Digital Bath: 1. How did you first get involved with Online Worlds/Galaxies Ablaze?
Chick: Well, I used to play "that other game", and when it became unplayable, I started thinking "I could do better", so I decided to try. I talked to FuglyDragon and with his encouragement and help, we started OnlineWorlds. You should have seen us trying to choose a name for the company (OnlineWorlds.Org) and the game (Galaxies Ablaze). I mean, we went through Planets Afire, Galaxies Burning, and all sorts of other similar ideas, before we finally settled on GA. OnlineWorlds.Org actually happened because it was the only "virtual worlds" domain name that was available that we liked.

Next I went to my local university and looked for some students to do the programming. I found that they had an internship program for computer science students and applied for it as a local business. Most of the code in GA was written by a series of interns from Binghamton University through this program.

Digital Bath: 2. How has it impacted your life?
Chick: It has brought me back into programming after a long absence. I was a programmer for IBM for many years, but in the days before the internet. So I know how to program but I really didn't know how to set up a game like this. The BU interns did that for me, and then I learned by looking at how they did it.

Digital Bath: 3. How do you think the game has changed since it's beginning? good and bad?
Chick: GA is getting better and better. Additional features, such as Wonders, have improved the game, but it is very stable now and we really don't have any plans for more features at the moment. The real changes have come in the players themselves.

One of the early problems was that many players came from "that other game", and brought with them many of the unwritten rules and the play style from it. I wanted badly to get rid of some of those attitudes, and so I was continually tweaking the game to counteract some of the worst habits and styles, such as gangbanging and bashing. I think the players have gradually adopted a far superior style of play now, more fair and more pleasant, than the early games had.

Digital Bath: 4. What kind of feeling do you get when you see how the game has grown and how many players it has attracted?
Chick: I am very proud of GA, and delighted that it continues to grow, attracting more people and keeping the players coming back round after round. I am also a little scared at times, because I realize how many people really care about GA and I worry that I will disappoint them in some way. I appreciate all the positive feedback I get, and it really makes me smile to have an AIM window popup from a stranger saying, "Hi, I just wanted to say how much I love your game". That makes my day bright!

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