The Hacker Ability Tree

Hacker Abilities

"In the movies, ingested "code" affected the individual. What of being able to write code to affect or infect other players, either positively or negatively. You don't have to eat in the game, but an injection could be given, etc. or maybe even simulated visual input could have an effect, like encoded strobe light."

--gupyuson

Your wish is my command. Hacking is a big part of the Matrix and we knew from the start that we wanted to incorporate hacking into MxO game play. But since all of our game play takes place inside the Matrix, we needed to allow for a way for people to hack from inside the Matrix. Unfortunately, this ruled out the Operators as playable characters.

The answer, as usual, was in the films. On close reading of the scripts, we realized that hacking the Matrix code happened all the time. Neo, of course, had the unique ability to reshape the code with sheer will. But even something like the "bug extractor" that Trinity used on Neo was in fact a visual metaphor for an anti-virus program.

Armed with this information, we worked with the Wachowski brothers and came up with the notion of Programs.

A Program is a kind of Ability that directly manipulates the Matrix code. Programs are a big part of the Hacker Abilities. Here are some samples of Viruses (harmful Programs), and Upgrades (helpful Programs).

Viruses

Buffer Overflow: fills the targets buffer with bogus data

Logic Bomb: disrupts the target's RSI, causing them damage

Vision Disruption: creates blindness in the target

Upgrades

Anti-Viral Sweep: attempts to remove any viruses affecting the target

Overclock: speeds up the processes controlling a character, granting them bonuses

Signal Bounce: grants an additional layer of signal protection to the target

Of course, there are a lot more programs than are listed here, but this gives you some insight into the kind of functionality that Programs enable.

Another major branch of the Hacker Ability tree is devoted to Writing Code (read the Non-combat Gameplay article for more on Writing Code).

And of course, there is the Ability to actually hack into computers in the Matrix (in order to find Code and Information).

But that's just a taste of what is available in MxO. Stay tuned.