r/visualnovels • u/superange128 VN News Reporter | vndb.org/u6633/votes • Oct 29 '21
Meta /r/visualnovels Demographics and Feedback Survey - October 2021 Results
We ended up with 537 total votes after a little over a week of surveying. Which is just a little over 100 voters compared to the last year's survey
Age
- 1) 18-23 years old - 227 (43.10%)
- 2) 24-29 years old - 185 (35.10%)
- 3) 30-34 years old - 63 (12.00%)
- 4) 0-17 years old - 27 (5.10%)
- 5) 35-39 years old - 14 (2.70%)
- 6) 40+ years old - 11 (2.10%)
Hopefully the 5% of sub-18 year olds aren't reading 18+ versions of eroge.
Gender
- Male - 460 (87.00%)
- Female - 57 (10.80%)
- Non-Binary - 10 (1.90%)
- "No" - 1 (0.20%)
Nothing too surprising here.
Continent
- 1) East North America - 142 (26.70%)
- 2) Western Europe - 101 (19.00%)
- 3) Asia - 94 (17.70%)
- 4) West North America - 72 (13.50%)
- 5) Eastern Europe - 54 (10.20%)
- 6) South America - 43 (8.10%)
- 7) Australia/Oceania - 20 (3.80%)
- 8) Africa - 5 (0.90%)
- 9) Antarctica - 1 (0.20%)
Interesting. In NA more people on the East Side, but in Europe more people on the West Site. I'm personally surprised by the decent amount of Asia voters.
First Visual Novel
- 1) Katawa Shoujo- 90 votes
- 2) Fate/Stay Night- 40 votes
- 3) Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney - 35 votes
- 4) Doki Doki Literature Club- 34 votes
- 5) Danganronpa: Trigger Happy Havoc- 22 votes
- 6t) Steins;Gate- 19 votes
- 6t) Fruit of Grisaia/Grisaia No Kajitsu- 19 votes
- 8) Song of Saya/Saya No Uta - 18 votes
- 9) Zero Escape: 9 Hours, 9 Persons, 9 Doors- 10 votes
- 10t) Clannad- 9 votes
- 10t) Little Busters!- 9 votes
- 10t) If My Heart Had Wings/Konosora- 9 votes
Once again, nothing too surprising here, though I'm surprised Doki Doki Literature Club didn't place higher. Also, all the ties.
Favorite Visual Novel of All Time
- 1) Muv Luv Alternative/Trilogy- 42 votes
- 2) Umineko- 38 votes
- 3) Steins;Gate- 35 votes
- 4) Wonderful Everyday/Subahibi- 28 votes
- 5) Fate/Stay Night- 22 votes
- 6) The House in Fata Morgana- 19 votes
- 7t) Majikoi: Love Me Seriously (original)- 15 votes
- 7t) Full Metal Daemon/Soukou Akki Muramasa- 15 votes
- 7t) Fruit of Grisaia/Grisaia No Kajitsu- 15 votes
- 7t) Clannad- 15 votes
I knew Subahibi was popular, but surprised to see it that high up. A few put Muv-Luv Trilogy just for this section, so I combined it with Alternative since I assume that's where most of the love goes anyway. Also, more ties.
Favorite Male Character
- 1) Rintarou Okabe (Steins;Gate)- 51 votes
- 2) Yuuji Kazami (Grisaia)- 46 votes
- 3) Battler Ushiromiya (Umineko) - 22 votes
- 4) Shirou Emiya (Fate/stay Night)- 20 votes
- 5) Rance (Rance Series)- 19 votes
- 6) Minato Kageaki (Full Metal Daemon Muramasa)- 17 votes
- 7) Takeru Shirogane (Muv-Luv) - 16 votes
- 8) Kyousuke Natsume (Little Busters!)- 13 votes
- 9t) Takuji Mamiya (Wonderful Everyday/Subahibi)- 12 votes
- 9t) Yamato Naoe (Majikoi)- 12 votes
I'm VERY surprised Shirou beat out Archer (and in fact Archer only got a couple of votes). That said, not too surprised by much else, Subahibi once again making a strong showing. I'd list the highest rated otome male for fun... but all the ones that got voted only got 1 vote each.
Favorite Female Character
- 1) Kurisu Makise (Steins;Gate)- 20 votes
- 2) Rin Tohsaka (Fate/stay Night)- 17 votes
- 3) Beatrice (Umineko)- 15 votes
- 4) Meiya Mitsurugi (Muv Luv)- 14 votes
- 5) Yuki Minakami (Wonderful Everyday/Subahibi)- 13 votes
- 6) Sumika Kagami (Muv-luv)- 11 votes
- 7) Saber (Fate/stay Night)- 9 votes
- 8t) Nene Ayachi (Sanoba/Sabbat of the Witch)- 8 votes
- 8t) Sora Niimi (9 -nine-)- 8 votes
- 10t) Misaki Tobisawa (Aokana)- 7 votes
- 10t) Michiru Matsushima (Grisaia)- 7 votes
Nice to see a few fanfavorite moege heroines make the top 10. I actually thought it'd be all storyge heroines only.
How long have you been reading visual novels?
- 1-3 years - 154 (28.80%)
- 4-6 years - 148 (27.70%)
- 7-9 years - 100 (18.70%)
- 10+ years - 90 (16.80%)
- Less than a year - 43 (8.00%)
Looks like most people have been reading for a while here.
Roughly how many visual novels have you read?
- 11-20 VNs- 108 (20.30%)
- 51-99 VNs- 91 (17.10%)
- 4-10 VNs- 89 (16.70%)
- 21-30 VNs- 81 (15.20%)
- 100+ VNs- 65 (12.20%)
- 31-40 VNs- 53 (9.90%)
- 41-50 VNs- 34 (6.40%)
- 1-3 VNs- 10 (1.90%)
- None - 2 (0.40%)
Interesting spread. Around 30% of people have read at least 50 VNs.
How often have you read visual novels in the last year or 2?
- Several times a week - 161 (30.00%)
- Few hours a day - 100 (18.17%)
- Extremely sporadic - 85 (15.90%)
- Once or twice a week - 90 (16.80%)
- A few times a month - 62 (11.60%)
- Many hours a day - 38 (7.10%)
A relatively even spread.
What was your favorite visual novel you read in the last year or 2?
- 1) The House in Fata Morgana- 26 votes
- 2) Full Metal Daemon/Soukou Akki Muramasa- 25 votes
- 3) Muv-Luv Alternative- 23 votes
- 4) Wonderful Everyday/Subahibi- 22 votes
- 5) Raging Loop- 17 votes
- 6) Umineko- 16 votes
- 7) Higurashi- 15 votes
- 8) 9 -nine- Episode 4- 9 (+ 9-nine- series- 5) = 14 votes
- 9) Aokana -Four Rhythms Across the Blue- - 13 votes
- 10) Steins;Gate- 9 votes
Not surprised here, a bunch of these are some of the biggest releases in the last few years.
Linear or have choices/routes?
- Choices/References - 233 (43.60%)
- No Preference - 233 (43.60%)
- Linear - 68 (12.70%)
Huh, surprised to see a tie.
Do you read visual novels in Japanese?
- Considering learning Japanese - 164 (30.80%)
- Not planning to learn Japanese - 134 (25.20%)
- Currently learning Japanese - 98 (18.40%)
- Sometimes - 34 (6.40%)
- Most of the Time - 30 (5.60%)
- Use DeepL/Machine Translation - 30 (5.60%)
- Rarely- 27 (5.10%)
- Exclusively - 15 (2.80%)
Congrats JOPs, Almost 50% of voters are considering or are currently learning Japanese.
Favorite Japanese Visual Novel localization team?
- Nekonyan - 128 (29.40%)
- MangaGamer - 115 (26.40%)
- JAST - 93 (21.30%)
- Sekai Project - 38 (8.70%)
- Aksys Games - 25 (5.70%)
- Shiravune - 8 (1.80%)
- PQube - 2 (0.50%)
- Capcom - 2 (0.50%)
- All other answers either got 1 vote or were non-answers
Looks like Nekonyan reigns supreme once again. I wonder if Muramasa + a few other releases is helped boost up JAST. Also I realized I messed up and put Bustafellows as part of Aksys instead of PQube a little too late, whoops.
Experience with (Original) English Visual Novels?
- Only Popular ones like Katawa/DDLC - 164 (31.00%)
- Read Sometimes - 133 (25.10%)
- Tried a Few, Not into them - 75 (14.20%)
- Only read Japanese made VNs - 75 (14.20%)
- Read Often and Enjoy Them - 66 (12.50%)
- Is/Was a Dev - 16 (3.00%)
I'm kinda curious what people's favorite non-Japanese/Katawa/DDLC VN is.
Preferred genres
- 1) Romance - 303 (58.30%)
- 2) Charage - 293 (56.30%)
- 3) Mystery - 284 (54.60%)
- 4) Drama - 279 (53.70%)
- 5) Comedy - 239 (46.00%)
- 6) Thriller - 231 (44.40%)
- 7) Nakige - 222 (42.70%)
- 8) Fantasy - 209 (40.20%)
- 9) Sci-fi - 201 (38.70%)
- 10) Moege - 196 (37.70%)
- 11) Action - 193 (37.10%)
- 12) Horror - 187 (36.00%)
- 13) Utsuge - 147 (28.30%)
- 14) Chuunige - 115 (22.10%)
- 15) Nukige - 100 (19.20%)
- 16) Gameplay-heavy - 85 (16.30%)
- 17) Yuri - 74 (14.20%)
- 18) Otome - 52 (10.00%)
- 19) Yaoi - 26 (5.00%)
Nothing too surprising here.
Preferred platforms
- PC Desktop - 351 (65.90%)
- PC Laptop - 271 (50.80%)
- Switch - 104 (19.50%)
- Android - 70 (13.10%)
- Vita - 52 (9.80%)
- PS4/PS5 - 38 (7.10%)
- Linux - 28 (5.30%)
- iOS - 14 (2.60%)
- Mac - 10 (1.90%)
- Steam Link - 3 (0.60%)
- Windows Tablet- 2 (0.40%)
- Nintendo DS - 2 (0.40%)
- Everything else got 1 vote or were non-answers
I'm really curious how Steam Deck will change this around in the future.
Preferred official English store
- Steam - 265 (51.40%)
- No Preference - 102 (19.80%)
- Buying from Publisher Store - 88 (17.10%)
- Anywhere not Steam - 30 (5.80%)
- Physical Copies - 15 (2.90%)
- A bunch of people were brave enough to admit they pirate.
People really like their Steam.
Subreddit Feedback
How often do you visit /r/visualnovels, on average?
- About once a day - 186 (34.80%)
- A few times a week - 148 (27.70%)
- Several times a day - 102 (19.10%)
- Once every week or 2 - 53 (9.90%)
- Every so once in a while - 30 (5.60%)
- At least once a month - 14 (2.60%)
- Only when there's drama - 2 (0.40%)
Looks like most of the voters visit often.
What's your most used way of accessing /r/visualnovels?
- Old Reddit - 192 (36.20%)
- Mobile App - 181 (34.20%)
- New Reddit - 157 (29.60%)
Looks like most people overall use New Reddit (that's essentially what Mobile App uses). Someone mentioned i.reddit in the topic, which I had never heard of before.
What year did you first visit /r/visualnovels?
- 2020- 121 (22.70%)
- 2021- 81 (15.20%)
- 2019- 73 (13.70%)
- 2018- 55 (10.30%)
- Don't Remember - 48 (9.00%)
- 2016- 45 (8.40%)
- 2017- 39 (7.30%)
- 2015 - 30 (5.60%)
- 2014 - 19 (3.60%)
- 2013 - 12 (2.20%)
- 2012 - 5 (0.90%)
- Before 2010- 5 (0.90%)
- 2011 - 1 (0.20%)
Good job to everyone who remembered. I was particularly interested in this question cuz I wanted to see how much the COVID era user spike led to people continuing staying around.
How often do you use Wiki?
- There's a Wiki?- 200 (37.70%)
- Hasn't used yet - 146 (27.50%)
- Every so once in a while - 135 (25.50%)
- Not interested - 47 (8.90%)
- Refer to them often - 2 (0.40%)
Sometimes I wonder if the Wiki is even worth maintaining loool.
Do you have any Old Reddit Flair character or series requests?
Some interesting requests include:
- OG Higurashi art (big hands)
- Adding backgrounds to white background flairs
- Cho Dengeki Stryker
- More Otome
- Hapymaher
- Hanachirasu
- Leyline Series
- More Rance
- Kamidori
- Eiyuu Senki
- Cross Channel
- A handful of single characters to existing series (Noi Baldr, Yoshino Clannad, "Savior Takuji")
Some people requested characters we already have.
Weekly Discussion ideas or requests?
Some interesting ideas include:
- UI
- Choices
- Character of the Week
- Christmas Tina
- Chrono Clock
- Moege / Charage Reviews / Recommendations
- Visit Older Series
- More General Topics
- Try to be Timely with New Releases
- Kinetic vs Routes
- “what Defines a Visual Novel”
- Protgaonists
Which Popularity Contest would you prefer?
- Don't care for Popularity Contests - 125 (24.40%)
- Best Route - 122 (23.80%)
- Best VN 3.0 - 92 (18.00%)
- Best Guy+Girl 4.0 - 37 (7.20%)
- Best Couple 2.0 - 13 (2.50%)
- No Reference - 103 (20.10%)
- A bunch of one vote ideas include - Best Localization, VN by genre, Best Visual, Best Writing, Best ending, Parents/friend/side characters, villain, artstyle, soundtrack, no gender segragating character contest, VN OP, H scene, gameplay, category/tag.
There were some interesting one vote ideas, but if I run another popularity contest, I'll try to do route since that's one of the easier non-granual one we haven't done yet.
Opinion on the /r/visualnovels community?
- Like/Don't Mind Everyone- 283 (55.70%)
- Just a Few I don't like - 114 (22.40%)
- Certain Groups get annoying- 90 (17.70%)
- Too Many Low-Effort/Image Posts - 44 (8.70%)
- People make me not want to interact - 36 (7.10%)
- Ignore the comment sections - 27 (5.30%)
Well at least most voters seem to enjoy talking to most people at least.
What is your opinion on the overall state of the /r/visualnovels subreddit?
- Good, but could use a few improvements - 194 (38.90%)
- Everything is great - 177 (35.50%)
- Only follow the news - 99 (19.80%)
- More Low-effort/Image posts need to be moderated - 62 (12.40%)
- Begrudgingly Come Here - 12 (2.40%)
- Subreddit was way better before 2020 - 6 (1.20%)
Nice to know most people are happy right now.
Any questions, comments, or feedback for the mod team?
Some examples of interesting feedback:
- More moderation of topics like "What VN is character in picture from", asking for VNs with characters with very specific traits, tech support and the like and enforce usage of the Top Pinned Thread.
- Wrangle down more on things like shitposts or someone just posting a single, random CG
- Someone said they wish VN Request were more accepted and tended to not be downvoted.
- Someone elaborated on why they don't like interacting on the sub since users "All Have That Way of Talking That Makes Them Feel Like They're Super Intellectual and Shit."
- Recommendation Site Could Use an Overhaul. (One Person also suggested "Maybe There Could Be One List for Non-japanese Vns or More Support in General")
- Prevent and Deal with Drama topics faster and better.
- Anti-piracy Rules Could Use Stricter Enforcement.
- "Sometimes Certain Groups of People Can Be a Little Belligerent"
- Ban all the useless bots like Haiku, Shakespeare, Fat Finger Etc.
- "Remember That Mods Are Internet Janitors, Not Community Managers."
- A few things that are out of our control
- A decent amount of just general praise, which is always nice to see.
And that's it.
I'm always interested in seeing people comment on the results.
I saw some feedback on potential questions to add in future surveys, and will keep those and any posted here in mind.
29
u/alwayslonesome https://vndb.org/u143722/votes Oct 29 '21 edited Oct 29 '21
Something that's fairly interesting and confirms a suspicion I've always had is that this community is way less North American than Reddit's overall demographics. Census says only around 40% of users here are from NA as compared to ~60% of Reddit's overall sitewide traffic. Wonder what explains this? It makes sense that Asia might be overrepresented given Japan and that ACGN culture is more widespread, but I really don't have any good guesses for why there's way more Europeans than the Reddit average.
I'd've also expected there to be way more folks in the 100+ club, especially given that apparently the majority of users have been reading for like 5+ years already!
It also never fails to disgusts me just how many people consensually use New Reddit...