Well, given the forum, I'm certain that we can all agree that we appreciate video games, but is it your favorite form of entertainment? Perhaps you prefer books, movies, theater, or music? What about your preferred medium do you enjoy most?

While I do love games and books, I don't enjoy anything nearly as much as I enjoy a good movie. Video games are a phenomenal medium for storytelling, in many ways, but many times they utterly lack one worth telling. In addition, no matter how good the story, concessions must be made to gameplay and technology. While there are some rare games that have melded the three pretty well, even those simply haven't gotten there yet. Furthermore, video games are, by their very nature, temporary. As technology improves, design techniques are refined, and new generations come out accompanied by sequel after sequel, they lose their sheen, and their weaknesses come to the fore. I wish that more people could appreciate the genius that is Grim Fandango, for example, but despite its storied place in gamer lore, few will ever play it today, and less so in future years.

As for books, while they do tell a fantastic story, and they can be truly engaging, I find that as I get older, I simply lack the patience for most. Many books are simply long-winded, or lack the wit to keep me interested for the duration, though some have kept me engaged from cover to cover. They are often timeless, but just as often don't age well, and their message and style are found more and more obsolete as time goes by.

But movies... If you have a film with a good screenplay, good acting, and a good director, it can stand the test of time and be just as enjoyable, or perhaps more so, as time passes. The technology has advanced, through sound, to color, to 3D, but movies tend to cut through all of that. It is easy to recognize the brilliance of a film like Casablanca or the Godfather today, although the silent greats such as Metropolis or Battleship Potemkin are more difficult. Furthermore, because a film shows rather than tells, because the world is carefully constructed for you and shown through the camera lens rather than described in words, film is effective at transporting the viewer back to the setting, to give them a firm sense of time and place, because they are seeing it with their own eyes. And unlike video games, everything is carefully controlled by the director. There is no need to sacrifice story for a fun game. Lastly, they are short. A good film is concise, and is carefully cut to be no longer than it has to be. It is a brief window into another world, another story, and when that story is finished, it closes.

oooo tough call here.

Books: I love books. I may have to say this is my favorite, though not by a big margin.

Music: I love music, though I do not listen to it as often as I used to. The combination of listening to music while reading a book is pure bliss, when I find the right music for the book I am reading

Movies: A close third here. Not a lot lately that piques my interest, but plenty of movies 10+ years old that I can watch and re-watch. Anime falls here, too

An Aside:

I though you meant, by your title, what medium we like to create in. In that case, video manipulation for me

Music. There's a far wider variety available than other mediums, it frees up my vision so I can enjoy it while doing all sorts of other things (like reading or playing some games!), and it doesn't require a 1-2 hour time investment like visual mediums do unless I dive into a whole album. It's also an inherent part of games and movies; other mediums wouldn't be the same without music.

It goes deeper than the objective reasons, though. As much as I love movies, music moves me more. The right album can be a transcendental experience if I'm in the right mood. If I could just listen to music the rest of my life, I'd be happy.

The time investment and focus required for movies is what really hurts my enjoyment of them. If I want to watch a movie, I can't do much else for two hours. It ties up my eyes and ears. More often than not I'd rather just listen to music. I've even avoided games lately, because even the simple ones distract me too much from the music.

A great album can be legendary for me. Even more when I don't know that much about the artist. I have the same obsession with a few books and movies, but i think music is more important to me.

I thoroughly enjoy music, but I find it very different than you. For me to truly appreciate a brilliant piece of music, I can't be doing anything else. I have to focus fully, shut my eyes, and let it take hold.

Books
Complex Board Games
Computer games (when did they start being called 'video' games?)
Descent (basically anything Joss Whedon) TV series
Films (why do we call them movies now? I'm on this side of the Atlantic...)
Music (years ago this would have been my number one, but it has fallen by the wayside as I find most of it pompous, arrogant, self-indulgent or condescending)
Theatre (I've been to some good, I've been to some bad, but whichever I go to costs me an arm and a leg - Matilda was worth it though)
Art (Be it painting, sculpture or throwing coffee on some bed sheets, it's not my thing. I just don't find any interest in it as a form of expression. It's either too abstract, and so doesn't get it's point across without a great deal of thought which will generally lead to something either banol or totally not what the artist intended, or it is too simple and a nice picture showing a lot of skill, but it doesn't add anything to my life. Either way it's not my cup of tea)
Ballet (I can appreciate it, but I would find it less boring if I wasn't there, so...)

I do this too, but not too often.

I've mastered the art of passive listening Where most people do other things and play music in the background, I play music and do other things in the background. The bulk of my focus remains on listening. Sometimes this causes efficiency problems, like closing tabs for no reason or opening the same forum thread three times in a row. And sometimes I forget to eat. But it works!

I can't listen to music at all while I'm doing serious work, though.

The video part means that it is displayed on raster video equipment. During their conception a computer could not use the raster stuff so any game played on that was a computer game. So in the late 60's early 70's when video games were invented if it was on a TV it was a video game and if it was a computer it was a computer game. Obviously video game has become the more popular term. No idea when computer games became commonly referred to as video games. If I had to guess it was probably between the PS1 and PS2 era when more games were available on both consoles and PC.

Music is great to listen to on the fly with minimal investment required but games are great for conversely the opposite reason, there's just more that can be done whether it be character development, theme and narrative development that can be explored in content that typically takes hours to explore rather than minutes.

But music isn't really a rival to film or games it's an accompaniment or a condiment that complements other forms of entertainment rather than one that competes against them.

That seems a bit insulting to music. Unlike ketchup, music works perfectly well on its own.

I'd liken it more to a salad. It's a perfectly reasonable meal on its own, especially if you give it a bit of attention and throw some meat on it, but it also makes a great side dish.

Now I'm hungry. But I agree. Music is a separate artform, that is often used in conjunction with other mediums. After all, you don't need Civilization IV to enjoy Baba Yetu, but Civ IV would've been less enjoyable without it.