Warren Buffett and Bill Gates are famous for their love of and prowess in bridge. Harvard has used high-stakes poker as a real-world game theory laboratory for strategic thinking. For sheer bonhomie and bonding, golf remains a global opportunity for American, Asian, and European executives to mix business with pleasure. Depending on the industry, a sharp MBA who’s a scratch golfer may well have a leg up in a job interview or sales meeting.

Demonstrable talent and success at games that mix competitive fire with social skills make a desirable human capital combination. There’s a perceived correlation between real competence in serious games and business effectiveness.

But do massively multiplayer online role-playing games like World of Warcraft or Grand Theft Auto Online enjoy comparable corporate cachet as golf, poker or bridge? An amusing Wall Street Journal story strongly suggests not. A top IT executive recruiter, for example, noted that “his clients haven’t sought hires with game experience.” The ambivalence around virtual gaming is practically—if not ironically—palpable. MMORPGs and their networked ilk are regarded more as adolescent indulgence than an admirable recreation.

That reflects a snobbish and elitist generational anachronism. The cognitive and social skills demanded in complex multiplayer games can be every bit as subtle, sophisticated and challenging as stud poker or bridge. Indeed, I know Silicon Valley and (admittedly younger) hedge fund quant teams who bond and boost morale through their Minecraft bouts. I may not fully understand the details of what they’re doing but there’s no doubt that these interactions are building relationships as well as protective structures. These teams —and the organizations that employ them—would likely welcome colleagues and candidates with authentic video-game passion and talent. Trust me, these folks will not be golfing at Torrey Pines. (They do, however, play poker—both online and around a table. The pots impress.)

Might a 38-year-old project manager face mockery listing her high-performance Halo scores on her LinkedIn profile? Possibly. But there’s something to be said for people who can succeed in intensely competitive environments and clearly know how to navigate in hostile virtual worlds. The simple and undeniable truth is that more and more knowledge work and professional collaboration takes place in digitized environments. Does competitive competency in Minecraft or World of Warcraft make someone a better manager or motivator? No more so than playing bridge well or playing golf at a 5 handicap. But the need for social sensitivity and learning fast is there. The demand for a certain level of self-discipline and adaptability is there.

Just as the Moneyball sensibility transformed professional sports worldwide, the ability to perform well in fantasy sports leagues signals that somebody has a decent grasp of probabilities, risks, and opportunities in a competitively transparent and transparently competitive environment. That’s a capability that deserves discussion even if it’s not directly on enterprise point.

My view of the current reluctance of recruiters and HR department to give MMORPGs and their digital counterparts their human capital due is the inertia of ignorance and elitism. Golf, yes; Minecraft, no. Poker, maybe; World of Warcraft, you’ve got to be kidding, right? But as companies catch up and realize that a new generation of video games makes their players smarter, more alert, and more socially effective as teams, watch those LinkedIn profiles change.