Some of us Crawl developers were curious about our player base: * What does the typical Crawl player look like? * Which do players prefer: Tiles or ASCII? Local play or servers? * From which games do players migrate to Crawl? In order to get some answers, we set up an impromptu poll. Over the period of Aug 17 to Sep 9, 2009 we got 250 replies to the following 12 questions: 1. What is your age? 2. What is your country? 3. Do you play locally, on a server, or both? 4. Do you play Tiles, ASCII, or both? 5. OS(es) at home? 6. Roguelikes played before? (NetHack, ADOM, etc.?) 7. Where did you learn about Crawl? 8. And when? 9. How many Crawl wins? (If none, you may specify your best game.) 10. If you take part in the tournament, where did you hear about it? 11. Ever recommend Crawl? 12. Which computer game have you played most in the last month (July)? Note: The questions are terse due to limitations of messages on the irc channel. They have been (at least) posted on - freenode (irc) channel ##crawl - Crawl website http://crawl-ref.sourceforge.net/ - usenet group rec.games.roguelike.misc - akrasiac (Crawl server) homepage http://crawl.akrasiac.org - SomethingAwful (Crawl 0.5 thread) http://forums.somethingawful.com - Dwarf Fortress forum (Crawl thread) http://www.bay12games.com/forum - Temple of the Roguelike webpage http://www.roguetemple.com Of these, players on ##crawl were encouraged to take part in the poll all the time. On SomethingAwful and Bay12, a single reminder was posted. In the other cases, only a single announcement was made. In particular, this should imply that the feedback ratio of players using the servers is higher than for the rest. RESULTS ======= Here, the immediate results are shown together with a few derived figures. Full data and graphs are planned to be released at the IRDC 2009 in Geneva: http://roguebasin.roguelikedevelopment.org/index.php?title=IRDC_2009 1. Age ------ 12.0% 30 14-19 23.6% 59 20-24 31.2% 78 25-29 18.4% 46 30-34 8.4% 21 35-39 3.2% 8 40-44 0.8% 2 45-49 1.2% 3 50+ 1.2% 3 n/a minimum: 14 (thrice) maximum: 55 (once) median: 26 average: 27.2 most common: 25 (with 22 counts) We forgot to ask about gender, but a lot of the time it was possible to discern the contributor's gender from their name. For a few others, we already happened to know the person's gender. Because of the large number of nicknames, the question would still have been interesting, particularly considering the astonishingly low number of known women participating in the survey. 25.6% 64 n/a 69.6% 174 male (93.5%) 4.8% 12 female ( 6.5%) 2. Where do you live? --------------------- By continent: 62.8% 157 North America 26.8% 67 Europe (including Russia) 6.0% 15 Australia (including New Zealand) 3.6% 9 Asia 0.8% 2 South America By country: 55.2% 138 USA 7.6% 19 Canada 5.6% 14 UK 4.4% 11 Australia 4.0% 10 Germany 3.2% 8 Finland 3.2% 8 Russia 1.6% 4 France 1.6% 4 New Zealand 1.6% 4 Poland 1.2% 3 Italy 0.8% 2 Norway 0.8% 2 Sweden 0.8% 2 Thailand 8.4% 21 others: Argentina, Belgium, Brazil, China, Croatia, Czech Republic, Denmark, Hungary, Iceland, India, Ireland, Israel, Japan, Lithuania, Moldova, Mongolia, Netherlands, Singapore, Switzerland, Ukraine, United Arab Emirates Players with English as a primary language: 189 (75.6%) (this includes all Canadian players). 3. Local vs server ------------------ 52.8% 132 locally 20.8% 52 server 11.6% 29 both 10.0% 25 mostly server 4.8% 12 mostly locally 4. Tiles vs ASCII ----------------- 52.0% 130 ascii 34.0% 85 tiles 9.2% 23 both 3.2% 8 mostly tiles 1.6% 4 mostly ascii 5. Operating systems -------------------- 52.0% 130 windows 18.0% 45 linux, windows 13.2% 33 linux 5.6% 14 osx 4.8% 12 osx, windows 2.8% 7 linux, osx 2.0% 5 linux, osx, windows 1.6% 4 other 6. Roguelike experience ----------------------- 8.0% 20 0 14.0% 35 1 15.6% 39 2 10.0% 25 3 11.2% 28 4 14.0% 35 5 6.8% 17 6 6.0% 15 7 4.8% 12 8 1.2% 3 9 8.4% 21 10+ (maximum 31) Roguelikes mentioned: Nethack (72.4%), ADOM (41.2%), Angband (29.2%), Rogue (17.6%), DoomRL (16.4%), Dwarf Fortress (15.2%), POWDER (12.4%), Zangband (9.2%), Slash'EM (8.8%), TOME (8.8%), IVAN (8.0%), Incursion (6.0%), Hack (5.2%), Omega (5.2%), Diablo (4.4%), Shiren (4.4%), Gearhead (4.0%), Larn (3.6%), Castle of the Winds (3.2%), Elona (2.8%), Fushigi No Dungeon (2.4%), Spelunky (2.0%), Sporkhack (2.0%), Frozen Depths (1.6%), Izuna (1.6%), Triangle Wizard (1.6%), Alphaman (1.2%), Azure Dreams (1.2%), Unreal World (1.2%); for the full list see the forthcoming IRCD paper. 7. Learned about Crawl where ---------------------------- 11.6% 29 something awful forums 11.6% 29 websearch for roguelikes or free games 10.0% 25 friend/family 8.8% 22 usenet rec.games.roguelike.misc/dev 5.6% 14 don't remember 4.4% 11 some roguelike website 4.4% 11 temple of the roguelike 4.0% 10 other forums 4.0% 10 usenet (unspecified) 3.6% 9 roguebasin 3.2% 8 bay12games forums 2.8% 7 @play column 2.8% 7 online somewhere 2.8% 7 some games website 2.4% 6 #nethack or similar channel 2.4% 6 4chan traditional games board 2.4% 6 browsing package manager for games 2.4% 6 wikipedia page about roguelikes 2.0% 5 home of the underdogs 1.6% 4 penny arcade forums 1.6% 4 usenet rec.games.roguelike.nethack 1.2% 3 article about roguelikes 1.2% 3 usenet rec.games.roguelike.adom 0.8% 2 arstechnica forums 0.8% 2 game informer magazine 0.8% 2 n/a 0.8% 2 others (other channel, tvtropes) Players without previous roguelike experience found Crawl through... 35.0% 7 friend/family 10.0% 2 browsing package manager for games 10.0% 2 game informer magazine 10.0% 2 other forums 10.0% 2 some games website 10.0% 2 something awful forums 5.0% 1 4chan traditional games board 5.0% 1 article about roguelikes 5.0% 1 websearch for free games 8. Learned about Crawl when --------------------------- 6.4% 16 1997-1998, linley's dungeon crawl 6.4% 16 1999-2002, original dungeon crawl 20.4% 51 2003-2005, before stonesoup (4.0.0 beta 26) 6.8% 17 2006 12.4% 31 2007 20.0% 50 2008 23.2% 58 2009 4.4% 11 n/a 9. Number of wins and best games -------------------------------- 58.8% 147 0 9.6% 24 1 4.8% 12 2 4.4% 11 3 2.8% 7 4 3.2% 8 5 2.4% 6 6 1.2% 3 8 0.8% 2 9 2.4% 6 10 0.4% 1 11 0.8% 2 12 0.8% 2 14 0.8% 2 15 0.4% 1 16 0.8% 2 20 0.4% 1 23 1.2% 3 25 1.2% 3 30 0.4% 1 37 0.4% 1 40 0.4% 1 50 0.4% 1 60 0.4% 1 300 0.8% 2 n/a Best games among non-winners: 32.0% 47 n/a 23.1% 34 beginner 23.1% 34 medium (mid-dungeon or high score mentioned) 10.9% 16 good (1-2 runes, high level) 10.9% 16 expert (3+ runes, zot, orb) All (best or winning) combos mentioned (question 9, several possible): 17.2% MDFi; 7.8% MiBe; 6.2% MDBe; 4.7% HOPr MiFi SpAs TrBe; 3.1% HOFi MfTm SpEn TrMo; 37.5% others Percentage of spellcasting jobs mentioned: 21.3% 10. Tournament -------------- Do you take part in the Crawl tournament? 55.2% 138 no 40.8% 102 yes 3.2% 8 maybe (neither 'yes' nor 'no', answered 'locally' earlier) 0.8% 2 n/a Where did you hear about the tournament? [multiple answers] 44.8% 112 n/a 15.2% 38 ##crawl 14.4% 36 cao 9.6% 24 something awful forums 4.8% 12 crawl website 3.2% 8 rgrm 2.8% 7 usenet 2.4% 6 rogue temple 1.6% 4 bay12games forums 1.6% 4 crawl wiki 1.2% 3 friend 1.2% 3 online somewhere 1.2% 3 sourceforge 0.8% 2 some other forum 1.6% 4 others: 4chan traditional games board, mailing list, other games site, roguebasin If you don't take part, why not? [Add-on: This was not actually part of the poll. Multiple answers.] 71.1% 106 n/a 9.4% 14 didn't know about it 6.0% 9 would rather play tiles 5.4% 8 no time 5.4% 8 not good enough 4.0% 6 technical issues 11. Did you ever recommend Crawl to someone? -------------------------------------------- 16.4% 41 no 82.4% 206 yes Among those who did recommend: 54.8% 137 yes (without further specification) 8.4% 21 yes, a couple of times 14.0% 35 yes, a lot 5.2% 13 yes, online 12. Which computer game(s) did you play most in the last month (July)? ---------------------------------------------------------------------- 43.6% 109 others 17.6% 44 Crawl 16.8% 42 Crawl (tournament) 10.0% 25 Crawl (tournament), others 9.2% 23 Crawl, others 2.4% 6 none 0.4% 1 n/a Since the specification of "last month == July" was only tacked on at a later point, there was no way for us to tell who of the tournament participants only listed Crawl as most played because of the tournament, and who would have played it just as much in other months. We decided not to remove those mentions from the answers, but to add the "tournament" tag to all of them. Mentions of Crawl that lack this tag were made by players who don't take part in the tournament. Games mentioned at least thrice (excluding Crawl, and sorted by number): Civilization 4 (10), console games (9), Team Fortress 2 (8), Warcraft 3 DOTA (8), Fallout (7), Nethack (6), World of Warcraft (6), Dwarf Fortress (5), Street Fighter (5), ADOM (4), Left 4 Dead (4), Spelunky (4), Dominions 3, EVE Online, Final Fantasy, Homeworld, Quake live, Solitaire, Starcraft, Swords of the Stars, Wolfenstein. Some additional statistics ========================== Comparing ASCII vs. Tiles with various other factors (questions 4 and others) ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ASCII vs. Tiles in games played only locally: (132 total, 52.8%) 56.8% 75 tiles 32.6% 43 ascii 6.1% 8 both 3.8% 5 mostly tiles 0.8% 1 mostly ascii Distribution of ASCII vs. Tiles by OS, again only locally (both includes mostly ASCII/Tiles, ignoring answers with only one count, other includes combinations of OSes): OS ASCII both Tiles total ------------ ----------------------------------------------------- linux 9 ( 75.0%) 0 ( 0.0%) 3 ( 25.0%) 12 windows 20 ( 23.3%) 11 ( 12.8%) 55 ( 64.0%) 86 osx 6 ( 66.7%) 0 ( 0.0%) 3 ( 33.3%) 9 other 6 ( 28.6%) 2 ( 9.5%) 13 ( 61.9%) 21 ------------ ----------------------------------------------------- total 41 ( 32.0%) 13 ( 10.2%) 74 ( 57.8%) Distribution of (mostly) local/online play by OS: OS local online total ------------ -------------------------------------- linux 16 ( 53.3%) 14 ( 46.7%) 30 osx 9 ( 75.0%) 3 ( 25.0%) 12 windows 91 ( 77.1%) 27 ( 22.9%) 118 other 24 ( 45.3%) 33 ( 54.7%) 57 ------------ -------------------------------------- total 140 ( 64.5%) 77 ( 35.5%) Distribution of ASCII vs. Tiles by playing experience: category ASCII Tiles -------------------- ---------------------------- 1997-1998 Linley Henzell 9 ( 75.0%) 3 ( 25.0%) 1999-2002 Original DC 9 ( 60.0%) 6 ( 40.0%) 2003-2005 DC 4.00 beta 26 35 ( 76.1%) 11 ( 23.9%) 2006-2008 DCSS 0.1 - 0.4 48 ( 59.3%) 33 ( 40.7%) 2009 recent DCSS (0.4, 0.5) 24 ( 45.3%) 29 ( 54.7%) n/a 7 ( 63.6%) 4 ( 36.4%) -------------------- ---------------------------- age 14-19 15 ( 57.7%) 11 ( 42.3%) 20-24 38 ( 73.1%) 14 ( 26.9%) 25-29 42 ( 59.2%) 29 ( 40.8%) 30-34 18 ( 48.6%) 19 ( 51.4%) 35-39 11 ( 68.8%) 5 ( 31.2%) 40+ 4 ( 40.0%) 6 ( 60.0%) n/a 7 ( 63.6%) 4 ( 36.4%) -------------------- ---------------------------- no roguelikes 10 ( 52.6%) 9 ( 47.4%) few roguelikes (1-2) 42 ( 64.6%) 23 ( 35.4%) some roguelikes (3-9) 67 ( 58.3%) 48 ( 41.7%) many roguelikes (10+) 11 ( 68.8%) 5 ( 31.2%) Tournament participation for primarily ASCII/Tiles players: [These don't add up to 100% due to the "maybe" category.] total yes no ascii 130 ( 52.0%) 65 ( 50.0%) 62 ( 47.7%) tiles 85 ( 34.0%) 20 ( 23.5%) 59 ( 69.4%) total 85 ( 41.3%) 121 ( 58.7%) Comparing various factors for winning the game (question 9 and others) ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ category Winners Non-winners -------------------- ---------------------------- ascii 69 ( 53.1%) 61 ( 46.9%) tiles 20 ( 23.8%) 64 ( 76.2%) locally 34 ( 26.0%) 97 ( 74.0%) server 36 ( 69.2%) 16 ( 30.8%) tournament participant 59 ( 58.4%) 42 ( 41.6%) non-tournament participant 37 ( 27.0%) 100 ( 73.0%) -------------------- ---------------------------- 1997-1998 Linley Henzell 10 ( 62.5%) 6 ( 37.5%) 1999-2002 Original DC 12 ( 75.0%) 4 ( 25.0%) 2003-2005 DC 4.00 beta 26 24 ( 47.1%) 27 ( 52.9%) 2006-2008 DCSS 0.1 - 0.4 37 ( 38.1%) 60 ( 61.9%) 2009 recent DCSS (0.4, 0.5) 16 ( 27.6%) 42 ( 72.4%) n/a 5 ( 33.3%) 10 ( 66.7%) -------------------- ---------------------------- age 14-19 6 ( 20.0%) 24 ( 80.0%) 20-24 30 ( 50.8%) 29 ( 49.2%) 25-29 33 ( 42.9%) 44 ( 57.1%) 30-34 20 ( 43.5%) 26 ( 56.5%) 35-39 5 ( 23.8%) 16 ( 76.2%) 40+ 5 ( 41.7%) 7 ( 58.3%) n/a 5 ( 33.3%) 10 ( 66.7%) -------------------- ---------------------------- no roguelikes 6 ( 31.6%) 13 ( 68.4%) few roguelikes (1-2) 38 ( 51.4%) 36 ( 48.6%) some roguelikes (3-9) 49 ( 36.6%) 85 ( 63.4%) many roguelikes (10+) 8 ( 38.1%) 13 ( 61.9%) Downloads of the last DCSS version in each major revision ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 0.1.7 --- 2006/12/31 --- total 2291 dos 266 osx 171 source 472 win 1382 0.2.7 --- 2007/06/11 --- total 4147 dos 572 source 1130 win 2545 0.3.4 --- 2008/01/29 --- total 20511 dos 2504 osx 1023 source 1846 tiles src 1189 win tiles 10221 win ascii 3728 0.4.5 --- 2009/01/15 --- total 28821 dos 4225 osx ascii 1497 osx tiles 1074 source 4130 win tiles 12319 win ascii 5576 0.5.0 --- 2009/06/12 --- total 15134, no figures yet for 0.5.1 dos 1219 osx ascii 667 osx tiles 1354 source 1907 win tiles 7124 win ascii 2863 Tournament statistics (including Nethack, devnull and nao) ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ DCSS, cao + cdo: 2008: 169 wins by 50 players, 15161 games by 384 players (301 with points) 2009: 284 wins by 88 players, 33165 games by 718 players (531 with points) Nethack, devnull (annual Nethack tournament starting Halloween) 1999: 35 wins, 599 games (34 quits) 2000: 33 wins 2001: 77 wins 2002: 138 wins, 15218 games, 1071 players 2003: 112 wins, 11718 games, 576 players 2004: 164 wins 2005: 202 wins, 38521 games, 556 players 2006: 327 wins, 16880 games, 840 players 2007: 222 wins, 16722 games, 406 players 2008: 300 wins, 22812 games, 1305 players Nethack, nao (nethack.alt.org is the permanent Nethack server): 2006: 188 wins, 18748 games 2007: 349 wins, 14524 games (no nao tournaments since then) A few remarks on interpretation of replies ========================================== In the way the poll was set up, it was probably easier to get feedback by server players than by local players. On the other hand, the tournament will have made more players than usual go to the relevant webpages, the ##crawl channel and the server itself. We provided the download numbers as well as the tournament statistics to get some comparison. Many comments indicate that person-to-person distribution still exists. This systematic error could be reduced by mentioning the survey in the game itself, for a given period and following a new release. On question 5: A sizeable number of players mention more than one OS. Even more list different Windows or Linux versions. A few players specifically mentioned that they only play Crawl on one of these. In Hindsight, it might have been worthwhile to ask "If you play locally and use several Operating Systems, on which do you run Crawl?" On question 6: Many players answered a slightly different question instead: "Which other roguelikes have you ever played?", which is also how we chose to interpret the answers because we figured it's more interesting that way. Because of the two ways to read the question (before Crawl vs. before now), numbers, especially of more recent roguelikes, might be skewed. In hindsight, we should have posed two or even three questions: "Which roguelikes did you play before encountering Crawl?" "Which roguelikes did you ever play?" "Which roguelikes did you play in this year? (2009)" Several players raised the question about "What is a roguelike?", usually when referring to Dwarf Fortress or Diablo. No matter the answer, we decided to count them. :) On question 8: Although a large part of players claimed to be unable to remember, most of them gave a surprisingly precise date within one or two years. There were a few players who'd only just started playing within a few days of taking the poll. Welcome! :D As with question 6, we didn't distinguish between original Crawl and Stonesoup, and neither between "first heard about" and "mention that got you playing". Consequently, we got answers to all four of these. Either way, if both a vague and a comparatively specific answer was given, the more specific one would take precedence, e.g. "heard about it ages ago, but only started playing last year" would be interpreted as 2008. Otherwise, between several estimates given, the oldest one was used, e.g. "four or five years ago" is interpreted as 2004, and "somewhere between 2000 and 2003" as 2000. Answers were grouped according to versions: Linley's Dungeon Crawl (1997/8), ongoing development (1999-2002), fairly stable version (most well-known: 4.0.0 beta 26, 2003-2005), Stonesoup (2006 and later). The years 2006-2009 were divided into smaller batches because of the large numbers of players that joined in that time. On question 9: As with earlier questions, wins might refer to any version of Crawl that ever existed, including buggily easy ones. Scummed wins (as indicated in the reply) were not counted, all others were. While the distinction between zero and "once or more" was easy, the exact number of wins was much more difficult. Some players only gave percentage values, or mentioned large ranges, or even simply "quite a lot" and similar vague statements. Putting these into order was guesswork, which is why we decided not to calculate an average value and only use the number of winners vs. non-winners in the further analysis. Non-winners were grouped into categories by certain keywords used in their description of their best game(s), with the following groupings: expert: 3+ runes, zot, orb, endgame good: 1-2 runes, late branches, high level medium: mid-dungeon, high score beginner: other (e.g. low level, early branches) All combos mentioned (question 9): The list is strongly dominated by melee characters. This may be because this player style is significantly easier. (Note that in DC 4.00b26, magic was considered much stronger than melee; this lead to many magic-related nerfs over the course of DCSS. In contrast with this, high AC in heavy mail was overpowered back then and still is, yet has not been nerfed. However, an AC overhaul is slated for 0.6.) At the same time, pure melee characters may also be easier to get into the game, as they consciously do away with some of the complexities of the game: skill choices, spells and god choices. Also, the interface of hack'n'slash is much more straightforward than the one required for spellcasting. On question 10: From the way the question was phrased, we interpreted any "n/a" to mean "no", and any answer that gave an information source and did not say the opposite, as "yes", unless the player had said earlier that they played "only locally", in which case their answer was interpreted as "maybe". The "n/a" category stems from answers that didn't bear any direct connection to the question. On question 12: This question was intended to gauge what other genres Crawl players are interested in. However, for this purpose the question should have been posed in a different manner. The results are still interesting to read. Distribution of ASCII vs Tiles by playing experience: Following expectations, the tiles version is (relatively) most popular among players new to the game (54.7%), older players and players without previous roguelike experience. It is often said that ASCII drives away many otherwise interested gamers, and some players confirmed this view by mentioning that they usually use the Tiles version to show the game to curious friends and family members. It is interesting to note that there is a second peak among tiles usage: in age (30-34 years old) and in starting version (Original DC). One reason might be Mitsuhiro Itakura's TilesCrawl which built on that version and was very popular. Comparing various factors for winning the game: This table might lead to the conclusion that "ASCII players are better". There are various reasons why such a conclusion would be overly hasty: First, as evidenced by the previous point, tiles are particularly popular among new, inexperienced players. Second, there is a strong correlation between ASCII and using servers (and taking part in the tournament). While a local player will often use Tiles and may rarely get any playing help apart from the few dedicated web pages and forums, server players (exclusively ASCII!) can be (and are) watched by other players and are more likely to use the ##crawl channel, where they can receive guidance and playing tips. In other words, it seems to be significantly easier to win online rather than locallay (as opposed to ASCII vs Tiles). Also, many replies mentioned that online play would follow their first win, which may mean that ASCII win percentages are high because the good players tend to play on the servers rather than the other way around. Taking these differences into account and seeing how the feedback is probably skewed towards online play, the real overall percentage of non-winners is likely to be higher than is indicated by the poll results. It is curious to note that experience with roguelikes does not translate to a better win rate, possibly because these players experiment with a large number of games but do not actually spend a lot of time on any single one of them. As you'd expect, win percentages increase with the time the player has known and played Crawl. The rate is a bit lower for the original version of 1997 than for the period following it, which could be explained by players witnessing the birth of Crawl not actually starting to play until much later. SF downloads: Downloads increased tremendously after Tiles were added. Note that there should be an effect of the servers: many players who use CAO or CDO do not bother anymore with downloading a local version except maybe the current trunk version from CDO (for which we don't know the relevant download rates). A few conclusions ================= The impact of language is much stronger than we expected. It would be interesting to compare this effect with other games which rely a lot on text (e.g. MMORPGs which have not been translated or text adventures, i.e. interactive fiction). A good many players have known the game for years, yet have never won. This is important for design purposes: adding features for the early game (e.g. new gods, shallow vaults, etc.) will be appreciated by those players. The Crawl tournament would benefit immensely from tiles play over the internet. While some players oppose Tiles on principle, we also got a lot of praise for the quality of Crawl's tiles and interface; for example by players who said that they play other roguelikes in ASCII, yet Crawl with Tiles. As developers, we plan to keep supporting both modes. Each of them has advantages of its own and we will continue to improve their interfaces.