1Up.com is featuring a great article that quantifies what most ardent Dungeons & Dragons players know. Here are the "Five Things We've Learned from D&D":

• Everything can be reduced to numbers
• You're not alone
• Players want to own their character
• Emergent gameplay is good gameplay
• Good stories compel, poor stories suck

Each idea is nicely explained by author Jeremy Parish so check it out at 1Up.