What if EA Indoctrinated All Their Fans? (Mass Effect 3 Conspiracy Theory)

Mass Effect 3's storyline, changed at the last minute, may have originally had more in mind than it was allowed to say. Check out this article which discusses the cut content and what gamers should know about its meanings, as they may have been the original message the work delivered to the player's psyche.

[PhiMattic]

Yeah I have wondered if this conspiracy has been true since I first saw the original ending.

[Derekvinyard13]

EA is making a lot of headlines lately, I do believe that some games cut content on purpose to make people buy dlc

[1nsaint]

Sadly they do. Day 1 DLC is a good example

Even worse, some games even already have the content on the disc. But you need to pay to unlock it.

Next time you download DLC and you see the download is only a few kb's (108kb or 10.8kb or something) it means the content is already on the disc and you're just downloading a license.

[Derekvinyard13]

Why I miss the good old days :-( ps2 N64

[Sovereign59]

Unfortunately, no, Indoctrination Theory is not true. Bioware had the chance to claim this idea as their own and release it as DLC, and as "evil" as post-ending DLC usually is, this would be one case where myself and I'm sure many others wouldn't have minded paying extra because it would have meant that those original terrible endings would not have been canon.
Supposedly, in mid-late 2011 Casey Hudson was praising Deus Ex: Human Revolution on Twitter. When he and Mac Walters decided to lock themselves in a room to write the ending without peer review, Casey tried desperately and unsuccessfully to take what Deus Ex did with its endings, and make them fit to Mass Effect. What was forged? 10-15 minutes that completely negate everything awesome about everything that transpired in the entire trilogy beforehand. 1 year later and I am still bitter.

And is that Born of Osiris album artwork as the photo for this article? Pretty sure it is... but why?

[MacDonagh]

I'm glad that the IT isn't true. It was probably the biggest rationalisation in gaming history. Don't get me wrong. I think that the IT was more coherent than the original endings but that's because the original endings were so badly written; even an extended cut couldn't salvage it because the premise of the entire situation is so weak.

I just found it sadder that a lot of the ME fanbase would've preferred if what took place was just a prolonged hallucination than what actually happened. It sucks that it ended that way but we have to live with it now. I'm done with the franchise and EA at this point anyway and that's what really kills me. I loved the Mass Effect universe but there is nothing that will bring me back to it.

[tristanwerbe]

Synthesis is evil

[MacDonagh]

I chose the synthesis ending because it was the only option to save everybody and stop the cycle. I was aware of the trans-humanist theme running through it but I chose it anyway because the other options were just as terrible. You choose the blue ending and you take on the role of the benevolent dictator. You choose the red ending and you destroy the Geth if you haven't already destroyed them.

Ultimately, all the endings are evil.

[JRivera92]

EA was all like "Come to the Dark side, we have cookies!" I wouldn't be surprised if they deadass tried to do it though. It IS EA...

[Romudeth]

Interesting theory lol

[Godmars290]

o__o

The Dark Energy ending was that Dark Energy was destroying the galaxy, making sun become unstable as in the mission you had to stay in the shade, and that Reapers forestalled the build-up via the Harvest. That's why Humans became important in ME3: a Human Reaper would have stopped the Harvest cycle and saved the galaxy.

But in regard to this article's title, yes, EA/Bioware did indoctrinate/brainwash fans of the series. By focusing on it as a media vehicle rather than a simple game they created a situation where they could peddle any amount of crap and people would buy it. Square's done the same thing with FF.

[Hitman0769]

Wish I could disagree with this. Final Fantasy's stories haven't made much sense at all for a long time. It's a real stretch to attach their metaphors to reality, which is sad because FF7 and FF6 were very direct and meaningful pieces that influenced the world perhaps as much as a DaVinci painting or moreso.

[Tzuno]

Are you kidding me? Of course they indoctrinate all, i have a friend that bought all the dlc and is obsessed with mass Effect. Me i just played the game finished it and now is collecting dust.

[DigitalSmoke]

Its true.

Just look at the clean washed gutted emotionless "Synthetic" people you meet all over the place, they are the essence of dead men walking, and they don't realize because they don't feel it themselfs, its crazy.

More and more are emotionaly surpressed, feelings are a bad thing in our soceity, life is bad!

When you start pouring cocacola mountaindew or what sizzy pop bullshit for drink, and eat weird mixed mashed up meats, covered with unidentified sauces that hold additives that clearly mess with your brain, pizza's and other foods that sloooowly kill your emotions, your dead but your heart keeps pounding, and you will follow the rules and lines setout in this world, to the tee!
Because your personal compas died, your will!

So all you know what to do is follow what some clown tells you, and this clown is following what he's been fed, and the book that he read was writen by somebody who wants to control you, the public.

Eat Fresh uncanned vegi's and drink water for 4 weeks, no sauce no bullshit, Watch What Happens!

And these rulez are made by people who want to inslave you, who want to dominate you, who want to be in complete controll.
And i don't mean the avarage "synthetic" cop or mall security who doesn't even know if he's alive, "He just Does He's Job" without thinking, sensing or feeling, he's dead already.

I mean the handfull of Rockefeller and Saxes type of familys, they reach across the world, and they mess with your daily lives.

The term Wake Up!... is used to much, but you should though.

[v0rt3x]

They could still have another character in Mass Effect 4 and say: Shepard has been indoctrinated. We must save him!

[tigertron]

*SPOILERS*

Destroy ending is true ending.

[RAFFwaff]

Just let it go. Mass Effect 2 will be remembered in a decades time as a true classic, and if that is the high point of bioware output, then it's a hell of a lot more than most companies shovelware. Yes, in my opinion Mass Effect 3 was inching above 2 in terms of drama, pathos and an even greater sense of desperation against insurmountable odds, but the last 10mins or so absolutely stopped a deserved ending to a great trilogy.

[Stoppokingme]

"What if EA Indoctrinated All Their Fans?"

EA has fans???

[medman]

True dat!!

[ziggurcat]

what if people would stop crying like spoiled little brats, and ealize that it's *just a game - none of it actually matters*?

[aLucidMind]

Remember that the next time you make an order at a restaurant that winds up undercooked or buy any appliance that doesn't work. You only spent money and was dissatisfied, you don't have a right to make any type of complaint about poor quality. Just eat your undercooked steak and get food poisoning, because complaining about poor quality is unimportant.

[aliengmr]

@mpnothanks

So what you are saying is you wouldn't have a right to complain if you went to a concert and the band you wanted to see started playing music you hated?

You can be as free-thinking and creative as you want, until you start demanding payment.

A restaurant doesn't demand payment up front, games do.

[aLucidMind]

@mpnothanks.
I don't feel I deserve compensation for being dissatisfied. During the whole ending shitstorm everyone had to endure, I was merely wanting honest feedback from the devs in response to the more mature people making constructive complaints.

And yes, we should be telling them how a game is made in the sense that they can't just throw low-quality stories and gameplay and expect us to buy it (speaking generally here, not of ME3). The customers shouldn't have a say in the story itself and such, like if the story had heavy atheist or christian themes in it and it pissed some people off; don't like it, don't play it in that situation.

And if you pay any attention to advertising or what the devs say, which most gamers do, then they will know what to expect in the same way as you would at a restaurant. Even if you don't, you will if you are a frequent customer for the devs anyway. So that whole "difference is you know what to expect with food joints but not with gaming devs" argument is hardly accurate. Good example: play the demo and then the actual Aliens: CM game. A Borderlands fan would not see that coming, anyone paying attention to the devs or advertising wouldn't either. Every transaction the consumer makes is on trust, it is only made secure by restrictions on the fact that companies cannot flat-out lie to you.

[aliengmr]

Only issue I have with IT theory is the idea that BioWare did it on purpose. That is was their plan all along. It wasn't. It was poor writing and nobody should be making excuses for it.

Also I am pretty sure the Dark Energy ending was never actually put to paper. Drew Karpyshyn said it was only being discussed just before he left.

Basically the Reapers were sent to destroy us because our use of dark energy threatened the universe and that we would have to choose either to stop using it or take our chances.

The ending we got was rushed and intentionally vague so fans could head canon an ending there clearly wasn't time to make. The entire plot shows how it was rushed. What makes it worse was that this was the only ending that mattered.

[CyrusLemont]

Love that the image for this is the Born Of Osiris artwork for The Discovery, glad to know we've got some Metal/Hardcore listeners here! (Y)