#RPGaDay 2016 - Day 9 - Beyond the game, what's involved in an ideal session?

I selected this image to answer today's question for a variety of reasons. The image is of miniatures of the nine characters from the Lord of the Rings that formed the Fellowship of the Ring.

• Miniatures, because they are usually roleplaying game related. The question is about RPGs, so there's that.
• These characters, because they were called the Fellowship of the Ring. And because LotRs is awesome.
• Fellowship, because that's what's involved with an ideal RPG session. The fellowship, the comradery, the collaborative storytelling, all of that. There is a synergized joy in it.

Speaking with a friend about this, it was an interesting observation in that many of the memories we look back on and share fondly are of make-believe events and people. We have tons of stories of people and places and events that didn't physically happen. But we experienced them regardless. And therefore we have shared memories of some sort of events.

Does that make them any less real?