Consuming media and playing games is very passive

Would you say the same thing about playing chess, with the goal to reach a certain ELO rating? I agree about the former, but not about the latter. Many (video) games require a tremendous amount of memory, decision making, modeling of others, that make them arguably productive. I wouldn't describe playing Starcraft (or really any game) as "consuming" media at all, it's a very active process. In some cases, Starcraft is actually replacing Chess as the model system for cognitive science. It's always really bothered me that video games are considered to be very low brow, while certain other games (chess, go, bridge) are (rather arbitrarily) considered very high brow. I love chess, I love bridge, and I've never really tried Go. But I also love Starcraft, for many of the same reasons. Not every video game is like chess, certainly; there are many that are more analogous to checkers. But many are just as good at cultivating the same skills chess does - and some do it better.

Edit: I will say though, (I think) the OP was about World of Warcraft, which, while I have never played it, I don't particularly think very highly of it. It seems much more like an addiction machine. But, like I said, I haven't played it.