Over three games EA & Bioware have managed to build a galactic following for their star traveling RPG franchise that’s just as big as the universe in which it takes place. The Mass Effect series, from the start, presented an original perspective on what an RPG could be. The series has effectively merged the third person shooter with the depth of an RPG. Bioware has also found a way to keep players fully engaged in their games narrative. For anyone who has followed the Mass Effect franchise, things like player choice and character upgrades have likely kept you connected to the adventure. In Mass Effect 3 all those things return with improvements, but EA & Bioware have missed a major calculation with the release of Mass Effect 3, the players connection. The online uprising against Bioware, which has raised a huge amount of money for charity, is actuality a huge accomplishment for the developer. The collection of fans that have ravaged forums and blogs around the web represent how invested and connected players are to the franchise.

No other game carries players across multiple versions, still allowing them to keep their original character intact. Or allows the choices you make during gameplay to directly affect the narrative. Commander Shepherd’s story in the Mass Effect series, is a personal one that connects with each individual person who plays the game. The outrage over the third games plot holes and ambiguous ending is not only driven by what some consider poor writing, or missed narrative opportunities, alone. But by a community of gamers who have experienced a deeply emotionally and connected gaming journey, but expected something different for the conclusion to their story. Other games with an equivalent following, have had worst endings and even worse writing, but aside from a few small groups, the complaints didn’t reach very far. However, Mass Effect 3 has been the only game in history to ever have such a huge backlash because of a developer’s creative choices. The choice that really hurt Bioware with Mass Effect 3, was the one to allowed players to become so immersed in the games universe. Bioware has done what every developer wants to do, but few have achieved on the same level. They have created an experience so engaging that ending it has become a risk, let alone ending it properly. Some may say gamers don’t have the right to request a new ending to a game they purchased. Though I agree with honoring a person’s creative integrity, by design, Mass Effect is not a series created by Bioware alone, it’s the fans that made the franchise what it is today. Also, a game whose story, gameplay, and characters are meant to be a representation of the players playing them, opens itself up to what the player thinks should happen at the end of their personal journey; an issue I’m sure Bioware will find hard to remedy. We are all Commander Shepherd, and have our own idea of how the galaxy should be saved, hopefully there are some similarities between what we all want. Kudos to Bioware for creating such an amazing franchise, however, sometimes things get so big there's no good way to bring them to a close, or you forget what fans may be expecting which in some ways is what has happened with Mass Effect 3.