Mass Effect 3 Petition Raises Funds For Charity

Andy Chalk

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Nov 12, 2002
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Mass Effect 3 Petition Raises Funds For Charity


Outraged gamers are throwing some serious money at the Retake Mass Effect - Child's Play donation drive, a way to raise funds for charity while calling for a "better" ending to Mass Effect 3.

Let me be clear right from the get-go that I've just started playing Mass Effect 3, so I have no idea how it ends. But the howls of outrage are impossible to miss; for whatever reason, an awful lot of gamers seem mighty unhappy about the way the trilogy wraps up. For the most part it's just forum noise, but one fan decided to actually do something about it by launching Retake Mass Effect - Child's Play [http://retakemasseffect.chipin.com/retake-mass-effect-childs-play], a combination petition/donation drive which is equal parts silly and solid.

The silly side of the coin is what first leaps out at you: a "respectful request" for a better ending to Mass Effect 3. The petition acknowledges that "it is the right of the writers and developers of the Mass Effect series to end that series however they see fit," but then immediately criticizes them for not ending the series as the angry gamers see fit. It calls for a better explanation of events, "especially with regard to the planets, races, and companions detailed throughout the series," and "a heroic ending which provides a better sense of accomplishment."

"To this end, we donate to the 'Retake Mass Effect 3' Child's Play Charity drive in lieu of our signature to this petition, in order to establish our sincerity, our love for these games, and for the Mass Effect universe," the petition concludes. "We thank you for your consideration."

And that brings us to the solid. Roughly $33,000 has been raised for Child's Play so far, which is a hell of a pile of money for a very worthy cause. With the donation drive set to continue until April 11, it seems likely that pile will get a whole lot bigger before all this nonsense is over.

This puts me in a bit of a tricky spot. I want to point and laugh at the petition, but I also want to congratulate everyone involved for doing such a wonderful thing by literally putting their money where their mouths are. What am I supposed to do here? Am I really going to have to throw a thumbs-up at something so patently ridiculous?

I suppose I am. So congratulations and thank you to everyone who contributed [and contributes] to the cause. I think your demand for a Mass Effect 3 rewrite is beyond ludicrous, but your willingness to get behind it with something worthwhile is very admirable. More information about the Retake Mass Effect - Child's Play donation drive can be found on BioWare Social Network [https://www.facebook.com/DemandABetterEndingToMassEffect3#%15/DemandABetterEndingToMassEffect3].


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Temko Firewing

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May 2, 2011
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i've gotten 2 of thje 3 ending so far and i have to say i, to am, sadly disapointed in them. Not so much as HOW it ends, as to how they wrap it up. it's all left..
BLANC. No info on what happens to your compansions (Does tali get back to the floatila somehow???) does Liara fall in love with someone else, does..... and so on. So amny blanks. i dont mind the way it wrapper it up for shepperd (ultimate sacrifice etc...) but ido mand hte overall full-shop-no-info ending. thats not mass effect. thats shit that i'd expect form Me2. and even that had a more filled ending then this.

but kudos to those who donate to charity in the hope it will get us a..patch? DLC? something to add an aditional ending.
 

Fappy

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Andy... once you finish the game you will understand. I promise.
 

gigastar

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Sep 13, 2010
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Im reminded of this Nerf Now comic. It says pretty much all i need to on this subject.



Though i have to give credence to how quickly the fans shifted from... uh... "Boycotting" ME3 for day 1 DLC to literally upending thier wallets and outright begging for a different ending.
 

Rhys95

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Hell, I didn't even play the game and I was disappointed in the endings. They should start an "Occupy the Citadel" they worked well.
 

Fappy

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gigastar said:
Im reminded of this Nerf Now comic. It says pretty much all i need to on this subject.



Though i have to give credence to how quickly the fans shifted from... uh... "Boycotting" ME3 for day 1 DLC to literally upending thier wallets and outright begging for a different ending.
I don't think the community is a hive-mind. While I am sure there is plenty of overlap its unfair to say the same people who swore off Bioware due to Day-One DLC are the same people who want a new ending for the game.
 

JeanLuc Awesome

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Thanks Andy for showing both sides of the argument and not completely taking one side over the other, this is how an article is written.

I won't spoil anything for you and I'll be the extremely vague with my words, my problem with the endings is that there are way too many plot holes and way too many inconsistencies with what has already been established in the ME universe, especially the DLC "Arrival".

Maybe a rewrite isn't the way to go but look at Fallout 3 with it's broken steal DLC, that changed the ending.
I'm sure Bioware will want to please both those liked it and those who didn't, either a work around or maybe an "alternate" ending.

Nonetheless the Charity itself is a great cause.

@gigastar
LOL, not saying they did but like the comic says if they planned it, they're marketing gurus.
 

cyber95

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Now I haven't even played it yet, and perhaps the ending is really terrible or whatever but isn't this a bit... unreasonable? I mean, it's not quite like the Fallout 3 ending which they basically just had to add a few more pieces of dialogue for letting other people enter the chamber o' death, it's like... the entire game supposedly leads up to the ending, doesn't it? Isn't basically everything that happens tied into the end of the game? Perhaps that's being overstated a bit but it doesn't seem like it'd be feasible to do that kind of work.

Once again, I haven't played it, so I don't know exactly how bad it is, but certainly it can't be so bad that people are asking this ridiculous amount of work for it.
 

Fappy

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cyber95 said:
Now I haven't even played it yet, and perhaps the ending is really terrible or whatever but isn't this a bit... unreasonable? I mean, it's not quite like the Fallout 3 ending which they basically just had to add a few more pieces of dialogue for letting other people enter the chamber o' death, it's like... the entire game supposedly leads up to the ending, doesn't it? Isn't basically everything that happens tied into the end of the game? Perhaps that's being overstated a bit but it doesn't seem like it'd be feasible to do that kind of work.

Once again, I haven't played it, so I don't know exactly how bad it is, but certainly it can't be so bad that people are asking this ridiculous amount of work for it.
The last 5 minutes come out of nowhere. You could literally change the last 5 minutes to anything else and it would have the same amount of logical build-up... that is to say, none. It wouldn't be quite as easy as Fallout 3, but it is certainly feasible and lacks any kind of concrete foreshadowing that you would need to worry about.
 

JeanLuc761

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gigastar said:
Im reminded of this Nerf Now comic. It says pretty much all i need to on this subject.



Though i have to give credence to how quickly the fans shifted from... uh... "Boycotting" ME3 for day 1 DLC to literally upending thier wallets and outright begging for a different ending.
Here's the thing though. Even if the "true' ending becomes a paid DLC and everyone rushes to get it...that's only a short-term gain. Bioware's brand loyalty has been utterly shattered for a lot of people (including myself), and I know they're losing thousands of fans by the day.

I mean think of this. We were promised a game with a conclusive ending that would answer all our questions. We were promised this CONSTANTLY over the last year, from several different people. And you know what we got? We got an ending that not only doesn't make sense, but asks more questions than I started the game with.

And if the heavily supported "Indoctrination Theory" is right, that means Bioware willingly shipped a game without an ending. We paid for an ending, and they didn't give it to us. That's unacceptable.
 

McMullen

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Or people could have just paid attention and realized that the pre-launch news surrounding the game didn't bode well for the game itself, and waited to hear what everyone else said about it after the launch. If you bought the game and are unhappy with it, that's your own damn fault. I wanted it, I heard the news stories, I decided to wait, and now I'm laughing my ass off at all of you who thought you absolutely had to have it.

This from a guy who thought ME1 was the best thing ever, and once played ME2 all the way through 4 consecutive times before playing another game.
 

Pandabearparade

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Andy Chalk said:
I think your demand for a Mass Effect 3 rewrite is beyond ludicrous,
You admitted that you haven't finished the game, so you have no idea what the ending is. Seems like that would be relevant to how "ludicrous" this demand is.
 

gigastar

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Sep 13, 2010
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Andy Chalk said:
Outraged gamers are throwing some serious money at the Retake Mass Effect - Child's Play donation drive, a way to raise funds for charity while calling for a "better" ending to Mass Effect 3.
This is just a warning for you, expect flames from the Bioware forums.

They arent pleased.

http://social.bioware.com/forum/Mass-Effect-3/Mass-Effect-3-Story-and-Campaign-Discussion-Spoilers-Allowed/Idiot-Contributor-to-Escapist-Magazine-Sneers-at-RetakeMassEffect-campaign-9933761-1.html
 

crimsnking

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it wouldn't be difficult use some stock photos for the characters, bioware knows how to do that, add some music and a little blurb about if they are still screwed or not.
 

Ilikemilkshake

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cyber95 said:
the entire game supposedly leads up to the ending, doesn't it? Isn't basically everything that happens tied into the end of the game?
No that's the point people are making, the entire game (and the entire first two aswell i might add) have absolutely nothing to do with the ending. Aswell as the fact there are plot holes and very obvious issues with established cannon.

I could describe the ending in great detail and it would spoil absolutely nothing else in the game because the end has no connection to the rest of the game.

Im not saying the ending is particularly bad, there have been worse endings to things but the thing that is annoying about it is that its in complete contrast to the entire design philospophy of the rest of the trilogy...

Im not saying it should be rewritten, im not even sure how they would do that but it was certainly disappointing anyway.

Although whilst playing the final part, i was thinking alot of the things mentioned in the Indoctrination Theory, so that could always clear some things up, although the lack of any closure still doesnt mean the ending suddenly stops being disappointing.
 

intheweeds

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"Is this the only charity gamers have ever heard of?"
was my first thought after reading this. Then I thought: "Wait a minute, how expensive is it really to accomplish thier goal of giving video games to kids in hospitals?"

So I crunched some preliminary numbers. Bear in mind this is approximate, but it's still pretty telling.

If you add this $33,000 to the money Desertbus has raised over the years you arrive at a sum of $649,753.57. (that doesn't include desertbus 4 - I couldn't find the final tally for that year.)
Desertbus wiki Page [http://wiki.loadingreadyrun.com/index.php/Desert_Bus_for_Hope]

With that you can buy 1916 XBox 360 250G bundles(comes with Halo: Reach and Fable 3, a nice selection) at 338.98 Canadian (after tax).
XBox Bundle Link [http://www.futureshop.ca/en-CA/product/microsoft-xbox-360-250gb-halo-reach-fable-iii-console-bundle-r9g-00049/10182217.aspx?path=b17b245be34ef2c5232fe454c858cb7ben02]

Okay in Canada there are approximately 1365 hospitals [http://wiki.answers.com/Q/How_many_hospitals_are_there_in_Canada] total(this number was tough to arrive at I visited a bunch of sites which all varied until I settled on using this middle of the road answer as my approximation). We can assume that 10%(136) of those are for the elderly or otherwise do not admit children. We can also assume that 10%(136) of those( i think this is a high estimate, but whatever) are children's hospitals and so will have a greater need.

So we now have 1093 'normal' hospitals and 136 'Children's' hospitals. Lets buy the childrens hospitals all five bundles. They need it more. So we need 1093 consoles for the 'normal' hospitals and 680 consoles for the 'Children's' hospitals.

We need a total of 1773 consoles to give video games to every children's ward in all of Canada. Using ONLY the desertbus and this money we accomplish this goal and have 146 extra bundles. I suppose we could give them to the old people?

MATHEMATICAL!
 

McNinja

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Sep 21, 2008
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Andy Chalk said:
Mass Effect 3 Petition Raises Funds For Charity


Outraged gamers are throwing some serious money at the Retake Mass Effect - Child's Play donation drive, a way to raise funds for charity while calling for a "better" ending to Mass Effect 3.

Let me be clear right from the get-go that I've just started playing Mass Effect 3, so I have no idea how it ends. But the howls of outrage are impossible to miss; for whatever reason, an awful lot of gamers seem mighty unhappy about the way the trilogy wraps up. For the most part it's just forum noise, but one fan decided to actually do something about it by launching Retake Mass Effect - Child's Play [http://retakemasseffect.chipin.com/retake-mass-effect-childs-play], a combination petition/donation drive which is equal parts silly and solid.

The silly side of the coin is what first leaps out at you: a "respectful request" for a better ending to Mass Effect 3. The petition acknowledges that "it is the right of the writers and developers of the Mass Effect series to end that series however they see fit," but then immediately criticizes them for not ending the series as the angry gamers see fit. It calls for a better explanation of events, "especially with regard to the planets, races, and companions detailed throughout the series," and "a heroic ending which provides a better sense of accomplishment."

"To this end, we donate to the 'Retake Mass Effect 3' Child's Play Charity drive in lieu of our signature to this petition, in order to establish our sincerity, our love for these games, and for the Mass Effect universe," the petition concludes. "We thank you for your consideration."

And that brings us to the solid. Roughly $33,000 has been raised for Child's Play so far, which is a hell of a pile of money for a very worthy cause. With the donation drive set to continue until April 11, it seems likely that pile will get a whole lot bigger before all this nonsense is over.

This puts me in a bit of a tricky spot. I want to point and laugh at the petition, but I also want to congratulate everyone involved for doing such a wonderful thing by literally putting their money where their mouths are. What am I supposed to do here? Am I really going to have to throw a thumbs-up at something so patently ridiculous?

I suppose I am. So congratulations and thank you to everyone who contributed [and contributes] to the cause. I think your demand for a Mass Effect 3 rewrite is beyond ludicrous, but your willingness to get behind it with something worthwhile is very admirable. More information about the Retake Mass Effect - Child's Play donation drive can be found on BioWare Social Network [https://www.facebook.com/DemandABetterEndingToMassEffect3#%15/DemandABetterEndingToMassEffect3].


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TO quote someone who left a Facebook post: "You claim that it is beyond ridiculous and yet freely admit you have no clue what people are talking about and criticising because you haven't finished the game?

And yet you think you somehow have the right to laugh and make snide comments about the subject?

The subject as said you know nothing about?

Really?

Finish the game, then give us your honest opinion on everything.
If you STILL think the drive to change the ending at that point is "beyond ridiculous" then we will at least have some respect for you while we disagree.

Until then you really should have just stuck to the facts in reporting this instead of putting in your clueless opinion."