British Subscribers to S&T

By Brad Hessel SPI

The following comparison oetween SPl's British and American customers is
based exclusively on the Feedback results for S&T 59, for which the SPUK
results have just recently been processed.

One's preconception of the British wargamer may reasonably include pipe
and middle-age paunch. This, however, is not a very accurate profile of
the British S&T feedback respondants. 53% of the Britons who sent in FB
cards were 21 or younger (33% under 18) as compared to 41% of the
American audience (24% under 18). Generally, the Briton had less
education (55% with no college compared to 43% American), had subbed for
a shorter time span (45% were in their first year compared to 31% for
the Americans) and had been in the hobby for a much shorter period (3.89
years to 5.60 years on the average). They owned a lot fewer games (65%
of the Britons had fewer than 31 games, 47% of them fewer than 21 games,
compared to 45% and 28% on this side of the Atlantic; 13% of our boys
have over eighty games while only 4% of the Britons are so inclined).
And, 4-day week or not, they played their fewer games somewhat less than
the Americans played their games (1-9 hours - 31% of the Britons, 27% of
the Americans; 10-20 hours - 40% of the Britons, 37% of the Americans;
20+ - 29% of the Britons, 36% of the Americans). The Britons like
slightly more complex games on balance (6.24 average for Britain, 6.15
for America), though the tendency to bunch towards the middle that is
evident in America (only 8% total answer "1","2","3" or "4'' and only 5%
answer "9"), is even more pronounced in Britain (only 3% answered "1 ",
"2" "3" or "4" and only 2% answered "9"). That may be a function of the
smaller sample, however. As to preferred periods for game subjects, the
British were generally more enthusiastic about older periods. When asked
to name their favourites, 12% picked Ancient (7% American), 10% picked
Middle Ages (5% American), 6% picked pre-Napoleonic (5% American) and 8%
Napoleonic (7% American). Americans favoured the somewhat chauvinistic
"Civil War" 8% to 5% over the Britons, but both samples were equally
enthusiastic over World War 1 (8%), World War II (19% British, 22%
American), Post WWII (11% British, 13% American) and Future (21%
British, 25% American) were less popular in Britain than America,
although they were still elected by 51% of the British audience overall
(as compared with 60% of the Americans).

Finally, one preconception was buttressed, as more of the Britons wanted
letters in S&T (55% yes; 29% maybe; 17% no) than Americans, (49% yes,
32% maybe, 20% no).

In rating things, the British generally liked games better and were more
critical of writing. For example, the issue game (Plot) was rated 6.45%
by the British and 6.02% by the Americans, while the Britons gave lower
ratings to the two main articles (6.34 for Plot and 6.35 for the
Russo-Japanese War compared to 6.42 and 6.74 respectively) than the
Americans. Similarly, OGM (6.41 British/6.71 American), Briefings
(6.26/6.40) and FYEO (6.77/ 7.01 ) did worse in the British eyes than
Americans. They also gave a lower opinion of the format (question 26) -
6.32 compared to the American rating of 6.61. Nevertheless, the British
rating for issue overall was just about the same as the American. I
guess they lower their standards for Americans writing English, (The
figures were 6.59 for the British and 6.51 for the Americans).

Games, on the other hand, as I mentioned above, were received more
generously by the Britons. 46 games were rated in issue 59 (not counting
Plot). Of these, 15 received fewer than ten votes from the British
sample and were thrown out. Of the remaining 31 games, 21 were rated
between .15 and 1.0+ higher than the American sample had rated them, 3
were about the same and the Britons panned (relatively) 7 games.
However, many of the British results were based on scanty results and it
is quite likely that the pattern which we have noticed in analysing FB
data here (namely, that game ratings tend to go down the larger the
sample) is in operation. Of the 5 games rated by more than 30% of the
total British sample, 2 were higher, 2 were lower and 1 was a standoff.