Role-playing games can also have some of the same benefits (albeit much less salient) as improv theater and rejection therapy. Which is more fun, getting rejected by a dozen people you don’t know to have a conversation, or having your level eight human rogue get rejected a dozen times in a bar?
I see no reason for you to play games unless you wish to discuss games with these people and have something in common with them.
Benefits of playing games:
Improved hand-eye coordination
Strategic puzzle solving skills
Decreased stress level
By far, more mentally engaging than television or movies, which are passive entertainment
introspection in choice-morality games
by Playing Like a Designer you can learn how to use gamelike elements in non-game environments (like the classroom) to make them more fun
See also: http://www.tastyhuman.com/10-benefits-of-playing-video-games/
Role-playing games can also have some of the same benefits (albeit much less salient) as improv theater and rejection therapy. Which is more fun, getting rejected by a dozen people you don’t know to have a conversation, or having your level eight human rogue get rejected a dozen times in a bar?
For all of the above, however, YMMV.