An Open Letter to Bioware/Mass Effect 3 Haters: Reality Check
This article is spoiler free so feel free to read if you’ve not experienced the ending of Mass Effect 3 yet.
Like anyone with a pulse that follows video games I’ve seen the large amount of rage surrounding the ending of Mass Effect 3. This particular article isn’t to discuss how I feel about the ending, though if you want to read my opinion you can do so here. Instead this is an open letter to the gamers at large with so much anger and impotent nerd rage aimed directly at Bioware after witnessing an ending to Mass Effect 3 that you weren’t happy with.
Please understand I don’t write this to those of you readers who disliked the ending and have discussed it among your friends and fellow gamers with educated words and actual opinions instead of profanity laden rants. This is to those gamers that see fit to threaten developers lives, go on diatribes and personal attacks against an individual at a game company whom you’ve never met, threaten lawsuits because Mass Effect 4 hasn’t been announced (?!?!), attack any people whose opinions aren’t your own, and ultimately act like the epitome of human trash due to the anonymity of the internet. To those people I begin with these two possibly harsh yet ultimately needed words: grow up.
I’m going to share a little pearl of wisdom with you that may rock the very foundations of your world right now. Seriously the aforementioned folks may want to hold onto their proverbial and digital hats. Here we go. Mass Effect 3 is a video game. GASP, I KNOW!!!! Imagine my shock when I discovered those very words were true. Please understand that you are threatening the lives and personally attacking people you don’t even know and raging up and down the forums because of the bad ending (debatable in my opinion) of a video game. Understand how absolutely ridiculous that sounds to mentally sound individuals who rationally discuss the topic and then imagine what you sound like.
I know it’s unheard of within the forums of the gaming community, but pretend for a moment you aren’t protected by anonymity and that the people you are attacking have personal feelings. I’ve heard people state that they felt raped and that this was the worst offense they’ve ever seen. First of all rape victims would probably disagree with you that a violent crime that steals all of your humanity is likened to the debatably bad ending of a video game and secondly if this is the worst thing that has happened to you or even ranks up there in a realm that would make you this disappointed or angry, you have a really blessed and easy life. Congratulations.
In addition it’s crazy to me that people are hating on Bioware on the level they are, it almost seems popular right now. Really, even if you consider Mass Effect 3 a bad game, which I’ve not really heard as much as it has a bad ending, that puts them with an amazing backlog of games and two games (arguably) that aren’t up to snuff. Honestly I even enjoyed Dragon Age 2, in spite of playing the same map a hundred times. It had some of the most fleshed out characters with true faults and flaws of humanity, regardless of their race, and a very personal character driven narrative that resonated with me. While not the best game ever it’s certainly nowhere near the worst. So why turn on the company that has brought you so very many great experiences now due to an ending you didn’t like? Let me use a restaurant analogy as made infamous in another article by one of my fellow writers, Taylor.
Let’s say you have a favorite restaurant and they are the best at making a particular dish. Every time you’ve eaten there you’ve been very impressed even though occasionally you’ve not gotten the best of service. On one visit you enjoy the meal greatly until the very end and your last few bites are burnt beyond being edible. Most rational people would say blech and move on even if they were unimpressed and it’s doubtful that they would never eat there again, after all the restaurant has proven itself before. Instead, if we followed the popular gaming community right now, the response would be to call the manager, fling the dish against the wall, cuss and yell in his face personally attacking him and threatening his life, threatening law suits, spitting in his face and condemning his entire restaurant stating that you will never eat here again (even though you probably will).
Does that seem like the behavior of a rational human being to you? Be disappointed in the game, by all means that’s your opinion, though I don’t share it, and feel free to share that opinion, but please do so in a manner that doesn’t degrade you, the entire gaming community, and personally attack an individual you don’t even know.
Sohatersarepeople
March 18, 2012 @ 11:39 am
Look…
Nobody is FORCING you to read people’s complaints. Just as the people that are complaining aren’t being FORCED to play or buy the content they are complaining about, you yourself are ALSO are not being FORCED to read people’s complaints so you can GTFO or STFU anytime you like.
Daniel Flatt
March 18, 2012 @ 11:54 am
Thank you. That was an intelligent and well thought out thing you just said and not a total dismissal of someone you don’t know’s opinion laden with profanity, albeit shortened profanity, that simultaneously dismisses your own response.
Oh wait.
Seriously though, while nobody may be forcing me to read others complaints nobody was forcing you to read this either which utterly and completely dispells your advice to me. The above is a legitimate response to people treating other people the exact way you just treated me.
Thanks for helping to make my point.
Sohatersarepeople
March 18, 2012 @ 12:37 pm
Ummm… LOL
My point is that everyone wants people to stop “hating.” If you want to continue making blog posts addressing the “hate” by all means do it.
I’m just tired of people telling other people to stop expressing their opinion… err.. I mean “hate” just because it doesn’t concur with their own opinion or because in their opinion it’s excessive “hate.”
People always claim that they don’t mind people that give constructive criticism yet I still see people calling them haters. It’s no different than calling people that defend day one DLC blind fanboy sheep.
Daniel Flatt
March 18, 2012 @ 1:03 pm
I’m sorry if you read my post that way. I tried to be clear about not attacking the people expressing their opinion.
However I don’t think “expressing your opinion” qualifies as verbally abusing a person you’ve never met because you don’t like their game or threatening to kill them. These haters I’m talking about don’t even talk about the game they throw personal insults at Bioware employees because of the game. People they don’t know.
I hope you would agree that threatening violence is excessive “hate”. I don’t know of any rational person that would draw the conclusion that telling someone you are going to kill them because of an ending to a video game is you just expressing your opinion.
Taylor Parolini
March 18, 2012 @ 1:06 pm
Frankly I think that the people going so far as to resort to death threats are, however vocal though they may be, a vast minority. I think that using the tried and true media tactic of singling out a few crazies to render an entire group illegitimate, is a very reprehensible way to go about discussing this issue.
Obviously nobody should have their lives threatened over a video game. Nor should anyone have to endure being threatened because of their sexual orientation, their race or nationality, or their political or religious views. Unfortunately in our world, such things occur with relative frequency. All we can do is realize that marginalizing and stereotyping a wide range of individuals based on the reprehensible actions of a few bad eggs, is no better than the actions you’re criticizing in the first place.
In my story I called for reason as well. That these people are, on the whole, rational and intelligent people who feel that they’ve been wrong by a product. Just like any consumer, they have the right to make their feelings known and to warn their peers about what they feel is a lacking experience. This same rabid, immature mob (as you’ve painted them) are the same people who have channeled their collective animosity towards Mass Effect 3 to donate $35,000 to Child’s Play. A charity that brings video games to sick children in hospitals. As a person struck with a severe childhood illness, I personally know what it’s like to be in a hospital, scared and alone with only Mario 64 to comfort you.
These people aren’t all monsters or fools, and while I realize that you may only be targeting those who have stepped out of line, your article seems to lump them all into a single amorphous category. One that I feel is a grave disservice to gamers with high standards everywhere.
Daniel Flatt
March 18, 2012 @ 2:11 pm
I don’t lump them into one category at all. The article clearly states and defines the people that it’s talking to. Those people reading will instantly know who they are.
I’m not saying gamers as an entire society are wrong, but the ones I’ve outlined above certainly are.
Just saying, well it happens all the time so it’s ok, does not make it so.
While what you say may be true about Child’s Play, take a look at any Kotaku thread on the subject or message board and you’ll see an overwhelming amount of this sort of hate, which is exactly what it is. Haters are those who participate in the hate and the letter is openly addressed to them. I’m pretty sure the same people saying terrible thing about a companies employees are not the same donating money to Child’s Play.
You try to turn my whole article on it’s head and basically aim it at ANYONE that has a problem with the Mass Effect 3 ending or Bioware themselves. If you read the article it’s obvious that isn’t that case at all. My problem isn’t that people are expressing their opinions, that’s fine, but throwing around personal insults or tearing other people down on the ‘net just because they don’t know who you are isn’t acceptable whether it happens all the time or not.
Taylor Parolini
March 18, 2012 @ 5:45 pm
I understand that you tried to separate your article and direct it only at those going to the extreme. The problem, in my eyes, is that most of the people reading this aren’t going to be the ones that your article is directed at.
Most likely, they’ll be the ones who are in the negative camp and have problems with the endings and want to express those issues. Reading this is almost certainly going to make them feel marginalized and lumped in with the crazies despite your disclaimer. The rest of the people will be those who are entirely on Bioware’s side, and that’s fine. But it’s almost a sure thing that they’ll just use these same arguments to make everyone who has a legitimate issue look like a death threat slinging psycho.
This isn’t going to mean anything to the people who are acting in the manner that you criticized. So who is this even for?
I’m very close to this issue of consumer rights, but at this point I could care less about Bioware and ME3’s ending. Hope you didn’t take offense to my views on this.
Mike Bonura
March 18, 2012 @ 1:33 pm
Nice article but Honestly the ending to a franchise 5 years in the making should of had more closure then it did.
Fagin
March 18, 2012 @ 1:55 pm
Deaths threats are not the way to go if you are unhappy with a video game. Those should be left for important things, like when your family is put in a FEMA camp or you suddenly aren’t allowed to vote anymore. For video games, it’s more appropriate to never buy the company’s products again or finding another hobby.
Mike Bonura
March 18, 2012 @ 2:22 pm
This is a great break down of the ending only read if you have beat the game
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1QT4IUepvrU1pfv_B95oQj0H84DlCTUmzQ_uQh1voTUs/preview?pli=1&sle=true
Daniel Flatt
March 18, 2012 @ 3:52 pm
Good write up. Didn’t notice a lot of this stuff.
Mark
March 18, 2012 @ 4:29 pm
People get mad on the internet? GASP
The majority of ppl upset with it have relayed their feelings to Bioware maturely, dunno where you’re getting all that other stuff.
hariseldon
March 18, 2012 @ 5:41 pm
First off I just want to say I’m fairly new to this site, moved away from IGN/Kotaku after the whole debacle, and from what I’ve seen/read thus far I like the style of the website.
On the whole I mostly agree with you here, but the part I disagree with:
”secondly if this is the worst thing that has happened to you or even ranks up there in a realm that would make you this disappointed or angry, you have a really blessed and easy life. Congratulations.”
Now, obviously I love games otherwise I wouldn’t be on this website 🙂 But I found this remark slightly patronising. I had played through the first two games multiple times and I already booked a couple of days off work, had the game pre-ordered and blasted through it enjoying pretty much every second apart from the last 5%.
I’ll be honest, after completing the game I felt quite empty and cheated, which did turn to feelings of anger. But when I checked out the Bioware forums I was somewhat reassured by the sheer number of people who were feeling the same sort of way as me.
I’m not saying that these feelings should excuse the some of the responses we have seen, but in my case (and it would seem in quite a lot of other people’s cases) I have used my anger constructively- donating to Child’s Play and civil discussion on the forums etc.
I think you do a disservice to people when you start telling them how they should or should not feel. Also, I would guess that many of the people who say that they feel ”raped” are obviously exaggerating and whilst not condoning their choice of words the sentiment can be understood.
Fagin
March 18, 2012 @ 6:23 pm
First off, I think that’s a great handle, as I’m a huge fan of the Foundation Series.
I was one of the ones who compared the ending of ME3 to a prison date, as I felt it invalidated all the work I’d done over the series. While it might be a bit over the top, it aptly describes my feelings on how Bioware handled the last bit of a truly excellent game.
I now choose not to give EA/Bioware any more of my money for any reason. This is a more forceful way of making my opinion of their products known. Since I’ve been known to buy three of four copies of a game at release for various family members, this adds up.
hariseldon
March 19, 2012 @ 11:04 am
I did wonder how long it would take before someone recognised my handle. First post, obviously not very long 🙂 Nice to meet a fellow sci-fi aficionado.
I think my love of sci-fi is probably what makes the ending even more disappointing for me…
I’m definitely not buying anymore Bioware games and I don’t really buy any EA games anyway (although I did like Battlefield 3, but there are just too many other good games to play so I doubt I’ll miss it that much)
Daniel Flatt
March 20, 2012 @ 2:37 pm
Fagin, actually I wasn’t referring to you with that line. I had read it multiple times elsewhere.
Kudos to you though. I think not buying any more products is the best way to go to correct these sorts of missteps by publishers.
Daniel Flatt
March 20, 2012 @ 2:36 pm
Re-reading my article I completely agree that it seems condescending. What I had thought to write there I didn’t.
What I meant is that is if the ending makes you angry/disappointed enough to talk about killing someone or you act like it’s ruined your life THEN you must have a pretty blessed life.
I apologize for any misunderstanding. I’m a gamer just like all of you and have been let down by games and even angry at games before so I understand that. What I cannot understand is the overall hatred that people spew on the net because people don’t know who they are.
Thank you for your comment.
David
March 18, 2012 @ 9:16 pm
Your analogy is a little short sided. Bioware has been pulling the same ending stunts since the D&D RPG games through DragonAge and now in Mass Effect. Hero of the world saves it and a) dies or b) disappears into oblivion to never be seen again.
Their game endings have become a bad pattern that they have made before but learned nothing from past mistakes. I’d like bioware for once have the hero save the world and afterwards have a sequence showing him standing with his crew looking out the window on the world/earth.
Like other commenters, I think I’ll spend my games dollars elsewhere from now on.
AzraealMD
March 18, 2012 @ 11:18 pm
This is what we call ” Hero Complex”, the developers build the image to the players that they can maneuver the story through their own process of thought, and inevitably ,being insensitivie corrupted them at the conclusion where it severed the ties of reality and a video games. Fans are justifiably reasonable for this uproar from which the developers spoiled their consumers with so much high expectations. They failed to comprehend, that most of their hardcore fans are “kids at mind and at heart” thus when the satisfying the id “Hero complex” led to such destructive thought process.
Most of the hardcore players, can’t simply detach to a particular personality with ease due to an engaging storyline, where it had amalgamated in their consciousness. You can’t simply blame their reactions for it is the concept of Video games to involve their players in it, and when it failed to materialize their desires to achieve the players goal their actions becomes so violently unacceptable. it does indeed have a “Mass Effect” , unfortunately its consumers are majority are immature to handle situations.
Ambrosio
March 19, 2012 @ 5:09 am
I agree to an extent, Bioware did a great job of delivering a game(s) which gave the illusion that the choices that you made mattered. Some choices were essentially linear but some would make you reflect on what the repercussions would be down the long road. Even the ambiance of some of the places catered to a mature audience. While I believe that most of the “developer bashing” is coming from immature individuals, I dont think (my opinion) that the majority fanbase for this game are kids. I could be wrong but kids dont care about sitting through dialogue, but perhaps the larger fanbase is the “Older Gamer”. I dont know about you all, but I have been finding interesting games like ME harder to come by. I am 30 and have children, and I will say I am a fan of the series. While I dont believe mojority of the fan base is kids, I think it can be interesting to know that the “Hate” may be coming from ighter side.
AzraealMD
March 19, 2012 @ 4:39 pm
thank you mr. Ambrosio,I stand corrected there, … its very true that this kind of gaming experience with Mass Effect is a unique one. I’m at the mid- late 30’s as well, in medical profession, and i can say it is indeed a gratifying personalized experience. What i meant about my opinion is the developers tap the “inner kids” within the adults, where the subconsious personality can be devastatingly aggressive in expressing their feelings if there are no permissive counter check on their reality. Its true that it catered the mature audience ( at most) but during the course of the game it gave the player to be a kid they once before and seemingly desirous to attain a particular objective thereby if not satisfied hence much aggression.
I admire its developers, because they have created a visually engrossing eyecandy and a remarkable tale in a make believe world for adults to wander off during our wee times. However, they failed to analyze that psychologically those playing games are more or less, have ” inner immaturity”. Matrix ended in a bittersweet finale and that goes with lot of movies, but with mixed reaction because it catered to a “general” audience unlike who play games. Of course , you and i understand that and so a ” few” of players who have been playing games have accepted that reality check that EVEN though can suck us in because of the VERY AMAZING creation , reality check is intact but i can’t say so with other players