The KSA also gave an honourable mention to Damiaan Reijnaers for his bachelor’s thesis on the use of artificial intelligence in poker.
Hahahaha.
For me, it looks like one real paper with really complex and interesting material received "Thank you", and two papers with obviously less usefulness (one is completely garbage - reasoning about ethics) received cash prizes.
If I were doing research in gambling, it would rather be research in mathematics (including AI) or something similar (tangible), but not this empty demagogy about ethics.
Hi there,
I'm the author of one of the theses in discussion. I have to say that some of the comments here are incredibly judgmental and mean-spirited without having read a single line of my thesis (or the others). In it I constructed a structural equation model of people's experience with loot boxes using primary data. The variables I chose for this model were informed by Kant's theory to later have measurable results, which his theory could be applied to. I did so because loot boxes are often called unethical by merit of common sense. However, the argument is oftentimes weak and does not really explain the underlying psychology and why they are unethical.
I also have to disagree that the issue is legally solved: Belgium hasn't actually enforced its progressive ban. UK, Netherlands, Germany, Brazil, US have dialed back their efforts in pursuing regulation. It is solely relied upon the self-regulation of the industry. Easy to see how this will turn out.
If you ever back up your brash claims and do research yourself, I hope that you have more luck than me and do not have to witness your hard work be shit upon on the internet.
Feel free to read the "garbage" in full via the following link:
https://www.dropbox.com/s/p3v9hd0q6bms44h/Master%20Thesis_Final_L.D.pdf?dl=0Kindest regards
Leo
