BioWare "Falsely Advertised" Mass Effect 3

[Sanguinedragon]

Is anyone else picturing Peter Molyneux just laughing his british ass off at the "Retakers" right now? Just me?

Actually I can see him and other developers going
"holy crap we might actually be found accountable for our crap!"

 

[Lovely Mixture]

It's not so much that I don't care whether or not you're upset about the game,

When you earlier asked "Can this discussion be OVER ALREADY?" You seemed to imply such.

1) .... the degree of "upsetness" being portrayed. People seem to be acting like this game's bad ending is so demanding of serious attention that it merits federal charges and complaints, as well as taking over internet polls just to vote EA as "worst company EVAR"....that's not the way an adult protests something they don't like, that's how children behave.

There different degrees of "upsetness."

1. I hated the ending, I think Bioware should change it.
2. I hated the ending, I think Bioware should be sued.
3. I hated the ending, I think Bioware should understand how we feel.
4. I didn't hate the ending, but I think Bioware should listen to the fans.
etc
There are so many that I could fill an entire page.

Just because there are some fanatics in a movement who decide that legal action is the best course of action, does not destroy the possibility of legitimate complaints.

2) .... the fact that it has continued despite Bioware already issuing statements saying that they will NOT change the endings. All this talk of "media pressure" and such is downright hilarious as it indicates that, no, you really don't get it. Bioware said "no, we're not changing the ending", ergo it's safe to say that they aren't changing the ending no matter what further pressure you try to place on them.

If you want to keep dreaming that they'll one day cave to your demands, then go for it. Just don't be upset when it never happens. Or (as I said in my last post) you could do the more logical thing and just stop giving EA your money, like I did years ago.

People aren't allowed to complain if it won't make a difference? Some people just want to be heard, is it that hard to grasp?

 

[Lovely Mixture]

And Bioware clearly isn't listening.

So go ahead, keep complaining when they've already made their decision. Then watch in awe as they refuse to change their decision,

You keep bringing this up. No one is arguing that Bioware won't change their decision.

When I said "heard." I didn't necessarily mean "heard by Bioware." People like to argue, just as I am doing so now.

 

[Sinclair Solutions]

You know, they never mentioned what outcomes would be affected by your choices. They never specifically said the ending would be affected. The world "experience" is too vague. Everyone could say that there play throughs of Mass Effect were distinct and affected by their choices until the very end, thus their "experience" of the series as a whole does fulfill the requirements of being affected by choice. Yes, the VERY ending was not affected by choices, but I don't think you could say it was false advertising.

I agree with the complaints about Mass Effect 3's ending, but this is a claim that is debatable.

 

[TheSchaef]

This is a professional opinion of someone who has no connection to the game company or the fandom, but instead makes this kind of judgement call for a living. You might try listening.

Yes, that is what's been missing from my life. I've been wandering the barren wastelands of poor judgment, when all this time, all I had to do was "try listening".

Because clearly, there are only two types of people in the world: those who think people should go to court over a video game, and people who need to "try listening".

Thanks for straightening me out on that, and for doing so with gentleness and civility rather than condescension and sarcasm.

 

[Lovely Mixture]

So what you're saying is that you're arguing for the sake of being heard....with people who are sick of hearing it?

And you don't understand how they might be just a little annoyed at this, after over a month of non-stop coverage and internet attention, and a definitive statement from the developer that says "it won't be changed"?

Then like Bioware, you could not listen if you chose to. But you keep coming back. If you don't want to argue, then don't respond, power of silence.

And it's not even been an equal argument from the start. "You just don't get it!" has been said to everyone who disagrees with the Retake ME3 movement. EVERYONE. Essentially any opposing opinion on the subject is generally just written off as someone who "just doesn't understand", even though in some cases they have presented very valid and well-reasoned opinions

And now you generalize one side People on both sides have done both valid arguments and "you just don't get it" or "you have entitlement issues" or "you're a soulless puppet of EA that is everything wrong with gaming."

and have pointed to various other games as precedent for this same sort of "bad ending" situation.

And some of us don't see this situation as the same. Whether that's relative to the product being sold is something that still interests me.

 

[JarinArenos]

Thanks for straightening me out on that, and for doing so with gentleness and civility rather than condescension and sarcasm.

You implied that the issue in question had no legal merit. I stated (albeit in a slightly caustic tone) that might want to pay attention to the opinion of someone whose career involves analyzing the merit of this sort of issue. Unless, of course, you are in a similar professional opinion and care to publish a dissenting opinion.

This does not demand that you agree with the analysis, but like armchair climatologists who call global warming a sham after a particularly cold winter, you should at least stop and recognize the opinion of someone with professional expertise.

Edit: I am not a lawyer, and don't know the laws regarding false advertising. I don't even know if the BBB opinion has any bearing on the FTC case, nor do I really care at this point (Bioware has now joined the rest of EA on my "do not buy" list along with Activision and Ubisoft, regardless of how this falls out). But if you're going to brush off a published professional opinion, at least have some way to back it up.

 

[TheSchaef]

You implied that the issue in question had no legal merit. I stated (albeit in a slightly caustic tone) that might want to pay attention to the opinion of someone whose career involves analyzing the merit of this sort of issue. Unless, of course, you are in a similar professional opinion and care to publish a dissenting opinion.

For someone keen to lecture me on the merits of giving ear to the words of others (and apparently, now stating that, a 16-page discussion notwithstanding, professional pedigree is now a prerequisite for discussing Things On The Internets), it's a curious irony that you're not showing the comprehension of a person who genuinely read the post to which you chose to direct your ill-conceived shaming campaign.

If you go back and look at the post, one of the very first things I said was that the car dealership in question had to take down their ads, and they were not shown again. This requirement was the result of legal action taken against them for the aforementioned reasons. If the legal action prompted this change, the obvious conclusion is that it had at least some legal merit. So it does not seem logical to me that one would accuse me of saying there is no legal merit, when using a comparative example that not only had legal merit, but actually prompted action on the part of the defendant, and not just a written opinion with no legal weight unto itself.

I'm not denying legal merit because I'm not bothering to wade into that debate. The point of my example is that plenty of stupid things have "legal merit", that doesn't make them not-stupid. And now we have people claiming that they expected Mass Effect to give them complete control over the outcome of the game, apparently not stopping to think that absolutely nothing happens in the game that was not first conceived and scripted by Bioware, which means that every choice, decision and outcome in the game is pre-ordained, not just the one that closes out the story. Bioware have always controlled the narrative.

 

[Undeadpool]

Hence why I included the qualifier "Probably." Also the ending wasn't "broken," it was classic, high science fiction. If that's not to your taste, that's one thing, but in no way was it "broken."

It's like a mob has gotten its hands on a glossary of popular terms, and is stitching arguments together without even stopping to consider the definitions of their favorite buzzwords.

HAW! Funny, I feel the same way...