An interesting poll went up on 'How Not to DM's' twitter back in mid-Jan that asked "What introduced you to TTRPGs?" which offers a nice opportunity to compare to what we have seen before. Unsurprisingly, our previous look "Friends/family still largest gateway to TTRPG" remains valid.
Consistently polls going back to 3.5e say broadly the same thing - 2 out of 3 folk find their way to the hobby through friends or family.
Seeking some kind of trend of increasing web media / streaming as an on-ramp after "friends and family" there is no obvious trend. Maybe it is there, but it is not coming through as a clear enough shift in peoples responses. When we compare to some of the other clear shifts in the data (like the change in age of new joiners) then that suggests if something significant was truly happening, we would see at least hints of it.
The take-away from all this is that *you* are the gateway for all your friends and family into the hobby. Odds are that if those around you are going to get into the game, it will be through you if you are already playing. Throw open the gate, run a couple of sessions of one-shots for beginners, ask folk to join, accept that not everyone will become a hobby die-hard on the back of it but some might. A bigger pool of players is good for us all.
Other sources are: Who introduced you to DnD? from the Dungeons & Dragons 5th Edition facebook group in 2020.
"How were you introduced to Roleplaying" from RPG.net in 2019.
Replica of 1985 Dragon Magazine survey from Kirith blog - taking just 2017 data as other years less than 50 data points.
A friends/not friends break-down from RPG.net in 2011 - cannot break out the not-friends data by what inspired people to teach themselves.
How were you introduced to RPGs? from Enworld in 2009.
What was your gaming "gateway"? from Enworld in 2006.
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