Rob Alexander On the subject of ‘those young men’: Eric Berne wrote in the 60s about the ‘time structuring problem’ – here we are together for a while, what shall we do? Ask each other awkward questions? Smalltalk about the weather is one answer (which itself has rules about its required duration, it’s fascinating). Unstructured or unconventional interactions can be genuinely frightening. (“What does this guy want from me?” “I won’t know what to say!”)

RPGs provide a highly structured activity that provides ‘strokes’ without having to negotiate and renegotiate our relationship/conversational roles.

I see the specter of this in the FUD that arises from some quarters when discussing games that redistribute (say) the traditional GM/PC roles, or playing games which more overtly involve collaboration. Something foundational to a vital human interaction is being tinkered with.

I think problems with simple answers are in short demand. Real-world problems are often so complicated and thorny that the most a small group of people could hope to do is apply a small change in how people think about it, inspire others, or make a small, meaningful dent.