It
has been a few weeks since Mass
Effect 3 has been
released, and the controversies surrounding it have been going
strong. People throughout the internet have discussed this issue to
death. The fan backlash has been truly astounding. Bioware has
reached George Lucas levels of hatred because of the way the ending
played out. This week, I will weigh in on the issue myself and give
you my own opinion regarding the fan outrage and how Bioware should
respond.
But
before that, I am going to make one thing clear. Like the vast
majority of the internet, I also heavily disliked the ending. I
thought that it was a betrayal of the series and its fans. However, I
will not discuss exactly why people hated the ending unless it
directly pertains to the point I am trying to make. I will not spoil
specifics, but there will be general spoilers abound.
The best part about discussing a topic a few weeks later is that
there is already a
mountain
of
sources
describing what exactly went wrong. People have a lot of opinions
that ultimately boil down to whether or not the ending needs to be
changed.
First, we will discuss the ways people are moving for a change of
the game's ending. One of the most well known of these is “Retake
Mass Effect.”
Retake Mass Effect is a group who opposed the ending and protested by
donating to Child's
Play, one
of the most renown video game charities out there. As of this
writing, they were told to desist the charity drive because it was
becoming unclear that the two were unaffiliated with each other.
Before the charity drive was stopped, the group raised over $70,000.
I admit, I was pleasantly surprised when I heard about this. It is a
good way to channel fan rage and raise aware (whether or not this
awareness needs to be raised can be debated, but that is an unrelated
topic). However, I sincerely doubt this could amount to anything in
the long run.
The
next method that people used to express their outrage was by filing a
complaint
with the Federal Trade Commission
on the ground of “false advertising”. While this does at first
seem to be extreme (and even with extenuating circumstances, still is
to a degree), there is some merit to this course of action. The
complaint comes from several press releases by Bioware. Among them
were claims that the game would have sixteen distinct endings, that
the player's choices in all three games would affect the ending they
received in many different ways, that this game would offer closure
of the trilogy, and that there is an ending in which the protagonist,
Commander Sheppard would lose to the main adversaries, the Reapers.
While the latter two can be debated depending on what you consider to
be “closure” and “losing to the Reapers”, the first two are
impossible to refute. Neither condition was met. There are exactly
three endings to Mass
Effect 3 which are
extremely
similar to each other. And the choices you made really only affect
whether or not the player gets a short ending clip if they choose one
ending and whether another ending is available. Bioware did lie to
their fans when making these claims, but it debatable if this is
indeed false advertising. Quite frankly, I am glad that people are
calling Bioware out for their blatant disrespect of their fans and
this is a much more proactive form of protest, but my gut tells me
that this will not affect EA and Bioware in any significant capacity.
But,
not everybody wants the ending to change. People who simply liked it
and argue against changing on that merit (or did not argue at all)
are fine by me. That is their opinion and they are more than entitled
to have it. I will not discuss this group farther. What I will
discuss is the group of people, critics and consumers alike, who
argue against changing the ending on the merits of “artistic
integrity.” In my opinion, the people who make this claim are
incorrect. Do not get me wrong, I am fine with games making an
artistic statement. In fact, I would have been fine if the choices
the player made did not matter in the end and that Shepard lost in a
valiant last stand regardless. That would have been an artistic
statement. However, one cannot argue “artistic integrity” in this
case. In the case of Mass
Effect 3,
the ending does several things wrong. It throws out and even opposes
several themes of the series and creates plot holes with the
narrative devices it makes use of. Furthermore, it violates the most
basic of narrative structures in a way that does not make it sense.
It tries to introduce plot points at the very end of the plot, which
is where the exact opposite is suppose to happen. The game uses these
elements to explain the Reapers and their motives, something that did
not need to be done since the whole point is that they are unknowable
and beyond understanding. The ending is the wrapping up of the
events. Instead of doing what it needs to do, which resolving
the problem and the character
arcs
we have been introduced to, it opts to explain what did not need to
be explained. It is difficult to defend Bioware's artistic statement
when either no statement or a very weak one is being made.
And
before someone says it, I am aware of the popular
fan theory
out there (and the significantly better fan
fiction ending).
While I do support the theory and have chosen to make it my canonical
ending, I admit it too has the flaw of not providing closure and
resolution to the events of game, perhaps more-so than the actual
ending we were given. This is a side topic that needs to be brought
up to preempt my audience.
So
what is my opinion on the matter? Well, I might surprise people to
learn that I do not support changing the ending. There is one
critical reason for this, and while I harped on critics for saying
this earlier, it has something to do with “artistic integrity.”
In my personal opinion, if Bioware truly believed that the ending we
were given should be the way the series comes to an end, then they
should stand by it. They should inform the fans of why they went in
that direction, the point they were trying to make, and the logic
behind their choice. I could support Bioware doing this and would be
open to it. However, if the change the ending, or if they dare to
charge for an alternate ending, then something would be made clear.
Something that I am beginning to suspect, but do not want to admit.
It would reveal that Bioware knowingly and deliberately released a
product that they knew they could not stand behind. That would be
completely unacceptable. I would be disappointed and ashamed that I
was a fan of Mass
Effect if
Bioware sold me a product they would not support. Since no writer
has come out in support of the ending, I have to presume that this is
the case, but I would be open to being proven wrong.
All in all, I think this controversy surrounding the endings makes
for an interesting case study. I wonder how people will think of this
down the line. Without the benefit of precedence, it must be
difficult for EA and Bioware to figure out how to react to this. I
hope the game developers and publishers are watching this very
closely, because there is a lesson to be learned here and the way
this plays out has the potential to define how the business-side of
video games is handled from here on out.
