If you were paying close enough attention during the firstMatrix movie, you would know that Keanu Reeves’ character,Thomas Anderson (aka Neo), worked for a computer company calledMetaCortex. While at first glance, this may seem to be aninconsequential detail, as the release of the third and final partof the Matrix trilogy drew near, the company suddenly became thecenter of a small Internet frenzy.
In the weeks leading up to the first of October, severalintrepid Web surfers discovered a Web site that purported to bethat of Neo’s employer. Located at www.metacortechs.com, thesite featured a picture of a familiar building as well as a heavyconcentration of a Matrix-esque shade of green. The site also had acountdown timer, ticking steadily down to zero.
On Oct. 1, 2003, the timer ran out and the site openedcompletely up. Visitors to the site can read about how MetaCortexis “the world’s foremost software and informationsystems development company.” MetaCortex Corporation is alsoallegedly located in Redland, Wash. There is no Redland inWashington. You can read about MetaCortex’s employees of themonth, run searches in the company e-mail and phone numberdirectory, catch up on company news, or try your hand at guessingemployees’ ID numbers and passwords on the company log-inscreen. The employees, who do not really exist, possess real phonenumbers that anyone with a telephone can call.
Welcome to the Matrix Alternate Reality Game, or ARG. Underneaththis Web site’s simple appearance lies a complex, hiddenstory that Internet enthusiasts around the world have spent hoursupon hours piecing together. By using a combination of telephone,e-mail, search engines and good old—fashioned deduction,these pseudo-hackers have cracked passwords, downloadedconfidential files and hunted down missing people … andit’s all part of the game.
No one knows exactly who is running the game, but whoever it ishas dedicated an enormous amount of time putting the game together.Anything and everything is a potential clue in a mystery that is socomplex that no one even knows what the mystery is in the firstplace. A quick phone call to one of MetaCortex’s”employees” will play a snippet of a song. The name ofthe band that plays the song turns out to be the employee’se-mail account password. Or how about the MetaCortex screensaveryou can download off of the main site — the binary codethat’s in the background of the screensaver can be translatedinto English. It’s a passage from Aldous Huxley’sBrave New World. As the player continues to descend down therabbit hole, they can even contact — and be contacted by— the main characters in the unfolding story.
The Matrix ARG is a puzzle that you can only put together onepiece at a time and no one knows what the final product will looklike. Some players suggest that the game tells the story of theinvention of the technology that eventually leads to the Matrix– the MetaCortex site makes references to a new technologythat will bring immersive gaming to a whole new level. Others thinkthat it’s simply an extended subplot of the movie, one thatis only accessible by those with the tenacity to follow it to thevery end. It is not a game of instant gratification, instead itrewards patience and, above all else, the curiosity required to tryanything to find the next piece of the puzzle.
