Wow I love this! I can totally relate to this train of thought. Especially true is the gamers connection to the character they control in a story is probably stronger than the connection someone might feel with a character in a book they read, or an actor in their favorite movie. i mean we literally control whether our avatars live or die and we celebrate their victories and feel their pains.
very often we see people emulate their favorite characters or actors in various aspects of life.
there fore I think it likely that a persons experiences during a video game will have a more direct and lasting effect on that persons morals, state of mind, or other things like self esteem and motivation in life to beat other challenges.
video games are life for life till death.