Purpose.

You know, everytime I mention the concept of the Matrix to my friends, who know me very well, I can almost feel their eyes rolling.  Why is it that everywhere I turn, whenever someone mentions the Matrix, it isn't something that carries much weight with them anymore?

Yet you look around, and you see that our society was forever changed by it.  The word "Matrix" itself has specific connotations:  fashion, gunplay, martial arts, etc.  It's no secret that the word does carry a certain coolness factor.  The Matrix franchise was one of the most lucrative ever created, and most will tell you that it never realized its full potential.

I used to be of the type of player that said, "Forget this game.  All this you get what you put in crap is making my head spin.  SOE doesn't care."  Yada yada yada.  No longer.  I can definitely understand the deep frustration many of you feel with SOE's apparent inability to achieve this game's true potential.  We know they aren't stupid people; we know what's really going on.  Players can only do so much, and if players are doing the work, well, isn't there something wrong with that?

I sat with Darminian last night, and asked him a question.  It is a question that has plagued most of us who have played this game at one point or another.  Why does it feel like the Wachowski Bros. abandoned the Matrix concept?  If they did, why did they?  I can imagine that the conclusion of the Path of Neo certainly made us wonder what the Bros. really thought about this concept.

However, I'd like to believe that most of you are here primarily because at one point or another, this beautiful story touched your lives.  It changed you in some way, as it changed me.  The friends you have met in game were drawn here for that same reason.  This is why you play with your friends.  This is why you're still here, why you keep coming back.  This is why the Prophets of Peace chose to return, if only for a while.

This is why efforts like this aren't in vain.  It's never in vain to express one's love for something dear to them.  Yeah, yeah, it's just a game, but even the most stoic veteran will recant the old stories to you with a small smile on their face and a sigh.  You all know that feeling.  So keep on keepin' on.  Yeah, SOE execs will love the fact that you're doing their work for them, but eff 'em.  Do what you're doing because you love this great story, and if anyone still thinks you're wasting your time, well, you might try asking them what keeps them here.

Keep on keepin' on.