Chess is a serious game: Donkey Kong is not. Why? Because chess fully engages your intellect, while Donkey Kong and (most) video games merely engage your physiological reflexes.

Applying egalitarian principles to games (of all things) is a very bad idea. Some games are actually more inherently worthwhile than others. This is why brilliant people have written voluemes on chess, while the only thing that gets written about most video games is penned by bepimpled unwashed mid-adolescent boys.You forget that before we can land that ship on Mars or navigate the asteroid belt or guide a nanoprobe through the human bloodstream somebody is going to have to invent the requisite technology. And I'll bet you that your average 17-year-old chess player will go on to invent more significant tech than your average 17-year-old Donkey Kong player.

(So we're clear on this one, I'm writing this comment from the perspective of a 17-year-old chess player. Just thought you'd like to know.)