"Hand over your flesh, and a new world awaits you. We demand it." - The Animatrix

Well okay, it's not that dramatic. But if you want to win the first ever Matrix Online Stratics contest, you will need to go a little above and beyond the normal, average fan. This is a new section and feature here at MxOS, so any comments or suggestions are more than welcome.

Our first contest, which begins August 1, 2004 and runs until August 15, 2004 will be for a signed copy of the Journey To The Source: Decoding Matrix Trilogy by Dr. Pradheep Chhalliyil. If you visit the book's official site, you can read more about it, including a rather glowing endorsement by Don Davis himself. The book will be mailed out directly after the contest is over.

Members of Stratics staff are not eligible, but are welcome to participate for the fun of it. The contest will be judged by said staff, and the winner announced the day after the contest ends. We will be trying to run these sorts of contests regularly, with varying prizes from others involved in the world of The Matrix and The Matrix: Online.

So, what do you have to do this time? Easy enough. Take a picture of yourself with a sign promoting MXO Stratics and post it in the brand new contests forum. Yep, it's that easy. The only restrictions are the normal Stratics guidelines for posting. Remember this is a family site. Please link to your picture if it is large. We will check them all. Also, pictures will NOT be judged on quality but originality and creativity. This means that we won't be docking points if you don't have a top of the line high-tech camera. This is about how creative you are, not how technologically endowed. Then, head on over to the brand new Systemic Anomalies forum and post it up! Comments and the like are welcome. Make sure and check out everybody else's entries too, that's half the fun.

Please do not bother to try photoshopping somebody else holding up a sign, or edit yourself holding up a hot air balloon with our URL on it. We can tell. No matter how good you think your photoediting skills are, we can tell. (Cleaning up your photo with such a program however, is fine.)

And remember, this is supposed to be fun. Ham it up. Go nuts. If you don't win, don't despair. This is just the beginning of contests here at Matrix Online Stratics. Click here for our interview with Dr. Chhalliyil about his thoughts on The Matrix franchise, and The Matrix: Online.