Time for school.
"Gamefowl" are essentially 50% of every broiler chicken raised commercially. The Cornish breed was a blend of Asil and Old English Gamefowl. (Although from my attempts at recreation, the Cornish has a good bit of "fluffy butt" in there too.) The Game definitely gave them their type, and their ample breast. In fact, many breeds are game based. Buckeyes for instance. Rhode Island reds as well. They were probably much better breeds back when they had a fresh infusion of game. My game cross hens are both beautiful and productive, it is easy to see why someone would build a breed around them, but if allowed to keep degenerating away from the game traits, they become just another helpless chicken, with no survival instinct, no predator evasion capabilities, and very little chick rearing instinct. Every breed that we have is derived from game chickens. That is why chickens were domesticated. People living in a jungle with trees hanging with fruit in all seasons, wild hogs, and the eggs of a million shorebirds nesting by a sea teaming with fish did not domesticate a bony 4 pound, wild jungle bird that hides its 20 small eggs a year for the purpose of meat and eggs.
Most breeds, compared to games are basically degenerate. Flawed in many ways, especially mentally. They lack the instincts that games have, and are prone to quirky behavior. Games, through their historic, and in many places current use, are superior, having been shaped by nature into a machine of perfect form and function, rather than misshapen by human fancy. This is why it is not uncommon at all to see games approaching twenty years of age, sometimes still breeding. Games are so much more noble than mere barnyard chickens, in their carriage, persona, and human interaction capabilities.
As a bird for the backyard or homestead, they are without equal. They can forage their own food, are survival experts, and self replicate at an alarming rate. Thanks to the skills of a game hen, excellent paternal traits selected for in the males beget excellent maternal traits in females. There is simply no better chick raiser. It took me a long time to realize why my grandmother, who was no cockfighter, spoke so fondly of her game chickens. She lived in a time before electricity, when a good broody hen was a necessary component of any poultry operation.
While not great for egg production (mine keep me in eggs most of the year) it is a simple matter to chuck some leghorn eggs under them and have laying hens coming on at all times. The meat is excellent, being much more like pheasant in flavor and texture. It requires a little different handling than the eight week old comparably bland and flavorless broiler chickens, but is quite good. I eat all of my extras, and get rid of my dual purpose breed extra roosters hatched under game hens through live chicken sales to foreign people. Simply not worth the freezer space when there are games to be had. My extras amount to spare hens that live in the woods, and manage to breed a cock on a tether and get a nest past me without me switching them out. Anything of known breeding is worth too much to simply eat. Since they are rare, thanks to many people having attitudes such as yours, they are pretty valuable to those who seek a little something more in their poultry.
Some people collect them, like Pokemon or stamps. Having different varieties in a collection is important. Some varieties have quite a bit of historical significance, and others very unique traits. I have sold birds to people from other countries where gamefowl are more commonly kept. I always assume the worst and usually question people outright. I find that in most cases, these people want birds for their kids, as they had chickens when they were kids. They buy farm store chicks and invariably end up with a mean rooster that attacks their kid. Knowing that this behavior is not likely with game roosters, they seek out birds for their children from breeds that have been intensively selected for thousands of years for it to be easy for humans to handle adult males, even when slightly agitated, without them turning on humans, as well as the females raising baby chicks, living a long time, bearing confinement well, being able to tolerate being alone, and a host of other traits that make them superior as children's pets.
Just because you can't see the value in something does not mean it is not there, or that other people don't see it. Don't take offense at any perceived insult to your mere barnyard chickens, just understand that gamefowl keepers and fanciers are not all criminals with birds with no value outside of criminal activities.
