I work for a nearly 15 yr old art + technology organization based in an nyc contemporary art museum, and I assure you this type of work is far from a gimmick. There's an extremely rich history here and the art market is taking notice, though it's been a slow process. Many young artists working nowadays make artworks with presumptions born from digital technologies built-in, so by the time you reach your early twenties I hope/imagine the art world in general will have a different material and cultural landscape where art that incorporates digital technology isn't considered niche or a fetish or all lumped together into one category, but considered simply a reflection of the state of the world in which we live.

Honestly, if you're an artist working in ANY medium nowadays you're probably not living solely off the income generated by your artwork. But these skills can certainly contribute to a day job.;)

We have, however, successfully sold or helped sell non-material/purely code-based artworks many times.

Check out this wonderful new book by Casey Reas and Chandler McWilliams for more on the historical context:

http://formandcode.com/

http://www.amazon.com/Form-Code-Design-Architecture-Briefs/d...

And check out Rhizome for a perspective on contemporary digital/new media/internet art.

http://rhizome.org/

Good luck!