Throughout this month of February we’ve been diving into what we found from data analysis of our Dungeons & Dragons-based survey. This survey launched a year ago in early 2020 and was promoted across social media channels. We received 546 responses in total. The base question of our survey was this: Does personality type affect what kind of character you play in D&D?
The simple answer is yes, based upon this survey alone. But there was so much more to dive into than we thought before. With categorizing questions like diversity, age, and occupation, as well as character-related questions like race, class, and quests, we found so many more interesting correlations. Note that in regards to D&D characters, we asked respondents to talk about the favorite character they’ve ever played.
So now, let’s take a wide overview of the most interesting things we learned, and see what conclusions we can draw about D&D and those who play it.
Personality Types
We analyzed all of the Myers-Briggs personality types against our survey choices. While there were certainly some correlations between types of personalities and character races and classes, that was surprisingly not what stood out the most. Personality types were much more likely to impact the type of quest and conflict the character tackled. And we found out that some personality types are much more likely to play D&D than others.
While you can read all the details in the post here, here is the most interesting finds:
- The Diplomat personality type group was the most likely to play D&D, with 311/546 respondents. This was followed second by The Analysts, third by The Sentinels, and lastly by The Explorers.
- INFP Idealist/Mediator types are the most likely to play D&D. Second is INFJ Counselor/Advocate, third is INTJ Mastermind/Architect, and fourth is ENFP Champion/Campaigner.
- ESTP Doer/Entrepreneur types are the least likely to play D&D, with only 1 respondent.
- 25% of INFP Mediator character classes are Rogues.
- 50% of INFJ Counselor characters are on quests of Understanding.
- 100% of ENTJ Commander characters are females, despite the player genders being varied.
Diversity
The survey next asked respondents to self-identify their gender and race. We had significantly more females and white/Caucasians respond, which leaves the question if these groups are more likely to play D&D, or more likely to frequent the areas where this survey was marketed.
While you can read all the details in the post here, here is the most interesting finds:
- 47% of female respondents had their characters on quests of Understanding.
- 40% of agender players played Elf (non-Drow) characters.
- 29% of the white/Caucasian respondents play Elves or Half-Elves.
- 45% of Latinx respondents play characters with a Person vs Society conflict.
- 100% of the Pacific Islander respondents play Warlocks.
Age
We next looked into respondent age and if that affected character choices. Curiously enough, there seems to almost be a journey of types of characters throughout someone’s lifetime. As if, as we evolve and grow, what is important for us to explore in D&D also evolves and grows.
While you can read all the details in the post here, here is an overview of the age groups:
- Under 18 Players were most likely to play male Elves on quests of Understanding with a Person vs Self conflict.
- Aged 18 -24 Players were most likely to play females on quests of Understanding with a Person vs Self conflict.
- Aged 25 – 34 Players were most likely to play females on quests of Understanding with a Person vs Self conflict.
- Aged 35 – 44 Players were most likely to play females on quests of Understanding with a Person vs Self conflict.
- Aged 45 – 54 Players were most likely to play females on quests of Understanding with a Person vs Person / Person vs Society conflict evenly matched.
- Aged 55 – 64 Players were most likely to play male Human Paladins on quests of Transformation with a Person vs the Gods conflict.
It is interesting that the youngest and oldest respondent age group (we had no 65+) were more likely to play male characters and all others were more likely to play female. It’s also interesting up until age 44, players are more focused on quests of Understanding and Person vs Self conflicts. After that, it changes to a Person vs Person and Person vs Society. And beyond that to our oldest group, they are on quests of Transformation in a Person vs the Gods battle.
- Players aged 25 – 34 years are most likely to play D&D, with 290/546 respondents. Second most likely is 18 – 24, then 35 – 44, 45 – 54, 55 – 64, and Under 18.
Occupation
We offered multiple occupation choices, as well as an “Other” choice. But there weren’t many strong correlations all around. From that you could conclude that the field you go into has little affect on your D&D character choices.
While you can read all the details in the post here, here is the most interesting finds:
- “Students” were the most likely group to play D&D, with 88/546 respondents. Second was those in the Education field, third was those in the Information Technology field, and fourth was those in Retail.
- The least likely occupation to play was in Sports, with only one respondent.
- 30% of players in the Medical field are most likely to play Half-Elves.
- 41% of players in the General/Skilled Labor field are most likely to play Humans.
- 47% of those in the Science field are most likely to have characters on quests of Understanding.
- 41% of Stay at Home Parents have characters on quests of Transformation.
- 36% of those in the Human Resources field play Druids.
- 40% of those in the Entertainment industry play characters with a Person vs Self conflict.
D&D Character Race
We then dived into the Dungeons & Dragons character-centric questions. Unpacking all the correlations with character race was a good deal of fun! There are definitely some clear preferences. We also had a handful of more unusual races that have only one of two respondents, but it was still exciting to see them represented.
While you can read all the details in the post here, here is the most interesting finds:
- Half-Elf was the most popular race. Second was Tiefling, third was Human, and fourth was Elf (non-Drow).
- 35 respondents classified their character race as “Other”. We had no Deep Gnome respondents.
- We had 1-2 respondents each of Duergar, Orc, Aarakocra, Goblin, Kenku, Kobold, Triton, and Bugbear.
- Female players held the majority on Half-Elf, Tiefling, Elf, Halfling, Aasimar, Gnome, Drow, Genasi, and Lizardfolk.
- Male players held the majority on Dwarf, Dragonborn, Half-Orc, Golaith, Firbolg, and Tabaxi.
- 42% of Half-Elf characters are on quests of Understanding.
- 45% of Dwarves are played by players aged 35 – 44 years.
- 41% of Half-Orcs are Barbarians.
- 25% of Gnomes are Druids.
- 50% of Goliaths have a Person vs Society conflict.
D&D Character Class
We broke down 5e character classes to see what correlations we could find. It was a fairly good representation of all classes, with not many outliers in terms of respondents.
While you can read all the details in the post here, here is the most interesting finds:
- Rogue was the most popular class. Second was Cleric, third was Druid, and fourth was Bard.
- Female players held the majority on Rogue, Cleric, Druid, Ranger, Warlock, Sorcerer, Monk, Paladin, and Blood Hunter.
- Male players held the majority on Wizard, Barbarian, Fighter, Artificer, and Gunslinger.
- 57% of Clerics are on quests of Understanding.
- 81% of Druid characters end up being female, despite 72% of their players being female.
- 57% of Rangers are either Elves or Half-Elves.
- 75% of Barbarian characters end up being male, despite 57% of their players being male.
- 32% of Paladin players are aged 18 – 24 years.
- 40% of Sorcerers have a Person vs Society conflict.
- 100% of Fighter players are white/Caucasian.
Quests
There were a small handful of quests that drive D&D characters from their home. Understanding, Transformation, Redemption, and Revenge.
While you can read all the details in the post here, here is the most interesting finds:
- Quests of Understanding were the most popular, with 248/546 respondents. That was followed by Transformation, Redemption, and lastly Revenge.
- 41% of characters on quests of Transformation have a Person vs Self conflict.
- 30% of characters on quests of Redemption are either Elves or Half-Elves.
- 26% of characters on quests of Revenge are Rogues.
Conflicts
The final question was the type of conflict that was central to the D&D character. Overall though, there really weren’t too many correlations.
While you can read all the details in the post here, here is the most interesting finds:
- Person vs Self was the most popular conflict, with 144/546 responses. Second was Person vs Society, third was Person vs Person, fourth was Person vs the Gods, fifth was Person vs the Arcane/Technology, and last was Person vs Nature.
- 31% of characters in a Person vs Person conflict are either Elves or Half-Elves.
- 55% of characters in a Person vs Nature conflict are male.
In Conclusion
In conclusion, it seems fair to say there is a correlation between players, D&D character choices, and everything in between. It was so much fun to dive into all the survey responses, and we are thankful for everyone who took the time to participate. We hope to continue to put out more thought-provoking content like this, perhaps with bigger sample sizes and more in-depth questions. We hope you enjoyed reading all about it!