I could come up with something new, but it would be trumped by the next chapter load.

Oh, I got one! How 'bout we discuss how a dead gal can talk?

I can't speak for myself, but when it came to making philosophical discussions about the Matrix, it wasn't fun anymore once the forums became closed to the public.  Many people who once used these forums but didn't play the game were no longer allowed access.  And at the risk of oversimplifying, I think that the majority of people who play the game frankly just aren't as interested in the philosophical side of things.  I'm not saying they're unintelligent or have no depth, I'm just saying that these forums tend to be more for the actual "game" part of the Matrix--which is totally understandable since this IS the game's official forum, after all.

I very much enjoy seeing how far down the rabbit hole goes, and have therefore been spending a large amount of my time at Matrix-Explained.com, which is chock full of interesting discussions.  I learn something new every time I'm in there, and there is never a shortage of things to discuss.  I only hope that someday that same spirit can be brought back over to these forums as well--to potentially open up gamers to new ideas that they've never thought about before.

I know there are players here like RainKingX who have lots of good stuff to share, and I hope to hear more from them soon.  But I am guilty myself if I do not continue to post, so I guess I'll have to start with me.

Thanks for the link, Feral! I haven't come to the forums yet and just finished reading the main site.

Needless to say, the criticisms in the first half seem totally ridiculous in consideration of The Matrix Online. Which is weird, because the continuation of the trilogy in an MMO wasn't a secret back then.

Well I don't usually have time to post my thoughts on things after I've finished answering the tech help forums, but here's a topic for you.

"Speculate on the origins of certain -old- exiles and constructs"

My favorites at the moment are the Merovingian, Persephone, the Oracle, the General and Seraph.

the general: program written to control the war effort in the real during the early stages of the scorched sky

the merovingian: a program designed to collect data for the Architect (who makes objects and environments but nothing requireing creativity) and create human interaction specific code: hence his cake - he was made obsolete by the Oracle's introduction. The merv only understands causality... the ultimate "Why". The oracle understands the process of reaching the "why", the human decision process. Making her far more intuative than the merv and more able to influence humans in subtle ways. The Merv controlls with ultimate consequences (power, I have more than you, confront me and i will overpower you with my vast resources) the Oracle leads you to make the desired choices.

Seraph "protects that which matters most": presumably "that which matters most" has been subject to change in the past. but why and what was it originally

Persephone, I'm guessing, was the merovingian's counterpart. He is power, she is love and compassion... representing human desire. As a pair they compliment each other. He is the push of authority, power and threat, she is the pull of desire and want. He makes what he needs, she takes what she wants.

... That shoud get you started

Phi, I never got a chance to thank you for posting on the Matrix-Explained forums in response to the whole Decius Wadsworth thing.  You posted some very eye-opening facts, and it made things a bit clearer--especially in regard to Cryptos, since I knew very little about him.

I'm curious what you know about the Merovingian and Persephone as compared to Mr. Black and Dame White.  I've heard that one couple is a replacement for the other, but there seems to be disagreement as to which couple came first.

I'm also hoping to do the Pandora's Boxes one of these days, but I'm just a level 14 at the moment.  One thing I'm hoping it clears up is the issue of the Keymaker.  I've always tried to figure out whether or not the Merovingian kidnapped him recently (at some point during the 6th cycle), or a long time ago (just prior to the 1st cycle).  I also don't quite understand the Keymaker's relationship to previous Ones.  Is Neo the only One for whom the Keymaker provided a key?  Did the other Ones find some other way to reach the Architect?  If there was some other way, why did the Oracle tell Neo that the Keymaker was his only hope?

ohhh... the keymaker. Good one!

I would speculate that the Keymaker was created when the Architect and the Merovingian were working together as a linking program, providing the programmers with quick access to areas they were working on and linking those areas together. The Keymaker was captured prior to the first movie, probably around the time the Merovingian became obsolete.

Mr. Black and Dame White seem to be basic artifact coders. I'm not sure about Mr. Black but Dame White is a musical enthusiast and seems to be a program designed to make things asthetically pleasing to humans (polishing touches to the matrix here and there, adding pleasure and a reason to stay "asleep".

I would guess that Dame White might be from the "perfect" matrix while Mr. Black is from the "hell" matrix as suggested by the very basic nature of their names. They were probably in similar situations to the Merovingian and Persephone except that Mr. Black and Dame White worked independantly of each other, whereas the Merovingian and Persephone work together complimenting each other. A combination of the one-sided work of Black and White.

Addressing your question of the Keymaker and previous Ones. For previous Ones the matrix was a very different place. Remember that the Matrix is a system of systems. One built on another. The door room relied on the rules of the building system. Previous versions of the Matrix were built with different senarios, all of which were set in our past. Times when technology was far less advanced. Chances are the one's powers were enough in the past, but this is covered from both angles. Remember when the Keymaker was expecting Neo... Like it wasn't the first time he had had to help the One.