This statement about value seems to be a common observation in my country these days. I figure it's important to note that the rapid expansion of normal society into the l33t world of information systems has destabilized many businesses (and thus valuation systems) in the last ten years. Look at second hand books, for example: once a fairly widespread sort of business. Today, at Amazon you can pick up any well-thumbed paperback for the price of shipping, thus most second-hand bookshops can't afford to have that kind of stuff on the shelf. Then you get the weekend-or-maybe-just-holidays-bibliophile who cruises into my shop expecting to drop a buck for a copy of Steinbeck or Burroughs and finds that the only Modern Library copy in the store is twelve bucks. (It's more detailed than that, really..) Point is, it's destabilizing and many people can't really tell what to pay for something. (Oh yeah, re:China too.. and RIAA... and, etc..)
As far as the actual quote from Mr. Lantz: He's right about games being as ancient as man (what is business but a game?) but there is a subtle detail in specifics (re:Plato): A computer game utilizes media as a primary factor in the "playing" behavior of humans. Notice the way that a game like American Football doesn't actually require any visual or aural media, but there is in fact quite a lot of it. The uniforms, the logos, and even the music of which certain select tracks have become the usual sounds at a game.
Perhaps computer games are an extension of games like Battleships or Hangman, where the media provides a specific enhancement of the player's imaginations or artistic side. However you cut it, they are art and they are a very young art. The proliferation of Flash games has totally boggled me and I wouldn't have expected it even ten years ago. It will be a rocky road, just like it was for Gutenberg's book... just don't insult me games, Mr. Lantz.
