Utilization

I wanted to understand why there are never enough games available. That was the intent behind this survey. What I found was, surprisingly, there should be.

Here, "Utilization" is used to refer to the percentage of something that is used out of what is available. For example, if a player wants to play in 4 games, but only plays in 1, their utilization is 25%.

The results show that both players and GMs are underutilized at similar rate, meaning there should be GMs looking for players to fit all the players looking for GMs. Likewise for preparation time that GMs use. The results show that GMs are, on average, not overburdened by preparation time.

There is, however, one piece of data in the forms that seems to explain this: Pre-first-time GMs. There were several respondents GMing 0 games who want to GM 1 game. From the results, it looks like if those pre-GMs could be supported into starting the game they hope to start, then utilization for players and GMs could reach ideal levels for both.

As a final data point, I added the "Play Provided to Taken Ratio." This indicates how many play slots the average TTRPG enthusiast provides for every one they take. Of course, certain GMs, who run games for 18 players and play in none, have thrown off this number.

Full results are at the bottom of the page.

If you want to participate, please do so below! The chart will update.