Occasionally when I write a post, I run it by my daughters before putting it up to make sure that what I’m saying resonates with their experience. Yesterday I read my post, “Unintended Side-Effects of Academic Pressure” to my daughters for their feedback. Then I asked them if they knew of any activity that teaches people to become “co-creators who know how to collaborate to combine everyone’s strengths towards a common goal.” They both said in unison, “Dungeons and Dragons.”

Our beloved game is often misunderstood. One of the more ironic mis-charactarizations of the game which I’ve heard is that it’s played by “a bunch of anti-social geeks.” Of course these days, “geek” is not quite the insult it once was, so I’m going to let that pass. More surprising is the descriptor, “anti-social.”

This mischaracterization could only be spoken by someone who has never played the game. Dungeons and Dragons players are talking and listening constantly. In order to play the game they need to be able to all see in their minds’ eyes the same, shared world. They need to negotiate, plan and coordinate their moves together for a common goal. In Dungeons and Dragons (as in many role-playing games) the players have one, common goal and they either all succeed, or they all die trying! Well, their characers die, anyway.

In short, to play Dungeons and Dragons, the players must act as “co-creators who know how to collaborate to combine everyone’s strengths towards a common goal.”

Not only is Dungeons and Dragons an intensely social game, it is a co-creative game which teaches collaboration as well as an appreciation of diversity. Every player’s character has strengths and weaknesses which differ from the other characters. They each have a role to play and the group depends on all the characters doing their part. In fact, just like in the real world, the more diverse the team, the more skills and abilities the team can draw on. Dungeons and Dragons players experience the reality of “strength through diversity” every time they play.

Like any game or hobby, Dungeons and Dragons is not going to be everyone’s cup of tea, but it’s a great way to practice the skills of co-creation and collaboration as well as to experience how much strength can be found in diversity. And if you get to do all that while having a ton of fun with your friends, then so much the better!