Why I think the ME3 fans are actually mad

[Storm Dragon]

I don't understand why people are against changing the ending. Isn't the purpose of constructive criticism to point out the flaws something has so that the creator can improve their work? In my opinion, they wouldn't even have to change the ending too much. Make the destruction of the mass relays a bad ending that you only get if your war assets are too low, remove the Normandy fleeing because it makes no sense and is out of character for Joker, add the possibility for Shepard to survive in more than just the Destroy ending, and add a funeral scene for Anderson (and Shepard if she died) for a bit of closure. That would satisfy me, at least.

 

[him over there]

Snap

But... But... Time Travel... Everything is Queen Zeal's fault.

Zeel's Fault... We might need to re-evaluate our union.

 

[Storm Dragon]

One more thing: possibly altering the Destroy ending so that sufficient war assets causes the Crucible to selectively target only the Reapers.
Scratch that, make it possible to survive Control, but make Destroy much easier to survive. That way you have to choose between the easy way out by sacrificing EDI and the Geth, or really work your ass off so that everyone lives.

 

[Daystar Clarion]

Snap

But... But... Time Travel... Everything is Queen Zeal's fault.

Zeel's Fault... We might need to re-evaluate our union.

There are just too many stretches of the imagination for it all not to be true.

 

[Virmire]

You, sir, have made the most eloquently worded statement on this issue, than any other I have read. I say this without any sort of sarcasm what-so-ever when I say, Well Done.

 

[him over there]

Snap

But... But... Time Travel... Everything is Queen Zeal's fault.

Zeel's Fault... We might need to re-evaluate our union.

There are just too many stretches of the imagination for it all not to be true.

Seems legit, on a slightly related note Lavos should have just crashed into the reapers and the catalyst god child while hurtling through space and destroyed them in one fell swoop, best ending ever.

 

[anthony87]

Wanting an ending changed is not entitled and immature. Oh sorry then, I suppose the whole planet will change their standards so as not to hurt your feelings. Is everything OK now?

Oh for fuck sake.

It's people like you who are the reason this thing has gotten to the state it has.

 

[Silvianoshei]

Because if game companies are going to just treat us like walking wallets, then why should we treat them as artists? And if game journalism doesn't watch out for consumers against the exploitations of the companies, why shouldn't we think that the two are in league together?

This is BRILLIANT. If you expect to be treated like an artist, you had better start treating me as a PATRON.

 

[Krantos]

I know that's what's got me upset. I don't even care about the Ending, I just hate the way the industry (especially the media) responded.

Oh and the Phrase:

"If game companies are going to just treat us like walking wallets, then why should we treat them as artists?"

Some one needs to put this on a plaque and send to all the gaming sites. You don't get to be protected by the art label when you treat gamers like EA/BioWare have been.

 

[Zen Toombs]

OP

Congratulations sir, for the best first post in history.
...and mine's just some webcomic recommendations....

Anyways, on topic.

I came into this thread righteous anger and prepared to wreak terrible vengeance, but you hit the nail right on the head. Welcome to the Escapist, I hope you will continue to grace this board with your presence. We need more clear-headed people like you around.

I'm pretty sure these are still relevant:

"The inability to convey intent is the definition of failed art." [http://calitreview.com/24673]

"The ending was so inexcusable, on so many levels, that I can't help but laugh at people's attempts to defend it by calling it art. As if art were not subject to ridicule and criticism." [http://jmstevenson.wordpress.com/2012/03/22/all-that-matters-is-the-ending-part-2-mass-effect-3/]

Good reads, and great picture. Thankye kindly.

 

[Canadamus Prime]

Was I disappointed by the ending? yes

Was I mad? yes and then the feeling passed.

Am I still mad? Yes but not because of the ending, because I got called an whiny douchebag for complaining about it.

so in conclusion I agree with your entire analysis of the situation.

You're not a whiny douchebag if you complain about it. You're a whiny douchebag if you're STILL complaining about it several weeks later and/or are complaining about it to the point of demanding that they change it.

Well thats not what Movie bob, Yathzee and Bioware have said.

in their eyes I am a complaining dipshit for daring to even question the artistic integrity of bioware, so yeah fuck em and fuck bioware.

Quote fail, but yeah anyway. You seem to have misunderstood. Of course of the three names mentioned I have only seen Bob's Big Picture statement and I agree complexly. When a fanbase starts making demands of the those in creative control of their franchise of choice out of some ill-conceived sense of ownership then yes they are whiny complaining dipshits; who, getting back to the heart of this topic, deserve no respect whatsoever. So yeah, you are perfectly entitled to criticize and maybe even vent your frustration and disappointment, but when it carries beyond that and goes on for weeks, then it's a problem.

 

[Daystar Clarion]

Wanting an ending changed is not entitled and immature. Oh sorry then, I suppose the whole planet will change their standards so as not to hurt your feelings. Is everything OK now?

Oh for fuck sake.

It's people like you who are the reason this thing has gotten to the state it has.

WHAT!? I'm just trying to be helpful. Seriously, they say you can't please everybody and they ain't kidding.

I'm seriously trying to relate here. Not everybody who wants the ending changed is entitled and immature. I'm playing with that. I mean, it makes fuck all sense and sounds totally retarded but I'm not gonna dismiss the idea just yet.

I believe you didn't quite make your post clear enough. It's a little confusing.

After this repsonse, I reread it, and I believe you were trying to say that we aren't entitled and that we shouldn't shut up as to not hurt the feelings of the developers?

 

[Major_Tom]

What's up with Forbes suddenly having great gaming articles? I think I'm going to start following them.

 

[RafaelNegrus]

Welcome to the internet, then.

The "sense of disrespect" is the problem in the first place. People think Bioware betrayed them because they're assuming their intentions, which is always a bad thing to do, and it obviously spiraled waaaaaaaaaay out of control. Once the whole All Corporations Are Evil Empires (C) movement started everyone decided to never trust anyone who makes something, so don't try to paint the fans as victims here. It's the fans that say companies treat us like walking wallets, or say that X is just a cash in, again, by assuming the intentions of the developer/publisher.

I don't feel this really comes from a feeling of paranoia among fans. We do like some game companies, and I think many of us really WANT to like them. Look at Valve for instance, they treat their customers well, make good games, and we generally love them for it. But Bioware had so many little bits of bad publicity out there that it created a narrative of customer neglect, which they have not yet been able to really overcome. If they change this narrative, then fans will comeback to them again.

However, if they try to capitalize on this bad ending with paid DLC to change it, then I for one will never buy anything Bioware makes ever again, even if its the videogame version of the second coming of Christ.

 

[The Lunatic]

We peons may not question the art.

The art is all there is, there is nothing but the art.

An interactive medium is not up to us to interact with, instead we must receive it and accept it.

 

[Eamar]

To start with, I am a big Mass Effect fan, but since I lost my saves and need to replay the first two to get my Shepard back I did not buy ME3 at the beginning, and then I started hearing the news, as all of us have.

I think this issue comes down to more than just the ending, even though most people admit that the ending is terrible. I think the reason this has been so bad, and gone on for so long, is a sense of a lack of respect.

There's a sense of a lack of respect from Bioware itself, that it rushed a bad ending in its game and that it may very well try to sell DLC to make it better. This impression is not improved from Bioware statements that they would not do exactly what they did, or by putting out day 1 DLC.

But that's not the reason this flame war has gone on since the game has come out. This has continued, in my mind, because fans legitimate critiques have been openly derided by the gaming media, in what some have called a conspiracy and what I think is more likely to be just an emotional disconnect with fans.

http://www.forbes.com/sites/insertcoin/2012/03/22/gaming-journalisms-problem-isnt-being-beholden-to-companies/

Instead of getting statements along the lines of "yes, the ending was bad for reasons X,Y, and Z" fans got called entitled and derided as immature children. Yes, some of them have acted like that but in characterizing the entire group as acting like that gaming journalism has gone too far. And if fans are getting disrespected by the mainstream media, gaming companies, AND gaming media, why shouldn't they be mad about that?

There are many people who say the attacks against Bioware threaten gaming as an art form, all the while claiming that we as gamers should seek no validation from non-gamers. I don't think validation from non-gamers is necessarily all that important, but I think respect from within the gaming community in general IS. Because if game companies are going to just treat us like walking wallets, then why should we treat them as artists? And if game journalism doesn't watch out for consumers against the exploitations of the companies, why shouldn't we think that the two are in league together?

This. A thousand times this. This is exactly how I feel- my feelings about the ending have begun to cool by this point, as is natural (incidentally I was never one of the ones getting into flame wars over this, but it doesn't mean I wasn't massively pissed off about it). I'd still like some sort of compromise, and I still check the relevant threads on BSN regularly but I'm less bothered than I was. I've moved on. The thing that's irked me pretty much since day one has been the reaction of the gaming journalists. I *know* there have been some idiots on "our" side, of course there are, it's the internet. But in all honesty, the overwhelming majority of posts I've seen by "complainers" have been polite, well thought out and generally civil (let's not forget Bioware actually asked us for feedback on BSN too...), whereas the overwhelming majority of "childish" or "whiny" posts have come from the other side. Maybe there's some website I'm missing where the reverse is true, but that's what I've seen throughout this whole mess.

When Forbes magazine of all publications is the one coming out on the side of the fans rather than the game journalists, something is wrong.

 

[Smeggs]

-snip-

Damn right, that was just fuel on the already burning fire. It wouldn't have been half as bad if all the critics and journalist hadn't started going, "Nurr, you guys are acting like spoiled children."

That's like when a parent insists that you gaining your own individual opinions is "just a phase" and keeps stating how you'll "grow out of it."

No, my opinion is NOT a load of bullshit. I have my own ideas about things which I am not paid to sing their praises, gaming media, so go fuck yourself.