distribution of GW2 players.

I would hypothesise that a lot of younger GW2 players aren’t interested in the forum as much as the more mature GW2 player population. My guess is that there are a lot more than just 5% of the player base between the ages of 13 and 17 (just that they are more interested in spending time inside the game rather than outside it). Just a gut feeling, I don’t have any evidence to back it up of course.

I agree completely. While in middle school, high school and college I couldn’t care less about the forums of the game I was playing. But as a working adult, that luckily has access to the forums on any down-time, I find it enjoyable to check the forums when I can and respond when I wish to.

Tenrai Senshi.2017:

Age and maturity are not always directly proportional. I know plenty of adults who act like children in games, or even outside of them.

Yep, yep. I know a lot of older people both on and offline that are quite juvenile. Everyone’s different that’s why you can’t judge a book by it’s cover. Age has about as much validity to someone’s behavior as gender or skin colour. It matters to a point but it depends what angle you’re looking at.

I once knew someone in game who was in her 30’s and although she carried herself well she was quite immature otherwise. Liked to flaunt the fact that she enjoyed trolling people, which I don’t really understand.