The Matrix Online @ rumbaar.net

As you have recently read in Dan “Walrus” Myers producer letter All Good Things Must End, The Matrix Online service will be discontinued and the servers will go dark on July 31st. After 4 memorable years of sharing amazing stories and epic adventures with a wonderful and dedicated community, we saw how deep the rabbit hole went and it was time to write the final chapter of the story. We understand that there are many questions and will do our best to answer them here.

What happens to all the code/data for The Matrix Online?
Sony Online Entertainment and Warner Brothers will retain all of the code and data from The Matrix Online.

Can someone open an emulated server for The Matrix Online?
Sony Online Entertainment and Warner Brothers hold the copyrights for The Matrix Online stories and data so creating a fan owned and operated emulated MxO server would be against those copyrights.

What happens to the staff that made The Matrix Online?
Staff that were involved with The Matrix Online will transition over to new projects and responsibilities at SOE.

How are The Matrix Online subscriptions refunded? / I just re-subscribed, how will I get a refund?
As of June 1, 2009 any currently entitled active player with an account in billing will not be billed again. For players who have previously purchased prepaid subscription time via a multi-month subscription service, SOE game time card or other retail game time card that extends the service period past June 1, 2009, SOE will refund these accounts for the unused time and where indicated will mail refund checks to the current billing address on the account. Please be sure to update your email and physical address in your Station Account as this will be critical to the refund process.

Are The Matrix Online subscribers going to be compensated for their loyalty to the game?
On July 31, 2009 at 11:59PM PST the ability to play The Matrix Online will cease. We encourage players to transition their active service to one of the other SOE games available for trial during the transition period of June 1 through August 1, 2009.

Will The Matrix Online be at Fan Faire?
While there won’t be any official panels at Fan Faire 2009, there will be many Sony Online Entertainment staff members that have worked on or supported The Matrix Online who would enjoy hearing your favorite in-game memories from your adventures in Mega City.

Will The Matrix Online story come to a conclusion when the servers are shut down?
The final days of The Matrix Online will include revisiting some of the great events experienced in-game, leading up to a climactic final event.

Will the MxO Website, Players Pages, and Forums be available after the service shuts down?
The main The Matrix Online page will not be available after June 1, 2009 and the MxO Players Pages will be available through July 31, 2009. The MxO Forums will be available for a short period of time after the service shuts down and there will be an update posted there at that time as to how long they will be available.

In May 2004, I embarked upon a journey. I decided to take the red pill in a big way—I became the online community lead for The Matrix Online. Later that year, many of you joined me as you jacked in for the first time. It was a brand new world—a vision of online games that didn’t involve elves, spaceships, or dragons. We became part of the Matrix storyline; living our own adventures in the world painted by the movies.

It seems not so long ago I was jumping into Mara Central and going toe-to-toe with other devs at E3 2004. I had no idea this journey would take me to a whole different company, managing a major revision of the game, and my first producing gig. “Long, strange trip” doesn’t describe the half of it.

Now we’ve seen how far the rabbit hole goes and it’s time to wake up from that dream (or go back to sleep, depending how you look at it). On July 31, 2009, we will be jacking out for the last time. It’s a bittersweet moment for everyone involved with the game; as a player or as a developer.

It has been a good run. Where many games have fizzled out before or shortly after launch, by August we will have lived on in our home at SOE for more than 4 years. To this day, I have never worked with a community as dedicated as The Matrix Online community.

I’ll be at Fan Faire this year showing The Agency and hanging out with any redpills making the trip. The past couple years have been a blast, so I hope to see some of you there again..

The team will also be whipping up an end-of-the-world event. It won’t be quite the same as having over 100 developers in the game as Agents like when we ended beta, but we have 4 years of tricks up our sleeve. It’ll be a chance to revisit all the things that make MxO the memorable experience it is. And how could we pull the plug without crushing everyone’s RSI just one more time?

I have a lot of fond memories from my years working on MxO. We’ve had a good time in the Machines’ little playground and will be sad to see it end. I hope everyone enjoys the last few months of playing The Matrix Online.

See you on the other side.

Daniel “Walrus” Myers

How could I let The Matrix Online go without a final message to all of you? I’m glad so many of you made it back in for the final days. It was awesome seeing you all again.

MxO has been part of my life for a little over 5 years now as part of both the original development team and the SOE team. There have been substantial changes, occasionally bumpy roads, and tons of fun during that time. I will take many great memories and lessons forward with me.

I thought I’d learned a lot about community relations before joining The Matrix Online team and I’ve grown even more over the years. Whether delivering good news or bad, I was always guaranteed feedback from you, the players.

It’s something not everyone understands: When you hear back from people who play your game, you know they’re passionate about it. Even when players are up-in-arms about a change, it means they care about your game. It’s the combination of positive and negative feedback that grows both the game and the community around it. That passion is the heart of any great gaming community; and MxO is the best I’ve ever worked with.

We’ve had four years to play inside the Matrix world and even occasionally “in the real”. I’ve met many of you at the past three Fan Faire events and the first SOE Block Party. Anyone who attended those events can tell you it was a worthwhile experience. We shared some great times and I’ll treasure them always.

I’d like to thank everyone I worked with on The Matrix Online since I came on board in 2004. The game wouldn’t have existed without the vision and persistence of the original team who developed and ran it. I may have been the voice of the game, but they were the heart and soul.

Then there’s the team that brought the game over to SOE with the support of the staff here and those back at Monolith. It was a massive effort and an impressive achievement.

The customer support and community staff at SOE have been an awesome help to us for the last 4 years. These folks are on the front line every day and we couldn’t do it without them.

As for my team who kept updating The Matrix Online for the last few years, I can’t express how important these guys have been to me. I don’t know if the stories will ever be told, but they have done amazing work for the game—often through sheer will and passion. Thank you so much.

Finally, there’s all of you—the players. I’ve been working with you in one way or another since May 2004. That’s five years of my life that I wouldn’t give them up for the world. You have been a constant for me through all my life changes in that time. Just knowing you were all in the world playing out stories and building friendships meant so much to me. Any game that can grow a community half as strong as you is a winner in my book. I will miss the MxO world and all of you, especially.

I hope to see you again, on the Other Side.

Best wishes,

Daniel “Walrus” Myers

Producer and former Community Relations Manager

The Matrix Online