I've wonder about this connection between personal development and games as well, specifically RPG's, as mentioned already. Video games can do their part as a teaching tool. Although, I feel that the potential for the medium, as a whole, is severely under used. Any innovations that do take place within games are more often than not in the minor category, rather than the major one. That's not to say they don't happen, just not often enough (Portal comes to mind as a game that leans far more towards major innovation, rather than just the usual gimmick inclusions that FPS's are known so well for).
Virtual environments could be leveraged so much to teach abstract concepts, or otherwise do things that would be more within domain of a lucid dream (nowhere as potent or immersing as a lucid dream or the imagination, though). Once virtual reality becomes a norm within video games, the possibilities for the medium will no doubt expand greatly, making it's usability far broader than that of just gamers.
It's a matter of how much of your time you're willing to invest within a video game verses doing something more specifically focused on building the skills you want to improve, if that's your own motivation for playing a game in the first place (assuming that fun may not be a high motivation).
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