Iron Tower Studio - The Magic of Magic

A few days ago, Vince D. Weller kicked up this nice piece about the generic nature of the (potentially) most fantastic of fantasy elements - magic.  Here's the opening:

What comes to mind when you think about magic in RPGs? Medieval Europe-like place with pointy hats wizards firing brightly colored "magical" projectiles at various creatures. That's all magic is apparently good for as it doesn't seem to offer any benefits to the setting, local industries, and the player.

You don't see wizards transporting goods and golems employed on construction sites. You don't see improved communications ("Crystal Ball News Network"?). You don't see anti-magic defenses and I'm not talking about protection against fireballs. I'm talking about protection against enemy's wizards entering towns and opening portals for troops waiting a thousand miles away. What you do see are firebolts and fireballs, ice storms and chain lightning, magic missiles and meteor swarms.

The problem is that magic is not integrated into settings. It exists in vacuum, nothing more than a meta-gaming feature with the single purpose of providing the player with a different, more colorful way to kill things. At best we are offered creative explanations of magic and its origins, but gameplay remains the same.