Taipei Mayor Chiang Wan-an (蔣萬安) today proposed attracting major city-wide gaming events to boost visitation across three dispersed venues managed by Taipei Metro Recreation Co.
The Maokong Gondola, Taipei Children's Amusement Park and Taipei Arena are geographically dispersed, which makes it challenging to maximize promotional efforts through conventional joint marketing, Chiang said.
To overcome this geographical hurdle, the mayor has instructed officials to study the feasibility of inviting large mobile events to Taipei.
Photo: Wang Yi-sung, Taipei Times
Citing the Pokémon GO City Safari as an example, he said similar urban adventure games would encourage travel across districts.
Such exploratory activities would not only increase the time players spend in the city, but also yield a substantial economic ripple effect across transportation, catering, shopping districts and the overall hospitality sector, Chiang said.
He also mentioned one of this year's standout gaming cases: a player who spent a year redesigning the area around Taipei Railway Station in a Minecraft city-building event, sparking widespread discussion in the gaming community.
This demonstrates that games are currently one of the most powerful tools for drawing youth participation, he said.
The three venues could collaborate with internationally renowned games to draw young people into urban design, he said.
This could involve creating a virtual Taipei where participants rebuild neighborhoods, design parks, optimize pedestrian environments or propose other renovations within the game, he added.
He said he has instructed Taipei Metro Recreation to coordinate and brainstorm concepts with the city’s Department of Education, the Department for Youth and the Department of Urban Development.
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