Macao Polytechnic Institute gaming research compilation focused on new directions for local sector

With contributing authors from the United Kingdom, Mainland China and Macau, the most recent issue includes six reports focused on topics such as problem gaming, the impact of Covid-19 on the public’s willingness to accept new types of gambling, and possible applications of AI and robots in hotel operations.

MPI Gaming Teaching and Research Centre Professor, Zeng Zhonglu contributed to the edition with a research paper written in cooperation PhD student Li Ke and exploring if social-oriented gaming could be developed and targeted for the increasing number of the elderly in Macau.

Starting from the principle of flow theory, which refers to a state of complete immersion in an activity that might make people oblivious to the world around them, the paper argues that such experiences should not be limited to the young, but also the elderly.
“Elerlly also enjoy social gaming and more effort could be made to include them in leisure activities. If older people can come to Macau more frequently instead of every two months, if people can flow better between mainland cities and Macau then this could be a practical strategy. We must think of the future,” Professor Zeng told MNA.

Therefore if social-oriented gaming could be developed and targeted for the increasing number of the elderly in Macau, it will not only enable the local gaming industry to develop a new market but also contribute to the well-being of the elderly.

Another paper included in the publication includes a report written by Liang Shaohua and Lai Jiawei of City University of Macau, which explores how the applications of hotel robots lead to technological unemployment by investigating 18 five-star hotels in the Greater Bay Area.

The research showed that most of the surveyed hotels had not used robots and that while the industry generally believed that robots could replace human employees in standardized, programmed, and repetitive work, human employees were still needed for humanized and personalized services.

Meanwhile, researchers from the Institute of Psychology of the Chinese Academy of Sciences and Beijing Normal University investigated the impact of COVID-19 on the public’s willingness to accept new types of gambling.

The study found that the COVID-19 pandemic has increased the willingness of research participants to accept new types of gambling and that that timing plays an important role when it comes to making sensible decisions about gambling or the lottery.
The current issue only includes the papers in mandarin. The next Global Gaming & Tourism Research issue is scheduled to be published in October