I didn't expect to like this article, but I did. I was turned off at first because my immediate response was, "What's wrong with a game for men, by men, and about men?"

But then it talked about "toxic masculinity", a term I hadn't heard before but recognized immediately as THE problem in my male-male relationships. I don't agree with the implication of the term that masculinity itself is the reason for the problem. Instead, I think that "toxic masculinity" is a very unhealthy vision of maleness. I so often wish my friends and I could be more emotionally open with each other. It's how humans are supposed to be, but most men my age have a huge problem with it. And it's really sad. I believe it leads to increased mental illness and loneliness. I see it as a huge cultural problem. We've lost the notion of what it means to be both masculine and in touch with one's emotions, and think as a society that feeling emotions is a gendered thing... which is so weird. It has the side effect of making any man who buys into this false definition of masculinity wooden and incomplete. I've done it, in fact I've struggled with it in various ways most of my life. It truly is toxic, not only because it ostracizes people, but because it makes those who buy into it unknowable.