The Matrix, Unplugged

So the mmorpg The Matrix Online is going to be shut down after four years of running. To be honest the game wasn't that great in the first place, but I am still pretty sad to see it go. I played from the end stages of the friends and family alpha to the every end of beta. It was a different game before release. There wasn't as many people, obviously, and we were much closer to the development team and the live event staff. Some pretty cool stuff went down.

I got to meet privately with Morpheus before his ultimate demise. He told me that things were going to get worse before they got better. I attended his funeral as one of Zion's soldiers and even prevented the Merovingian from entering the church where the service was being held. In the very same plaza that the Burly Brawl between Neo and the Smiths took place, I dueled with Seraph so that he may get to know me. Then he took me into the hall with the doors to meet the Oracle. I fought alongside Niobe and had countless run-ins with the Matrix.

When the Beta shut down every live event member and developer ran around as Agents 'deleting' those still plugged into the Matrix. 'Mr. Forbes!' One yelled out to me after landing heavily from a hyper-jump. I momentarily forgot that my character, AcidicPlague, had a bluepill name and I gave him mine. 'We've been looking for you.'

I fought them off for what seemed like hours. I would kill one and then two more would show up. At one point when I started to run I had five agents chasing me. When they finally caught me one said, "It's time to sleep now, Mr. Forbes."

Before it all ended everyone who was still plugged into the Matrix had their RSI crumble up into non-existence before being booted out of the Matrix. And it's all happening again, just like before. I've spent the last few days jumping around, desparately wishing the game had done better. I love the Matrix. It's just something that I can really dig. A virtual world where computer hackers and neo-philosophers can jump over buildings, dodge bullets, and learn virtually anything with a simple upload to the brain? How can I not dig that?

Even now, with a mere two days before the servers shut down forever, I want the game to be good. I want it to be more than just some stupid grinder with a Matrix skin. There is so much potential in a Matrix game I can't even begin to understand why they've all sucked. It depresses me to no end that this is probably going to be the last Matrix game in a long time, if not forever.

Sad stuff. And I don't think I am going to be able to be around to see her off. A shame, a damn shame.

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What is the Matrix?

It’s a question that gets asked more often than the system would like. For so many it’s the kind of question that keeps them up at night. I know I lost quite a bit of sleep over it. Though in reality I guess I was sleeping in the first place. Since it’s difficult to explain to someone what the Matrix is, most people have to be shown. Those people react in a variety of ways. Some slip into denial and then madness, some remain frozen in disbelief until acceptance overcomes them, some others still lose their lunch. But me?

All I could say was, “I knew it.”

Being told that everything I knew and loved was a lie, that my entire existence was the result of carefully calculated formulas didn’t phase me at all. Somewhere deep inside I knew all along that I was in a prison trying to break free. I knew all along that none of it was real. All I needed was a little encouragement to wake up. Even though the real world is nothing more than a pile of slag it’s better than living a lie. Anything is better than pretending.

So I became a soldier in Zion’s war against the machines. Trying to free the minds of those still trapped in the clutches of the Matrix. I saw some incredible things in my time, but nothing as incredible as some of the stuff that came to be after the truce. Instead of a prison it became a playground. I couldn’t believe it. Free minds began to work against everything Zion stood for, acting on behalf of the machines or the exiled programs pitted against us both.

And now It’s over. After all this time the war is going to end for real. The Matrix is going to be shut down and the human race is going to be free again. But will we really be free? I’m not even sure. We’ve suffered so much these past generations that I don’t know what to feel. I’ve been a soldier the whole of my life ever since I freed my mind. And ever since then I’ve been fighting the system, trying to beat the Matrix at its own game and now it’s over. What am I going to be after it’s all said and done? What use is there in the real world for somebody like me?

The Oracle told me that all things must come to an end, but I never imagined anything like this. Each and every day the stability of the Matrix crumbles. The illusion shimmers and in some instances shatters entirely. It’s like the code can’t make up its mind about the season, it’s on some sort of hyperloop. One day it’s winter and the next spring.

Even some of the simpler process are beginning to run haywire. The sky, how can you get the sky wrong. A dull grey with a bit of green undertones suddenly becomes vibrant and blue one moment with Sati’s prayer for Neo and then the next it’s stark red with hundreds upon thousands of eyes staring down below crying red snowflakes.

Is this it? Is the Matrix shutting down? After all these years, after all our fighting, is the big plug finally going to be pulled? I'm gonna miss it.