The founder of a major mobile video game company, William Siu, admitted the truth in a New York Times op-ed on Oct. 2. His company, Storm8, had created 50 games for users over more than 10 years, and has had more than 50 million daily users as of 2015, but despite the company’s description of “bringing the world more joy is a great thing,” Siu is well aware that it is more harmful than good, or joyful.
In discussing China’s crackdown on video games, Siu wrote: “Such bans may sound outrageous even for an authoritarian country like China. But as a gaming entrepreneur in the United States for 13 years and a father of two young daughters, I don’t think parents are doing enough to protect kids from the potential harms of video games.” His daughters are now 3 and 4, and he still hasn’t let them use any of the games he designed. He even admitted that he tells them he makes board games, not video games.
