Spiritual Opium: Will Hershey On Invensting, Gaming, and Futurism

Five Dollar Buzz

The provenance of video games was always the domain of the misunderstood misfits. Old school coin-operated stand up terminals were located in smokey dive-bar back rooms or seedy shopping malls. The early in-home entertainment consoles were first adopted by the propeller head and pocket protector set. As those gaming systems became more advanced and realistic, the introverted and ostracized members of youth became the standard bearers of the online gaming communities.

The Boomer establishment has a rich history of being at odds with the video game industry. Early 1980s fears of Japanese manufacturing supremacy, placing societal violence's blame on gaming's cartoonish pistol play, inaccurately correlating health issues to screen time, as well as dismissing a dynamic and innovative sector as a passing fad. You name it, Boomer's did everything but self-reflect.
What's more - just this week China's official news outlet — published a lengthy analysis that used terms such as "opium" and "electronic drug" to describe the harmful effects of gaming on children.
"It turns out 'spiritual opium' has grown into a multi-billion dollar industry," the article read. "Insiders warn: watch out for the harm of online games."
As in so many other instances - the Boomers and Commies got it wrong. Again.
GenX knew very early that video games were none of the above, but rather a wild frontier of entertainment, education and camaraderie. The Millennials grabbed the baton and went sprinting farther down the path to take gaming to a place not even the most enthusiastic GenXer could dream possible.
One of those thought leaders is our guest on this episode of FBD.
Will Hershey (twitter: @maybebullish) is the visionary CEO and cofounder of Roundhill Investments with offices in NYC and SF.
Roundhill believes that e-sports and video games are the future of live media, sports and entertainment.
Will and the Buzzards swap old school video game stories, discuss investing in this sector of the economy is no longer a fringe frontier exercise, as well as the future of the metaverse and sports gambling.
So set the control paddle down, unplug the headset and kill the screen.
Roll up the dank and pour a drink. You may just walk away ready to reposition your investment portfolio with some weighting to gaming!
After you spray the citrus, mind you...