Aucune réponse à ce sujet

[Drewjn]

I would like to mention first that this is purely my opinion. In
this post I also will try not to insult, slander, or make any claims.
This is purely to provoke thoughts on the matter of the arguement of
gaming as an art form. Also, I did post this initially as a blog, but finally I am allowed to post.


When you look up the Mass Effect 3
controversy on any search engine, the most common issue that you see
is the argument of the game as a piece of art.





Before speaking of promises made,
expectations, who owes what, or even the quality of effort made,
there is one question that needs to be considered first and foremost,
“What do you define as art.”




Think back in history, or even look
around you. Is art not speculative? What of the thought 'beauty is in
the eye of the beholder?' It seems easy to forget that what is
considered as art in a community, whether you call it trends or taste, changes by
the generation, by the year, even by the minute. So the case is that
the designation of art is dependent on the opinion of the viewer. Now
think in relation to what you see on boards all over the net, as
there are a significant number of people that agree that the ending
was bad.

-------------




So now what of the goal of Bioware as a
company?




Is it not to maintain customer loyalty
and to gain profit? If so, then the status of the game as a piece of
art is again entirely dependent on its reception by the players, IE
the consumers. On the other had what of the concept of artistic freedom by
the developers and the writers? What is easily forgotten is that
though they may not owe anything to the players, they are responsible
to follow through with what they had promised, and more so if they have
respect for their own creation, by also holding true to what they
made. First and foremost, they were hired to ensure the quality of
their work. So in anticipation after the previous installments, the promises
made prior to this game, and the story that laid the foundation to
this game; now the question is, “has Bioware and the ME3 team
delivered on their promises?” In regards to game play, almost any
fan, old or new, will give you a definitive yes; however, consider
lasting impressions, what matters most is not just the journey, but
its beginning and end.




What the community is angry about is
just that. Like with reading a good book, what will keep you reading
the artist's works is if you enjoy it and accept how they ended it. I
personally love stories and accept even the most negative or
bittersweet stories, as long as it does justice to the story and the
characters. This is what keeps me going back to authors I like. I may
not always agree, but I respect their views and choices in their story.


-------------------




Now here is the final issue to the
debate on art. What kind of media is the Mass Effect franchise?




It is a game that prioritizes a
player's free choice. Bioware had given us a magnificent option to
play our own character, to go by our own style. With the singular
ending given (excepting the color variance) no control of the ending
was allowed and with this, we felt betrayed from this loss of choice.








Now allow me to give one comparison:




One of the earliest progenitors of this
style of gaming was the original Deus Ex for playstation 2. We were
given the chance to play in extremely different ways, honestly change the way
people think, their actions, and even the entire course of the game.
I have experienced three endings on the path I took and they were
varied, and all of them were controversial. I also loved every minute
of it. Most importantly, not one of them was a “happy, sappy
ending.”

In one case, all technology was destroyed, and the entire
civilization was given an entire reset. Another ending was where you
decided to become supreme dictator and control the major evil in the
game, thus hold everything in the palm of your hands. Last ending you were
given an option to transcend humanity and bind with a true AI,
becoming a true God from a machine (Deus Ex Machina), of course this
was a scary thought as you do not know if your character is still
you, or something more sinister. Now, I wonder, does any of this
sound familiar? Most importantly, each of them had different
objectives to reach it, and different scenes and results.




---------------------




As for the actual ending of Mass Effect 3, there are
articles and posts that already hit all of the main points and
brilliantly argue all of its obvious shortcomings.




--- Spoiler ---

I have only one addition to this I
would like people to consider. In ME1 with the Illos mission, if you
honestly think a crew of 30 to 50 (Normandy could not fit that much
more) people can restart an entirely new population on an unknown
jungle planet, even ignoring the fact that the ship crash landed and
the normal disease and death rate of being on an unknown frontier
would usually entail, then the ending of Mass Effect 1 would have
been with the crew finding an entire civilization of Protheans. Even
if you ask anthropologists, scientists, w/e, it takes a significant
size of a population to allow growth and survivability without major
genetic defects.

--- End Spoiler ---







I know it is rude to say, but whoever decided on this ending.... what
were you seriously thinking? Our arguments as a community is not
necessarily about having an ending where everything is perfect. What
we want is either personalization or at the very least, an ending
that makes sense and does the series justice.

Bioware, you gave us a "Choose Your Own adventure novel" (anyone
remember Goosebumps?) and after a story of over 3000 pages long, and
surviving up to the end, you later show us that every road you take still leads to
page number 3,007 "Everything is destroyed, have a fun light show,
Reapers leave, and almost every choice you made means nothing as we will
destroy everything you worked hard for anyways. Oh and have a nice day."


I have bought bioware games, since the time of Neverwinter Nights, maybe longer. I still love Mass Effect 3, and enjoyed every bit of the franchise (save the ending) but I hope you guys understand why there is such an uproar in the community. Personally I also understand that an ending can not be made in a few days, and that the situation is hard on both Bioware and EA. I wouldn't even mind waiting a year for more content, all I really worry about is if the company even takes the players seriously.