FiringSquad: First, how did the idea for Dark World Online come about?

David Bowman: I was on a work/vacation trip with my family to British Columbia. It was the first time I had taken some personal time and gotten away from the daily running of Horizons. This allowed me to think freely about all of the genres and experiences that aren't currently available in persistent world spaces. It also allowed me to have some time to read, one of my greatest pleasures that I no longer get much time to do.

I knew that we didn't want to do another family fantasy game like Horizons at this time since we like what is happening with the game and the audience. Eve and Anarchy Online are currently doing a good job of entertaining people in the science fiction space. That eliminated my two favorite genres. So I went to my third and started reading the horror section of a great book store in Victoria. It quickly becomes aparent when reading horror that no single author dominates this space. I think that is partially due to the very long history of horror lore and the resulting depth and complexity of material. I looked at the material and the common themes that separated themselves from any single author were the sensuality, danger and mystery of the Vampires, the tragedy and ferocity of the Werewolves and the bravery and cleverness of the humans who have protected humanity from the monsters that prey upon us. I called several people at Tulga and bounced the idea around with them and they all responded with "I'd play that."