My natural reaction was to regard ME3’s ending as a flawed but misunderstood piece of art, and argue that it had its merits. There could never be sober or sensible criticisms, only volcanoes of outrage.

The ME3 explosion simply seemed to be another wave of this. There was no question that the cause was, at least in part, the same gamer entitlement that leads to studio employees being doxed and harassed 2 for making changes some players disapprove of. The reaction was furious-the FTC complaints were merely the tip of a massive iceberg of tears-abuse, bitter arguments, harassment, and threats were the order of the day in what was, at the time, perhaps the biggest freak out in the world of gaming. And each ending involves the destruction of a sentient race, culturally or physically. In every case, Shepard seemed to die, and there was no happy ending available with your companions or romantic interest, despite building those relationships over three games spread over five years. Red, Blue, and Green endings, respectively, in line with the colours they were assigned in game. It was an infamously minimalist affair that saw the heroic Commander Shepard deciding between one of three fates for the galaxy: ‘Destroy’ the invading Reapers outright, ‘Control’ them and use the titanic space cephalopods to rebuild the galaxy they’d destroyed, or effect a ‘Synthesis’ between all organic and synthetic life, turning the galaxy’s sapient population into cyborgs. In 2012 the release of Mass Effect 3 (ME3), the conclusion to BioWare’s legendary sci-fi trilogy, was met with much fanfare and then, suddenly, a cavalcade of outrage.

This is not a sentence one would expect a video game critic to say, of course, unless one is familiar with the overwhelming tantrums that rock the gaming world like seasonal hurricanes. I think the moment I realised something was amiss was when a fellow named “El Spiko” filed a complaint with the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) 1.

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