How has playing D&D improved the quality of your life?

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

EGG's idiosyncratic vocabulary and writing style greatly expanded my vocabulary at a young age. Being drawn into such a verbal hobby as an elementary school student without a doubt improved my own verbal skills, as well as my ability to think on my feet.

Today, I'm a professional writer, and EGG shares some of the credit (or blame).

 

[Lalato]

I started when I was 11 back in '81. So I would say that D&D helped me succeed in school. I learned a little math, some vocabulary, and expanded my imaginative thinking. I made some friends through D&D... though like James Heard above... I'm fairly confident that I can make friends without it (especially considering the 10 year stretch that I didn't play).

Later in life (after I returned to the game)... D&D helped me meet some interesting people and brought some joy to my life. Most recently, I was able to move cross-country and be part of a gaming group within a week of the move (thought that might be more a function of the internet than D&D itself).

Unlike others, I've never felt a stigma about D&D. Even when I was enrolled in a Southern Baptist private school. It's a game, and if people can't understand that... well, I can't understand them.

--sam

 

[Templetroll]

It improved my social life with the gaming, obviously, and the fact that most of the groups I was in had one or more women in them. I met my wife at a game of D&D along with one fellow who later hired me for a job and another woman who became a very cool supervisor of mine at that job; it lasted from 91 to 99. A couple years later the same company hired me back 'part-time' then offered me full-time a week later. I'm still there.

Our daughter has been gaming with us for at least 6 years now, since she was 10. It helped with her math, her vocabulary and her socialization has improved due to the role-playing and having to make decisions for her characters that would affect other's characters.

D&D has been very, very good to me! [edit] How about you, Driddle?

 

[Rhuvein]

Heh, at first I thought to respond humorously, but after just a few moments I was quick to think of several great things that the game has done for me and my life.

Mostly it has really satisfied my creative tendencies. What a tremendous outlet for someone who likes to create and control/judge/master a world that adventurers will explore.

As a collector and trivia enthusiast, there's no end to the rewards!

Finally, the social/gaming aspect to sit down regularly with people and have a blast playing - what I think is the best game ever. To me this game is the ultimate for people who grew up on board/charade type games!

 

[Thurbane]

How has playing D&D improved the quality of your life?

Would "It makes my life worth living!" be an overstatement?

Seriously, D&D has been my major hobby for around 20 years, and I wouldn't swap it for anything. It's a chance to play a great game with some good friends who I wouldn't get to see half as much otherwise.

 

[pawsplay]

In real life, I have never gotten to battle a blue dragon to protect a dwarven settlement. That is one way in which my life has been enriched through gaming.

In general, D&D tends to result in me seeing more of my friends, helps blow off steam, lets me spend time with adults without completely boring the kids or letting them dominate the room, keeps me writing and thinking, and once resulted in a paying gig that helped me pay the electric that month.

 

[the Jester]

Improved vocabulary, great friends, developed many social skills, quickened my wits, helped me learn to write and act, piqued my interest in history... ad infinitum.

I gotta give credit where it's due: gaming has been a big positive influence for me.

 

[Xyanthon]

As a person driven to create, D&D has been a wonderful outlet for me. It has been a part of my life for so long in one form or another that I can't honestly think of all the ways it has impacted my life. Even now I don't currently play (living overseas and working a lot have not enabled me to find a new group) but it is something I am constantly involved with.

I have a 2 1/2 year old son who is proving to be interested in pretty much all the same things I was (dragons, dinosaurs, etc). I can't wait to share this with him when he gets older. Who knows, maybe I'll be playing in my sons campaign in another ten years or so.

 

[Allandaros]

Met awesome people (you guys, RPG.net, Paranoia-live, a little known 2e board called Grey's Castle), got introduced to cool fantasy (without gaming, I would probably never have read Moorcock or Leiber), and given me loads of fun.

Also, it conveniently removed the gobs of dollars that would have just cluttered up my lifestyle and replaced 'em with two bookshelves full of geekiness (one of RPG books, one of minis).

 

[Set]

Met my best friends, developed my writing skills and my creativity, got paying jobs writing and editing for gaming companies, honed my editing skills and my deplorable lack of mathematical ability (playing V&V, which used formulas and fractions for a few things), massively rounded out my education (since I tend to research stuff to get my characters, names, histories and / or encounters 'right,' or at least 'believable'), developed a comfortably padded backside, facilitating extended periods of sitting around a table laughing with above-mentioned friends.

Well, okay, that last bit I'm working on getting rid of, but the friends can stay.