IGO: That certainly is respectable and will definitely do its part in Mourning’s outcome. Speaking of Mourning’s outcome, one of the main innovations in the game will be the bloodline system. Can you tell us a little about that?

DAN: Well, Mourning is unique because of many things, and the bloodline is certainly one of them. The bloodline system was an idea rising up from our open brainstorming sessions with the guys from our community. The main point was that the current habit among most MMO players is to make a guy, play with it for a while, max it out eventually, then get bored with it, put it somewhere for safekeeping and then rolling another character. The two main reasons for such behavior is boredom of the game play, and the limitations of class-based systems. (Note: Mourning does not use the conventional class-based system found in most massively multiplayer games today. Like games such as Ultima Online, Mourning uses a skill-based system and does away with levels.) Noticing that, the obvious solution is to embed this behavior in a game play system, and from that came the bloodline system. This system will let players have their attachment feelings, but will switch them from their characters to their bloodline. This way they will play with a character, and when the usual time for that player character’s retirement would come to a close, that character will be replaced with its offspring, offering new challenges and letting the player change their game play style too by trying different approaches while keeping their previous work stored in their bloodline characteristics.