Mass Effect Multiplayer

So, Bioware released some details a few weeks ago about their upcoming capstone on the Commander Shepard Story, Mass Effect 3.  Namely, they confirmed a co-op mode that affects your "Galactic Readiness."  You probably heard about it.  Maybe even wept openly, who knows.  A big chunk of the internet certainly seems to have gotten up in arms over it, so let's talk about it.

There's two arguments being made in this discussion - one, that Bioware is forcing it's customers to play a game they don't want to play, and two, that Bioware is making a radical departure from the design ethos of the Mass Effect series very late in the development cycle of the series.  I'm going to go ahead and spoil the next couple paragraphs for you - I disagree with both of these sentiments.  But let's take this apart, I wouldn't be the Reactionist if I didn't completely ruin your shit, Internet.

Bioware is not forcing anyone to do anything - they added a new mode of playing the game, and are allowing you to play as someone other than Shepard.  If you do decide to play this new mode, yes, it will improve your Readiness for the reaper invasion in the single player game, but there's something people are forgetting - playing the single player game will also improve your Readiness.  That's the whole point of the game.

What folks seem to have missed is that this is the first time you can play a different character other than Shepard.  Doesn't seem like a big deal, but Bioware has said before that Mass Effect 1 - 3 are just Shepard's story, not the entire universe's story.  They're coming back to this world, like any good story teller would, considering how much development has been put into it, and with an online co-op mode in this third game, they will be able to collect statistics on what kind of characters players are most interested in playing.  Everyone should play female Krogan, and maybe, just maybe, I'll get my long wished for Mass Effect 4 - Miscarriage Simulator.

The other argument is just as silly, if not more so - adding a multi-player mode to ME is not going to destroy the series simply because it has traditionally been a single player game.  I know this won't win me any fans in the video game world, but let me say something important - Change is good.  Look at what has happened to long standing series like Call of Duty or Final Fantasy.  They refuse to change, or do so very little, from title to title in little else besides the characters and their individual stories being told, and now they are little more than monolithic pools of stagnant, festering water.  Why would you want ME to get like that?

Whats the bigger picture in this story though?  Well, here's the thing I've been struck with - Bioware has shitty fans.  I jest, but seriously, you guys need to get a better hobby.  Following Star Wars: The Old Republic as closely as I have been has taught me nothing but contempt for Bioware's fans.  The amount of bile they are capable of is astounding.

No, the bigger story here is that the industry needs to evolve to survive, like all things, but is being held back by the gamers not letting the developers change things up once in a while.  If this is the kind of reaction Bioware, a well respected developer known for doing things differently, gets for adding a mode that might encourage a group of gamers who would never consider playing space opera into giving it a shot cause they can get another fix of their Gears of War co-op, then why would anyone else bother trying to change up their stuff too?  It's a question everyone should ask before deciding if Bioware or Square Enix gets their next $60 bucks.

Wrex.