To each his own. I think that open office or cubicles kill any kind of conversation that works for me. I prefer one-on-one or small group discussions outside the public view. I used to work in small team rooms (2 to 6 people) and I can say for sure that I had many more good conversations in that setup compared to the cube farm I am sitting in now. Due to the noise most people wear headphones making even approaching them awkward.

Personally, I'm more hesitant to start a conversation with someone knowing that a bunch of people are right there listening, that I may be disturbing others, that the conversations may veer into more confidential territory, that people may be judging me or gleaning information about me etc etc etc.

All of these niggles and considerations disappear if the meeting is more private than just standing by desks in an open room

Yeah like :

clackCLICK..... clack CLICK.. clack CLICK.... clackCLICK... clackCLICK.. clackCLICK... clackCLICK... clack... clack clackclack clack clack "damn I thought I had that one... okay your serve..."

clackCLICK... et fucking cetera

True, random chit chats are nice, however the cost is that you can't actually do any work that requires concentration

And prevent all the conversations that could happen with some privacy.