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Commentary for BioWare on false advertising


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#1
JohnnyG

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Edit: Please follow the links and do your own research on these topics if you feel they are inaccurate in anyway.

Readers, this is a new thread, because the old one was locked.  I have been given permission to start a new one.  Please keep things civil!

Also, I had mentioned that I had gotten the quotes from somewhere.  It turns out they were from a thread formed by cato_84.  I just wanted to be sure he gets the props he deserves.  Thanks cato_84!

Anyhow, on to the feedback that the co-founder of BioWare requested.

Dear Dr. Ray Muzyka,

Per your request, I am providing constructive criticism for BioWare regarding Mass Effect 3.  In my mind, the biggest issue is the breaking of trust between your company and its consumers (which is manifested in many ways, the ending merely being the most poignant).

Below are quotes that were made by BioWare before the game was released.  As such, they represent a spoken/written promise by you to your customers regarding Mass Effect 3.  Artistic choices are wonderful and should be allowed, except when you are producing commissioned art where you promised it would contain certain things.

If a painter has agreed to paint a wilderness scene for me, and I have paid them based on that promise, are you saying they have the right to give me a painting of a cityscape instead, and that I simply have to accept it because their "artistic integrity" is at stake?  I didn't think so.  So while your argument for artistic choices is understandable, unfortunately the moment you began making promises to your consumers you became bound to them.

So here are some of the promises that BioWare made, and that many feel you need to correct in order to fix this problem.  I was contemplating going through and making certain sections bold, but then I realized that I would need to do that for nearly every part of every quote.  Instead, I will just let them stand and hope you guys do the right thing.

We want to believe in you again, BioWare.  Please do the right thing and don't let us down.

--

For readers of the thread, not Bioware: Here is the definition of advertising from dictionary.com since a few trolls have claimed the quotes are not really advertising...

[ad-ver-tahy-zing] noun
the act or practice of calling public attention to one's product, service, need, etc., especially by paid announcements in newspapers and magazines, over radio or television, on billboards, etc.: to get more customers by advertising.


Even if they didn't pay to have their quotes published, they still are defined as advertising by the first part of the definition.  So no matter what, it is still false advertising.

--

Update: I have shifted the quotes around so that they are in two groups, pre-gold and post-gold (which happened on 2/13/12) based on the following link...

http://www.gamespot....es-gold-6350250

As you should be aware, once a game goes gold, no futher changes can be made to it.  Thus, the statements that are post-gold were made regarding the version you now own right now (and not future DLC).  They are sorted by date (which I also added for each).

Pre-Gold

[quote]Interview with Casey Hudson (Director) 4/28/11
http://www.gameinfor...s-effect-3.aspx

“For people who are invested in these characters and the back-story of the universe and everything, all of these things come to a resolution in Mass Effect 3. And they are resolved in a way that's very different based on what you would do in those situations.”[/quote]



[quote][quote]Mike Gamble (Associate Producer) 8/24/11
http://www.nowgamer....in_bioware.html

Mass Effect 3 will shake up the player's moral choices more than ever before, even going so far as allowing the Reapers to win the battle for Earth, according to BioWare's community representative Mike Gamble.[/quote]
Edit: According to the user Our_Last_Scene, I am deceitful and nothing I say should be trusted because I was not aware that after this particular article was released that Mike Gamble posted a correction on Twitter. I am not sure how me being unaware of his statement (since I don't use Twitter) makes me deceitful, but I have edited this to include the following...

twitter.com/#!/GambleMike/status/106895746313363457

"wow, there are a lot of out of context quotes floating around the net today! yep, the reapers can win. its called critical mission failure:)"[/quote]



[quote]Interview with Casey Hudson (Director) 1/10/12
http://www.gameinfor...PostPageIndex=2

Interviewer: [Regarding the numerous possible endings of Mass Effect 2] “Is that same type of complexity built into the ending of Mass Effect 3?”

Hudson: “Yeah, and I’d say much more so, because we have the ability to build the endings out in a way that we don’t have to worry about eventually tying them back together somewhere. This story arc is coming to an end with this game. That means the endings can be a lot more different. At this point we’re taking into account so many decisions that you’ve made as a player and reflecting a lot of that stuff. It’s not even in any way like the traditional game endings, where you can say how many endings there are or whether you got ending A, B, or C.....The endings have a lot more sophistication and variety in them.”

“We have a rule in our franchise that there is no canon. You as a player decide what your story is.”[/quote]
[quote]Interview with Mike Gamble (Associate Producer) 2/2/12
http://www.eurogamer...me-people-angry

“Every decision you've made will impact how things go. The player's also the architect of what happens."

Whether you're happy or angry at the ending, know this: it is an ending.
BioWare will not do a "Lost" and leave fans with more questions than
answers after finishing the game, Gamble promised.

“You'll get answers to everything. That was one of the key things. Regardless of how we did everything, we had to say, yes, we're going to provide some answers to these people.”

“Because a lot of these plot threads are concluding and because it's being brought to a finale, since you were a part of architecting how they got to how they were, you will definitely sense how they close was because of the decisions you made and because of the decisions you didn't make”[/quote]
[quote]Mike Gamble (Associate Producer) 2/2/12
http://www.nowgamer....ry_details.html

"Of course you don’t have to play multiplayer, you can choose to play all the side-quests in single-player and do all that stuff you’ll still get all the same endings and same information, it’s just a totally different way of playing"[/quote]
[quote]Interview with Mike Gamble (Associate Producer) 2/6/12
http://www.computera...missing-in-me2/

“And, to be honest, you [the fans] are crafting your Mass Effect story as much as we are anyway.”[/quote]

Post-Gold

[quote]Official Mass Effect Website (Still there)
http://masseffect.com/about/story/

“Experience the beginning, middle, and end of an emotional story unlike any other, where the decisions you make completely shape your experience and outcome.”[/quote]
[quote]Casey Hudson (Director) 2/17/12
http://www.computera...ly-good/?page=2

“There is a huge set of consequences that start stacking up as you approach the end-game. And even in terms of the ending itself, it continues to break down to some very large decisions. So it's not like a classic game ending where everything is linear and you make a choice between a few things - it really does layer in many, many different choices, up to the final moments, where it's going to be different for everyone who plays it.”[/quote]
[quote]Interview with Mike Gamble (Associate Producer) 2/23/12
http://www.360magazi...ferent-endings/

“There are many different endings. We wouldn’t do it any other way. How could you go through all three campaigns playing as your Shepard and then be forced into a bespoke ending that everyone gets? But I can’t say any more than that…”[/quote]
[quote]Interview with Mac Walters (Lead Writer) 2/28/12
http://popwatch.ew.c...-3-mac-walters/

“[The presence of the Rachni] has huge consequences in Mass Effect 3. Even just in the final battle with the Reapers.”[/quote]
[quote]Interview with Casey Hudson (Director) 3/2/12
http://venturebeat.c...fans-interview/

“Fans want to make sure that they see things resolved, they want to get some closure, a great ending. I think they’re going to get that.”

“Mass Effect 3 is all about answering all the biggest questions in the lore, learning about the mysteries and the Protheans and the Reapers, being able to decide for yourself how all of these things come to an end.”

Interviewer: “So are you guys the creators or the stewards of the franchise?”

Hudson: “Um… You know, at this point, I think we’re co-creators with the fans. We use a lot of feedback.”[/quote]
[quote]Interview with Mac Walters (Lead Writer) 3/5/12
http://business.fina...-all-audiences/

“I’m always leery of saying there are 'optimal' endings, because I think one of the things we do try to do is make different endings that are optimal for different people”[/quote]
[quote]Interview with Mac Walters (Lead Writer) 3/7/12
Issue 108 of 360Gamer (Hardcopy only, not available online)

When asked about the science of the game being plausible

"From very early on we wanted the science of the universe to be plausible. Obviously it's set in the future so you have to make some leaps of faith but we didn't want it to be just magic in space."[/quote]
[quote]Casey Hudson (Director) 3/8/12
http://gamescatalyst...active-stories/

“The whole idea of Mass Effect3 is resolving all of the biggest questions, about the Protheons and the Reapers, and being in the driver's seat to end the galaxy and all of these big plot lines, to decide what civilizations are going to live or die: All of these things are answered in Mass Effect 3.”[/quote]

Edit: Just wanted to point out that I got these great quotes from another post that was done several days ago.  They just came back to mind after reading Ray's blog.

Edit 2: Per feedback from origamicyclone, I added the line about "Lost" to the EuroGamer quote.

Edit 3: Per feedback from IhateEA-Mask, I added the last quote regarding space magic.  I also added the definition of advertising since a few people have trolled about it.

Edit 4: Arranged the quotes into pre-gold and post-gold categories.  I also put the date the articles were written.

Edit 5: After being accused of being deceitful by Our_Last_Scene because I was unaware of a clarification tweet that Mike Gamble made, I have updated the post so that it contains that clarification from Mike. I apologize to anyone else who thinks I was being purposefully deceptive. I simply did not know that the tweet existed. I am not sure how I am supposed to somehow know every possible tidbit of information that BioWare posted on the Internet regarding ME3, but that wasn't the point of this thread anyhow. It was to point out the promises that were made to us by BioWare before the product came out, and ask that while they are working on the fix that whatever they give us meets the promises they made.

Modifié par JohnnyG, 03 avril 2012 - 09:40 .


#2
Thomas Abram

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We have locked a handful of threads on this subject due to them getting out of hand. Please keep this civil, constructive and on topic to avoid the samething happening here.

#3
Thomas Abram

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Warning, anyone from this point on who posts something that does not directly further this thread in any way will receive some sort of disciplinary action depending on their post.

Please, please, please keep this on topic and civil. If you agree, great, expand. If you disagree, great, expand. If you want to post for the sake of posting take it to reddit.

#4
Thomas Abram

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Just let Marauder Shields do his thing.

HOLD THE LINE


This is an example of a useless post that does nothing but take away from what this thread is meant to do.

Modifié par Thomas Abram, 22 mars 2012 - 10:07 .


#5
Thomas Abram

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Pruned. I don't sleep people, keep it civil, on topic and if you post make sure it furthers the discussion.

#6
Thomas Abram

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Silveralen wrote...

Thomas Abram wrote...

Pruned. I don't sleep people, keep it civil, on topic and if you post make sure it furthers the discussion.


Not to be rude, but can you be a bit more specific? I'm kinda worrying everytime I resond to something in this thread.


You have nothing to be worried about if you make sure your post doesnt land in any of the following:

- Troll
- Useless
- 1,000 other people in this thread said the exact same thing
- Anything against BSN's code of conduct

I hope this clears things up. The last thing we want to do is oppress those who actually have something useful to say.

#7
Thomas Abram

Thomas Abram
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Mesmurae wrote...

You know, it won't be long before this thread gets locked. Bioware has gone on a locking spree, closing down threads that point out their mistakes.

So... yeah.


You clearly read all of the posts in this thread including the second one informing people to keep on topic, civil and to further the thread so it doesn't get locked. Woops!