Shakespeare was the Steven Spielberg of his time.  He wrote plays for money.  Michelangelo's (the painter not the turtle) most famous paintings were work-for-hire gigs.  So were Mozart's.  

Art is what you put into it and what you expect people to get out of it.  My real point is that the people who make games need to treat them as important.  When they do that, we get much better games.