The reasons people play online games are as diverse as the people themselves. Some play as a hobby, some do it for community, some do it to stay in touch with friends and family members that live far away.

What are your reasons for playing? What keeps you coming back? Why do you choose the games and avatars you do? The Community Relations Management Team at SOE is collecting player stories today, January 4, 2007. Take a few minutes and tell us yours!

I play MxO because I wanted to immerse myself in the world of the Matrix.  I came here looking to socialize with people who also enjoyed the movies and discovered a fantastic community with a great competitive spirit.

I don't want to be Neo.  I just want to walk my own path in a world where anything is possible.

It's the most unique MMO every created and not another drone.  If the bigshots in SOE would sit down and see the potential that this game truely has or the potential of creating an expansion and provide the current "small" development team with more employees... the sky is the limit.

Many players easily relate to the game because the setting is based on a modern city etc...

 It's just unique in one of those "only the good die young" ways.

I choose to play the Matrix Online, for many reasons,

The community itself is probably the best one i have ever known and im proud to be apart of it, admited there are a few *twits* but we all /ignore them.

My main reason for playing is the story. I needed more Matrix, i wanted to know what happened to Neo, that shining light when he was carried away was making me crazy. Now ive experienced some of the story i do not want to miss it, so il never leave not untill the game ends, which it wont ((I hope))

The Matrix its another world, and i take that chance to escape real life and be in another world where i can be who and whatever i want. most importantly MYSELF!

Also, my friends. The ones ive made, People like Veos, Aliagha and many from my faction who have stuck by me through thick and thin. Some like Veos who has been there in RL and there best friend i can have!!

theres probably more reasons why i play MxO but i cant think at the moment, so il add them later if i do.

I was never into MMO's, in-fact up until June 2005 I had never ever played a MMO, I always felt limited in how a game online could play. However back when Matrix Online was first spoken about it sparked my interest. I was always a big fan of the movies and interested with the world the Matrix movies existed in and the characters they had. Therefore being able to play a game where you could become part of that world was a strong force in moving into the MMO genre.

So I started playing Matrix Online because of my fascination with the Matrix universe as well as a good friend being in the game already. Thus began my time in the game. My reasons for playing have not changed; I still love this universe we exist in MxO, however many other reasons now reflect on top of that.

The community and the people around me (faction + friends) is a major reason, if you don't enjoy the time that's spent in any aspect in-game with others then you will quickly start to dislike things in-game, therefore those people truly make me play as often as I can.

The in-game world and the RP element in a world where you play a human is a great thing for this game, that keeps me involved with the storyline and various other things in-game, as much as the appeal other games might have but this universe has best options and limitless lines to progress your character.

The outside interaction this community has is also another big factor, looking through the forums you can see the flow of ideas as well as designs and movies from many players, these things keep us interested and give people the drive to work on and improve on things themselves.

The Matrix was groundbreaking and the game certainly tried to do that with a few things, I will be here with hope that we will be getting more things and other options in this game to truly take it where it should be, that being one of the best MMO's out there.

My first MMO and well worth the experience and time I have devoted to it.

Its going to sound bad... but originally i joined MXO because i'm a gamer and a HUGE fan of The Matrix.

But as time went on I noticed my character is everything I either want to be or everything i'm not. Example, my character looks cool, has style, rich, lots of friends and is not afraid to speakup or take action. (I also try to help others whenever I can, RL doesn't give me enough chances). Whereas in RL i'm shy got no friends, i dont speak my mind (i got alot of money for my age but not a millionaire) and i definitely dont have style.

Ive also been using MMO's as an escape from Real life. I'm 18 and i dont stop running around til like 9pm each day. Work, parents who dont want to listen to me, schooling and so much more actually gave me an ulcer. Gaming is the only thing I have in my life to unwind.

S3PER

What attracted me to MxO in the first place? The story. I read in an arcticle that it would be advancing the story after the movies and immersing us(the players) into the story making us feel a part of it. This appealed to me big time, until july 05 i had only played Final Fantasy XI and a couple of other smaller mmo's. These just didn't tickle my fancy, however i finally got a PC good enough to play mxo with and i was hooked immediately. My crew that i was recruited to helped me immensly and that is, for the most part, why i continue to play today - the community and the story. The storyline has progressed at a steady pace but i've never really lost intrest in it even through out the "pew pew" storyline. The community good and bad is great, a vast majority of my RL friends have gone to uni this year so i've been left behind in my home town doing college work, meaning that i've had more spare time and without some of the people i met this past 6-8 months, vector/syntax and recursion alike(you know who you are =p ) life would have been a lot more boring. I love the combat system i have a good understanding of it and it's always worth playing a game with targets and available rewards for winning events and representing your org well.

As far as my characters concerned - i love spiked red hair on a lot of characters, video games and cartoons alike, so i decided to go with spiked red hair. My avatar is a character from a cartoon(with read hair) and is very skilled in guns - so you can see the similarities there =). My signatures are often spur of the moment i'll come up with an idea or i'll be captivated by a specific scene/feel/screen/video and i'll want to make a sig out of it or similar to it.

My characters personality is styled as similar to myself - full of love, but sometimes doesn't show it, he can be outspoken and controversial but tries to restrain himself from doing so for the better. He can be cold and frank, realistic at times but is generally optomistic. I see my character as an out where i can often speak my mind where as IRL i restrain alot from doing so.

I being a huge Matrix fan jumped at the chance to be apart of the beta testing for this new MMO.

I had never heard of a MMO, didn't know what that was or what exactly BETA testing was rofl. I couldn't even figure out how to do a mission for the first four days. But It was exciting to see this massive landscape inside a videogame.. How did they do that? Was my first thought. Seeing the characters we have come to love in the movie face to face was exiciting. I think I actually had my heartbeating so fast when I got my first Live Character tell that I started to sweat. That tell was from Morpheus. You would've thought I was watching 24 or something.

Once I figured out the game mechanice and got my faction off the ground I truely  realized what a MMO was. The real time playing and great people I was meeting all over the world. Missions were very cool and semi interactive and the storyline was fresh to us.. I wanted to know so badly what happened to Neo and what the machines were up to.

I started playing a zionist because I believed in the goals that Morpheus and Trinity all followed. And as a fan of those films to interact with the one and only Morpheus really is a unqiue take on a video game.  Not only that it really makes you feel apart of the Matrix Trilogy, like somehow perhaps your RSI (Residual Self) had something to offer these Heros of the game. You could actually make a difference. A feeling of "Wow I matter in this MMO"

The End of Beta was a thrilling introduction to what this game can offer and man I did not sleep for 16 hours that day. Nothing like what I saw, agents attacking, the sky falling, Characters from the Movie contacting you to help them fight etc. My adreneline was so high I couldn't eat or do anything.. It was that exciting.

Things have changed slightly since then but I still believe there is hope. I know the wonderful feeling that this video game can give you, the excitment and realism that you cannot get in ANY OTHER GAME.

I have tried some other MMOS and was so detatched from their enviorment that I was so grateful to have Matrix Online to go back to. The Realistic backgrounds, incredible fighting and PVP, player interaction, it really is a groundbreaking MMO.

I will be one of those players who will be around till the plug is pulled, whenever that day may come. Hopefully never.

All in all not much of a story but rather a insight to a long time MXO player and why they love this game.

Here's to a great 2007

-Jack in The Matrix Has you.

Midnight

I play online games for the fun factor I have during my time with it and the overall social aspect of the communities. You get to meet some interesting folks over the years and differant games, but we all have one thing in common, we love our video games.

I am a big fan of the Mortal Kombat games and when the MK series started up I was in love (MKII ftw). I also loved the FPS shooters. So a game like MxO where it had your fighting and gunplay made sense to me. I liked the story of the matrix movie (the first one) and watched the next set of movies which got me hooked. After watching the In your hands video I was interested in trying out the Beta of the game.

When creating my persona online, I of course chosen my favorite MK character in sub-zero (Ninjas are cool) and in thinking of a name I remembered the historic story of the Unsinkable Titanic which obviously...sunk from an iceberg. To put it bluntly, im very competitive and the name just fit me. A object that does the impossible.

Having intrest in games, I was thrilled to be part of the beta project for this game. To have the oppertunity to help shape this game and partake in some of the events (GM fights and end of beta) have left its mark in my memory.

Well we can tell you how our story began....

i was hanging out with my wife (CrystalKn1ght for those who dont know) and my brother (Ic3b3rg)came to me and her and was talking to us about beta testing the matrix online. well we watched him play it for a few days and it really got into our system and made us want to try it ourselves, so we went online and prepurched a copy for each of us and entered into the beta testing phase of the game.  we experienced quite a bit in the few months we were playing and the betapocolyse will never be forgotten by either of us(being meatwatted FTW). then we went ahead and did as much as could in the live game making friends and keeping up with the story, but most of all trying to give to the community as much as they have given to us. we have been in a few factions and even started one ourselves and we constatly try to help others and be good friends to improve the strength and respect of the community as a whole.

As far as our RSI's go i have had the thought of my Character Wh1t3Kn1ght since probably 8 or 10 years old, a warrior who fights for justice in the world and protects and helps those who need it. I just needed some way to bring this to light, Now i have a way to show the world who i truly am and want to be like. the great part about the matrix is i can do all sorts of stuff in the game that can show both my power and discipline to others.

My wife CrystalKn1ght came up with the thought of her RSI as a healer and counselor, she cant heal in RL but she goes crazy with it in the matrix. as far as counseling she has studied for 2 years IRL and knows what she is talking about, BTW she enjoys HJing lol she thinks its Awesome!

thanks for taking the time to read about our history, and the story will always continue for us.....