Message Census Data
This was posted on November 30th, 2000, toward the culmination of the banaltra event. I think the information and work done are rare and valuable; a survey doesn't have to be official or have a sample size of ten thousand to be useful. Here follows the post:
Many people are aware of the fact that a list of 'volunteers' has been posted in each city, comprised of those people willing to risk their lives to save our city. As of this evening, 168 people had signed up in the Landing. In addition to listing names, each person's profession and race was also listed.
This is rather curious, as it gives us a window into the population breakdown of the Landing. 168 is a fairly large sampling selection, and allows us to look more specifically at who we are and what we do. I've taken the privilege of breaking the numbers down for the public record:
Sorcerer Empath Rogue Wizard Bard Ranger Cleric Warrior Total
Dark Elf 19 4 5 5 0 3 1 0 37
Sylph 1 5 2 3 1 3 1 1 17
Dwarf 0 0 4 0 0 1 2 3 10
Halfling 0 0 1 3 0 0 0 1 5
Human 0 2 7 1 0 3 5 12 30
Giantman 0 2 1 0 2 1 9 15 30
Elf 1 1 1 0 1 1 0 0 5
Half-elf 1 2 17 4 2 5 1 2 33
Total 22 16 38 16 6 17 19 34 168
That, then, is the data we are given to work with. For those of you who prefer percentages:
Human: 18%
Elf: 3%
Half-elf: 20%
Sylph: 10%
Giant: 18%
Halfling: 3%
Dark elf: 22%
Dwarf: 6%
Sorcerer: 13%
Wizard: 9.5%
Bard: 3.5%
Ranger: 10%
Empath: 9.5%
Cleric: 11%
Warrior: 20%
Rogue: 22.5%
Well, that's our data. Now for the interpretation:
60% of all Halflings are Wizards.
86% of all Sorcerers are Dark Elves.
Fully 1/5th of the population is Dark Elven.
Rangers are the most racially diverse profession.
80% of all Warriors are either Giants or Humans.
Half of all Dark Elves are Sorcerers.
43% of the population is either a Warrior or a Rogue.
Sorcerers are the most racially exclusive profession, with zero Dwarves, Halflings, Humans, or Giants in the sample.
In the sample, only rogues had a member of each race.
In the sample, only Half-elves and Sylphs were represented in each profession.
And with that, we can now draw a few inferences:
First, it should be noted that this list was comprised of people volunteering to fight off the Feithdmor, and therefore is not necessarily representative of the entire population. However, given how highly valued any sort of interaction with the GMs is, and how nice it would be to be chosen for this mission, it seems reasonable that people are volunteering for this mission regardless of their profession. This is doubly so, given that each of the teams must be comprised of a member of each profession.
Second, we can see that the arms-using professions have begun to emerge as the predominant character class. When I started playing about four years ago, warriors were hard to find. Since then, we've seen the advent of Redux, the creation of two guilds (warrior and rogue), significant armor upgrades, Mstrike, Trip, as well as the downtweak of many spell-casting professions (particularly sorcerers). So in reflection, it's no surprise that the number of pure squares has risen.
Third, we can squish the myth of the halfling wizard. Although most halflings are wizards, most wizards are not halflings. In fact, only 19% of wizards are halflings; 75% are some type of elf.
Well, there you have it; the results of a curious choice by the GMs to make public such a list, as well as the efforts of a college student devoutly attempting to avoid work. As a final caveat, the numbers here should not be taken as official, and the author makes no guarantee of their accuracy. Other than that, enjoy.
-Mnar's player
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