So, Mass Effect 3 is a bit of a thing. If you're on any kind of gaming forum on the internet, you know that. And Mass Effect 3's reaction has become kind of important, in how it relates to games and how they are perceived as art/entertainment/machines etc. To sum it up, either you're angry at BioWare, or you're angry at Bioware.

One side is displeased because of the large number of plot holes and contradictions within the last 20 or so minutes of the game. They are deeply invested in the ME universe, and feel betrayed, because whether this is reasonable or not, they had a huge passion for the universe, and believes it deserves a send off that makes sense. Not a happier one, as many detractors seem to simply assume.

The other side is displeased because BioWare's own Doctor Ray has responded. And many people, including most of the staff on this very site, are angered by this. These are the people who are passionate about another thing: Video Games being taken seriously, and feel like that an acknowledgement that they are listening to fan feedback, and are making an announcement about possible changes in April, undermines the artistic integrity of video games, if they can be changed on a whim.

Each group has had pretty much a similar reaction of hitting the moment that makes them feel betrayed by the thing they were most passionate about, and knee-jerk reacting to the same conclusion: Getting pissed off with BioWare. One side tends to see the other as either bunch of entitled whiners who have no right to suggest changes be made, or conversely, snobs who feel superior, hiding behind the excuse of artistic integrity to defend an ending that was bad.

Now, that's a problem. Essentially, combined we have a group of people, who are all passionate about games and all believe BioWare have made amazing work in the past. And now they are all pissed off with a company that simply wants to get out of this with a group of fans that still like them, and the respect of their critical peers. The announcement today was pretty much a non-announcement, saying that they are listening to fan-feedback, but don't want to sacrifice artistic integrity. No one has any idea what they'll do, whether they'll go with the popular indoctrination theory, add more choice, re-write the ending, or simply add scenes that better explain what happened, without changing the outcome.

So yeah, the point of this blog was to show that really, both sides are not that different. Each have had strong reactions, and some individuals have taken things way way way too far (the FTC guy, for example), but it's just people reacting loudly to what they are passionate about. Personally, I'm strongly passionate about both things, the Mass Effect universe, and Games being taken seriously. And whilst I was dissapointed in the endings, I don't know how to feel about all this. I don't feel great, but I don't feel the worst.

I know one thing I'm actively trying not to be, though: Angry at BioWare.