“If you feel that an ending is rushed or not up to par in terms of quality, then it’s another issue, but if your complaint is that the game should have a different ending…”Wait, aren’t these one and the same?Most of the people who are “raging,” as you so eloquently put it, are only asking for a revised or expanded ending because they feel the current ending is rushed and not up to par in terms of quality.I like that you compared the gaming industry to other industries, because it makes our comparison a lot easier. One of the analogues I prefer most is that of the restaurant business.Assume that we walk into a restaurant and order an appetizer. We pay for it up front, the waiter brings it out, and it’s delicious.At the suggestion of our waiter, we decide to order an entree. We pay for it up front, the waiter brings it out, and it’s delicious. It’s so good, in fact, that we personally send a tip back to the chef, in extra for a few extra bites, which are also delicious!Then, at the suggestion of our waiter, we decide to order dessert. A chocolate cake. We pay for it up front (more than we paid for the appetizer or entree), the waiter brings it out, and it’s delicious… until the very last bite. When we slide that wonderful, coveted final piece of chocolate cake into our mouths, we are revolted to find it contains a shard of glass.Would we not be well within our right to demand some sort of recompense? We were promised something delicious, and even though 95% of the cake was the most amazing thing we’ve ever eaten, we were utterly betrayed by that final bite. Wouldn’t you be upset, too?I won’t sit here and try to argue that all gamers are handling this well. There has been a tremendous amount of immaturity from the gamers who were upset by the ending, as well as from the gamers who think the ending was fine, and the “journalists” who are simply capitalizing on the drama by inciting more anger.But we cannot dismiss or over-extrapolate an entire group of people on account of their most obnoxious and rude members.There are legitimate concerns with the ending, something evidenced by the enormous number of people who are complaining. This isn’t just some “people are looking for a fight” issue – it’s an indicator that something has gone terribly awry. As the role of the publisher increases in this industry, the disconnect between developers, journalists, and the gamers themselves becomes wider.I respect Bioware’s ability to tell a story. In fact, that’s one of the primary reasons I refuse to believe this is the ending they intended. The quality and coherence of the ending we were presented is so radically below the standards they have set for themselves with previous games (and even the 95% of ME3 that was amazing) that it’s hard to believe they truly intended for it to be the true ending.Hence the indoctrination theory: that the ending we saw is in fact, only an indoctrination attempt by Harbinger that will segue into a “real ending” DLC in the near future (most likely free with an online pass, so it serves as a mechanism to discourage secondhand sales).I don’t really need the respect or approval of game “journalists” because it was lost on me years ago. All I’m trying to say is that if you keep going around railing on the gamers who recognize this problem, you’re going to feel some backlash when we’re proven correct.

sorry joel, this article doesn’t fly in my book. the game changed the rules that have pertained to the entire trilogy in the last 10 minutes of the final act. after being advertised as a game that would take all our choices into account, and would end differently based on those decisions, it simply didn’t. all the endings are identical, none of our choices mattered, and the game is pretty much on rails for the last 10 minutes, giving you almost no choice in how it plays out. now if i may get a little spoilerific here: i’m pretty sure the last 10 minutes were all in shepard’s head, as the reavers tried to indoctrinate him. regardless, what is bioware going to do, make me pay $10 for dlc do see how it REALLY ends? gtfo. 

I have been struggling with a lot of editorial comments about gamers (from other gamers by the way) about our crazy out of proportion sense of entitlement. I just have to say that we are entitled….thus….the sense of entitlement. It isn’t wrong. I’m totally not in this fight for Mass Effect, I tired to get into this series. I really did. I’m not feeling it. Doesn’t matter because the issue is the same across the board.

Gamers have EVERY right to encourage change in medium of entertainment that they enjoy with the strongest tool they have. Money. The author originally asked if “you” would picket a movie. Well I wouldn’t but people have, and will probably continue to do so. If that movement affects the bottom dollar of the movie studio you can guarantee that the product will change as well. Another example, there was ground swell regarding a scene in Star Wars with Han Solo in the Cantina….did he shoot first or did Greedo draw first? Guess what folks…that movie got CHANGED!!!

I have the same sense of entitlement when it comes to used games. I buy about 50% new, about 50% used. In the last several months I bought Skyrim, Saints Row the Third, Deus Ex, Darksiders, and Assassin’s Creed II. Two of those titles I bought used. I wouldn’t have bought them if I couldn’t buy them used. WOULD NOT have happened. However, at least one of the titles I bought used is going to have a sequel that I’m going to buy new. I DONT CARE if the money that I spend to buy a used game doesn’t go to the creator of the game. This is the ONLY industry that can sell us a product and believes that we can’t resell that product to someone else. They already got their money from the original purchaser. The argument that you’re killing the industry simply doesn’t fly. If there are less games purchased, than those games aren’t available for resale, and the underlying market doesn’t exist without the original purchaser. Plus, I wouldn’t have bought a least one of the new games if couldn’t have unloaded some of my old games.

To all the people who argue that resale of the game is bad, what about resale of the console? I wish someone would start a rumor that for the next generation of consoles, they aren’t ending used game sales, they are ending used console sales. From this point forward all consoles sold will be tied to the first Gamertag or PSN account that it is connected to. You can transfer a new ID to your console for a mere $150.00. If you are against used game sales than you should be fine with this as well. We don’t want to injure the poor poor console manufacturers do we? Did you know that when you buy a used console not a penny of that money goes to the manufacturer?

If we as gamers are able to change what happens to our games by way of protest, then what is wrong with us doing so? RAGE ON BROTHERS (and sisters). I’ll catch up with you on the next one.

honestly i dont see how so many websites are simply assuming everyone who is unhappy and have voiced their disconfort is acting wrong, most people are not demanding anything, we are not harrasing bioware, we are not being non-sensical. This goes beyond just not liking the ending, its about what was promised from the start. Please check how many interviews, press releases, etc keep telling us how are actions will affect the ending, even the most recent ones telling us that since there is the end of Shepard’s story, they dont have to worry about whats next so they can have wildly diferent endings, another one telling us that this isnt one of those game endings where you can just say its ending A,B or C, when its exactly that!! even worse since A,B,C are pretty much the same ending.

We are entitled to voice our opinions when we are not happy with something, you return faulty products you buy, probably put a bad word to your friends when you have a bad experience with a service, you dont return to a restaurant where the food is terrible, so now why is asking for all the things that bioware explicitily told us we would get and failed to deliver, something wrong???

I feel that after spending so much money on an ending that claims to be one thing and is in fact simply degrees of the same ending is a cop out.   We were promised a “climactic ending” that would incorporate more than “1000 variables from mass effect 2 and 1″.  And yet, while the game does incorporate a hell of a lot from previous games, so much so that the entire experience changes, the ultimate ending can be achieved without any sort of previous effort.  It doesn’t matter whether you’ve invested 5 years and 180 dollars into the mass effect series, or if you just bought ME3, you have the capacity to earn any of the endings.  There is no added bonus, no effort, no sign of appreciation for the millions of dollars people have poured into a game that emphasizes playing previous games to get the full experience.  Instead, we basically spent 5 years and 180 dollars to make getting to the end a faster process.  That is the sign of a poorly developed ending that feels rushed and incomplete, and according to your rules that gives us plenty of warranty to be upset over it.

Forbes utterly trashed you in more than one way. How does that make you feel?

Forbes killed this article. At least you earned your obscure website a few clicks.

Dear Joel,

Your honesty is appreciated.  Sadly, your arguments sound as entitled as anyone.Mass Effect 3 isn’t an arthaus movie, or a Monet painting. It’s a multi-million dollar game by a multi-billion dollar company, so let’s dispense with the tired artistic arguments.  Is it art? Maybe.  Let’s stay away from that subjective debate. Here’s something we can both agree on: Mass Effect 3 is a product.  And unlike a movie, album or painting, a game can be changed through DLC. (The aforementioned can be changed by other means, but I’ll assume you’re choosing to ignore that point.)  In fact, most gamers expect developers to release DLC during the lifecycle of a product.  With this market-set expectation in mind, is it really that hard to believe that people are demanding DLC to improve/enhance the ending experience?What upset fans assert is simple: after two solid releases in the franchise, in which their decisions mattered, Mass Effect 3 offers a cheap, contrived ending where the only decision to be made is what color of explosion you see in the ending scenes.  In other words, Bioware set expectations through their prior products and subsequently failed to meet those expectations in Mass Effect 3.I don’t think we disagree on the fact that consumers are allowed to be upset.  Your fundamental premise appears to be that gamers have no right to demand any changes to a product they have purchased because it would violate the creative freedom of the people who made that game.  This is where we disagree.No one in the community of fans is holding Bioware hostage. Angry fans cannot not obtain a court order to compel Bioware to do anything.  The angry fans understand this, and have elected to take courses of action meant to cause Bioware to re-think their design choices.  This is their right as consumers, and this has happened in every industry in modern history.Your ‘open letter’ is simply a self-righteous attack on people who, having no other recourse, are trying to make their feelings known.  The smug, mocking tone of your so-called letter is astonishing, since enthusiastic gamers are supposedly your target audience.  At least your not the only gaming writer to take this view.  Self-appointed white knights of the gaming industry at Kotaku, Destructoid, and Gamespot have also felt the need to call their readers spoiled fools in all but name.I suppose you think since you insult your readership that Bioware can, and should, do the same.  So far, Bioware has responded professionally to the criticism.  (With partisans like yourself, do they even have to be rude?)  I suggest you follow their example in the future.  Your are entitled to your opinions.  You are not entitled to the gamer community taking your pretentious ‘father knows best’ diatribe seriously.

Joel, thanks, but I disagree with every point you made here.  

Unlike other media, games hold a unique abitly to be “patched” with DLC or other forms after delivery.  Thus its not unreasonable to ask for changes when I spent my hard earned money on a product to be ENTERTAINED, and I was not entertained.   

And for the record, I’m all for “Sad” endings.   I can think of a few stories I adore that have classic “bad” endings…..   Red Dead Redemption, House of Sand and Fog,  Unforgiven (by Eastwood…)

First of all, the number one rule OF capitalism, is that HELL YES we’re “entitled.” I pay money, I’m not satisfied with the service, I have every right as a participator in the capitalist system to voice my opinion. However, this was absolutely nothing like what you’ve decided to go on a high-horse, soapbox rant about. What has the gaming community up in arms, is the fact that we were promised a particular product, we were set up with expectations, and by the very company itself mind you, and none of those promises or expectations were met with the game’s ending. We may have been idealistic to have hoped that what was told to us would be consistent with what we were given, but that certainly does not mean we’re spoiled entitled brats. All in all, I certainly hope that you take a serious step back and carefully read over what you’ve said–because as someone who seems to spend a chunk of time giving their opinion, you’re awfully hypocritical when you say that those in the gaming community who are dissatisfied with the ending to Mass Effect 3 have no place expressing theirs.