Holy shit, Bioware!

Truth time: I tend to be one of those bitter "first generation" gamers, who love bitching about how gaming used to be cool and now everyone, including my grandmother and my little sister, consider themselves fucking gamers. Gaming was my lonely, tropical island. Sure, there'd be the occasional weirdo floating by on a raft, hoping to find their own little island and all, but for the most part, it was a very exclusive club. Dwelling in a basement, crunching numbers and min-maxing characters, working out battle strategies to save virtual worlds the vast majority of people didn't even know existed.

Nowadays, my Island has turned into one of those *All Inclusive*, *All You Can Eat* kind of places full of fat, ugly tourists, who hang out in my favourite shady spot, watch the beautiful sunset before I can get there, leave their garbage everywhere and gather in circles around my favourite palm tree to take a massive piss on it. I know, I'm exaggerating a bit there and this image might be a bit freaky, but there are moments where this depicts exactly how I feel about gaming being a mass market. About games I used to love turning more and more casual to appeal to every last god damn idiot on the planet, including not only my grandmother, but also her dog, her guinea pig and their parasites. Games have to be simple enough to be playable by all of them.

I don't like stuff that appeals to the masses, is designed to attract them, I don't like sharing and I don't like the crowd that is drawn towards any of those things. People getting drunk till they throw up, people marking their territory with beach towels all around the hotel pool, only to stop showing up for the rest of the day. I tend to focus on the negative, on stuff that annoys me, on the dumbest fucks of them all. The gaming equivalent might be Dungeon Siege 3, I dunno.
But even with all the negativity, it was one of those tourist dumps where I've met my first love as a kid, had my first kiss and started my first ever relationship. She's a great girl, we had a kickass time and if both her and I had not been at one of those overcrowded hotels, one of my fondest memories in life simply wouldn't exist.

Maybe I'm focusing on the bad stuff too much. Not everything about games being for everyone and everyone referring to themselves as gamers is bad. What used to be a hobby, something only a select few would indulge in in their spare time, has become a big and important part of our culture. Gaming has evolved. It has become a form of art.

I can't help but feel utterly blown away by what's currently going on because of Mass Effect 3. I am, of course, referring to the game's controversial ending(s). Penny Arcade's Ben Kuchera explains very eloquently why he thinks the ending is fine, despite some obvious logical flaws, plot holes and the annoying deus ex machina - aka some stupid-ass new character one pulled out of their ass to explain away all remaining questions and loose ends. Gamefront's Ross Lincoln, on the other hand, explains what lots of fans are feeling right now: The ending is utter bullshit and could be so much better in so many ways.

I'm in awe at what's going on here. Countless gamers from everywhere around the globe are discussing, arguing, fighting, sharing their thoughts, ideas and feelings regarding the ending of a video game. Not just any video game, mind, but arguably the greatest interactive epic gaming has seen to this day. What's even more fascinating about all this is how those fans, who feel that Mass Effect deserves a better, more logical, more satisfying conclusion aren't raging, they're not threatening to boycot Bioware, they don't flat-out refuse to buy any of their future products. They're donating to charity - at this very moment, while I am writing this blog, supporters of the online petition for a "better ending" have already donated a whopping 33 grand to Child's Play. I'm sure it's gonna be much more than that by the time you're reading this.

I find that absolutely incredible. People aren't just protesting. They aren't simply complaining, bitching, threatening. Heck, I'm sure some of them are and I'd be the last person on earth to blame them. But a huge portion of them simply want to be heard. They are showing how serious they are, how much they care by doing something big. Something good!


No matter how/if/when Bioware are going to react to all this - one thing is certain: Shepard didn't just unite the whole universe. He didn't just settle century-old conflicts, made people forget about their hate against each other and had them join forces for a greater good. He has united gamers. At least a significant amount of them, at least for the time being, and they're doing something good. Because of how they feel about something they all have in common, something they feel passionate about.

I tried to save everyone I could whilst fighting back the Reaper invasion, solving century-old conflicts and conquered prejudice, hate and bigotry with tolerance and friendship. I am Commander Shepard. My girlfriend is humping her way across the galaxy, betraying potential allies for the sake of adding more and more to her ever-growing pile of credits, hoping to afford the biggest and deadliest weapons to blow up anyone who gets in her way. She is Commander Shepard. My buddy only surrounds himself with the most loyal companions as he fights the Reaper threat, leaving everyone behind who doubts him and sacrificing entire civilizations. He is Commander Shepard.

We all love this game. We're all fully aware that certain key-events in the game will always be the same for everybody, be it the ending sequence of Mass Effect 1 or the beginning of Mass Effect 2. But the journey, the circumstances that lead to these events, they're all vastly different for each and every one of us. Seeing how emotional and involved the fans are getting over the whole thing, seeing how attached we are to our characters, our crews, the adventure that lead to that weird, unexpected ending, is probably the greatest compliment to any game and its designers.

That said, shouldn't this inspire the guys at Bioware to listen to some of the criticism? We're not asking for a happy-happy-joy-joy cinematic with ponies and rainbows. Wouldn't be very believable, anyway. But maybe something without any last second surprise characters, without completely breaking some characters or magically teleporting actors light years away from where they were a minute ago? Maybe something at least a little bit closer to Bioware's original PR-nonsense about how the ending would be completely different for everybody, vastly depending on all of our choices and actions that took us there?

Once again, I think everyone is fully aware that it would be foolish to expect 128 completely different cutscenes before the final credit roll, influenced by every last detail, including how many times Shepard has flushed the toilet aboard the Normandy (you can actually do that). But come on. "Whenever a civilization is advanced enough, they begin creating synthetic life forms, which will always, inevitably rise against their creators to start a war, therefore we're sending synthetics to wipe out all organic life and avoid all war!" can't be it. You can do better than that.

Look what your game has started. Look at how your fans are responding. Look at how they're showing their appreciation, how badly they want to be heard. Throw them a bone, Bioware! You used to be cool, you know. But whatever may or may not happen from here on out - kudos on creating something that gets people so involved! Really amazing.

-Cat