@Attvck01 Well, when you say starting a "new gaming industry" outside of the established it basically means that both A) women should accept defeat in the industry and move out, which says something more about the men in the industry than the women, and B) Such a gaming industry would be equal in every measure to a male-dominated industry, such as the arguments made for "separate but equal" before the Civil Rights Movements of the 1950s
I find these comments interesting because a large portion are reflecting the "privilege" Gaider was talking about. The truth is that in the Entertainment industry in general we see so much misogynistic and sexist behavior yet we don't acknowledge it because then all of us who are posting on this board, who I would venture to say are those target Straight Males for the most part, wouldn't get everything our way all the time. I love scantily clad women! I love the choices presented in games that appeal to me, too! But when we get down to it, I love the gaming industry more, and I in no way opposed to changing these tendencies to widen our audience. Why can't we have booth babes of both sexes? Why is it a problem if we have strong, representative female AND male protagonists a la Mass Effect? We need to broaden our perspectives, and many of the arguments I'm seeing here don't make me angry as much as they make me sad. It's ignorance for the most part. Good article.
SPOILER!!!! Okay, seriously stop reading. I don't wanna ruin anything, but hey, at least I kept Earth from being devastated in mine. I don't think they will change the endings, but the only thing that made me sad was not knowing what happened to my squadmates. Maybe I was RP'ing too hard, but I really just wanted everyone I cared about to be okay. I mean, the main reason I didn't destroy all synthetics was because of EDI! If BW decides it wants to give fans that closure, or a different ending, I think it's really up to them. After all, you can't argue that they shouldn't change it because of others because they are the artist and get mad when they decide to change it for the fans. I mean, after all, isn't it the decision of the artists? -Plus, I've read interviews where they said they engineered the ending specifically to get people to talk. I personally think the ending sequences are beautiful, but I wanna know what happened to my peeps!!
I think what really upset me was not being able to see what became of my squadmates afterwards. I don't necessarily want them to change the ending, just add something in where I can learn what happened to the people that Bioware caused me to care about. I don't think that's asking a lot.
I think the real contention with a game like this is that the great thing about Mass Effect was that gamers had choice. I mean, it IS called Mass EFFECT. We go through the entire series and feel like we are playing OUR story, which I think is what Bioware wanted. With all of these decisions left up to the player, it is easy to get lost in the idea that WE somehow run the game. However, I also don't think we need to cry moral outrage when fans express a desire for a different ending, or believe that they have some kind of say in what the gamemakers do. There are a few reasons. First, this is just a symptom of the change games are going through right now: from being deemed nothing but a mass product to art. Just 15 years ago, games would have been seen more as a product subject to the say of consumers as much as a new vacuum cleaner that is deemed defective. Now, however, games really are much like art, and even more so like film. If we see games as becoming cinematic interactions for players, however, we also get in to another problem: WHO has the final creative say when these games are made? We know that films have often had interference from their respective studios (such as the version of Bladerunner first released in theaters- complete travesty). So now we need to know who in the game's production gets to say "no, it ends like this".
But I digress. My second point on why people should not be upset by the minority petitioning for a change is that this "problem" just shows that, in the grand scheme of things, Bioware was incredibly successful with this franchise. People became so invested in the story and characters that they felt let down by the lackluster, terrible ending. I personally was moody and upset for 2 days after finishing the game. However, I know I shouldn't meddle in the affairs, or we might set an incredibly dangerous precedent.
This article brings up an interesting argument that goes far beyond the realm of gaming. Sexism has existed, and will exist, forever. We can minimize it, limit it, etc. but as long men and women are different someone is going to make a caricature of those differences, and so was the birth of Duke Nukem. I mean, look at the guy's name. I think the article has a good point there. Also, I love that this rampant sexism hasn't been brought to the forefront with the bajillion japanese-made games that are, to me, worse because it's not meant to be funny or ironic in those games; it's just what they think gamers will buy. And news alert: they're right. We, as consumers, need to take a stand if we believe something is wrong, which I don't necessarily believe about this game, or else companies will say "Hey, guys like gazongas and the physics technology in DOA and Ninja Gaiden, let's ramp it up some more!" This is how the world works: they see gamers demanding it, so they supply it.
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