Scene Statistics: Pre-Results

Written by Adok and Street Raider

What is the average age of PC demo sceners? Is it true that there are more musicians than coders and graphicians? How many sceners consider themselves active? Is activity related to visiting parties and participating in the competitions? These were the questions that made us start the scene statistics polls in the last Hugi issue. More than 110 people reacted to this campaign and sent us their personal data. Here you can find preliminary results compiled of 116 poll-sheets. We are still taking polls and want to publish final, hopefully even more representative results in the next issue. You can find the form in the support.sheet attached to this Hugi issue (support.txt). Please fill it in and send it to hugi@netway.at. Thanks a lot in advance!

In what year were you born?
1% : 1969 or earlier
5% : 1970-1971
4% : 1972-1973
8% : 1974-1975
18% : 1976-1977
30% : 1978-1979
26% : 1980-1981
9% : 1982-1983
2% : 1984 or later

At the moment, most PC demo sceners are between 17 and 23 years old. We did not explicitly ask in the poll form for their professions, but from talking via IRC and e-mail we know that most of them are students or university graduates.

Do you consider yourself active in the demoscene?
78% : Yes
22% : No

It is mostly retired sceners and newcomers who regard themselves as inactive.

What is your skill in the demoscene?
54% : Coder
28% : Graphician (pixel, raytrace,...)
30% : Musician
33% : Designer
24% : Organizer (group organizer, party organizer,...)
3% : Mailswapper
21% : SysOp, Archive Maintainer or Webmaster
5% : Ansi-/Ascii Artist
16% : Editor
8% : Other
3% : None

Apparently the assumption that the demo scene is dominated by musicians is wrong. There is a huge music scene but it does not have much to do with the demo scene as we know it. Instead, it is coders who make up the majority of the PC demo sceners. Most people have more than one skill. Interestingly enough, 16% of the participiants regard themselves as editors or article writers, and only a tiny minority of 3% still swap via snailmail. We have to add that most poll answers were sent in via e-mail and as it is usually only people without a modem who are mailswappers, the little percentage is quite natural.

Have you ever visited a demoparty?
76% : Yes, I have.
20% : No, but I plan to do so.
4% : No, and I do not think I will do so in the near future.

The statistics show: Sceners love going to parties. Hardly anyone does without the unique experience of a real scene gathering.

Have you, or your group, ever taken part in a compo at a demoparty?
77% : Yes, I have.
13% : No, but I plan to do so.
10% : No, and I do not think I will do so in the near future.

Even higher than the number of demoparty visitors among sceners is the number of sceners whose group has taken part in a compo at such an event.

Poll answers came from: (M)Rated, -jS-, a0a/green, Alexey Monastyrenko, Aries/Black Rainbow^Castrum Doloris, armag/wiz, Aron/Contract, Avatar, axl/tpolm, balrog/TPOLM/REPLAY, Barog/Tesko/Napalm/Nothing, Benoit Gardan, Bluedragon/Castrum Doloris, borlot.3o3, byter/blasphemy, Chandra/Orange Juice, Charlie/Inquisition, Codeorgo/Black Rainbow, corona/green, Crossbone/Suburban Creations, Dario Phong/PhyMosys, DARKflare/Ex-ActiveFuel, Dawnstar, Dbug/NeXT, Decker/Outworld, Distance/Orange/TPOLM, dreamdancer/new World order/Ex-ROLE, e605/suspect, EChO/Diffusion^Level-D, Ecstasy/Nomad, Eggbird/Green/Clublantic/Zaag/Trebel Team, Elric/Tpolm, Entropy/Singularity, ezah/dilemma, Firebird/Nebula, Flux/T-Rex, Franky/Kolor, fthr/tpolm, garfield/ipc^pengo^lo 2+7, gfy/replay, GrefTek/TUHB, Grendel/Byterapers, Inc., Griesse, guido, Guillotine/Castrum Doloris, ile/aardbei, immortal rat/Black Rainbow, jacmet, Judge Brad/Black Rainbow, KSL/The Smirnoff Squad, Leaderc/Castrum Doloris, Lionking, Lonestar/Prone, Mad/OS, Mairsil, Makke/Hugi/Trebel, Mc H/ProPeller, Mercator/Ooze Labs, Michael Kargas, Misha/Tatanka, Morhith/Castrum Doloris, mpi, mrz/Ex-AstroideA, N.r.t.h./HeadCrash/Trebel, Nameless, Neon/Spetsnaz, Nicron/Autopsy, Nightbeat/Prometheus/Nebula, Obsidian, odex/cycla, Otis/Infuse, Parrot/Black Rainbow, pearl Hunter/the digital philosophers, Phase, Phoenix/DC5, Picard/Rhyme, Psychic Symphony/Evolve/Frequency, PyroMorph, quasar/green, Quix/Quixoft, Rappid/Suspend, Rawhed/Sensory Overload, reactor/caterpillar media labs, ritz/revolution, Rod/Mandula, RptR/Supreme, Sacha, Scape/MiST/Procreation, Screamer, sepulcrum/revolution, sh0dan/VoxPod, shadow/amnesty, Skin/Quad/Trebel, Sparcus/Nostalgia, Spiny/Torment, Spock/Infinite Darkness, STDIO.H/Brainchild, SurfSmurf/Movement/>(oo)<, sweeper/vantage/excite/trip, The Berserker/Teenage, The Doominator/Castrum Doloris, the lazy one/CHEAT THE MACHiNE, The Update/CoPro, The Watcher/TUHB, Titan/Tailand Inc, Tomika/Dinasty, uncle-x/mfx/mewlers, Unzeen/CTC, Wavemaker/Centolos, Xam/Revolution^San-Tx^Lostdimension'99, xcene/dance, y/green, Zarr/Anakata, zeno/green, plus a Hungarian who wants to stay anonymous, and an unknown fellow from Norway.

Total answers counted: 116

- adok^hugi