Theme in Gaming 2: Fun

I don't know about you, but for me, playing and imagining is more fun than just playing and winning. Both together can be fun.

With a pure strategy game, like Chess or Go, if you play the game, you may develop a better understanding of the rules and the game.

With a well-designed thematic strategy game, of the Ring-quest, you can get a better understanding of the story, and you may or may not learn the designer's interpretation of the work. (For example, if the Eagles were willing to carry the fellowship, I think their presence would have revealed their intent, and doomed then to the Nazgul above Gorgoroth. But you may think otherwise.)

With a well-designed thematic strategy game, of, for example, the space race to the early 1970s, you can get a better understanding of the expected and real technical challenges, and perhaps the budgetary ones. (For example, testing was harder, as Apollo 1 demonstrates, and heavy booster design was as hard as expected, as repeated failures of the N-1 demonstrate, while rendezvous wasn't as hard as initially expected. Here the designer, and the players, can ground their interpretation.)

With a well-told roleplaying game, you can get a better understanding of yourself, of other people, and of people in the setting.

And have fun doing so.