games are a new medium

you're right that software engineer and programmer types (of persons) would do well to learn form other older media formats that precede games.

but let's not pretend that games are anything like what came before.

interactivity is a new element to put into the storytelling toolkit. but the point is how games can do a much more than tell stories; it's like puzzles are part of the story somehow... but answering how exactly goes quite deep.