Although it never moved beyond its small niche, The Matrix Online was a massive multiplayer online game that took place after The Matrix trilogy. With the blessing of the Wachowskis and storyline input from renowned comic book writer and illustrator Paul Chadwick, The Matrix Online (or MxO for short) looked to create an organic and dynamic virtual world. With a model built around a Live Events Team who would play key characters in the game world in real-time, the idea was that MxO would deliver a unique gaming experience and push the story of the Matrix forward.

Unfortunately, it bombed.

But it soldiered on, after being sold to Sony only 3 months after release and maintaining a dedicated core group of players. It was by the sheer exhaustive effort of game designer Rarebit (Ben Chamberlain) who kept the game going by single-handedly developing the monthly missions and running daily live events that the game lasted the almost-5 years that it did.

And over the course of those years, MxO developed an interesting and in-depth set of storylines, veering off into more unique concepts later in the game. Once it was announced that the game was going to be cancelled, I began gathering all the different summaries, event information, and scraps of game lore I could find in order to maintain some sort of chronological guide to the story of the Matrix Online, as well as a compendium of sorts.

After compiling an extensive, rough draft, I began the process of doing some organization and edits. At over 190,000 words and 518 pages, it was a lot to sift through, until one day I thought I had lost it in a computer crash. It would be a few years until I would actually find a copy backed up in the cloud (before the cloud was cool, ha!). Since then I’ve toiled on it off and on, trying to get it into a decently organized state.

So, after getting it to what I feel is an acceptable state, I’ve uploaded this for anyone who wishes to reminisce, or a Matrix fan who never got a chance to play the game and experience the story. It’s not perfect, but I hope to tweak it and improve it over time.

Some things that are included:

• An extensive synopsis of the game’s story, including the intended (but never released) final chapters
• NPC profiles, Neighborhood contacts and most of their missions, and gang descriptions
• An overview of each district, neighborhood, and construct in the game
• Behind the scenes notes and Q&A posted by Rarebit towards the end of the game’s life

I hope you find this helpful. If so, please feel free to leave a comment below!

[ Download (PDF, 7MB) ] The Matrix Online Archives