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Hi all, I'm curious as to the average age of 40k gamers and hobbyists. I'm sure there's a wide range with outliers, as well as differing ranges for gamers and collectors (those focused more on the hobby aspect). I'm in my late 20s, getting back into painting and collecting 40k, but had my first hand at collecting and playing at age 11 or 12, during middle school. I love painting up a full collection/army, but have yet to play a game since restarting. My last actual game was probably still in millenium 1...

P.S. Not sure if this is the correct forum for this... I'm looking for a painting/casual gaming group in the San Francisco Bay Area (peninsula or south bay). I have more miniatures than I bother to count, but I have a ton of space marines from various chapters, IG, orks, and tyranids. 40k is awesome...

Edit: Poll added! Forgive me for excluding the 0-4 year old dakka prodigies in our midst.

The average age around here is mid 20s, with the youngest being about 8 (children of older gamers) and the oldest being in his 60s (he's an outlier, but we have several in late 30s and early 40s). I know GW tries to market to the 10-16 age range but working 15-20 hours a week bagging groceries won't buy many models, even if you don't have bills. It seems all the heavy collectors/gamers are early 20s-30s with good jobs. When I try to get anyone into the hobby that doesn't make $40-50k a year or more, they come in, look at prices and tell me it seems cool but they can't afford it. I've also seen countless parents walk into GW, actively listen to the sales spiel from the red shirt, talk to their children about it and get all ready to start up. However, when they turn boxes over and see the prices and start adding it all up in their head, they leave without buying anything, never to return. Even a DV or Deathstorm box plus some paint and brushes is pushing $200. That gives you 2 very small armies and not even the codex to play them properly.

Start a poll. It would be interesting to see the age demographic of Dakka.

Me and my friends are early 20s, and I will admit it wasn't until I got a decent job last year that I could even think about getting into this hobby.

I'm in my late 20s and have a relatively low-paying job (Walmart), but I economize a lot (I don't even own a car) to save money on stuff and my rent and bills are pretty reasonable. As such, I am able to spend a small amount on 40k stuff each month. I graduated from college last year with an engineering degree and so I am in the market for a good job (even starting jobs in the field would pay twice what I make now!). I expect my 40k collection to explode when I get one, although I do have other plans for my life (and money) like finding a wife, having kids, getting a real house, etc.

I'm 25 and generally see people around their 20s with maybe a few under.

I think this may be similar to GWs "we sell to collectors" stance. They think their market is 10-16 year olds and people who primarily collect when in reality it's mostly 19-35 and gamers.

Our store is mostly 25-35 with me on the younger end of that, we have a couple that are 17-20 and I think one in his 40s, no one older than that though.

 ZergSmasher wrote:
I'm in my late 20s and have a relatively low-paying job (Walmart), but I economize a lot (I don't even own a car) to save money on stuff and my rent and bills are pretty reasonable. As such, I am able to spend a small amount on 40k stuff each month. I graduated from college last year with an engineering degree and so I am in the market for a good job (even starting jobs in the field would pay twice what I make now!). I expect my 40k collection to explode when I get one, although I do have other plans for my life (and money) like finding a wife, having kids, getting a real house, etc.

Oddly enough, i have less money to spare now when i make twice as much than 2 years ago
Life might get in the way.

26 currently here. Played mostly with other 25-30ush year olds and also some 18-22ish year olds at old GW I used to go to.

The poll doesn't include people who are below 5. They might get offended and sue you

I'm 20 myself, and most of the people in my area are mid to late 20's. Some people in their 30's as well but mostly people on their 20's.

Millenium 1? I didn't realise GW had been going since the saxon times :-p.

OMG I feel so old now T.T 35 and it's OVER!!!! Nuuuuuuu all you young wipper snappers!

 sudojoe wrote:
OMG I feel so old now T.T 35 and it's OVER!!!! Nuuuuuuu all you young wipper snappers!

Hush now Grandpa, go back to bed.

I'm surprised at the curve for age distribution, seems to peek right at my group (25). Looks like I chose a good time to get back into it!

Over in the Dakka Polls section there is a poll for How old are you?. Curve looks to be the same as the one here, but with a lot more datapoints.

At 40 I’m not the oldest person at my FLGS, but it’s close. There are a few other Living Ancestors, keeping the old tales alive, but a bulk of the players are young 20-somethings.

I selected 25-29, because I know a lot of players in their 40's, 50's, and 60's, yet also know a lot in their early to late teens, with quite a few 20-something's. Which is to say, 25-29 is dead center of the average, not the actual age range.

SJ

 jeffersonian000 wrote:
I selected 25-29, because I know a lot of players in their 40's, 50's, and 60's, yet also know a lot in their early to late teens, with quite a few 20-something's. Which is to say, 25-29 is dead center of the average, not the actual age range.

SJ

Umm the age range is for YOUR age, not the age you guess other players are.

I am definitely one of the older crowd around here having been an active participant in GW gaming since Rogue Trader and WFB 3rd edition and starting the Epic scale gaming at the beginning with Adeptus Titanticus. Just call me Methuselah.

Skriker

I clicked 14, completely forgetting I turned 15 last November already How time flies...

Glad to see I'm in good company at the 25-29 range. I agree that my hobby spending has gone through the roof since I started earning more.. unfortunately my time available has also gone down.

@Poly Ranger: oops.. I meant Millenium 2... I think

I think most of the players started to play/collecting around 15 years old.

Most of the people I've been gaming with for the past few years have been in the 20-40 range. I'm 25 now. It seems like a lot of people I've talked to were exposed to the game at a young age and picked it up again in their 20's. I, for example, first started playing when I was 9 and stopped once I started high school. I picked it back up again during my senior year of college.

Turning 40 this year. I'm from a time when White Dwarf was useful and battle reports were more than just a photo shoot. One reason for the younger age curve might be that at lot of us older guys don't follow the current edition and are more likely to have stuck with an older version. I faithfully bought every codex from 2nd until 5th but drew the line at $50 each. Not a fan of all the "large models" that are becoming so common either. They look awesome but don't belong at this scale. They are trying to make 40k into 28mm epic and it just doesn't work. It would cost me over $500 just to update my rule set and i would rather spend the money on models. Our group is quite happy playing a modified/fixed 5th edition.

There's a version of this that's been running for 3 years if anyone is interested..

http://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/list/421004.page

Indeed.

So we'll lock this it's somewhat superfluous.