Let this be stated clearly and plainly right now – I love The Matrix. I’m one of the few people I know who both understood and agree with the direction of Reloaded and Revolutions in the overall arc (though I’m upset Neo didn’t catch his role in the system sooner,) I loved the Animatrix, played and enjoyed both the Path of Neo and Enter the Matrix. It is no surprise, therefore, than when I finally bit the MMO bullet and started shopping for an MMO worth my money and time, the ad in the Revolutions DVD for The Matrix Online would own my soul.
(Seraph, Morpheus, and Agent Skinner, all intractable throughout MxO)
I started playing MxO in the early part of 2007, and the first time I loaded into the simulation (the Machinist term for the Matrix,) I knew this was where I would spend the “rest of my gaming life.” I think those exact words were used. And so I played on Syntax server, ran with the Watchmen supporting the Machinists, and then when the Truce broke down I defected to aid Zion and ran with the Pryde for a bit before word came down from the devs that the game would be killed.
(Loading into MxO was always an immersive experience.)
MxO celebrated its closure on August 1, 2009 with a major Devs-to-blame server implosion, and as I sat looking at the client, a part of me sank. I had an amazing crafting library, really amazing at most of the martial arts in the game, and had gone from 100% to 0% faction loyalty and back in the course of the game. I had played through all of the storyline and more than a fair few of the player-created RP plotlines that were rolling around, and so I now faced… What? Night Elves and Tauren? Boring! Chasing a little gold piece of jewelry halfway across Middle Earth? Please! I needed assault rifles, body armor, crazy arcane powers, a threat to humanity, OUR world in peril, and the unlimited power progression that MxO’s skill system gave me!
(A Live Event run by MxO’s LESIG team. Each month, players who were logged into the game could be contacted by their faction to accomplish some mission that advanced the story along with weekly, pre-recorded ‘scenario’ missions.)
Then I heard about The Secret World from my internet diversions. Come to find out, not 4 months before MxO closed, this guy by the name of Ragnar Tørnquist was at GDC 2009 and had been talking about a modern day MMO, with no classes or levels, set in our world, and it was like music to my ears. As horrible an ARG player as I am, I toughed through the initial few and got myself signed up for the beta. As if they knew I had a jones I needed to fix, they let me in. I became a Grand Master the day it became available.
(Everything is True! Secret Worlders adorn the box art for the game.)
I fell in love. The clothing wasn’t as ‘club goth’ or as exciting to me as MxO, but that wasn’t the vibe they were going for, I got that, and I have since found the style I like in this game (not surprisingly, very agent-esque.) The Combat was familiar, the abilities were challenging at first, but somehow familiar, and the crafting was almost textbook. The Architect seemingly decided to reboot the simulation, and I yet again took the red pill.
(Some sample in-game costumes from MxO that was intentionally going for the pleather ‘club kid’ look.)
(Some sample in-game costumes from TSW that’s looking to reach for the more eclectic and real world look.)
The interplay between factions isn’t as pronounced as it was in MxO, and I miss that, but I expect that eventually we will see the “iconic” Secret Worlder super team of Alex, Mei, Rose, and Zubari turn on each other. At least I hope that’s coming. As much as I enjoy crafting my own narrative, I see so much potential especially in light of the amazing storytelling of issues 5 and 6 to really dig into what happened to the team after Tokyo, and if they are still there, how they intend to trip up their rivals to make sure their faction’s flag stays on top of the pile. I mean lets get real; I wouldn’t trade my friends in the London or Seoul chapters of Beyond’s cabal for the world, but as Illuminati, if the tables turn and it becomes Do or Get Done time, as you know, the Illuminati do NOT get done.
(Mei Ling, Alex McCall, and Rose White, the ‘Iconic’ Secret Worlders.)
Its been a long, strange trip, to quote the Grateful Dead, and my journey down the rabbit hole has taken me from the pod to the beehive, from the world where we ask “what is real?” to the world where we state that “everything is true.” That being said, I’m glad to see these two teams thought enough alike that I can yet again definitively state that I would spend the rest of my gaming life in The Secret World.
(In the end, which ‘reality’ is scarier?)
* – The Matrix Online was developed by Monolith Entertainment and is owned by Sony Online Entertainment. Unless credited, all images are copyright their respective owners. No attempts are being made to challenge ownership or copyright. This is only an opinion piece from an adoring fan. (P.S.: Give TSW the skins for your clothing and sunglasses; I’m dying here! lol)
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