Chris Pine makes a compelling argument for kids to play Dungeons & Dragons in schools
He makes some excellent points about cooperation and imagination.
Actor Chris Pine at San Diego Comic Con in 2018
Chris Pine plays the lead role in the film "Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves," but until recently, he had never played D&D himself. Now that he's experienced the magic of the nearly 50-year-old roleplay game, he believes it should be played in schools.
Pine told Slash Film that his nephew has been playing D&D with a group of friends for six years, and he's the one who introduced the game to his famous uncle and a few other family members, including Pine's parents, who are 82 and 76.
"Within 15 minutes, we were having the time of our lives and we didn't have to know anything," he said. It was "immediately accessible," he said, especially in a family of actors, since the roleplaying game is essentially improv acting.
"It's, 'Here's what's happening. This is what you have. This is your obstacle. Now go,'" he said.
But it's the soft skills that the game encourages that left Pine feeling like the game should be played in schools.
"It immediately teaches cooperation," Pine shared with Slash. "It exercises the imagination. It's joyous, it's improvisational. And within a matter of minutes, everybody's on the same page. You're not arguing about whether or not you're cool or not. You're arguing about whether or not you should have gone over the boulder to kill the dragon."
"I think it's about the coolest thing I've encountered in a long time," he added.
Pine isn't the only one who sees a social and educational benefit to playing Dungeons & Dragons. Teacher Kade Wells, who saw the test scores of her ninth-grade Dungeons & Dragons club members rise, believes that playing D&D can make kids smarter. There is more than just anecdotal evidence to back that assertion up.
"Dungeons & Dragons, and other narrative role-playing games of its kind, provide many opportunities for learning,” David Simkins, a professor at the Rochester Institute of Technology and an expert on games and learning, told KQED. “Participation in narrative role play can open up interests in topics such as mathematics, science, history, culture, ethics, critical reading, and media production. When D&D and its cousins are played in an inviting, encouraging, compassionate, and intellectually engaged environment, play opens the door to truly amazing possibilities for learning.”
Socially, D&D has come a long way since the early 1980s, when talking about your Dungeon Master or whipping out your 12-sided die would automatically brand you a geek or a freak. (For the record, those "freaks and geeks" are likely the reason we're all here on this website on whatever device we're on—yay for creative innovators who battled imaginary dragons in their friend's basement for fun.)
The game has grown in popularity over the years and it saw a huge surge during the COVID-19 pandemic. Now here we are with a feature film starring a handsome Hollywood heartthrob who publicly sings the praises of D&D. Who would have guessed D&D would become truly, genuinely…cool?
Perhaps the group of successful, professional 40-something-year-old friends I personally know, who have played D&D every Thursday night for years and years, would have guessed it. Some of them have known each other since high school, and they never get tired of the game. The open-endedness of D&D is part of its appeal—the possibilities for how the game can go are endless and dependent almost entirely on the imaginations of the players. No wonder it has stood the test of time and finally earned the respect it always should have had from the mainstream.
Watch the trailer for the D&D-themed film starring Chris Pine:
"Now your fishes will be warmed."
"To have one’s eyes lined with ham."
"To lay your head in water."
"Repetition teaches the donkey."
"I only understand train station."
"To speak directly from the liver."
"Horse horse, tiger tiger."
Beaver in water. Photo by 
An actual beaver dam on the now-thriving Price River
Medusa image of giant squid in Gulf of Mexico off of Mississippi Gulf CoastPhoto credit: 
Sign warning against feeding alligators next to alligator in Mississippi marshlandsCourtesy of Jacalyn Wetzel
Mississippi Gulf Coast beach in BiloxiCourtesy of Jacalyn Wetzel
2009 photo of giant squid caught in Gulf of Mexico near Mississippi GulfPhoto credit: 
Thank goodness this story has a happy ending.
There's a reason why some people can perfectly copy accents, and others can't
Turns out, there's a neurodivergent link.
A woman in black long sleeve shirt stands in front of mirror.
Have you ever had that friend who goes on vacation for four days to London and comes back with a full-on Queen's English posh accent? "Oooh I left my brolly in the loo," they say, and you respond, "But you're from Colorado!" Well, there are reasons they (and many of us) do that, and usually it's on a pretty subconscious level.
It's called "accent mirroring," and it's actually quite common with people who are neurodivergent, particularly those with ADHD (Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder). According Neurolaunch, the self-described "Free Mental Health Library," "Accent mirroring, also known as accent adaptation or phonetic convergence, is the tendency to unconsciously adopt the accent or speech patterns of those around us. This linguistic chameleon effect is not unique to individuals with ADHD, but it appears to be more pronounced and frequent in this population."
Essentially, when people have conversations, we're constantly "scanning" for information—not just the words we're absorbing, but the inflection and tone. "When we hear an accent, our brains automatically analyze and categorize the phonetic features, prosody, and intonation patterns," writes Neurolaunch. For most, this does result in copying the accent of the person with whom we're speaking. But those with ADHD might be more sensitive to auditory cues. This, "coupled with a reduced ability to filter out or inhibit the impulse to mimic…could potentially explain the increased tendency for accent mirroring."
While the article explains further research is needed, they distinctly state that, "Accent mirroring in individuals with ADHD often manifests as an unconscious mimicry of accents in social situations. This can range from subtle shifts in pronunciation to more noticeable changes in intonation and speech rhythm. For example, a person with ADHD might find themselves unconsciously adopting a Southern drawl when conversing with someone from Texas, even if they’ve never lived in the South themselves."
People are having their say online. On the subreddit r/ADHDWomen, a thread began: "Taking on accents is an ADHD thing?" The OP shares, "My whole life, I've picked up accents. I, myself, never noticed, but everyone around me would be like, 'Why are you talking like that??' It could be after I watched a show or movie with an accent or after I've traveled somewhere with a different accent than my 'normal.'
They continue, "Apparently, I pick it up fast, but it fades out slowly. Today... I'm scrolling Instagram, I watch a reel from a comedian couple (Darcy and Jeremy. IYKYK) about how Darcy (ADHD) picks up accents everywhere they go. It's called ADHD Mirroring??? And it's another way of masking."
(The OP is referring to Darcy Michaels and his husband Jeremy Baer, who are both touring comedians based in Canada.)
Hundreds of people on the Reddit thread alone seem to relate. One comments, "Omfg I've done this my whole life; I'll even pick up on the pauses/spaces when I'm talking to someone who is ESL—but English is my first language lol."
Sometimes, it can be a real issue for those around the chameleon. "I accidentally mimicked a waitress's weird laugh one time. As soon as she was out of earshot, my family started to reprimand me, but I was already like 'oh my god I don’t know why I did that, I feel so bad.'"
Many commenters on TikTok were shocked to find out this can be a sign of ADHD. One jokes, "Omg, yes, at a store the cashier was talking to me and she was French. She's like 'Oh are you French too? No, I'm not lol. I'm very east coast Canada."
And some people just embrace it and make it work for them. "I mirror their words or phrase! I’m 30. I realized I start calling everyone sweetie cause my manager does & I work at coffee shop."