Another day, another buffet. 8 am breakfast and 8:45 we left for Wargaming. The Wargaming office took a new approach to the work play lifestyle. They focused on harmony between work and life, and less separation. On our tour of the building (which was once the tallest building in all of Cyprus) we saw the gym- where personal trainers are on site to lead classes and you can go any time of the day- spas, and treatment rooms. All workers have a flexible schedule where they can come into the office if they want to, choose a hybrid schedule, or work completely remote. In order to maintain high workplace efficiently they use teams and focus on communication.
After the tour we were given a presentation by two company representatives who talked about and answered our questions regarding creating games, marketing, AI implementation, coping with competition, and other topics. Wargaming has created a few games across multiple platforms such as console, mobile, and then also on PC. Their digital distribution model focuses on instant world delivery for updates and patches in various games to keep user highly engaged. The goal is to create a never ending cycle resulting in maximum user engagement. The various platforms they choose to use all come with pros and cons. Representative on their tech team presented that the mobile platform is best for better data collection and it’s easier to implement AI systems. I think that because content today is all increasingly digital the company needs to stay ahead but continuously, enabling cloud, gaming and high definition streaming, as well as revamping the UA ecosystem, IDF depreciation, and cross platform play.
We wrapped up around noon and headed back to UNIC campus for lunch and to learn about supply chain. We were first given a lecture by Dr. Elias Yfantis, Professor for Marine engines at the hellenic Naval Academy, coordinator of the Mechanical Engineering Program at UNIC. He explained and gave us formulas for understanding carbon emisssions through intermodal transport. Imtermodel transport, is the use of more than one mode of transport that sounds counter intuitive to reducing carbon emissions but specific calculated transport can result in less dependence on road transport reducing overall carbon emissions. To better understand this we calculated the carbon emissions traveling from PITT to UNIC. We factored in all passengers average weight with bags in tons, and the kilometers traveled via different routes with the modes of each route. It was an interesting activity that took us a while to calculate with all the specifics and the fact that we took two busses, two shuttles, and three different size planes to get to UNIC.
Then we did an activity with the University of Nicosia students about teamwork and collaboration. Their professor made groups of local students and then divi-d up our plus3 group so we could talk and engage in the activities with proper we didnt know. It was really fun to ask questions and learn about the way of life for the average Cyprus students. We did many activities including ranking the usefulness of items I’d stranded in an island, creating a story out of black and white graphics and the most fun: an engineering competition. We competed in an engineering activity that my group won with the highest structure. The goal was to build a structure out of just raw spaghetti and place a marshmallow as high as possible in under 20 minutes. It was fun to work together and engage in team building activities getting to know each other all with different backgrounds and experiences.
After the business portion of our day we headed to the old town of Nicosia for a small walking tour. We saw the architecture of the old town in the divided capital which was very different that the old town of Limassol that we were staying in. The divided capitol resulted in all roads going north simple ending with massive bats add and Turkish military agents watching us. The border control is nothing like it is in America and very interesting. Cyprus has been involved in many wars and battles that their architecture is based strategically and defensively. The doors were made just low enough that a patrol of horseback would have to de-mount before they were able to take down the door. We learned about various strategic architecture for when the British came and how Cyprus was able to defend.
In addition to strategic architecture, we saw religious ties to all of Cyprus’ past. Some of the cities buildings were topped with a dome like structure, the symbol of Christianity. We also were able to see how the Byzantine empire covering the period from the 6th century to the 19th century affected the landscape and the influence of Byzantine art.
