How Mass Effect 3 became a make your own adventure book

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There's enough rant about the Mass Effect 3's ending in the internet already, so no, I'm not going to analyze that any more. I will however talk about the scam that is connected to that shitty ending and how BioWare, or EA, really screwed over their fans this time. 


Here's the deal (also: spoiler spoiler spoiler). In the end of Mass Effect 3 it is possible to get one of the following results: Shepard either lives (barely) or dies (painfully). These are one of the few things that the player actually can affect on, when the lack of choice has been the biggest criticism the game's ending has yet received. "Shepard lives" is in no way a good ending, however it is a hopeful ending, even if the player hasn't heard of the infamous indoctrination theory. It is an ending that inspires to play the game again and again, to see Shepard survive against all odds.

There is a catch though. To get Shepard live the player has to choose the red ending and have over 4000 effective military strength, a collection of war assets the player gathers throughout the game. To this day there hasn't been any decent prove that it is possible to get the required 4000 EMS, unless the player boosts their numbers with online multiplayer. And what do you know, on my platform, the Xbox360, the multiplayer is only available for those who own a 70€ a year gold account. The player does get free multiplayer time with the game, but there's no possible way to use it on the free silver account. I know. I tried. For those who aren't willing to pay for MP, there exists very badly made, badly playable iPad games that can apparently help with the war asset gain - if you're willing to purchase them for the amazing price of 8€ (whereas the average price for a iPad game is under 5€) and suffer through the ghastly gameplay. 

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I'm completely serious. Even if the player plays the game perfectly, does all the side quests, has all the quests done from previous games as well, there's no way to get 4000 EMS. To even get close is a achievement itself, since the game is so glitchy and the quest list so impossible to read (to see f.e. what missions have been already done) that a massive frustration is a certainty. I don't blame that poor soul that wants to avoid this massive headache by skipping the side quests completely. I was a masochist enough to play them myself, by the end a quest list open on my laptop just to keep Shepard from running around the galaxy to double check her missions. And after all that, guess what happened?

Does this sound like a genius game design to you? No, it doesn't. When it comes to games the whole idea of playing them is to have fun. They are a form of entertainment. To force people to buy games they don't want to, accounts they don't need, or in general force people to use their time on something they didn't sign for is not what makes players happy. A game's purpose is not to sell other games. It is not to take away content from some. It is not to alienate the player from the game by guiding the player away from the game itself.

But this is the truth and unfortunately I am not surprised. We live in a time where mobile and Facebook based games rule he world. This is where the idea of micro payments and improving your chances with money most likely comes from. In Facebook games though the game itself is free, so better weaponry, armors and gadgets are understandably the only income the gaming company gets. Mass Effect 3 costs 70€ on Xbox360 like any new Xbox game, and over 50€ for PC. DLCs are a thing I would gladly pay extra for. The game content itself? The game content should not depend on if the player is ready to put more money in it or not. That's just douchey. If MP makes the wanted goal easier to achieve that's all fine and good. But with this solution the game can't function on its own. BioWare's choices not to allow people to get their ending they want and deserve, mind you, can lead to where is has lead today. And it should not come as a surprise to BioWare that people simply stop playing the ending, go to Youtube to see Shepard live, and rather just make up their own endings from thereon. 

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The amount of fan produced material is slowly staring to remind a movement. So far I have seen some awesome videos, forum posts, fanfics, digital art, paintings, animations, comics, you name it, all telling how the game really ended. My personal favorites are the epilogue slides, where it is possible to just write 4000 or 5000 war assets on the first page, and get the hopeful ending, where Shepard takes that crucial half of a breath and all that happens afterwards. The many, many fails of the game design choices seem to be something to bring people together. Angry, yet extremely creative. People are moved by each others' endings, and find meaning in them. One person's headcanon can be a part of another's vision. This I do enjoy. However I do not enjoy the fact that the players have to be the ones to fix the game. An editor to adjust the numbers is already there, but that is exactly the problem: it shouldn't be.

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When talking about the ending a certain theme always comes up. Ownership. It is debatable whether the game belongs to the gamers as well as it belongs to BioWare. Do they players have a right to demand better endings? Well when it comes to being able to play the damn game, yes they do. When it comes to the other disappointing stuff, that's another question. However it is not a matter of opinion that the world that has been once created is meaningful to the players at this point and that is in spite of EA or its minion, or their lack of interest to the gaming crowd. People take their characters very personally, which BioWare too knows. The game is dear to many, and that is why Shepard lives on in thousands of fan made products today. 

The answer to ownership is not simple, and it's not simply definable by the people who made the game. Fans can and will modify the game as they please, and yes, fix it if it's broken. Even if the company itself takes no action to grant the players' wishes considering the ending (with a DLC that costs even more money), it is clear that people have had enough time to create maybe better stories that there is and will be, and they have by now realized they do not need to bend over backwards to get what they want. All they need is a keyboard or an edit app. But that's also what will rip the gamer and the developer crowd apart. Especially with a company that used to be so close to its fans, it's a damn shame.