There are quite a few reports floating around today about the death of the character Morpheus from The Matrix Online. Played by Lawrence Fishburne in the film, Morpheus was a Non-Playable Character in the masssively multiplayer online game (MMOG), but one who was instrumental in various plots' progress.
I'm inclined to agree with a comment /. made about the event. They said that it's a monumental shift which has "permanently changed the topology of The Matrix". And what right do the creators have to mess with our fantasies like that?
Arguably, and I've had this discussion recently, the function of MMOGs based upon existing fictional franchises (e.g., The Matrix, Star Wars, etc.) is for the participant to enact a role as part of the fabric of the fantasy created by the creators. Some offline titles have also done this remarkably well; GoldenEye on the N64 has always been a classic example of a game based within the environment of the film, but not a carbon copy of it (like many of LucasArts' Star Wars offerings). Still, things get more interesting when the events on screen become part of the back story and new heroes emerge within the activities and real-time social interactions of an online game.
There comes an exciting shift when the creators of a live franchise mess with what's happening outside of the traditional media in which it was originally presented. Far be it from the Wachowskis to continue their trilogy as Douglas Adams did (i.e., write five novels instead of three), or Lucas to continue the story of Star Wars into the originally-stated nine parts, but what would happen if they became involved with the development of a perpetuating product like a MMOG as a kind of continuous stream of plot building, changed something essential to the series' plot (i.e., Morpheus dying) and then returned the series with the MMOG-level implementations intact to the silver screen without any explanation in that medium for why the shift had happened? To date, there's been no hope that could happen. In fact, Lucas has kept the choice plot bits for the movie projector rather than allow players to exercise their in-game free will.
From the MTV Games article:
George Lucas didn't wait to kill Emperor Palpatine in the video game versions of "Star Wars" — he did it in "Return of the Jedi." But that was 1983. The reclusive but ever-modern "Matrix"-creating Wachowski brothers like to do things a bit differently, a philosophy that now extends beyond their movies to their "Matrix" game, a shared experience that went live in March.
Yes, potentially marginalising a huge swathe of an audience is a dangerous move for any self-respecting media mogul, but if someone was to take that leap (the Wachowskis, for example), it could stimulate the mass media drive towards games – if the franchise captures the public spirit enough – that the industry desires. Offering media on various levels, and notably not just as secondary merchandising opportunities, would give consumers the sense of ownership which would keep many of them engaged with a series episode after episode after episode.
Man, I'd go ape if the repercussions from some of the decisions I made in game would be witnessed in my local Cineplex. How cool would that be?
So I don't mourn the death of Morpheus. If his passing in the MMOG were to have implications for later episodes in the film franchise, I'd say kill Trinity off as well.
