If reading a book is a creative endeavor (and it is. We create the characters in our minds, we run experiments with the situations described, we assimilate arguments and reject or accept them) then all the more so is playing a video game, where we create the story piece by piece.

Video games are not a waste of time. We are never wasting our time by spending time with art and culture, we are never wasting our time when attempting to connect with another person's idea of beauty and worthwhile time.

It is true that some books, some movies, some video games, are wasting your time, it is not impossible. That is not your fault as the audience, that is the fault of the writers and artists involved.

Those creators had a duty, I would say in some moments, a semi-sacred duty, to respect you as an audience. They might not have.

Then again, an author could have very well respected her audience's time, could have provided something of value to them in the time it takes to consume the author's work, and not respected YOUR time, as an individual consumer.

You could very easily not be the audience the author is trying to reach. Not everything is for everybody.

But to return to the earlier subject of this thread, Video Games are creation, and should be respected as such. Don't feel bad if all you do for a few days is create your island in Animal Crossing. Somedays, all other people do is read Chaucer. Either one is a palace in the mind