The survey has (so far) been filled out by nearly 800 users. Thank you for your time and overwhelmingly positive and kind comments. You can find a summary of the survey results below. The survey will continue to be active for those who missed it and still would like to provide their feedback, any extra data will be useful. Also, since the survey is anonymous, if you have stated a question to which you would like a direct answer, please send an email to info@aurorabuilder.com and I will get back to you.
Note: due to the increased number of emails and messages recently it may take some time before you get a reply.
Decision (Pending)
There have been some recent developments (possible take down requests of official and third-party content in the near future) which may result in the content being removed from the content repository. This will obviously impact my decision in a negative way since a lot (if not most) of you who would support the project would do so for a large part to have at least the official content available and this might no longer be the case. You can always do yourself a favor by backing up the content files you are currently using in case you want to use them in the future.
I’m still waiting for some things to resolve. I hope to make a decision in October. Take care.
Results Summary
While a survey like this provides a good insight in how people use the software, it should be noted that some percentages clearly do not reflect all users. A number of results have been restructured (e.g. rounded up/down or listed under the closest option) due to the optional ‘other’ answer that can be given. The open questions are omitted from the results.
How did you find Aurora?
About 60% of users find Aurora through a search engine and 30% are from hear say (with a little under 20% directly from a player in their group or their DM). The remaining 10% is from different online sources.
How long have you been using Aurora?
Most of the current users have started using the software in 2019 or 2020 while roughly 20% have been using the software for over 2 years. About 5% have been using it since it was first publicly available in late 2017.
How satisfied are you with the current version of Aurora?
The satisfaction rate is excellent with 98% (57% being very satisfied). In general, I assume, those who are not satisfied with a product would probably not take the time to fill in a survey (or not even know of its existence) so take it with a grain of salt.
How likely are you to recommend Aurora to others?
In line with the satisfaction rate, 98% would likely recommend this product to others (with 89% being very likely to recommend it).
Did it surprise you when you found out that Aurora was a hobby project from one developer instead of a team?
Here, in line with my experience over the last few years, about 85% had no idea.
When you first used Aurora, were you new to D&D?
Out of all the users who started using Aurora, 33% of them were new to D&D in general.
What is your experience creating a new character in Aurora?
I’m happy that most people find it easy to create characters with Aurora, especially with a third being new to the game. Nearly 94% of the users find it easy to create characters with Aurora (with 58% finding it very easy).
How often do you use Aurora?
About 18% of the users use Aurora on a daily basis, 80% on a weekly basis (including daily users), and almost 99% on a monthly basis leaving about 1% currently not playing, having stopped playing, or only using it as an offline resource (e.g. compendium lookup).
How do you spent your time in Aurora?
A good 57% of the users just update their characters after a session and over 70% of the users have made way more characters than they will ever get to play. Also, about 50% of the users have Aurora open during their online games (consider this survey was held during COVID-19).
What are the main reasons for you to use Aurora instead of another character builder?
It should not come to a surprise to anyone that most of the reasons people use Aurora is because it is free, it provides easy character creation, and it has all the content they need. About 86% stated this as their main reasons. Also, 76% also appreciate the fact that it is available as a tool they can use offline and many of the responses simply state that they prefer it over other character creation tools.
Do you use the built-in compendium to look up content?
This was a last-minute question I decided to add to the survey because I was curious and had some doubts. A little under 25% did not know (at the time) about the built-in compendium but over 60% actively use it.
How many characters have you created with Aurora?
Almost 45% of users stick with 1-10 characters while about 30% of users have made over 20 of them. Also, for quite a number of users I probably could have added options for well over 50, some even created characters for a whole village it seems.
What do you think of the additional content Aurora provides?
A good 95% are satisfied with the content that Aurora provides (with 72% being very satisfied indeed).
Do you use the additional content from Unearthed Arcana sources?
A little over 80% also uses the content from the Unearthed Arcana sources.
Do you use the additional content from Third Party sources?
Nearly 70% use additional content from the third-party sources.
Do you use other homebrew content? / Have you created your own content for the character builder?
A good 48% use homebrew content and almost 28% have created their own content.
Would you like the project to reach a sustainable donation goal so a new version can be worked on full time and remain free for everyone?
Not surprisingly, nearly 98% would like it if the project continued with a sustainable model and remain free.
Would you support the project to reach and maintain this goal?
Nearly 70% would support the project to reach this goal, while a little over 8% would not. The remaining percentage deviates from unsure, not being able or to support, or supporting depending on the model.
Assuming you like the project, what do you think would be a fair amount to support the project on a monthly basis? (in USD)
The majority, 35%, thinks $5 would be a fair amount. A little over 22% thinks $3 is fair, and closely followed by 14% in favor for $2, 9% for and $1, and 6% for 10$. The remaining 14% either find a range more suited, prefer a one-time donation, a license, prefer funding in the sort of a kickstarter, or need more details. There are also some who obviously prefer $0.
A clarification on this would be that it is not a subscription. It is simply a donation (that can be paused at any time) to maintain a sustainable goal so there can be a version that is free for all users. The smaller the supporting amount, the less likely it would be for someone to have to stop supporting, keeping it sustainable.
Would you rather have the project shift to a licensed based project or a Basic/Pro version like other software?
A good 47% of the users would prefer the project to not shift towards a licensed/pro based project while 36% would prefer it. The other 17% is either indifferent on the matter, or unable to decide without knowing what the differences between a basic/pro or licensed version would be.
If the project would be funded in a sustainable way through donations. Would you like to see the project become open source (code publicly available) in the future?
Here, 57% would like to see the project be open source if it could be funded through donations while 24% would not favor this, and around 19% are not sure what it means or unsure about the implications.
Would the prospect of open source encourage you to support the project?
About 52% would be encouraged to support the project if it would be open source (15% if not counting people who would already support the project) while for about 41% it would not matter. The remaining 7% is unsure or would decide at a later date.
Knowing that if the project would become open source, focus would shift and the content repository in its current state would likely be discontinued in order to not have the project itself be at risk of a take down. Would you then still want the project to become open source?
This yes or no one can be short, a solid 76% would not prefer this.
Would you keep using the current version of Aurora if the project was discontinued?
A good 87% of the current users would continue to use the current version of Aurora while nearly 13% are not sure. Only 4 people would stop using it right away.