Mass Effect 3, Entitlement Culture, and Endings

Over at Bioware’s Mass Effect 3 forums there is a considerable uprising in protest of the grim ending to the game. Without going into the merits of the how the ending was written and presented (there is very legitimate and not legitimate criticisms), what strikes me is the rage at not having a happy ending possible. There is sloppy writing involved and the ending was rushed along with other parts of the game, no doubt about that. But it is a cohesive and logical ending despite what those who are angry are writing.

Part of what I like about the Mass Effect series is that it does not shy away from hard choices and painful outcomes.  The idea of sacrifice runs through the entire series, starting with the Virmire mission in the first game where you have to choose which one of two main companions dies. At the beginning of the second game, the death of your character, Shepherd,  was a red flag that you would probably die when all is said and done, despite the resurrection after the opening titles. I took it as meaning Shepherd was on borrowed time from then on out.

But a lot of people reject that concept and are demanding a new ending be made and released. Thanks to the afore mentioned sloppy writing, there is an accidental out for Bioware and EA if they choose to use it. Yet I find it amazing that gamers believe they have a right to a happy ending. Long have gamers clamored that games be taken seriously as art, alongside movies and novels. So when a game takes an artistic chance and reaches for that brass ring, this happens. Sigh.

There is additional anger that the vaunted choices imported from the previous games do not effect the ending. My reply to this is that Mass Effect 3 is a final act in a larger story and those choices are shown to have large repercussions for the galaxy. Entire races can live or die depending on the choices you have made. Conflicts between races can be ended and paths for their cultures changed. That is not small in scale, is it? So a great deal of the reward for past choices is delivered well before the ending sequence and I consider that argument a nonstarter.

It speaks a great deal about how well written the characters are when players get this emotionally wrapped up with them. A lot of this ire has to do with failing to get a happy ending and seeing your Shepherd happy with his or her love interest as a reward. Life is messier than that and these games have always reflected that.

Currently, the people in most industrialized/Westernized nations have come to believe that happiness is a right to be guaranteed by their governments. Usually that takes the form of a welfare or socialist system of some variant. Expectations are high that failure will always have a safety net. Economics and demographics are starting to assert their terrible and unstoppable refutation of such systems being sustainable in the long term. Watching the riots and demonstrations in Greece has been informative as to how people will react when such nets begin to unravel.

By the way, “happiness” is not guaranteed in the Constitution of the United States of America. The word is not even found in it or the Bill of Rights. So where does that mistaken belief come from? It comes from the Declaration of Independence. To make things even clearer, that statement of intent (which is not legally binding) had “the pursuit of happiness” as a right. Last I checked, pursuit is not a guarantee you will catch the thing chased after.

But back on topic. So what does that have to do with a silly video game, you ask? (Or at least I ask for you.)

Well, people had the expectation of getting their way at the end and when that was dashed, they became disenchanted, bitter, and often furious. So now petitions have begun and an organized movement to force Bioware to release a free happy ending patch or DLC is well underway. This is not too different from protests seen in Greece and soon to be seen in other parts of Europe.

Somewhere along the way, great swathes of people began to believe happiness could be guaranteed. Reality and history say otherwise, but we have so much that we have become spoiled rotten. Thanks to the melodrama playing out over Mass Effect 3, some things I have been pondering have come into better focus. Too many people are utterly unprepared for worst case scenarios, at least emotionally. This is not good, given what is coming.

Odd that a PR disaster for a game is giving me a better grasp of some societal mechanics, but hey, I take my inspirations whenever and wherever I get them.

I wish to note that this is not meant as a full blown apologia for Mass Effect 3’s ending. There are plenty of flaws to it and to the series in general. I cannot present the trilogy as a paragon of storytelling or game making, for it does have plenty of warts. While I do not like how it became a gay rights propaganda platform, a player had the choice to avoid it for the most part – until this installment when it was rammed through with all the subtlety of a wrecking ball. Still, it is an entertaining and interesting science fiction property that might be best served in other media than games in the future.

Something occurred to me while playing through it the first time. The sensation was much like when I saw Return of the King and it can be described as a feeling that nothing will top what I just viewed. For me, Mass Effect 3 is the last video game I will ever get excited about, much like the conclusion of The Lord of the Rings movie trilogy affected my movie viewing. Oh I will get the DLC’s and play out all the bargain games I have gotten on Steam over the years. But it feels like the end of an era in my life and the enthusiasm will never be the same, not due to disappointment but completion.

For me, that is the biggest and perhaps best ending.