A lot has been said about the controversy surrounding the ending to Mass Effect 3, hell, I even wrote a handful of posts about it myself (which you can find here, here and here). After BioWare’s announcement a few weeks ago about releasing DLC that will expand on and add clarity to the ending, I really didn’t think that I’d find myself writing about it again until said DLC was actually released, but a new campaign by fans to provide “feedback on the importance of the Ending DLC” is going to kick off this Saturday and so here we are.
A bulk of the pandemonium surrounding the ending has died down, especially after BioWare’s announcement of incoming DLC to expand on the ending, but Mass Effect fans are a lively bunch and they want to make sure their voices are heard. The latest campaign is “Turn On/Turn Off BioWare“:
We propose giving EA and Bioware immediate feedback on the importance of the Ending DLC, so they can allocate sufficient resources to make a quality product.
To that end, we propose the following campaign:
We will turn ON our single player game during a pre-defined period to show EA/Bioware the number of passionate fans who love the series and who will continue to buy their products IF the DLC provides a satisfactory ending.
We will then turn OFF our game and refuse to play for a pre-defined time period to give EA/Bioware a clear idea of the potential loss of custom and support they will suffer if the DLC is NOT satisfying.
The idea of the campaign is to illustrate just how many Mass Effect (and BioWare) fans are out there, and what the potential loss of said fans would look like should BioWare/EA not provide a proper Ending DLC. It could potentially be a powerful illustration of the effects of a company hastily releasing a title before it’s actually ready for launch, or even a subpar product, but it could also turn out to be more fodder for the “entitled gamer” stigma.
I have wrote about how big of a fan I am of the Mass Effect series, and I have made no attempt to hide the fact that I felt the ending was pretty awful. The fact that BioWare listened to their fanbase and put into motion a plan to release DLC to improve on this ending was sufficient for me, and I anxiously wait to see what they come up with. Sure, it could be as equally bad and do nothing to solve the problems with the ending, and should that happen I will vote with my dollars when considering to purchase another BioWare game. Others were not so pleased by the Ending DLC announcement as they want a complete overhaul and different ending for the game. That’s fine, you can’t please everyone and I’m sure these people will also reconsider buying future BioWare titles if they are that displeased. We are the consumers, and our money is one of the greatest weapons we have in showing out distaste in sub-par products.
A lot of Mass Effect fans out there are looking forward (even if cautiously) to the Ending DLC BioWare/EA releases in hopes that it really will “fix” the ending to the game; filling in plot holes, adjusting nonsensical and contradictory dialogue, etc. But, as a Mass Effect fan, even I think these “campaigns” just need to stop. At first, I sympathized with the masses. The ending was truly not on par with the quality of the franchise up to that point, and there is nothing wrong with letting a company know your dissatisfaction with their product. Then the campaigns started, demanding that BioWare change the ending to their game. Complaints were filed with the Better Business Bureau and Federal Trade Commission, petitions were started, cupcakes were sent. Even at this point, while I may feel this was overkill and didn’t feel the desire to participate, I understood. People love this franchise, and they were expressing their passion for it.
Now we have this latest campaign, and now even I think it’s getting to be a bit ridiculous. A campaign aiming to let BioWare know the fans want them “to make an Ending DLC that is worthy of the rest of the game and then reap the rewards of their success.”? What is worthy? Is there a general consensus on what the ending should be that I’m not aware of? Is the popular belief that BioWare/EA is just going to push out some garbage to shut the fans up? The fact of the matter is what I believe would make a good ending may not be what other fans would like, and vice versa – what will make a “good” Ending DLC is completely arbitrary. I like to believe that the folks at BioWare know what is at stake here. There is a large and disappointed/angry fan-base out there that is not happy because of basic problems with the ending, not because they didn’t like it, and I’m sure they are fully aware that if they just pump out some throw-away DLC that does nothing to fix the actual problems that the blow-back will be even worse than the first time around. Do we really need a campaign to “ensure” this happens? I guarantee that even if BioWare were to release the best possible scenario for Ending DLC – whatever that is – there will still be some out there not pleased.
BioWare has announced Ending DLC that will, as they say, expand and add clarity to the ending. They have stated they have listened to the fan criticism that there were a lot of basic problems with the ending. I say we don’t need a campaign to let them know what’s at stake here. We as the consumers have made our voices heard, and BioWare has acknowledged that, now it’s time to wait and see what they craft to address the ending of Mass Effect 3.