Actually, the article doesn't really go into detail as to how the culture war against Dungeons & Dragons was won or lost, only that today D&D (and its fantasy mindset) have clearly won in culture, and fundamentalists touting the evils of FRPGs don't get segments on 60 Minutes any more.
Which is a good thing, of course.
I never got into RPGs until college, so, like all college students, I was able to deep dive into an indulgent, destructive lifestyle without my parents knowing. (Just kidding, Mom.) I was aware of the anti-D&D crowd, but more as something to mock.
I do have to wonder, beyond the War on D&D, if there was a certain degree to which this cultural lashing out contributed to the gradual discrediting evangelical Christianity in segments of the population. Here were arguably some of the best and brightest in schools pursuing a harmless entertainment (a lot fewer injuries than school sports, certainly), and preachers were publicly railing against their sinful acts and likely succumbing to demonic influence and madness. That sort of accusation doesn't get forgotten easily, and it's not unreasonable to think it would lead a lot of those kids to take the next pronouncements from said preachers a lot less seriously.
How We Won the War on Dungeons & Dragons
Thirty years ago, a war raged between the dorks who played Dungeons & Dragons, and the conservative parent groups who believed that gaming was debauched at best and Satanic at worst. Lives were ruined. People died. And now that war is over. I still can’t believe we won.
To say that the religious war on D&D contributed to my move away from belief toward atheism would not be inaccurate. It's not the major reason, but it certainly didn't help their cause when it was patently clear they were criticizing something they knew absolutely nothing about. I can recall confronting my pastor with the AD&D Players Handbook and asking him to show me where it listed how to literally cast a spell or to summon a demon. He refused to so much as touch the book less it corrupt his precious bodily fluids.
It's seen in a totally different light in the UK – i started playing the game when i was 6 or 7 years old and when i started secondary school there was a D&D club there
Oh, I agree it's not a "95 Theses Nailed to the Door" moment, but even without a confrontation like you had, it's a very finite and pretty concrete discrediting of blather that burns a few credibility points.
Listening to the “Dungeons and Masters” tape of Evangelical blather with you in college definitely helped move me even more swiftly away from organized religion in general and Evangelical Christianity in particular. It wasn’t the only factor, but it corroborated my distrust and contempt for that point of view. I think you are absolutely right that the hysterical attacks on D&D (and other harmless things, like Gay people) helped drive a lot of us farther away from the far-Right fringe.