Okay, so if we're just talking about the superior
pastime, I'll bite the bait and say that it's video games. Because pastime implies that it's an activity done for fun and reading (the right) books should rather be approached actively as part of one's education.
By body of work as a total medium literature obviously wins. Text is a rather efficient way to encode information and has been around so long that it developed a lot into many different genres etc.
>>14442You can certainly learn some things from games, but that knowledge is usually more shallow than even reading a Wikipedia article and much more time consuming to attain.
>>14441>Maybe most games just seem trivial to me, I haven't seen a real artsy game, where is avantgarde gaming, what has been there for films hundred years ago?
So there are
games that are more like conceptual art, e.g. something like
https://guzey.com/x/ (I'm sure there are more impressive examples)
You can always appreciate games for their artwork or music. But it's the same as with any medium, you get the most out of it only when you deeply engage with it. So for example some games that can be considered avantgarde are games that break with tropes or conventions established by previous games.(e.g. Undertale).
With video games there is always this dilemma between interactivity and narrative. It's hard to combine both in a meaningful way.
In my mind, I categorize games like this:
1) Games which might as well have been a book/movie: VNs, anything (mostly) linear & story driven
2) Games that are "fun": most games really; mindless mobile games, MOBAs, shooters, action games, ...
3) Sandbox games: Minecraft etc.?
For me category 1 is the most interesting but it's also the most conservative. Category 2 is too big to talk about. Category 3 I never was able to get into but I suspect there is the most potential to get creative and create something yourself as there are few rules.
I'm tired of thinking about this topic and my conclusion is that in any case what matters most is the attitude with which you engage in the medium.