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Mass Effect 3 Fallout: Did the Gaming Media Fail Gamers?
Thats been the questionand accusationon the minds of many on the forums I frequent. Without giving anything away, it is safe to say that the reaction to Mass Effect 3 has evolved into the quintessential example of the Orwellian doublethink. Has any game in recent memory been more simultaneously loved and hated than this one? The consensus is as follows: the first 35-40 hours are the some of the greatest, most masterful bits of digital entertainment bliss in history, easily the best in the series to date. Then the last 10 minutes ruin the whole thing! My own review is forthcoming and so I wont comment here on whether or not I agree with that position, but there you have it. Reaction to the ending has been so negative that massive petitions have developed online, asking Bioware to change it. A thread on their social network arguing in favor of the proposition that the ending is a dream sequence garnered some 15,000 replies. Since when do people actually hope something in a game, movie, or book is a dream sequence? That right there says it all.
This brings us to the crux of the issue: the media reaction. Mass Effect 3 earned enormous praise before its release, 8s, 9s and 10s across the Metacritic board (the less said about the user score bombing the better). This isnt a surprise; AAA titles usually receive this sort of royal treatment. ME3 legitimately deserves those scores, and one tends to think that whatever a reviewers impression with the ending he or she wont let it taint his professional opinion of the overall title. Furthermore, as a matter of policy its a good idea to avoid mentioning endings in professional reviews. This reaction is to be expected.
What is not expected is the hostility and mockery many in the gaming media displayed as this ME3 controversy developed. It is no secret that a slew of news stories have been springing up as of late, simplifying the complaints of gamers to Gamers Demand Bioware Make a Happy Ending to Mass Effect 3. Gamers have been called entitled, and derisively compared to the Kathy Bates character in the movie Miseryin truth the reaction is more akin to what happened when Arthur Conan Doyle attempted to kill off Sherlock Holmes in The Final Problem, but I digress. And no, that wasnt a Shepard dies?!?! spoiler.
That response is mystifying to me. Lets forget for a moment whether or not Mass Effects ending does in fact suck. Who does the game media serve if not gamers? Whose opinions should they acknowledge, convey, and perhaps even reflect if not those of gamers? Certainly not those of the publishers or the industry at large, I fear the long-term viability of this medium would be rather grim if that were the case. Is each games journalist responsible for their opinion alone, with discretion to criticize or praise as is their want? Maybe, but what an oddity for organizations to pay them to function in that capacity when they could do it best as a regular bloggerand in any case I certainly dont believe any other journalistic discipline permits such discretion.
Without unduly lecturing others on the proper role of a games journalist, I should think a baseline level of professional courtesy is a natural and obvious requisite. Note: that does not necessarily mean politeness. Ours is a young medium, those of us who partake in it tend to be, on average, in our 20s or 30s. By all means, be sarcastic and funny. Be immature and profane, if thats your modus operandi and it entertains your readership. Professional courtesy doesnt mean to be nice, it means be professional enough to know and understand the issue before you write about it.
There are legitimate criticisms of the Mass Effect 3 ending. That is not to say the criticisms are artistically or mechanically valid, but they are understandable, and held by a large segment of people who finished the game. Certainly the reaction absolutely cannot be summarized as Gamers demand Bioware make a happy ending, or Gamers are Behaving like Entitled Brats. All it takes is approximately five minutes of modest research to see that peoples complaints are far deeper than that.
At this point it becomes a serious question of journalistic integrity, more so than mere insults or failing to serve the community. Mocking gamers produces catchy headlines and invites online traffic, but it seems very much a self-serving exercise in ego gratification. It may be argued that games arent serious, and therefore our media doesnt have to take it seriously, but I dont believe there are many who think that way anymore. Certainly the Smithsonian doesnt, as their recent Art of Video Games exhibition makes clear.
This may be a young medium, but that designation only heightens the need for even a modicum of professional courtesy from the people who represent it. That doesnt mean fairness in all instances, but it does mean you dont have front page writers on your website ignoring the issues entirely, dismissing wide swaths of the gaming population as whiny entitled babies, and using your platform as their personal mouthpiece for High School level antagonism. As a passive observer, who hasnt taken any particular side regarding the endings, the clash between fans of Mass Effect and the gaming media has been disheartening, to say the least.
http://www.unigamesity.com/mass-effect-3-fallout-did-the-gaming-media-fail-gamers/
All the "journalists" make fun of the majority that dislike the ending and mock them,in order to defend themselves that gave high scores(that they needed to give since it was from a big publisher) without finding anything wrong in an ending that makes no sense in such a decision heavy game!
And now.if Bioware does changes to the ending they will look even stupider.
(Especially kotaku that had everyday an article mocking the fans...)
