Saucycarpdog said:
http://kotaku.com/5892199/stop-thinking-youre-a-producer-former-mass-effect-designer-tells-gamers
Well, as the people who buy your games and pay for your salaries, I say we shouldn't be exploited.
Exploited?
Exploited?
Who's forcing you to buy the game? Who's forcing you to play it instead of return it? Who's forcing you to pre-order it? You, that's who.
This is the way it works:
Gamers, particularly older or naive younger gamers, feel that there's some unspoken contract regarding game studios and gamers. Borne in the decades when gamers were a very small segment of modern social strati, and constantly berated/outcast for being the minority. The persecution forged a strong relationship between gamers and publishers/studios. Since gamers all had the common trait of persecution to find common ground on, they represented a significant market force early on. Studios spoiled gamers by modifying existing projects to better suit their target audience, and gamers utilized their collective buying power to ensure worthy projects were successful.
Then gaming culture grew. It grew so much that it stopped being a small subsection of culture. It became pretty mainstream. Even now most people know a handful of people who own an Xbox360 or PS3 to play the occasional game on. It's not taboo, there's no persecution, but the culture of persecution was still there. As the subculture evolved into a real population, the schism formed between the newly-enlisted who had never been heckled for wasting their lives playing games, and the grognards who remember having lan parties with their chums. The new gamers soon outnumbered the old ones, and publishers became more and more regulated by market forces than individuals. Profit became the priority, and the amount of heart and soul that went into a game had to be jammed into it by motivated studios.
The grognards weren't (and still aren't) happy about the switch. They still feel like gamers should be treated special by publishers/studios because they still think the "hardcore" gamers or the community of fans they connect with represent some significant portion or majority of the customers. They have grown fat off the delights of being catered to and backlash at any trends which obviously point out otherwise.
This is why you get gamers getting upset because a woman tells them they should stop telling studios what to do. They feel the contract, "Gamers before profit" akin to "bros before hoes", made under times of duress, still applies. The reality is that it never applied. Demographics changed, and those rebutting are in backlash mode. Each person bemoaning BioWare over the statement believes they have the capability (or at least 'gamers' in general have the capability) to be a Producer when the opposite is true. The vast majority of people in this thread, on these forums, and especially on BioWare's forums (which is only a cesspool of inbred thought these days) are completely incapable of being a Producer. That's reality, and if gamers are good at one thing above all else, it's ignoring reality.
What's worse is that all-too-many are turning into piggish louts who insist that the story is rubbish, or that BioWare has really gone down-hill ever since ___________________. Half the people on these forums can't tell you the difference between "you're" and "your" - yet, creative demigods they are, feel they could construct a superior product de novo. Again, the reality is that the vast majority cannot. It's one thing to spot a flaw in an existing piece of work, but it's a completely different thing to spot flaws in your own work. Believe me, I know.
Of course, the
worst part of it all regarding the storyline kavetching is that
it's not the fan's story, will never be the fan's story, and they should never believe otherwise. The authors of Mass Effect made the stories mostly for themselves; because they wanted to tell them. That fans feel entitled to criticizing the story, much less berating BioWare for not changing it (after their 'wonderful' suggestions on how to fix it, I'm sure) is purely ignorant. Imagine if JK Rowling had listened to her fans; Hermione and Harry would've bunked up by the end of the second book. An author
is required to ignore their fans, otherwise the story THEY want to tell will never get told. It's the fan's responsibility to trust the author.
And if that author (or studio) starts producing stuff the fan doesn't like, it's the fan's responsibility not to buy the product. It's that simple. That's the fan's voice, and the only honest way of reviewing a product. I won't buy the next two sequels to SC2 because I don't feel SC1 was written well, and the story didn't captivate me. I bought ME3 because the previous two games did captivate me, and I've liked what I played so far.
That's all there is to it. If you feel you're entitled to anything, you're not. If you feel like you're being exploited; you're not. You just don't have the willpower to adhere to your own convictions. BioWare owes its fans effort to make a great game on its part; the form that effort takes will vary. The fans owe BioWare its honest feedback via purchases, and will only corrupt whatever relationship the influential individuals in BioWare have with the fans by calling foul over something as trivial as the OP's snarky attitude.
If you want something better, person who's currently criticizing the comment or ME3's story, DO IT YOURSELF. Until then, your best bargaining chip to get what you want is in your wallet. The best part? By telling BioWare what you think, you're saving $60. Win-win.
