Mass Effect 3 and the problem of closure

Bioware

succumbed to protests online and promised a tax free DLC for Mass Effect 3 with additional explanatory cutscenes. Is this correct?

When the end, not an end? Judging by the EA's decision today, as thousands of players to protest until it has changed.

In March, the Canadian developer Bioware released the latest installment of the popular Mass Effect. A few days later, fans of science fiction role-playing adventures, which have sold over five million copies worlwide started complaining about the conclusion. I will not give it here, but many felt somewhat abrupt nature and obtuse at the end has left them with a huge sense of disappointment.

Then the protests began. An online petition signatures appreared hundreds of gaining a matter of hours. A group called Recovery Mass Effect 3 was founded unhappy players invited to donate to a child's play charity in a kind of philanthropic gesture of protest - which raised $ 80,000. "We believe that the rights of authors and developers of Mass Effect series to end this series but they think," the site. But then they wanted a different ending anyway. It would, for the range of conclusions about the offer was not broad enough to reflect the diversity of personal travel made possible by the trilogy, and because the end has not been closed in each chapter of universe inhabited vast franchise.

And now Bioware has died. EA has announced a free version of DLC for this summer is "the expansion of events" to witness the end of the game. It will be interactive, and the end will not change, as such, is simply a series of cut-scenes designed to bring greater clarity to the conclusion and answer some questions unanswered. This is perhaps the strings playing a text equivalent to the end of the film the true story, to inform the public about the lives of the protagonists later.

co-founder Ray Muzyka of BioWare said in a statement:

"Since its launch, we had time to hear the comments of our most passionate fans and we respond to the effect of 3 Mass:. The extended version, we think we have reached a good balance in providing answers to the players are looking for, maintaining the artistic vision of the team at the end of this story arc in the Mass Effect universe. "

is a kind of victory for the protesters. But what the industry wants to know is, is this correct?

Well ... is complicated. The film industry for years used the testing of new films to modify the content and appease potential customers - often to the chagrin of Directors. Test was Blade Runner that led to the inclusion of a happy ending of the film, unlike the more abrupt and ambiguous end of Ridley Scott. So really, arguing that recent good games, like movies are art and the artist's vision should be short: the two games and movies are commercial entities, dedicated to making money for shareholders - comments and changes Within this framework, if the purists like it or not.

There is an additional complication for games. In recent years, the concept of post-release patches and DLC currently has blurred the concept of "final". We are taught by industry that games are not products, which are services, and as these expansions and additions are part of the production line entertainment.

• often the fans applaud. RPG like World of Warcraft, Fable and Fallout have seen several digital extensions that provide new areas and features of the story -. Half-Life 2 was continued in two episodes, which have confused the issue a rest later

Meanwhile, developers are obsessed with the idea of ??community. Each study has an important community manager, whose job is to promote and maintain links with the group of online fans, many events and festivals run its most ardent supporters. It has also become commonplace to perform the public betas of upcoming test, change the game balance and other content based on feedback later. This is generally oriented multiplayer content, of course, but the concept is introduced in this creative malleability emerging and fan power.

Mass Effect 3

The protesters have been criticized in some quarters, but they are what vendors and developers want to do - to support the brand. Support in both directions, which is a relationship after all. Reaching the end of the Mass Effect series with a character based on data stored in the series may represent hundreds of hours of fan investment. In case the investment does not offer a kind of return in the form of a satisfactory conclusion?

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