Mass Effect is the Gaming Industry's Star Wars

I recently watched a video that made the argument for a positive side to all the drama over the lackluster (to use the understatement of the century) ending to Mass Effect 3. The argument Jim Sterling makes in the video is that, regardless of what your thoughts might be on the ending or the ENORMOUS outcry over it, the outrage, itself, is a good thing. That Mass Effect can generate such a loud and even potentially destructive response means that, regardless of the "destruction" people might see to video games as an art form or the possibly demeaning behavior of some fans, means that video games have officially made it as a legitimate entertainment industry. And, you know what? He's right.

I have argued for years that Mass Effect is the video game world's Star Wars: an epic that manages to be both a critical success as well as having, no pun intended, mass appeal. It's a trilogy with spectacular action; enjoyable, innovative gameplay; clearly identified heroes and villains; but it also has thought provoking themes; a memorable, likable cast of characters; exploration of choice and consequences; and explorations of morality beyond the simple black-and-white of "good and evil." It is, like Star Wars, not the first blockbuster in its medium, but it is one that has set a standard going forward by which others will attempt to imitate.

Of course, Mass Effect being the video game world's Star Wars, comes with the obvious downside: Mass Effect is the video game world's Star Wars. Along with all the great things about Star Wars, there is a definite dark side (once again, no pun intended) to the fandom. With that level of success, you inevitably open up a Pandora's box of criticisms, with fans who have been around longer believing themselves to be the "true fans," newer fans feeling they have a better understanding of the series, and of course, people who, no matter what is done, will always feel they had better ideas and be upset when those are not the outcome they get. There is also, inevitably, fan fiction written to "fix" the problems their writers perceive in content.

This is all, normally, manageable, as in the case of the Star Wars prequels, which are generally seen as of significantly less quality than the original trilogy, but still accepted, if somewhat begrudgingly, as canon. Individual complaints about midichlorians, poor acting, excessively padded screenplays, too many digital special effects or what-have-you are ultimately pushed to the fringe and the movies themselves become a central part of the Star Wars universe. This is, largely, the case with Mass Effect, too, with one small caveat: the ending is SO poorly written that even professional writers have come out claiming it completely misses every quality that an ending is supposed to have. Endings being so pivotal to a story, of course, as well as the fact that the ending itself is the last thing we experience in a story, have caused the fervor to achieve critical mass. No where did Star Wars ever have an ending that was literally in dispute. People may not have liked where a film finished, but it was never so bad and so vague that absolutely no one can agree on any in-universe facts about it. In fact, one of the most popular theories about the ending is that NONE of it actually happened, and that it's all something the protagonist essentially dreamed. When what is now known infamously as the "Dallas Ending" is a better ending than what you have, you KNOW there's a problem.

If my feeling is correct that this is the game industry's Star Wars breakthrough, that leaves many things up in the air. If this is the response that comes out of it, where does it lead from here? Do video games now enter a sort of dark age where no developers venture further out to develop compelling stories? Do we never see anything even remotely like Mass Effect EVER again? As always, only time will tell, but I fear we may be entering a period when some of the greatest fiction in the world could be held back because no one is willing to stake their careers on a dream. I am hoping that there are creative and enterprising developers out there who will pick up the pieces and continue to bring forth the world of gaming into new and wondrous experiences.