This reminds me of the very typical discussion about the value of mathematics and the "descendants": physics, chemistry etc. :-) If the ultimate purpose is to

This reminds me of the very typical discussion about the value of mathematics and the "descendants": physics, chemistry etc. :-) If the ultimate purpose is to "do some work", movies and videogames definitely do: - movies require (in theory) around 90 minutes of undivided attention, which is definitely "work" (how many people can watch an entire movie without peeking at the phone?); additionally, they can be intellectually and/or emotionally stimulating - videogames are essentially, in general, structured challenges, which is "work" again: analytical, creative, reactive... I'd say that quality of an escape, if we want to set this concept, could be better defined by the human experience added by it. Alcohol doesn't really add any valuable experience (assuming one even remembers it). Books, in average, may give the most valuable experience because they may be the most selective medium (due to the attention required). TV, in average, may give the least, for the opposite reason. Movies are definitely an infinite human capital. There's lots of garbage, of course. I find hard to make any generalization about video games, as it's a very diverse medium. Farmville and co. "fare" in the ranks of trash TV, however, games like "Papers, Please" make a very significant experience.