This is not, by itself, a strange circumstance.
I swear this is true.
No need to relitigateReloadedandRevolutionshere.
Morpheus from ‘The Matrix Online’ vs. Morpheus from ‘The Matrix’.Credit: TheMatrixOnline; Everett Collection
(For what its worth, I like parts ofReloadedandthinkRevolutionsis pretty dumb.
This held zero interest for me.
Like a lot ofMatrix-loving teens, I played the first tie-in videogame,Enter the Matrix.
Pitched as a bold new experiment in game-to-movie integration, Enter the Matrixhit stores the same month thatReloadedhit theaters.
At leastReloadedhad that cool freeway scene.
The Matrix Onlinealso looks horrible.
Then again,Matrix Onlineactually launched the same year asWorld of Warcraft.
Society was hankering for a culturally dominant MMORPG;MatrixgotFriendsterd.
The main idea ofThe Matrix Onlineis at once frustrating and fascinating.
But you might also play on the side of the Machines.
This is not as simple as, say, playing as a stormtrooper in aStar Warsgame.
But asOnlinecontinued its story and, apparently, as its user base dwindled away the story got more confusing.
There were humans who wanted to stay inside the Matrix.
Again: That isnotthe least cool thing to ever happen in aMatrixproperty.
Matrix Onlinewas not immune to the worst instincts of a tie-in sub-franchise.
The game dwindled and was officially shut off in 2009.
Its fandom was small enough that any furtherMatrixreboot probably wouldnt feel the need to honor its canon.
But the best ideas underpinningThe Matrix Onlinereflected a fundamental expansion that never quite came to the fore in theMatrixsequels.
This was not just a good-and-evil story, not Humans vs. Machines or Neo vs. Smith.
Weirdly, that reflects our modern age more than anything in the firstMatrix.
Almost 20 years later, no one really believes they can disconnect from digitality.
(Anyone born afterThe Matrixmaybe wouldnt even try.)
