Hm, been a while since I saw Uprising or Legacy or any of the footage from the videogames, but yeah that sounds right.

One really common theme, throughout Tron, is that the bad guys don’t generally create anything. They use what’s been made by the Users– just not as the Users intended. Most of the time, anyway.

In 1982, it always seemed to me that the MCP was appropriating code intended for other things, and adapting it to his own purposes. We see this of course in the humanoid programs kidnapped to fight in the Games, regardless of their original function– and in the Games themselves, which become at least partly instruments of torture.

Recognizers and tanks, in 1982, also seem to be assets originally coded for videogames (we see them when Flynn is playing Space Paranoids).

So, clearly the MCP stole these coded assets (Flynn’s own work!)– and adapted them to be used as tools of tyrannical administration. Performing surveillance, suppressing rebels, and controlling subordinates, within the Encom computer system.

I’m not sure exactly what kind of code a Recognizer is made of. But, based on the name, I’d imagine it has to do with searching and pattern recognition.

If it’s from the game “Space Paranoids,” then I suppose it’s a tool that the antagonist characters in that game would use to enact their “paranoia,” obsessively seeking out and finding the player character, who then would have to fight them.

So when the MCP adapted it, the purpose remained similar.

But clearly, it’s something that can also be used for a lot of good purposes.

A search engine, after all– despite current use-cases in the human world– doesn’t have to be evil.