There was either an old outer limits or twilight zone episode where the aliens were giving free vacations to their home world. Unbeknownst to the "vacationers" humans tasted good and were found in a cookbook (belatedly translated by the hero).

More seriously, extraterestial life is simply one of various new frontiers to help extend knowledge. Our various searches are important even in failure as they further constrain elements of our equations and theories of pre and post biotic chemistry. While finding intelligent extra teresterial life would be profound, for those of us that imagine our own future, our progeny in a millenia will probably be essentially an alien intelligence. Self evolution is accelerating, and many believe we are rushing towards some kind of profound singularity (which may also explain the fermi paradox).

Personally, I wouldn't mind being downloaded into my own (simulated) universe to play for a while.