Over at Gnome's Lair, they have a really interesting interview quizzing Dr. Peter Favaro, cited as "...the man behind the excellent Alter Ego life-sim and also one of the few psychologists deeply interested in the Internet... and video gaming."

Dr. Favaro explains of what happened after the '80s Activision title that made his name: "Well, Alter Ego was to be followed by a game called Child's Play -a humorous simulation about raising children, but Activision fell on financial hard times and [it] had to be scrapped. The project manager was someone named Brenda Laurel, whom everyone first referred to as "The Lizard Queen" in the early days of the Internet. Since then I have had some game ideas. One is finally coming to fruition. It's Internet based and code named K-OS."

He then explains this new wackiness called K-OS: "People purchase computer generated DNA. They feed, train and teach the creature that forms from it. The creatures meet in a virtual world on line, fight, consume each other's attributes until one becomes most superior. You know, the kind of touchy feely activities psychologists are known for." Sounds appropriately 'survival of the fittest',