The worse the economy gets, the better videogames seem to do.

Neoteny. N-e-o-t-e-n-y.

The term, author Heather Chaplin told a room full of game developers last week in San Francisco, refers to the slowing of development that causes adults to retain juvenile features. For instance, the chihuahua retains the features of an embryonic wolf.

Related stories from forbes.com
In pictures: the 20 most anticipated games
In pictures: top videogames of the year
In pictures: 10 budget friendly videogames
In pictures: 10 ways videogames can help you lose weight
In pictures: 10 games that make us smarter
In pictures: Europe's top 10 games

Likewise, game developers are nothing more than emotional babies who make themselves feel powerful by play acting. "You aren't men," Chaplin said. "You are stunted adolescents."

So is there anything to this? Let's examine the evidence, in the form of the games some of the geeks at the Game Developers Conference are anticipating the most. Take "Section 8," "StarCraft II" and "Mass Effect 2"--all follow one of gaming's grand traditions: They're about killing aliens, in the future.

They're not all the same though. "Terminator Salvation" is about killing robots in the future.

Many games, however, explore the past. There is World War II-themed strategy game "Ruse" and World War II-themed strategy and action game "Battlestations: Pacific." And then there's first-person shooter "Wolfenstein," which is all about killing Nazis. And monsters. Maybe even Nazi-bred monsters.

OK, so Chaplin's got a point. Somebody hand her a MacArthur fellowship.

There are exceptions, though. There's "Leaf Trombone," which is all about learning how to play an instrument on your iPhone and collaborating with other nerds around the world to crank out tunes. "Heavy Rain" promises a dark, noir-ish theme and cutting-edge graphics.

And then there's "Dante's Inferno," a title that walks a gamer through the literary exploration of hell while allowing you to kill everything in sight. Deep.

In one way, however, Chaplin has it completely backward. Game developers, after all, are in the gritty business of exchanging their fantasies for that very adult object of fascination: money.

While the housing, banking, auto and media industries evaporate, videogame sales grew 19% last year compared with the year earlier. Gaming industry types expect growth of between 5% and 10% this year and are looking forward to another strong year in 2010.

In short, the industry takes something unreal and turns it into real wealth: cars, houses, toys--you name it. The very grown-up banking industry, by contrast, puts real money into mortgage-backed derivatives with no real value. The products they were selling were little more than a fantasy. It turns out they were just play acting, and we're all paying for it now.