In a society that conditions people to compete, and rewards those who compete successfully, Dungeons & Dragons is countercultural; its project, when you think about it in these terms, is almost utopian. Show people how to have a good time, a mind-blowing, life-changing, all-night-long good time, by cooperating with each other! And perhaps D&D is socially unacceptable because it encourages its players to drop out of the world of competition, in which the popular people win, and to tune in to another world, where things work differently, and everyone wins (or dies) together.
-PAUL LA FARGE, Destroy All Monsters: A Journey Deep into the Cavern of Dungeons & Dragons, A Utopian Profoundly Dorky and Influential Game that, Lacking Clear Winners or an End, May Not Be a Game at All
(Source: believermag.com)
