Mass Effect 3 Ending Controversy: Bioware "Listening" To Critics

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"But expecting Bioware to write a different ending so that you can be more satisfied shows a weird level of entitlement and a lack of understanding of how art works. "

I disagree. Art isn't about the creative expression of the artist, it's about using that creative expression to forge a relationship with the audience. Art is supposed to be experienced through the filter of individual experience. That's why there's no lengthy post along side the Mona Lisa stating "Well, I wanted her to have a larger smile, but her cheeks got tired, and then it was kind of hot, so she ended up with this little smirk instead." It's up to us to look at her and decide just what was going through her mind at that moment. It's up to us to decide whether Romeo and Juliet is a tragic story about a transcendent love, or a cautionary tale about two stupid kids that should have listened to their parents.

Plus, we've never had this opportunity before, to turn art from a static experience set in stone into one that can evolve based on the audience's participation. Video games are so unique in the entirety of human existence that I don't think you can apply classical definitions to them. Especially a game like Mass Effect. Because of the way it was written, the audience is no longer a passive observer. We are now active participants. The story molds and shapes itself to our decisions. In a very real sense, we are as much artist as we are audience. Each of us crafts our own unique version of the story by the choices we make. As such, as the person telling the story, we absolutely should be able to tell Bioware that the story's ending doesn't feel respectful of the rest of the story.

I'm not saying that we should be able to dictate a script for them to follow. But the concerns many of us have are valid concerns, thoughtfully laid out with supporting evidence and well reasoned arguments on why we feel it needs changed. At that point, as the primary artist, Bioware should be free to craft a new story, one which takes the criticisms into account, but that is still their unique vision.

Also, as much as we want to extol the purity of the artistic expression, the fact is that this is a commercial product as well. In fact, art has often been a commercial product. Many of the masterpieces of art that we know were created specifically for someone else, and with a set of instructions. The Sistine Chapel was painted by Michelangelo not because he felt like it, but because Pope Julius II forced him to. He wasn't really a painter, he was a sculptor, but the pope made him do it, and because of that, we have a seminal work of art, a true masterpiece.

As a paying customer, I have the right to go back to the company, express my displeasure at their product, and expect them to do something to make it right. I agree that they shouldn't try to give us exactly what we've pictured for the ending. Otherwise, we'll end up with a few million endings sometime in the next century. And most of them will be a cross between bad fan-fic, worse fan-fic, and what you'd see on an adult pay-per-view channel. But I think that most of us are smart enough to realize that, and to be satisfied if we get an ending that takes all our previous choices into account, provides a significant distinction between all the available outcomes, and provides at least some possibility for success.

The last might be a controversial statement that sounds like "entitled whining for a rainbow and puppies ending". And maybe it is. But there's enough bleakness in the world as it is. Frankly, I play games to escape that. if I wanted an existential lesson on the futility of life, the insignificance of the individual, and the illusion of free will, I'll go watch a political debate. This series has always been about hope. That one person can succeed despite overwhelming odds, and make the galaxy a better place. I'd like an ending that reflects that.