Megagame survey results 2023 - Part 1
Written by Rob Grayston from East Midlands Megagames, these survey results are from his work to canvas the megagame community at the end of 2023. Read on to learn all about what the community thinks about a range of subjects.
This is part 1 of the survey results, with part 2 coming soon.
Welcome megagamers!
This article is BIG, so buckle up.
A grand total of 235 responders put their time and effort into doing this survey on the current state of megagames. Before we begin looking at the results though, I’m going to set some expectations:
My day job is not as a data scientist, sociologist, or anything which is otherwise specifically geared towards the collection and analysis of data and trends within societal groupings. My qualifications are:
- I know how to use Microsoft Excel
- I like megagames and thought this would be cool / helpfulThis survey only captures information from people who responded. If they have responded in the first place, we might deduce they are more likely to be engaged and motivated.
As a logical expansion of this point, this data may not accurately capture the true diversity and preferences of a specific megagaming environment. This just means we will have to do a 2024 survey, and then a 2025 one, etc. so we can compare data and build up a better overall picture.Talking other global megagamers via Discord is my main means of interacting with people outside the UK. I am not necessarily well-informed on the gaming environments, traditions, or group politics of places beyond the United Kingdom.
Data collection and analysis is also affected by the people doing the collecting and analysing.
I’m a white bisexual British man in my mid-30s, I’ve been megagaming since 2015, and I help run East Midlands Megagames. I have my own biases and preferences. I’ve tried to not let any impact me here, but I am aware that it’s still a possibility.
It should also be pointed out that the terms control and facilitator will be used interchangeably throughout this article. Now that we have all of that settled, on to the main event – some delicious megagame statistics submitted by a whole host of global megagamers!
Actual image of Rob hard at work
Global stats
235 responders in total
It might be doubtful whether assessing certain questions is useful when looking at a global set of data – will an Argentinean or an Australian have the same sets of answers as someone British or from the United States?
This is the lens through which we are generally thinking about megagames, even if it is just as likely that other demographic features may create greater differences between people within the same region, as those outside it.
Even if we can’t get specifics that might help directly though, a general look at megagame responses as a whole can give us some broad trends. Which game settings and genres are most popular? What percentage of people never control? Just how many people have played Watch the Skies?
This is the section which will receive commentary from me; I am not qualified enough to be able to talk about three of the four regions that have separate information shared (see my point C) above in the introduction), and it would feel a bit odd if I gave special attention to the UK data in an article on the whole survey, so I have not given it any additional treatment.
1. How many megagames have you ever been involved in, as player or control/facilitator?
This is interesting because it shows a lot of newer megagamers are very engaged; the biggest number of responders were people who have done 1-4 games. It’s great to see you’re enthused, and we can’t wait to see you at more games!
Also of note is the one person who has achieved 150+ megagames. You are a megagaming unicorn right now; there is literally nobody else in the whole world who has done this (yet).
2. How many times have you played Watch the Skies (or variations on it, e.g. First Contact, Arrival, Second Sight, etc.)
In terms of a ‘universal’ megagame experience, Watch the Skies has been around for a few years and is easily available. It’s arguably the most played megagame out there, although for future surveys we may also include a question on Den of Wolves, as it’s the only other game to approach this level of popularity.
Also, congrats to Jim Wallman – according to this, 60% of all megagamers have played your game!
3. How many megagames would you ideally like to attend in a year?
A game every 3-4 months sounds appealing for the biggest group of people here, making up nearly half of all responders. One in five of you would prefer a little more, and a marginally higher number than a fifth would like slightly fewer.
It’s good to see the ideal, versus the reality which comes up next.
4. How many megagames will you have attended during 2023, by the end of the year?
People are attending far fewer games than they would like to. This is not surprising, as there is not always the time do all the fun activities you would like to, due to other commitments. Also, well done to the one person who attended 15 or more megagames in 2023, that’s dedication!
5. Do you normally play or control/facilitate at a megagame?
A third of people have never tried facilitating / controlling at a megagame – there’s no harm in that, if it’s not something you’re interested in then you don’t have to do it.
Like tabletop roleplaying games, it’s interesting to see a small core of people who are ‘forever Games Masters’, or in this case, control/facilitators; thank you for your efforts!
6. How many megagames have you designed, and have been run?
For those people who have designed but not run their games, please get in touch with your local group, Megagame Assembly, Megagame Makers, or even me – we’ll be happy to help make your idea become a reality!
7. What settings/genres do you prefer in the megagames you attend?
Based on the 2019 survey, sci-fi came out on top – and it continues to do so here! There may be some more thought about categorisation for next year’s survey, but this seems pretty compelling evidence for what people want.
High fantasy and ancient/medieval history follow up on sci-fi (with the exception of cyberpunk), possibly reflecting a similar mindset involving crowns, battles, and no tech more advanced than a trebuchet – even if one of these also involves dragons and wizards, whilst the other has more Popes and Romans.
Only one person answered preference for a single setting – and can you guess what it was? That’s right, High Fantasy. Thank you to that hobbit/goblin/dwarf/orc who responded!
The least popular setting, with under a quarter of responders choosing it, was ‘Superheroes’ – I have seen several superhero megagames run though, so just because something has a low interest doesn’t mean you can’t get players along to it.
‘Other’ options suggested by responders included several supporters of ‘animal’ megagames, such as Watership Down, Animal Farm or the Lion King – one to think about. Additional suggestions included sport megagames (we already have had a few of those, so it was an oversight not to include this option!), alternative history (the Roman Empire never falls, the Spanish Armada succeeds invading England, A Very British Civil War, etc.), and post-apocalyptic megagames – of which Aftermath is already a very good example!
8. What facets of gameplay listed below do you enjoy?
It is perhaps unsurprising that megagamers like teamwork and dislike more mechanical gaming elements – even if a lot of us are boardgamers (see the adjacent hobbies question later), we’re not coming to megagames for a big boardgame experience. There is a clear ‘top’, ‘middle’, and ‘bottom’ tier of gameplay which is fascinating to see how it breaks down.
‘Other’ here includes comments on how megagames don’t always handle mysteries very well, that ‘conspiracy’ and ‘treachery’ could be two different categories, and the person whose preferred gameplay involves being nice to other people. That won’t be possible in all games, but there are totally some megagames out there where you can be helpful and wholesome.
9. What of the below elements would improve a megagame experience for you?
If any megagame organisers want some quick and easy ways to make their groups happy, it seems like the top three choices for this question are a good place to start – and they should all be reasonably achievable, with a little bit of time and effort.
The least popular options included paying extra for the ability to choose roles; something that has been talked about and tried at least once before.
There were a lot of ‘Other’ options suggested by responders, including asking about holding games at the start or end of an academic term as they are too much of a commitment mid-term, lunch being provided without halting gameplay, and more time for debrief at the end of games so everyone gets a full picture of what’s happened.
Additional ‘other’ suggestions were about accessibility support (e.g. quiet spaces for sensory breaks or thinking time), being actively opposed to music or ambient noises as too distracting, later start times to games, being able to book in multiple people as a team (some groups already do this for their games), and more playtesting overall.
10. Do you have a disability which could require accommodation in a megagame venue/environment? (e.g. mobility, fatigue, sensory overload, colour-blindness, etc.)
Nearly one in five responders here has a disability which may require accommodation – we didn’t ask for specific details, but colour blindness, fatigue, and mobility were all things that have been mentioned before.
It’s good to know numbers like this so that game runners can start to think more about how to make their games accessible. How this is done is down to the specific venue and requirements, but knowing this is a consideration to begin with is helpful.
11. Which of the following best describes your gender identity?
These numbers are not overly surprising, having attended several games across the UK which were 100% men before – but this will definitely vary by group and game genre; it is less likely to have gender parity at a World War 2 operational combat wargame than it is at one on pop culture topics that don’t involve artillery barrages and armoured vehicle assaults.
12. Is your gender identity the same assigned at your birth?
It looks like just over one-in-ten megagamers is under the trans umbrella (although there are other reasons that people may be in the 11% too); this is higher than population averages, but anecdotally in line with a lot of geek/gaming spaces.
13. What is your sexual orientation?
This shows that over one in four megagamers is LGBT+, although one in ten of the responders also chose not to share this information – I won’t speculate as to what might have been included if these people had answered, but I do hope that in future surveys people will feel comfortable enough to trust us with this data.
As a personal aside, I was not expecting that number of bi / pan responders.
14. Do you have caring responsibilities for anyone else, e.g. children or an older family member?
We might not be able to directly assist with the caring responsibilities (nobody has suggested a megagame creche yet), but if we know there are people with these responsibilities we can see about providing some assistance – perhaps games at times other than weekends, shorter games, providing game dates further in advance, etc.
15. What is your ethnicity?
For people who have been to a few megagames, this will not be a surprise - but the vast majority of megagamers globally are white. It may not be like that in some places, but for now that’s what we’re looking at.
It’s also interesting that this is the single question with the biggest ‘prefer not to say’ response – and I genuinely have no idea why that might be.
16. What is your nationality?
Something to consider here is the clarity of the question as in their answers, some people seem to have confused ethnicity and nationality. Something else to think about is that even though someone may be a certain nationality, they may play megagames somewhere else.
The next largest groups after Australia, Sweden, the United Kingdom and the United States were Canada (5 responders), Ireland (4 responders) and Argentina (4 responders). We’d love to get those numbers up, so please encourage your fellow gamers to respond – if that means we need to put the survey in another language, we can look into doing that. All language volunteers welcome!
17. How old are you?
No real surprises here – I thought we might get one or two ‘15 or under.’ This is a question which may show larger divergences with regional groups, primarily because megagames have been running for longer in the UK and so we have the larger share of older players.
18. Would you describe yourself as more extroverted, more introverted, or an ambivert (somewhere in between)?
I would perhaps have expected a few more extroverts, but equally I’ve been told someone would have expected a larger share of introverts – one to watch in future and see if it changes at all.
19. When do you usually read materials sent to you for a game?
It is something of a trope or in-joke in the UK scene about players not reading rules, so it’s good to see that this is not reflected in the numbers – because you were all being honest, right?
I would like to specifically thank the 4 people who owned up to the fact they do not read the rules, that’s a bold move (but maybe give it a go in future, you may be stressing out your teammates).
20. Have you ever run a megagame (or very similar style game) for any of the reasons below, beyond it being a recreational activity?
A lot of you haven’t, or haven’t but would like to, run a megagame for anything other than the sheer fun of it. As the responders to this survey are likely to be the ‘keen bean’ most motivated megagamers, it stands to reason that it could include some who use megagames for serious purposes other than having a good time, and the stats prove there’s a small number.
‘Other’ in this category included a lot of people running groups specifically for groups (e.g. LARP, wargames), or even for money (just the one!), which arguably is still for recreational purposes. Most of the ‘other’ responses indicated a willingness and desire to want to run games – so if that was you, get in touch with a local group, Megagame Assembly, Megagame Assembly, or me – and we can help you run a game!
21. Where do you find out information about megagames?
Even if it’s not the ‘cool kid’ platform any more, it seems like Facebook is dominant at providing news on megagames, followed by word of mouth, and Discord. Some of the ‘other’ options here included TikTok, but also promo work done by megagame venues (flyers, posters, shared on socials, etc.), and megagame podcasts.
22. What other "megagame adjacent" hobbies do you do?
I certainly did not realise quite how dominant board gaming would be as an adjacent hobby to megagaming, and definitely thought that LARP would have been slightly higher. It’s good to see what else people are doing in order to help explain and set expectations around megagames though – so if someone’s a boardgamer and interested in megagames, let them know they will definitely not be alone!
Responses in the ‘other’ category here included escape rooms, interactive theatre, and improv, along with Model UN, and volunteering for emergency/disaster management services. I think all of those have some transferable skills to megagames, and are a good snapshot of what else people are doing beyond what was asked.
23. Any other comments you'd like to provide as to:
- Why you like playing/facilitating/running/designing megagames?
- What you think megagames could do better?
- What megagames would you like to see?
- General thoughts on the hobby?
See this post for all the anonymous comments.
Check back soon for the survey results for each country that’s represented. In the meantime, what did you think? Let us know on our Facebook group!
Rob Grayston is one of the people behind East Midlands Megagames. His day job involves emergency planning and resilience, and he is a firm supporter of using games for educational and training purposes. He’s always happy to promote megagames and their serious uses, or just megagames in general, so if you would like to talk to him get in touch.