Video games and the academia

I wrote this post back in September as I mistakenly reviewed Manovich earlier, but I'd like to post it again since this time it's more relevant to our upcoming discussion (yes I can be a little bit slow times).

Being a videogamer since I was a wee little kid, it was really nice to read about the scholarly merits of computer games as a true form of "new media". Manovich writes how "In short, the computer database and the 3-D computer-based virtual space have become true cultural forms- general ways used by the culture to represent human experience, the world, and human existence in this world" (215). It is amazing to me how technologically advanced "cultural forms" have come from it's early days of sticks and stones. I wonder though how far this form, especially in the form of video and computer games, has come in the academia. I believe that the current academic culture has deemed videogames as a form that is meant only for children and teenagers as a form of leisure and fun and not so readily acceptded by the academia. Yes, I played "Oregon Trail" as a elementray student, but I have yet to play an appropriate computer game since highschool or coming to college for class. One would not likely see a history class playing a game of "Age of Empires" or "Civilization" or "SimCity" for economics class though the benefits and "the human experience of being in the world," would be tremendous. I would not likely play a game of "Zelda" or "Final Fantasy" to learn about the narrative structure for an English class, though I have been just as awe-struck and amazed by the beauty of their stories as much as "The Odyssey" or "Romeo and Juliet".