The fact that the question even needs to be asked shows that Bioware has handled this situation quite poorly. I actually posted a bit about this in another thread. Basically, Bioware is not "looping" properly.
Looping is a process in dispute resolution where the parties rephrase what they are being told in order to make sure they understand what the other side is saying. It offers an opportunity to (a) show you
are listening and
clear up any misunderstandings in what terms of what might have been heard. Here's a brief summary of how the process should look, along with a comparison of how the process is playing out in the ME3 context.
Step 1- Initial dialogue: This is where one side asks the other what is wrong. It could be thought of as the "tell me how you feel" step.
ME3 Status: Done. Bioware came out and said "We're listenting."
Step 2 - Response: This is where the other side starts talking about how they actually feel. Properly done, these statements should also include a reason
why the person feels the way they do.
ME3 Status: Done. Look at any number of the threads discussing the situation. Some of these are obviously better than others in terms of being constructive and mature, but there is more than enough for Bioware to have heard what is being said.
Step 3 - Looping: This is the part where the initial party demonstrates that they heard and understood what is being told to them. It usually included phrases like "If I hear you correctly," or "Just so we understand each other." The purpose of this step is to verify that the parties actually understand each other. If they do, great, if not, Steps 2 and 3 should be repeated until each side is confident they have hear and understood what the other has said. Done properly, looping builds trust and respect between the parties.
ME3 Status: MISSING. Bioware is not doing this properly. All the community seems to be getting from Bioware is silence broken by the occasional repeat of "we're listening." This is not proper looping. If Bioware were actually doing this, I would have expected to see a response from someone involved saying something along the lines of "Based on what we're reading, the communities' current objections are [nonsensical ending/face import issue/MP bugs/all of the above]."
The consequence of this failure can be seen on the forums. The lack of looping means that, although Bioware might be
listening, we have no confirmation that Bioware has actually
understood what they are being told. Worse, the lack of looping also means that the community doesn't have a reference point from which to judge any statements we do get. Thus, when a tweet like "I'm seeing really good things in the EC" comes out, the community isn't really sure how to take it. Given the amount of anger and frustration the situation has engendered, the statement usually gets twisted in the most cynical way possible, which as a tendency to reinforce the pre-existing negativity.
I get the sense that Bioware is scared that they would either give things away or make people even angrier by saying they weren't changing anything. However, looping doesn't require that. All it needs is for them to come out and say something like (using one example) "If we understand correctly, you are upset because you feel Starchild removes any sense of player agency." That's it. They don't need to say if they are changing it or not. They don't need to say
how they are changing it if they are changing it, or how it fits into some master plan of theirs. They get to keep their secrecy and the community gets to see they actually understand what they are being told. A simple statement like that would go a long way towards defusing the situation, even if they don't change a single thing because it at least gives people a sense of validation that their concerns were heard.
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