Yes, but video games don't necessarily encourage going out and actually doing something, as opposed to just imagining it. Not to say imagination isn't important, but imagination without action is definitely not first best.
My first major project was also a videogame. I made it almost ten years ago, and I still get fanmail about it once a month. I think creative people will create.
Holy crap! Marthon Rubicon was you? Great work man!
I've always thought Marathon was a bit of an under-appreciated masterpiece game, particularly given how old it is. I got stuck into Rubicon after I lost my original install disks (and moved to a windows machine...)
My first attempt at programming was to write Breakout in Basic, so video games can inspire I guess (this was longer ago than I care to disclose).
But today's video games are so advanced I get the impression kids wouldn't even bother to try to write their own game because it wouldn't compare to their experience.
I halfway agree with you - they probably wouldn't try to write something like Halo, because they wouldn't know where to start. Simple, fun games still exist though. Just look at all the Flash ones.
Simple, fun games are usually the most successful games out there. The hard-core gamer market is small comparatively, especially if you're counting by players instead of purchasers.
(Numerical comparison: Half Life life-time sales: 9.3 million as of the end of 2008[1]. Bejeweled life-time sales: 50 million+ as of Feb this year[2]. And how many play FarmVille (though it's not overly simple)?)
Check out Scribblenauts:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uh65m-3o1co