Strange Fruit: A Look at the Reactions to Mass Effect 3’s Ending

A word of caution: there may be spoilers within this article. I will try to avoid them, but I can’t guarantee it.

But still, at this point in time chances are most people who care about the Mass Effect franchise have already finished Mass Effect 3. At least, that is the conclusion I’ve come to, having looked at the landscape of Mass Effect’s fan community. There is a lot of mourning and wailing, and in some cases angry fists are raised against the heavens and the gods of BioWare/EA, in other cases there is gnashing of teeth aplenty.

The fandom is angry and disappointed that Mass Effect 3 ended the way it did, which is on the one hand understandable, because well, that ending really wasn’t all that good.

The fandom is angry and disappointed that Mass Effect 3 ended the way it did, which is on the one hand understandable, because well, that ending really wasn’t all that good. None of the endings really are. This article on Gamefront goes into all the necessary details. Another game with a rather disappointing ending, eh? In line with Deus Ex: Human Revolution and a lot of other brilliant games that the developers didn’t manage to close off in a meaningful manner. Happens to the best of us.

But that’s not what the most vocal, the most rabid members of the fandom think. Oh boy, those ladies and gentlemen are more than angry. They are pissed. Seems they might just form a lynch mob to drag the bodies of BioWare’s formidable doctors through the streets. Or something like that. But actually, what those guys do, and I’m doing them a service here by calling attention to them, is being really incredibly amusing. In a good way for misanthropic old me and a bad way for them and everyone involved.

Oh my—to quote Old Man Takei. Ohhh my. The mistreatment of the fandom by these insulting, demeaning and discriminating endings has spawned a strong reaction. Has spawned a movement! A movement to retake what’s rightfully the fans’ property! No longer will the vile, evil doings of EA be tolerated! The Movement will be heard! The Line will be held!

Large numbers of righteous Mass Effect fans have gathered. Their cause? To right the many wrongs done to their franchise. Protests are organized. Letter campaigns to officials set in motion. Well, to EA officials anyway. The noble cause must be served. Mass Effect will be rightfully retaken by those who inherited it when they put their hard earned money down for the disc or the digital download.

I’m not sure if those individuals involved in this are aware of how incredibly awkward and weird they sound to the outside world. Sure. The ending(s) to Mass Effect 3 aren’t the best. They aren’t even very good—at least compared to the rest of the game. There are a lot of thing wrong there. But this kind of reaction? Agreed, it’s not the first time fans of a franchise react in open outrage about something. It might be due to the nature of the buzz surrounding Mass Effect 3 that the fans have now become used to get whatever the hell they want after the beauty pageants to choose which version of FemShep was to adorn the cover.

Whatever the reasons, it’s mostly the tone that makes this particular instance of massive nerdrage so hilariously silly. A Movement? The Retake Mass Effect Movement? Seriously? And you’re going to petition the officials to support The Cause? SERIOUSLY? Adding insult to injury and taking the obnoxiously moral high road here is the fact that the Retake Mass Effect Movement (just say that out aloud three times and don’t start giggling!) has started collecting money to donate to the Child’s Play Charity. Which in and on itself sure is not a bad thing to do. However, why are they doing this? To silence any possible opposition to this childish notion? They can’t be silly, stupid or wrong because they’re donating to charity?

So this ‘movement’ is resorting to moral bullying to get the ending to their favorite videogame? EA has to listen to these guys because look they’re giving money to charity, proving their innate immaculate goodness to all the world, and if EA doesn’t respond positively to what these innately immaculate good and morally right people ask, the world can witness the how cold and evil BioWare’s corporate overlords are?

It’s baffling how silly, entitled (admittedly, I don’t like the word but this right here is a textbook fucking example of gamer entitlement!) and wrong this move is. I’m surely not saying members of a fandom have to be docile consumer sheep. Far from it. But seriously, if your franchise doesn’t work the way you want it anymore, how about not resorting to obnoxious dick moves like this. Moral bullying, moral blackmailing for the ending to a videogame. Yeah, sure that’ll get you in the press. But be sure that even those people who might also have problems with the ending(s) of Mass Effect 3, those might just not ‘support’ your ‘cause’ for being an obnoxious dick. But that’s not all.

Don’t use the terminology of political movements that concern themselves with real world problems. By adapting that kind of lingo you come across as incredibly stubborn, holier-than-though characters that like using big words. Oh a Movement to further the Noble Cause of Retaking... Mass Effect. Because we didn’t like the ending. Seriously. What the hell people. Do you even listen to how fucked up you sound?

Basically, this is the old question of ‘who owns a franchise, the creator or the people supporting the creator by being fans?’. It’s similar to the massive nerdrage that occurred around the time the Star Wars prequels came around. How could George Lucas betray us all? Well, he could because after all, like it or not, Star Wars is his creation, his property. And if you didn’t like it, well, then make room for people who do and get a new favourite franchise. Pretty much the same thing is at work with Mass Effect. And please, please don’t make the mistake of thinking that I’m defending the ending of Mass Effect 3 or the Star Wars prequels. But there are workarounds for these things. This is what fanfiction has been there for for decades now. Does a game like Mass Effect even have something like a true canon? Can those last five minutes not be ignored easily? Just like I ignore all seasons of Lost after the 3rd?

Sometimes creators of great things screw up and produce things that aren’t necessarily what we hoped they’d be. And that’s okay. It happens. There are ways to cope with that. The easiest way is to just not buy into the franchise. Vote with your wallet. Don’t buy the game if you dislike what you’ve heard about it. I know I did. Or buy into it anyway, support the creators despite your disliking, and hope they won’t screw up like this the next time around. Give feedback. And then don’t make an ass of yourself - and your fandom because you’re all in one boat here - and start throwing around ludicrous demands. Cause if being a media junkie for some years has taught me one thing. Those people up there? They don’t negotiate with terrorists.