Teaching Kids to Roleplay

Wired has an interesting article on teaching your kids to play roleplaying games.

I discovered AD&D in high school and branched out into other games as I got older. As a strong introvert, such games helped me break out of my shell to develop social skills. In college I pretty much talked to no one but my roommate for the first couple of quarters. Then I connected with some other roleplayers and the number of friends I had blossomed. Even today I'd say most of my friends are people I met through gaming.

At the same time, the roleplaying aspect of games like AD&D has helped me deal with some personal issues. Not surprising given that some psychologists use roleplay, though in a different form, to treat their patients. It's a way of distancing yourself from issues while you work through them. Even today I notice certain similarities between the characters I play and myself that I've unconciously built into them.

Since RPGs have been a relatively positive influence on my life, I would certainly want to pass them on to my kids so this is a pretty handy article.