Different worldviews, new ways to reason about existing issues, raised awareness of other problems, cultures, people. And straight out more knowledge about many things (even if you read only fiction). Overall, you can move forward from a perhaps more simplistic version of the world.

Also, just the increased ability to read and understand stuff should not be underestimated. Many people can read, as in putting letters together to form words, but not read in the sense of understanding anything beyond the most basic of sentences. You’ll get scammed less often. get better deals, etc.

This right here. In fact, the main reason for me stopping actively participating was point 3. Alas, sadly, this entire thread seems to prove the point over and over, as you keep flippantly replying to anything you don’t agree to, up to actually, apparently, blocking a user. You can’t nurture a community by making it your personal fiefdom. A community is made of all its members, diverse as they may be. I would like to come back, I love the game, but participating started feeling a bit toxic. So I lurk, and I suspect many do the same and that’s why subscription numbers increase, but not active participation. I do think people are capable of change, though, and look forward to becoming more active again.