I may not be an official member of the movement, but I did donate to the charity drive and I have been much more active on the forums than usual in support of it.
I do think the movement has done a good thing, both for Mass Effect (and perhaps gaming in general). I very much agree with the idea (put forward by others whom I cannot remember, unfortunately) that EA has been testing the waters the past few years about just how much nickel and diming (and shoddy work in general) their customers will tolerate.
There has been a lot of grumbling about DLC and rushed releases of unfinished games, (etc.) for years now, but for the most part I think that gamers (and I include myself here) like their hobby so much that they have allowed themselves to be taken advantage of and this has led EA (and probably most game companies; I only really buy games from Bethesda, Bioware, Blizzard, Valve, and CDPR) to believe that their "most passionate fans" are obsessive neck-beards who will rant and rage about nitpicks, but who will always be first in line to buy their next shiny new toy. This movement has shown that we gamers will only go so far before we say "too far".
What puzzles me is how clueless Bioware are acting about the whole matter--as if there haven't been warning signs that a backlash like this was coming. They talk about their "artistic integrity" like we are supposed to take such statements seriously when we have been watching them (and often criticizing them) for surrendering it to corporate greed (or pandering to the lowest common denominator) for years.
Then we patiently and maturely explain our criticisms (by and large I have seen far more complaining about innappropriate behavior from the Retake movement that I have actually seen coming from it), and we get called "entitled" as if we are spoiled little children who didn't like their free toy. Well, Mass Effect 3 was not a gift (for me at least). I paid my money for it and there are expectations of quality that, yes, I--as a consumer of said product--am entitled to.
Bioware does not seem to understand how fortunate they are (or were) to have fans passionate enough to fight for the Mass Effect franchise even when said franchise's creators won't. Most companies would do anything to have that kind of customer loyalty.
So, if this movement has accomplished anything (besides some free DLC that Biwoware were probably going to charge us for), maybe it has reminded the gaming industry that they take their customers for granted at their peril.
So thanks...and Hold the Line.
Modifié par Team Value, 08 avril 2012 - 03:13 .
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