BioWare "Falsely Advertised" Mass Effect 3

[Tono Makt]

No, they're getting sued for false advertising, not because the ending sucked (even though it did) but because the choices that you had at the ending achieved nothing. Hell, is it even possible to fail mass effect 3? If I rushed through the game and didn't collect war assets, picking the worst choices, I would still beat the reapers.

There wasn't meaningful choices. At all.

Do you REALLY feel they deserved this? Games marketing ALWAYS promises more than the game could deliver. Why is Bioware being singled out?

Eventually some game company would be singled out with an action like this. The bigger the industry, the more easily consumers can communicate with one another, and the more possibilities for recourse make it an inevitability. It just happens to be EA/Bioware because it's close to a perfect storm.

Whether it will have any lasting effect on the industry is the question. If this complaint is actually found to have merit (a big if at this point), and Bioware/EA is found to be guilty of false advertising, then there will be noticeable repercussions. My guess is that the repercussions would come mostly in the topics of exactly what the development side of the game industry will say before a game is released, and in just how ambitious RPG's in particular are allowed to be.

Even if this is not found to have merit, you won't have the developers giving detailed interviews for quite a while. You will see the developers say something like "The ending will be memorable, and will have people talking for quite a while." and they will NOT say "You are not going to have an Ending like X." Nebulous, open ended and open to interpretation answers and statements will be the norm out of concern that they will make a promise they can't keep, and that promise will be specific enough that a legal complaint will have merit.

If this is found to have merit, then you'll have the same reaction, except this time enforced by new contracts for the developers which specifically forbid them from giving detailed answers, or that the answers will need to be vetted through an internal legal department to ensure that legal action can't be taken against them if it turns out to be a statement that is either false, or if they fall short on a specific promise.

My bet? The FTC will dismiss this complaint on the grounds that interviews are not technically advertising, similar to how "colour" is not the same as "color".

 

[Callate]

I don't think anyone goes to the BBB to check out whether a game studio is "on the level" before buying their products.

Still, I'm kind of glad to hear this, if only because it makes the negative feedback that so many people are trying to make Electronic Arts heed a little harder to ignore.

 

[tmande2nd]

I see derp and straw men being beaten up.

Really I dont want a happy ending dudes.
I want one that was not written by a pair of brain damaged dribbling high school dropouts who think that depressing equals deep.

Red Dead Redemption had a GREAT ending despite being dark.
ME3 has a BAD ending even though its dark.

We were told it would not be ending A, B, and C, that it would have changed depending on our choices, and that it would have closure.

It failed in ALL of those regards, and has more plot holes in it than grade 8 fanfiction. Which is actually INSULTING to grade eight fanfiction comparing it to ME3.
If people cant see past their ad money they get from EA, Bioware fan boyism, or artistic integrity I weep for our species.

Its bad no matter how you look at. Matrix 3 bad, the ROOM bad, BATTLEFIELD EARTH bad.

God I cant believe I ever mocked the Witcher games

 

[Xaositect]

Its a little late for this isnt it? I saw the posts circulating on forums directly quoting casey hudson and some of the other design teams blatant falsehoods months ago already.

OH SHIT! I forgot. R-TIZTIK N-TEGRAHTEE.

You see its their right as artists to stick to not doing what they said they would do. I mean how much more artistic can you get than violating your own artistic vision of the game?

But if the fans recognize your work is fucking shit and ask for the same treatment again? FUCK YOU ON ABOUT YOU ENTITLED BIATCHES!?

At the end of the day, you can even ignore the fact that Bioware didnt deliver on what they promised. You can just focus on the fact that its a confusing, disjointed, non-specific, fucking awfully written ending and if you cant accept that fact your just a tasteless moron.

Hey, if its okay to insult all the dissenters and claim they are entitled surely the reverse is fine?

Honestly, the most positive thing I can say about the ME3 ending is that it looks like some segments were cut from a single ending or series of endings that had some level of effort put into them and then mashed into one specific ending that had fuck all effort put into it. Or at least consideration.

That is unless the most hopelessly optimistic and desperate fan theory proves true.

Its an awful indictment on the ending when the best thing its spawned is the possibly completely misguided delusion that it all didnt actually happen.

But of course if the endings arent to be changed and not much in the way of addintional content to be added this summer, I cant see it as being true.

Shame some of these imbeciles came out with that bullshit artistic integrity defense, because clearly some fools at Bioware/EA think that horrific ending is actually worth defending on an artistic level, despite the fact that everyone is disappointed at just how brutally it can be eviscerated on an artistic level.

 

[Thammuz]

Fucking finally.

I don't know HOW this has taken so long to get acknowledged.

I knew that there wasn't a lot of legal ground to actually get the FTC complaint off the ground, but seriously, fuck legal ground, ethically and technically speaking we are fucking right.

I'm seriously disappointed in the gaming journalism circlejerk.

Looks like it's back to day 1 pirating if i want to have a good opinion on the entirety of a game from someone that is actually on the side of the consumer.

 

[wooty]

I still cant see what all the kicking and screaming was about. Its was a bad ending, not a serial killer murdering your family while dancing around in your mothers blood drinking his own piss and fucking your favourite pair of shoes while inserting cheese toasties into your computers disk drive with a philips head screwdriver............which was stolen.

Rant over, back to reality.

 

[Crazy Zaul]

The Better Business Bureau

oh this sounds is serious!

of Northern Indiana

Nevermind, its just one person who's opinion really doesn't matter.

 

[carpathic]

BioWare "Falsely Advertised" Mass Effect 3

The Better Business Bureau says that BioWare's promises for Mass Effect 3 do in fact constitute false advertising.

The brouhaha over the end of Child's Play drive [http://www.amazon.com/Mass-Effect-3-Xbox-360/dp/B004FYEZMQ/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1334158777&sr=8-1]? An FTC complaint? And in case that's not enough, now Majorie Stephens, the director of communications for the Better Business Bureau of Northern Indiana, has weighed in on the matter with an opinion that's certain to fan the flames even higher: All those complaints about false advertising are valid - technically speaking, anyway.

As Stephens explains on the Mass Effect website [http://www.bbb.org/blog/2012/04/mass-effect-3-is-having-a-mass-effect-on-its-consumers-for-better-or-worse/] promises, among other things, that "the decisions you make completely shape your experience and outcome," which as she notes does not leave a lot of room for interpretation. "There is no indecision in that statement. It is an absolute," she wrote. The problem is that based on the flood of virtually identical complaints, it's not actually true.

Stephens' proclamation carries no legal weight but it'll probably make a lot of aggrieved fans feel a little better about the whole thing, or at least give them some sense of validation. She also expressed hope that it might teach advertisers to take a little more care about promising the moon if they can't deliver. "The lesson to be learned here is companies should give careful consideration to how they word their advertisements," she continued. "Otherwise, there could be detrimental effects, especially in the era of social media and online forums."

"Detrimental effects" indeed. Even BioWare's late-to-the-game efforts to smooth the waters [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/116661-BioWare-Announces-Post-Ending-DLC-for-Mass-Effect-3-Updated] with the Mass Effect 3: Extended Cut DLC that will "clarify" the ending seems to have only made things worse, as fans who want a "better" ending say that mere clarification isn't nearly enough, while those who hoped BioWare would stick to its guns are disappointed that it gave in to the howling. In other words, we can expect this fight to carry on for awhile yet, probably at least until sometime this summer, when the Extended Cut DLC comes out.




Permalink

Wow..so you're not making a pithy joke and insulting a large number of your readers? How novel.

All nastiness aside, I quite appreciate the reading of this article. It is curious to see the lengths to which people are going to try and express their anger over broken promises.

 

[Flailing Escapist]

Jokes on the gamers! Now, we'll get the same exact ending to every fucking game. The safe, happy ending that nobody has grounds to complain about. Thank you, "retakers". Thank you for your entitled douchebaggery.

This isn't unexpected from the writers of series and this isn't a new phenomenon. When you get into a long series either it's made perfectly clear that you're getting into something that's uncommon or it's not and they'll have to go with the "happy" ending later. It's perfectly reasonably for any "one-shot" whether it be a movie, game or book to have a "twisted" ending because as watchers/players/readers we've only put a comparatively small amount of time into that one-shot. When people put a large amount of time in with a character or a group of characters the writers are setting themselves up to fail if they don't deliver a "happy" end. A happy ending in Mass Effect wouldn't have meant that Shepard lived or single-handedly fought of the Reapers with his fist, everyone could have died and it still could've been a "happy ending".

The ending they used for ME3 would've been fine in a number of different places. It wouldn't have caused a fuss if it had even been at the end of ME1. But when you make/ take over a series certain things are expected from you, like closure and such. Time (should) = gratification. If anything hopefully other companies will look at the shitstorm that ME3 produced and it'll remind them what they need to do as writers.

 

[Darkmantle]

I still cant see what all the kicking and screaming was about. Its was a bad ending, not a serial killer murdering your family while dancing around in your mothers blood drinking his own piss and fucking your favourite pair of shoes while inserting cheese toasties into your computers disk drive with a philips head screwdriver............which was stolen.

Rant over, back to reality.

this was most definitely a case of "straw that broke the camels back" looking at this as a singular incident, it may seem like non-sense, but when you check out bioware/EA 's track record lately (DA2), and all the other controversies that ME3 sparked (prothean DLC, tali stock photo) the ending being shit is what set off the powder keg.

basically EA kept playing with fire by abusing their fans, now they are getting burned for every past grievance, using the ME3 ending as a focal point.

 

[Karadalis]

Say... is this the first time someone went to the BBB because of hype (wich is false advertising only with a nicer word for it)?

Because if it is, it would also be the first time the BBB or someone of the BBB ever had to comment on false advertisement in video games.


Every other industry had to go through this, it just happens to be the first time the video game industry gets told off for false advertising because its such a young industry.

Well i hope this will actually have an impact on the whole "hype" that plagues so many modern games.

The gaming industry has to learn this lesson just like any other type of industry out there.

 

[Amaror]

Most game lies don't come down to something that specific, including your example of Peter Molyneux.

Well this time, the lies were really really specific, which is the reason people are pissed off.

 

[Incomer]

This is getting way out of hand. You don't sue people for making a bad movie sequels why should ME3 be any different. And if you do sue people for a bad film then F you dude, you are the reason why we can't have any nice things.

And honestly I'm wondering how will they talk me into thinking that ending which we were given has any meaning. On the other hand I'd be probably happy with some vlogs about their thought process while they were making it (coke orgy would be crash my dreams so hard ).

Was it bad? Yeah it was pretty god damn terrible but it didn't cause major outbreak of cancer or something, stop freaking out >_<

Did you read the article? It's false advertising.

If movie was called Harry Potter and the Wizard's Spitbucket, and the movie was about a vietnam veteran in a nursery home, you'd also get sued for false advertising.

Or a car claimed to be a 2011 model being actually from 2001.

So you are telling me that you din't have awesome ME experience that got screwed over by the ending? Because I've wonderful time all the way up until the very end. Honestly I was pretty happy with the lift because TIM ending seemed sucky (the actual ending somehow managed to top that). But there are some minor changes to the ending that are relevant to some stupid numbers and almost alike (stress on almost) that should make any decent lawyer satisfied and for the rest of you... those who are legit, wait for the free DLC maybe they do have some reasonable explanation and for the pirates.. well... yaaaarrrrrrr you shouldn't have seen the ending anyway mateyyy

 

[LetalisK]

The endings were shit and I support Bioware getting verbally conflagrated for putting in such a half-assed ending. That's a right and responsibility we have as consumers. But there is a blurry line to be crossed and it's where the government starts getting involved and/or fining developers for not living up to hype, even their own. As consumers we are entitled to our opinions and to voice them VERY loudly both verbally and financially if we so wish and use that as a means to try to persuade Bioware to change things. But if we start using the law to enforce our creative will on other companies, we must be extremely careful. If it can be shown that outright lies and deception were thrown out to fool consumers for a buck, then take action. But you have to also realize that this is an industry(along with pretty much every other entertainment industry) where over the top hype is the norm and often times advertised features have to be cut because of money/time or the development team or publishers dropped the ball. Do we punish these cases too? How do you differentiate between these two without a formal investigation? I'm erring on the side that the ME3's ending was an all too common case of the developer getting pressure from the publisher to meet deadlines instead of pushing them back and the ending suffered because of it. Is that worthy of legally punishing Bioware?

Editted

 

[Ziggy]

Jokes on the gamers! Now, we'll get the same exact ending to every fucking game. The safe, happy ending that nobody has grounds to complain about. Thank you, "retakers". Thank you for your entitled douchebaggery.

We don't want happy[i/] endings per se, we want meaningful endings that make sense and are affected by choice.

What you WANT is irrelevant. What you'll GET is companies playing it more safe than ever, to avoid getting sued by you whiny *insert derogatory expletive here*s.

Congratulations! You got what you wanted, though. That's all that really matters, right? This company, that you loved so much and created a series we all love, getting hit for false advertising because you all didn't like what happened. Congratulations!

Yes, everyone please stay quiet. Don't think. Don't argue. TAKE WHAT YOU'RE GIVEN.

BIG BROTHER LOVES YOU.

ignore him he's a troll, you just have to see his vastly insulting way of expressing his "OPINION" to see that he is being a troll.

Me? Him? The other guy? Bioware?

Yes... Bioware
All of this was one big troll, created together with all the gaming journalists in ordet to get a alo of traffic. Can you see it, it's all so clear.

 

[CarpathianMuffin]

I'm one of the people, apparently in the minority, that thought the ending worked from a narrative standpoint. I have no problem with people saying otherwise or voicing their displeasure, though I may disagree, but Ms. Stephens saying that there's no room for discussion over whether Bioware advertised falsely, that it's an objective fact that they did, is a load of horse shit.

 

[Lunar Templar]

The sound of a hundred "journalists"' mouths dropping after being told by a member of the BBB that they're wrong.

this assumes any of them actually care/see this to give it any thought, i'm gonna say most, to all of them won't

It seems only Bethesda can deliver quality now.

lol, yeah, if you need scenery


OT:
i was really hoping to see the end of this, yay for having to sift through MORE useless ME3 threads that are going to crop up cause of this -.-

 

[Dastardly]

The only problem I see with the statement made by Bioware is the word "completely". The decisions you make in the three games do shape the experience and the outcome(not the ending exactly, but much of the rest of it). I think this all just comes down to one interprets the word "completely" and the BBB has succumb to the loads of e-mails to the point of making this more of a story than it really should be.

That was my thinking, the decisions you made effect the game all the way up to the ending. Including whether you reach the part where you pick your ending. AND THEN YOU PICK YOUR ENDING, WHICH IS A DECISION.

If people are going to pick at technicalities in wording, then they should acknowledge that you can't play a game (almost any game) without making many decisions that effect the entirety of said game.

Try to understand though: "completely" is a pretty powerful qualifier. To indicate that your choices (not "choice," singular) "completely shape your experience and outcome" sets a very clear expectation for the interaction of choices, experience, and outcomes.

If I sell a peanut butter that my label claims is "completely fat free," and it turns out it just has 50% less fat than other brands, I've misled my customers. Now, 50% less fat is a pretty big deal for peanut butter... but that's not what I sold, is it?

The ending centered around one decision, which in no way took into account the choices the player made up to that point. It certainly wasn't "completely shaped." What's more, the game really didn't provide "outcomes" for most of the events that would have been shaped by long-running choices -- yes, your choice to side with the Quarians or Geth could shape the game's outcome, but that outcome is never expressed either way.

This isn't about whether the ending was good, or whether it was executed well. This is simply about whether or not the product lives up to the very clear promises made by its packaging.

Again, it's the difference between that hypothetical peanut butter being "Insanely Low Fat" or being "Completely Fat Free." One is a clear hyperbole, but not explicitly untrue. The other seems innocuous as a statement, and seems within the realm of possibility... but it's an outright lie.

 

[SweetLiquidSnake]

I know you report what gets views... but GOD DAMN, can we just drop the Mass Effect shit.

sorry for going off the handle but I am more than sick of hearing about this. I know I don't have to read it, but I do see it popping up every other thread made.

This makes me want to scream. Entitled douchebags, all of you. No arguments, deep down you all know its true.

Mass Effect 3 fiasco sticking around like a bad rash. I was hoping all fallout over this was over.

Where were all of you on my other post? I made one pointing out that these over-entitled fans should be labeled as "Massholes" and condemned, but the entire post ended up getting flooded with Massholes butthurt about my name calling and tried to tear me a new one.

Glad to see I'm not alone in thinking this is a dead issue.

 

[Dastardly]

Do you REALLY feel they deserved this? Games marketing ALWAYS promises more than the game could deliver. Why is Bioware being singled out?

This isn't an interview in which a developer overstates their plans for the game. And this isn't one of those crazy, immeasurable hyperbole statements, either (like "It'll leave you breathless!" or something).

This is a clear, measurable statement about what the product does. That makes it different from hype, which is often misleading but not outright untrue. Most games engage in hype-talk, but they do so carefully, and in exaggerated-but-vague terms. Why? Specifically to avoid this situation.