For me, I do not like the " dark" theme that pretty much overwhelms most everything right now and would like " hope" rather than just "escapism". It seems that much of what brought up imagined grand futures such as envisioned in Star Trek has fallen away and everyone is focused on destruction and desolation which not only do I find boring and bleak but lacking in creativity and far too easy to do... It feels terribly lazy. Where is all the independent and unique scenarios of an amazing future where we utilize technology to save the world and make everything amazing?
It reminds me of the plot in Tommorrowland where all people can focus on is destruction so they will make it happen faster:
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1964418/
Now the movie itself was not good, the plot and story were greatly lacking, however there were some things about it that I would love to see more of. The " future city" itself was pretty interesting, as well as the imagined inventions. I would love to see more of that and less destruction. I want to see more of how humankind pulls together and accomplishes goals rather than constantly trying to fight for power and control. I want to see more imagined " good" futures where people actually manage to overcome and create something wonderful instead. I also dislike the focus on "concrete and steel" cities, but instead having society advance beyond that to more like "wakanda" where it is a waterfall on the outside but high tech inside. I would like to see more jungle like future cities, where it is beautiful, not just environmentally friendly, but environmentally promoting and super technical and advanced at same time rather than being forced to be either/or. Instead of tall concrete and steel appearing structures, our skyscrapers are waterfalls and/or alive with plants and trees. More like a high tech "garden of Eden" where the world is beautiful, clean and advanced. A future where mankind actually manage to take care of the earth, and everything else within reach instead of just trying to destroy and "take". I hate desolate, destroyed, desert or concrete settings, and yearn for more of a lush green " shire" setting from the Hobbit. The bad desolation and destruction themes these days are awful, why would I want to be there physically or mentally?
My "Escapism" is more about trying to find hope for a better future. I do think that if we had more of that in our media, we might actually be able to inspire more people to be willing to help create it.
I also see other "need" for escapism in media and games for those whose reality IS one that they do need a genuine reprieve from. Prior to my father Passing, he was paralyzed. He could only use his eyes to have any sort of life at all, so I convinced a developer to sell me a "not released to the public" at the time eye tracking device that I was able to hook up to a tablet that allowed him to browse the internet, play games and communicate better with others. This was his only escape from his terminal reality at the time and I don't think people can fully understand how much being able to escape one's reality may be so very vital for some whose realities need to be escaped in order to retain any sort of feeling of even being considered a " person" in their own mind.
I believe having a positive relief, happiness, hope or "escape" in media is important to help people have a break from the stress of their actual situations they are forced to endure and focusing on the negative is also terribly unhealthy, and has a huge impact on ones physical health, but also increases the negativity of society and the future in general as well reduces productivity and drive by fueling hopelessness rather than inspiring people to want to achieve more by giving them a future to look forward to. When you promote a positive future, you are also giving people an achievable goal they can hope to work to attain.