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.

Mass Effect and Midichlorians

At the end of Return of the Jedi, Luke Skywalker and Darth Vader discover that the galaxy will forever remain in a cycle of endless death and destruction as the Light and Dark Sides of the Force constantly vie for control because the “midichlorians demand it.” In order to end this cycle, they both dive into the Death Star's core in order to destroy the Emperor, and in the process destroy both the Force and hyperspace in a colorful explosion that spreads across the galaxy. Fade to black; roll credits.

Obviously, that's not actually how the movie ends, otherwise Star Wars would have faded into obscurity the same way the disappointingly awful Matrix sequels dragged the first film into the mud. The prequels may have done some damage to the series, but as a whole the original trilogy remains intact as an amazing story. However, the Mass Effect trilogy of video games created by BioWare has had an ending much like the one I just described, and as you can probably guess, many of the fans are PISSED.

Let me be clear: I am not a fan of “changing the ending.” To do something like that would be a slap in the face to anyone like myself who considers video games worthy of being considered an art. I do, however, recognize when something is not of a particular quality, much as many critics out there can recognize a bad film, book, or game, many of us can recognize a poorly thought-out ending. The video gaming media has responded to the fan outrage largely by saying “suck it up” and throwing the fans' concerns back in their faces as if they don't matter. It's now time to set the record straight: the fans DO matter, and I intend to demonstrate this using the above described ending to Return of the Jedi.

Imagine that was the actual ending released in theaters back in 1983. How many people would have left the theaters entirely confused? How many people would have seen the sudden change in tone as entirely unfitting of everything up to that point? How many people would be fully insulted by the massive plot holes introduced by the sudden mention of “midichlorians,” a word up to that point never even hinted at, let alone actually UTTERED. Even in spite of the otherwise brilliant quality of the film, the ending makes much of it seem contrived in an attempt to create some incredible light show instead of bringing any meaningful closure to the story. There is no explanation of what happens to the rebels suddenly finding themselves stranded on a remote, unsettled planet, or the civil unrest left in the wake of an entire empire that has essentially had all communication and travel cut off, isolating billions, if not TRILLIONS, of citizens from trade routes critical to their planets' infrastructure.

But the real slap in the face is that word, again, “midichlorians.” What the hell is that? No explanation? No reason for why that is? Just saying “midichlorians did it?” What possible sense would that even make? Ask any Star Wars fan old enough to have been a fan before the prequels came into existence what midichlorians are, and 9 out of 10 of them likely wouldn't even answer the question. It's a topic brought up one time in one film, and was so utterly despised that it has essentially been completely written out of its fictional existence, and most critics would acknowledge that instead of trying to pretend that it somehow enriches the experience.

The fact of the matter is that video games may be an art, but much like film, they are also an industry. This is a business, for good or ill, dependent on customers, and BioWare has taken a step in this case that threatens their credibility, whether that threat is justified or not. Changing the ending is not necessary, nor is acknowledgment of whether the ending was good or bad, but accepting the fact that people are upset is not the same as agreeing with them, nor is attempting to shame them the same as telling them you disagree with them.