State of Assassionista

As you've probably noticed, I haven't been posting as much content on here as I used to. It really saddens me, but I've just got so much on the go. I'm running Console to Closet full time, working at a marketing agency, finishing up my degree AND attempting to love a somewhat normal life. With that being said, I want to keep Assassionista alive - it just might be a quieter blog. I'm going to personally aim to post one or twice a month on here, and I can promise you, these will be awesome articles. We might not have quantity, but definitely quality.

The podcast will continue more regularly than the postings, and I will try to be on as many as I can - but I think DarkSnip3r does a pretty good job with them (Doesn't he have the best radio voice?!).

Either way, please don't be sad - I haven't given up on Assassionista. It's really been the best thing I've done, I've learned so much and I want to continue to provide unique content and a fun community on here!

As Always,
LadySnip3r

Lesson #3: Embracing death...and other failures online.

This post follows nicely on the heels of "Embracing the 'rage quit'" (What? It's on it's heels...figuratively) because it involves the same themes to help you enjoy your gaming: embracing certain temporary "failures" and patience, with yourself and the people with which you play. 

For the longest time I dreaded dying in games, it twisted my stomach to think of my gaming failure to the point I avoided it: I didn't play First-Person Shooters or RPGs without 'god mode' or a cheat of some kind. When I moved to original Team Fortress (that clunky Quake engine) and then Counterstrike (the mod, not the stand alone) and learned a hard lesson: cheat codes are not a good substitute for gaming skills, especially in the competitive, clan ridden landscape of online gaming. But learn from my fragged corpse...

Mass Effect's Critical Mission Failure music haunts me to this day.

"Sorry I'm dead."

If it's your first foray into online (console or PC) gaming, FPS, MMORPG, or any other genre understand this simple truth: you're going to die...a lot. If it's your second foray into online gaming: you're going to die...a lot. If it's your four hundredth  jaunt into the online game play: you're going to die...maybe not as much. The good news is taxes are not certain in online gaming. My advice? Make peace with the fact that your virtual avatar will die, enjoy the rag doll mimicry of your corpse as it tumbles through the air after a grenade has helped you shuffle off the virtual coil. There's no magic bullet (pardon the pun) to get over dying online except to dip back into the well of w0lfspiritt's Lesson: If you’re starting to get frustrated, simply walk away. 

If you don't want to walk away (I've been in many matches that I just cannot divest myself from) take a look at your settings: most online lobbies have options to select the map and level of difficulty; sometimes MMORPGs will have information in a codex or other method to display difficulty. You can pick and choose your online experience, dial down your difficulty by picking easier maps until you get used to the game, or choose players closer to your skill level until you're more comfortable with online play. Tribes 2 was really my first step into online gaming and it took me many a games to realise why I was dying early and often: I chose large maps with a lot of players, that attracted higher level players; eventually I had to cut back the participants so they were limited to the lower level players.

Sometimes no matter how much you tweak the settings, you'll still end up dying more than you'd like. The best advice I can give you is watch the scrolling tally, you're not the only one dying and you might not be the one getting picked off the most. There's always another map, match, raid, or PvP area...you'll get 'em next time.

"Prepare for unforeseen consequences."

There are many types of online play, I don't mean cooperative or competitive, I mean how people play. Online anonymity (in relative degrees) is a dangerously annoying thing in online gaming; invariably you will run into some players that just ruin your  online fun. They may be combinations of generally accepted stereotypes but the bottom line is that you will encounter them; there's a reason the ESRB cannot rate online interactions. Google 'types of online gamers" and you will find a varied list revolving around similar archetypes. They are referred to by many names (I'm borrowing the  most common) but they really break down into fairly simple categories with variations on similarly annoying themes. 

My personal feelings are that the number one problematic play is what are called the Griefer/Glitcher. To give you an idea of this player's actions: They don't follow along with the game objectives; I don't mean mission objectives, I mean generally speaking this type of gamer will intentionally disrupt other players games. To give you a perfect example, playing Grifball online (it's a Halo:Reach thing) is pretty simplistic, hit the other team with Gravity Hammers to stop them from placing a bomb in your goal at the end of the field; really not much to it, but a lot of fun. Without fail I will encounter a Griefer that instead of playing the game just chases his own teammates around killing them; while one of the greatest YouTube afternoon-killing pastimes is to watch other people succumb to Griefers it's more than a little annoying when you're on the receiving end. Reality is, there's not much that can be done but finish the match and then change games, or quit early. You do have ways to complain though, Xbox Live has a complaint system for the more serious infractions and Gamertags carry 'Rep' as a player review system, both of these can be abused but really are in place for a good reason. 

A Glitcher is very similar to a Griefer except in the method of their annoyance; these players will find an exploit or glitch that allows them to kill you without being able to be killed. An example of this is from (again) Halo: Reach, with the development of player maps there is inevitably more multiplayer maps out there with little areas that can be accessed but are not meant as part of the game. In this case, a player could make their way up a cliff to a point where they could then pick off other team members but not be hit as they were outside of the field of play. While one might say this isn't really a Griefing situation because they found the exploit let them use it, keep in mind that their actions are detrimental to other player's enjoyment of the game.

More than likely Grief/Glitch players act as Mic Spammers/Trash Talkers/Child Gamers/Blamers too. Mic Spammers: These players will pump their own music, conversations with other people in the room, and stream of consciousness into the game. Trash Talkers are something we've all encountered and more than likely been the target of at one time or another and range from good natured ribbing to outright insulting. Child Gamers run the gambit of annoyances, not all but some are great conscientious gamers, but more often then not they use their limited vocabulary of curses to shout them through the mic or just run insults that the pesky online anonymity allows them to. Blamers tend to either need to justify their own loss or the loss of the team by picking a scapegoat. Either someone has done something that caused them to lose (there was a glitch/cheat, teammate got in the way, etc.) or there's blame elsewhere (lag, cat knocked over drink, etc.) essentially not taking responsibility for the a loss in what must be the deadly serious business of online play. These types of players really become a non-issue after you find the mute for each of them, I seriously doubt any would contribute much to the overall game.

The last typeset is a little controversial: "Girl Gamers". Now before I am shouted down as chauvinist let me be clear, I am not putting forward women in gaming is an issue (though I am sure some women would fall into any of the other categories) what I am saying is that reaction to women gamers can be used as a cautionary tale. When I hear a woman's voice in game I know with an almost unfailing certainty that there's none to intelligent mic spamming, stereotyping, and abysmal comments looming. These types of comments keep fatuglyorslutty.com and notinthekitchenanymore.com running and unfortunately will for some time. What makes having a women gamer in game problematic for the enjoyment of online play is really only about your own sensibilities. For my part having another player be ridiculed doesn't really allow me to enjoy the game if I am constantly shaking my head at the audacity of the comments or if I am now targeted for defending a gender's right to play games. Of course the flip side to this coin (and I do want to acknowledge it) is that you might be uncomfortable with a female teammate or opponent, which I suppose is your right (Freedom of thought and expression...)  but then I would say if it bugs you that much: quit the game and find an all male game. If you feel the need to let your feelings known that's fine too (freedom of speech and all that...) but perhaps detracting from the enjoyment of someone else isn't the best outlet or means to get your point across (A blog perhaps?) All that being said if you are dealing with this kind of abuse (and it is abuse under the Xbox Live Code of Conduct, I've not read the PSN Code yet...) report it, mute the player, and in some cases games have settings to avoid players all together.

It occurs to me that much of this advice is reactive for the victim of harassment and poor playing etiquette; To speak to that, perhaps if we move proactively as a majority to say that this kind of behaviour is wrong it might stop...eventually, things like this are hard to change...hmmm maybe there's an article there....

Again, I am meandering toward a point here: Embrace the old axiom that there's always someone better out there, but that doesn't mean you're not allowed to enjoy your game. Embrace the fact that you cannot control people's opinions and actions, but you do have a right to play free of annoyances either by block, mute, or switching games. If you see yourself in any of the categories I've mentioned my advice is to look at how you're gaming: is your enjoyment at the expense of someone else? then maybe it's time to change how you play; yes I know you paid for the system and the game and the online membership but that doesn't make it a very expensive hall pass on common civility or a soapbox. It's a big, big gaming world out there, we are all bound to cross paths with someone with which we don't much enjoy being in the same virtual space, but there are methods to fine tune your experience and there's always another round.

I Am Not A Gamer

I love video games. I say that outright since I want to establish that fact before moving on.Okay? good. Now stop calling me a 'gamer'.

I have played games for as long as I can remember; I have prognosticated about games, complained about games, and discussed the games 'they really should make' (my long time friend Gord and I still maintain George Lucas stole the idea for Star Wars: Rebellion from a late night conversation we had at my cottage. The outcome of George's version notwithstanding)

I have played the old Ultimas, Crusader: No Remorse, the even older Sierra adventure games (Codename: Iceman, and Freddy Pharkas: Frontier Pharmacist anyone?) on PC; I've played Infiltrator on NES. In my Xbox library I have a vast array of games, these days they lean towards the roleplaying genre, but there's Halo: Reach in there too.

I have an excellent memory and I can remember some of the best times I've had with old friends has had games at the center of them. I remember sitting at the computer (a 486 at this point I believe) playing Origin Systems: Strike Commander. If you don't know about Strike Commander, it was Origin's attempt to carry over the success of Wing Commander: Privateer  into a modern/near future setting. This time I was watching my friend Gord in a dogfight, a light on the instrument panel started flashing with an alarm; Gord half shouted "What is that?!" I thought for a second and said "I think it's a missile alarm." Gord then pulled hard left on the joystick as a virtual missile screamed by the canopy. We laughed hysterically at the near (virtual) death and still bring it up fondly to this day as the "Strike Commander Incident", that was almost 20 years ago.

With memories and shared experiences like that why then would I not want to be identified as 'gamer'? Because for my part I don't identify myself as a gamer; it is not the whole of my personality, and therein lies the problem by labeling a gamer: you negate the rest of the person. Take our fearless Editoratrix in Chief: LadySnip3r, a large part of her life is gaming but she's also a student, talented costume maker (check out her cosplay here) and a budding stylist (Console to Closet as featured on Kotaku, MSNBC, and Reddit) 

Don't get me wrong, the power of the shared experience and inclusion in a group is alluring and can be incredibly beneficial but as you place a label on someone you constrain them to the preconceived boundaries of that label. 

 Take the Penny Arcade Expo, it really is the Mecca for gaming culture now that E3 is on the decline; and the some 60,000 attendees really do represent a diverse cross-section of socioeconomic backgrounds with the common denominator being they all play games. What Pax East really did was crystallise a few thoughts for me: as much as the label of 'gamer' unifies and gives a sense of acceptance and belonging, it can be a curse. The mass media, and even the gaming media feeds us and the uninitiated a view of gamers that places us somewhere between The Simpsons' Comic Book Guy and a Jack Thompson/Anders Behring Breivik gamer archetype. We perpetuate it, even celebrate it in shows like The Big Bang Theory : a show that (with Halo nights and a thinly veiled World of Warcraft analogue) in trying to celebrate the geek subculture has turned it into a bastion of stereotypes.

A perfect example is the case of Jennifer Hepler: a Bioware writer that quite openly discussed that while she worked in the gaming industry, she didn't have the time or the inclination (for perfectly legitimate reasons) to play games. The interview (given six years ago) resurfaced in 2011 on Reddit as out-of-context excerpts  that created a flurry of posts to the point of death threats, calls for her to commit suicide, and the worst kind of fanboy rage. Most sensible gamers will say that the posters on her Twitter account and Reddit were a minority (and you'd be correct) but it doesn't matter to the wider audience: they are gamers and because so many have championed that moniker, as a whole we're now lumped in with them.

I used to be quite active on the Bioware Social Network, right up until the time community members there started finishing Mass Effect 3. Without too many spoilers, by and large the endings are considered a disappointment and lacked a feeling of closure we so wanted from the end of the trilogy. It's a sentiment felt by Darksnip3r and  myself, as well as many others; the difference? Darksnip3r and I haven't launched a spam campaign to get our fanfic ending made canon; nor have we started belligerent threads on the Bioware Social Network, nor have we tried to get Bioware and Electronic Arts sued for false advertising. These efforts have garnered mainstream media attention and like the Jennifer Hepler incident have cast a negative light on gamers as whole; portraying us as entitled players who are having a tantrum because they didn't get their way.

As big a frustration as it is, the stereotype is long entrenched into North American culture and like all preconceptions long kept, it is hard to change. That being said, actions taken by people like those in Hepler incident and the more mild reaction to Bioware's intellectual property not agreeing with their own vision of how Commander Shepard should go out aren't helping our case. 

 I'm not saying don't express yourself or your opinions; I would never say be ashamed of playing video games, or going to conventions (I'm not, I've explained what Pax is enough to laymans). What I am saying is that gaming is not a counterculture; it's definitely a subculture with its own language, code of social behaviour, fashion and peripheral works of art (one that I am happily embrace) but there's no revolution here. The point I'm meandering towards is that playing games, as entertainng as it is and how beneficial the subculture can be to develop a sense of belonging is, simply put an activity people do, not a totality of a personality. 

Aela the Huntress Cosplay Information/Tutorial

I chose to make this costume about a month ago, while playing through Skyrim. I just loved Aela's outfit, especially the back of it, and thought it would be a challenge for my not-so-awesome sewing skills. At first, I was hesitant because she was dressed very scantily, but as my fiance worked on his Nightingale costume (also from Skyrim), I thought about how cool we would look together and decided to go for it.

I first went out and bought the most perfect suede fabric for both the top, skirt, and arm pieces. I then made a duct tape mold of my body so that I could "build" the intricate top more easily. Here's a quick tutorial on how to make your own duct tape mold:

Tip #1: Try not to look like such a dork while you make it!

Tutorial: Duct Tape Mold
You need:
- Duct tape
- Old shirt
- Scissors
- Someone to help you

1. Put on the old shirt and begin wrapping it in duct tape. I started at the base and worked up to below my bust line. I then went from the top of my chest down to the rest of the duct tape.
2. Once it's covered in duct tape, cut the shirt up the side (under an armpit) so that you can take it off
3. Tape over the cut and the form will retain it's shape.
4. Optional: You can stuff it with what ever if you'd like it to be more durable.

I began by creating a pattern using paper taped together on my duct tape form. I then pinned the paper to the fabric, cut it out, and sewed it all together. It took me quite a while to sew everything, and I had a few problems with the revealing nature of the top, which meant I had to tweak the design a bit to fit my body and to be a little more modest than her version. I used about 2 yards of brown suede fabric and 1 yard of green suede for the arm bands.

Don't worry, I'll do a write up for the Nightingale soon!

I got my boots from macy's, instead of making boot covers because I'll actually wear the boots again. However, making boot covers is pretty simple if you don't want to spend the extra $$ on boots, just be sure to get more of your brown suede fabric.

I made the armor plates, shoulder pads and belt buckle from cardboard. I cut it out, then hot glued twine to create the swirly designs. I then used fiberglass resin to harden the carboard, and bondo to smooth out the edges. I spray-painted the armor with a textured silver and distressed it with black and brown acrylic paint. I actually attached real rabbit fur to the shoulder pads and shin pads, even though Aela doesn't have that, but I felt it added to the huntress look. It also made the pieces pop against the brown outfit. I attached the armor to my outfit with velcro so that I could transport the costume easier.

For my hair and makeup, I simply straightened my hair - as my hair color is very similar to hers. I used black and red eyeshadow to create a smokey eye and used black face-paint to draw on the lines across my face.

For more images of the cosplay, please check out my DeviantArt page. I'll also be doing a writeup for the Gears of War armor that I created and for the Nightingale costume in the upcoming weeks.

As always,
LadySnip3r

Console to Closet

I've started a Tumblr blog called Console to Closet about gamer fashion. As you know, I love video games - but you may not have known how much I love fashion. I decided to combine both of my loves by creating fashionable outfits inspired by video games.

I'm in the process of branching out into guy outfits as well and if you have any feedback on the site, I'd love to hear it! I'm also accepting requests on the blog, so feel free to drop me a line with an outfit that you'd love to see.

Here are a few of my favorites so far...

Of Mass Effect Series

Of Zelda Series

I really hope you check it out and tell me what you think!

As always,
LadySnip3r

Happy Birfday Assassionista!

We did it! Assassionista is one year old!!!!!

Happy Birthday to youuuuu, Happy Birthday dear Assassionista!

I just want to start off this birthday post by thanking you, the readers. You've made this birthday happen. You encourage me to keep this blog going by reaching out with your comments, tweets, likes, questions, etc. And for that, I want to say thank you.

Now for the fun part of the birthday celebration, presents. I've got some super sweet swag from PAX East and will be giving some codes via Twitter and Facebook this week, so be sure to like/follow our pages.

I also want to highlight some upcoming changes for the website (I mean birthdays are a time to self reflect, right?). First, we're going to try to get our podcast off the ground! I promise this time. We've got an awesome team working on it right now and hope to get it on air before May. We're also going to start (somewhat) separating my (LadySnip3r's) cosplay life from here. I figured not everyone who cares about gaming cares about cosplay, so I figured I would keep my cosplays mainly on my cosplay site and Deviant Art page. If you're interested in following my cosplay life and seeing costume progress, I highly recommend checking those out. I'll probably still include cosplay tutorials on here that will hopefully get some of you non-cosplayers into the hobby. Lastly, I'm looking for a few new writers to expand our team so please send me an email at ladysnip3r@assassionista.com if you are interested.

Now if you'll please excuse me, I've got some partying to do for this birthday celebration!!

As always,
LadySnip3r

PS. Achievements are back!! We gotta get our Gamerscore up!

PAX East 2012: Sunday

The last day of PAX East was one of the most fun (at least to me anyways). I dressed up as the new Lara Croft and got some recognition at the Square Enix booth which was really cool. We covered the show floor for the final time and met up with some more cosplayers. We also hit up the Bioware Base and watched the amazing trivia event. They gave away tons of swag for answering trivia, and oh man, was it difficult. The people who won definitely deserved it. All in all, it was a great PAX East and I cannot wait for next year.

Click read more for the entire gallery!

PAX East 2012: Saturday

Saturdays are always the busiest convention day, especially at PAX East. We decided to not go in costume in the morning so we could check out the show floor. We bought some merch, got some swag, and took lots of pictures. After a pretty relaxed morning, I got changed into my Gears of War Cog armor for the Epic panel. The panel featured Cliff Blezinski and Mike Capps of Epic Games and they answered questions from the online community and audience. Most of the questions regarded Epic's future plans, and they announced that they are working on a PC exclusive title (going back to their original roots). I had the chance to ask my own question which went something like this: "What was the motivation behind adding in female soldiers to Gears of War 3? And will you continue to have female characters in your upcoming franchises, such as Fortnite?". They replied by saying that they wanted to have women in the Gears of War game the entire time, but they really wanted them to have their own animations different from the guy's. After Gears of War 2, they recieved feedback from the gaming community that quite a lot of women were playing Gears and that they wanted to see female characters. They also said that they will definitely be having female characters in their upcoming games. It's definitely a step in the right direction and I look forward to seeing more and more female characters in video games. After the panel, we met up with some Gears of War cosplayers and took some really cool shots. Later that evening, we went to the Gears of War Meet up where we got a chance to meet Cliff Blezinski and Mike Capps. I got them to sign my lancer which will forever hang in my game room. We then went to the Bioware Base, a room off the main showfloor, and hungout with Bioware and Crabcat. They had a cosplay event, so we got some great pictures of all the Mass Effect and Dragon Age cosplay. We also got a chance to get some professional pictures done of our own cosplays.

 

Click read more for the full gallery of pictures!

PAX East 2012: Friday

PAX East 2012 was a total blast this year! Since we took so many photos and had so many great memories, I'm going to spread it out over a post for each day.

Friday of PAX East was a busy day. I went dressed up as Aela the Huntress from Skyrim and DarkSnip3r went as a Nightingale (also from Skyrim). We attempted to check out most of the showfloor that day, but with DarkSnip3r's scary face mask, he couldn't really see. We walked around and took pictures of as many cosplayers as we could find and ran into one of our friends from last year, cosplayer Dale (You may recognize his Gears of War costumes). We also hit up the Mass Effect 3 panel where Bioware discussed some aspects of writing the third game and answered audience questions. We all had to leave before the audience questions since only one of us had actually beaten Mass Effect 3 - We did not want any spoilers. It was really interesting to hear about how the writers of Mass Effect had to collaborate to write multiple conversations, for both paragon and renegade, depending on which of the characters in your playthrough lived through the first two games. They said it was like trying to write a conversation between two character who could potentially both be dead. There was also a lot of Mass Effect and Dragon Age cosplay at the panel, and we managed to run into Rana McAnear - the face of Samara. Assassionista interviewed her a couple of months ago on being the face of a video game character, and it was great to see her again. She was cosplaying as Samara which was totally crazy and amazing.

Since this post is very picture heavy, please click read more to see the entire gallery of photos!

One More PAX East Update

PAX is less than a week away and I've got my definite costume schedule! Here it is:

I'll be on the showfloor most of Friday, so feel free to come and say hi. I'll be accompanied on Friday by a Nightingale cosplay done by my Fiancè, DarkSnip3r. I'll also be at the Epic Panel on Saturday and they're doing a cosplay meetup for Gears of War at the Triforce Booth Saturday at 5.

I also have updated my deviantart page with some pics of the cosplay and have progress shots on my facebook page.

I'm super exicted for PAX and will try to post as much as possible during the weekend, wi-fi permitting.

As always,
LadySnip3r

The Quickest Mass Effect 2 Review Ever

In keeping with the past week's release of Mass Effect 3 and Assassionista's Mass Effect Week, this Quickest Review Ever will be on Mass Effect 2 - the delicious icing center in the Oreo that is Mass Effect. We'll also be doing a review of Mass Effect 1 later this week, along a few more interesting Mass Effect themed articles.


+ Beautiful world, characters, history
+ Much better controls than ME1 (I'm looking at you, Mako)
+ Interesting quests and unique storyline
+ Dynamic conversations are dynamic
- Probe Away (Mining is awful)
= Since you can probably find this game for under $20, you should really play it. 

This my Shepard, she is awesome!

 Tweet @Assassionista with pics of your Shepard! We'll retweet them Mass Effect week.

Don't Fear the Reaper

It’s very rare for me to observe a chain of events in its entirety and still have to stop and ask, with no irony whatsoever, how did we even get here? How did things degrade so fast in, at the time of this writing, only fourteen days? I’m sure that’s the question being asked around at Bioware at the moment, because as March the 6^th finally dawned on us I don’t think anyone was expecting this.

After years of waiting, months of hype and loads of hard work, Mass Effect 3 was finally released and for a time everything was good. But then people reached the ending, and the internet exploded.

Pictured here: the internet hate machine in motion.

By now I think it’s become readily apparent to the internet at large that ME3’s ending is… let’s say “divisive”. Now, I’m not going to discuss the ending itself in this article because the game has just now only been out for a full two weeks and I’d rather not divulge any spoilers. If you want to know specific details I’d be happy to direct you to literally any other part of the internet in existence. We won’t be discussing it here. The only thing I’ll say is that there is a fair amount of criticism of the ending floating around, and it is valid. To be fair, I agree with a lot of people that there is a lack of closure post-decision at the endgame that, if that wasn’t the case, I’d otherwise be content with how it ended, other factors be damned. With that said, we need to focus on something of far more importance; the fallout that the ending has caused.

Now, I’ve made it no secret in the past what my opinion is of the Bioware fanbase at large. They can be called a number of things. “Passionate”, for example. “Dedicated”. “Outspoken,” even. “Unpleaseable,” if you want to make blanket generalizations. They are, as a collective, a by-product of Bioware’s corporate culture itself and how they maintain close ties with their community. This is both a blessing and a curse, because this results in fans that are very loyal, but fans that become very enraged and very vocal when they feel they’ve been slighted.

And hoo boy, are they being vocal now.

Prior to this chain of events unfolding I’m not sure if it would even be possible to imagine the degree in which things have degraded. To put things lightly, people do not like the ending, and instead of this stopping and ending at the logical point of mere criticism (both constructive and not), we’ve advanced past that into something else entirely. Ladies and gentlemen, allow me to introduce you to the “Retake Mass Effect” movement.

This is a full-on movement requesting, nay, demanding, a revision of ME3’s ending.

I can only feel sympathy for the boys and girls of Bioware at the moment, because even pre-launch the more vocal members of their fanbase must have been giving them the impression that they could do nothing right. Just about every detail released about the game, every marketing move, every sneak peak, everything somehow managed to spark some hate. There was the inclusion of Kinect support, there was the entire FemShep fiasco, there was the reveal of multiplayer, then Jessica Chobot’s involvement, then the Day 1 DLC issue, and so on. Everything they talked about managed to draw the ire of somebody. Now, some debates over these issues were probably more warranted than others. Hell, I’ll readily admit that I’m still curious as to what the rationale behind casting Jessica Chobot in a role is when, among other concerns, she can’t act.

If I may be blunt, I can only assume that it involved her doing something similar to this.

I will say one thing in all of the anger’s defense; it was at least criticism. Regardless of how valid or helpful these people’s opinions were, they were still opinions and they wanted them to be heard. As obnoxious as that got at times there isn’t anything inherently wrong with that. The problem with the boat we’re in now is that it’s not just criticism. What we have here are demands.

The Retake Mass Effect movement is a community drive formed for one purpose; to convince Bioware to change Mass Effect 3’s ending. The movement has created a petition requesting Bioware to create an alternate ending that the community will be satisfied with and, to show how serious they are, they started a charity drive with all proceeds going directly to Child’s Play. At the time of this column’s writing said donation drive has accumulated close to 70 thousand dollars. Now, for the most part this movement has been rather civil and their good intentions have been backed by good deeds, but that doesn’t change the fact that they can be readily identified as the proverbial “eye of the storm” for this entire mess. The movement is, by far, the most visible aspect of all this and regardless of how well they’re conducting themselves as a whole, their end-goal still boils down to a simple statement of “we want you to change this”.

Of course, every movement also attracts its radicals, and with this being the internet the fury and mindlessness is out in full force. From what I’ve observed everything that Bioware says is being met with a response of “change the ending”. Everything. Here, take a look at an example I found.

You’re getting angry over t-shirts of all things you shrill, belligerent harpy.

It isn’t just things that Bioware says, either. The best I can tell just about every person in the games industry that says a single positive thing about the game these days gets accused of being “paid off” by Electronic Arts. For example, I know that Susan Arendt has been accused of accepting bribes or some such drivel thanks to her review that’s up on the Escapist. Susan, for Pete’s sake. This is a woman who I first met on the Escapist back in 2008. I have a lot of respect for her both as a game journalist and as a person, and the very notion that she’d be willingly “bought” is just galling.

It’s not just half of The Escapist’s staff whose credibility is being called into question, though. I’m sure every major gaming outlet is being hit with these kinds of accusations, with IGN probably getting far more flak than most. The one that puzzles me more than any is someone said this about Mike Krahulik from Penny Arcade. Considering that one of Penny Arcade’s largest scandals was almost entirely the result of Krahulik sticking to his guns and being uncompromising in speaking his opinions I don’t see any justification for that beyond a simple need to lash out at someone.

Oh, but it gets better. Yesterday morning I discovered that one enterprising member of Bioware’s fanbase took it upon himself to report both Bioware and Electronic Arts to the Federal Trade Commission and the Better Business Bureau on the grounds that the ending in the game wasn’t what we were promised and that Bioware should be punished for false advertising.

It… it’s just… am I the only one seeing this? Does no one else see anything wrong here? Is it just me? Am I really the only sane one left? Does no one else notice this lunacy? Does no one else care?! What is going on here?!?!

I feel like I’m taking crazy pills here!

Okay… let’s try to take a step backwards and see if we can explain my stance…

The Creator and their Work

First of all, it might help if you understand where my rage is coming from. I am, first and foremost, an artist and a creative type, so the movement as a whole to make Bioware change the game’s ending disgusts me on a personal level. If you don’t quite understand the correlation here, you need to stop and realize that the entire Mass Effect franchise is, at its core, a creative work. It’s the result of seven years of labor from writers, programmers, concept artists, voice actors, animators, level designers, and countless other people working together to create this trilogy of games. These people all pooled their talents together for one purpose; to tell a story. Now, it’s true that based on both criticism and suggestions from their fans each installment of the story did slightly change, but it’s still Bioware’s story either way. They made it, and what’s happening here is that people are looking at their work and saying “I don’t really like this part. Do it again.”

If you read that statement and don’t understand what the issue is, than I regret to inform you that you are the problem.

This is why earlier I made a very clear distinction between what has been criticism and what has been demands. There isn’t inherently anything wrong with criticizing a work of art. Personally I’d say it’s necessary. Hearing a person’s personal opinion on what you created gives you a fresh perspective, can bring up points that you may not have considered and can even offer suggestions that can make your art better and help you grow as an artist. The thing you have to keep in mind here is that all criticism is inherently based on a person’s own opinions, and an opinion is not ironclad fact. It’s just what a particular person thinks, how they feel, and so on, and these things vary wildly from one person to another.

Herein lays the problem. Personal opinion is influencing demands of Bioware to alter their creative work. I honestly don’t care how much of a consensus there is about how bad the endings were. In the end it’s irrelevant because it’s an opinion. More importantly, it’s an opinion held by someone other than the creator.

Understand something, here and now. It does not matter how big a fan you are of something or how fervently you support it. You never have the right to tell the creator of a piece of creative content that based on your feelings with their work, they need to change it. This is even true with something like Mass Effect where the story is essentially tailored for each player. The game gives you the illusion of participation and control, but every possible event and outcome was written by someone. At the end of the day, it’s not your story, and it never was, and as such you are not allowed to control it and dictate what needs to be changed.

... however, Bioware does have that kind of control, and if they feel so inclined...

The Retcon

Lets take out my own moral objections to all this for a moment. Rather, let me ask you a question; assuming that Bioware suddenly has the urge to change the ending to ME3, is there really a precedent for this kind of thing?

I know it's safe to say that this is hardly the first time someone has been "upset" by a piece of media. Certainly not the first time someone has been mad about the ending, either, but to be fair I don't remember seeing any fan petitions being created to change the ending of The Sopranos. Or Lost, either. Hell, even all the uproar over the quality of the Star Wars prequels and George Lucas constantly editing the films has stopped at mere rage. I guess what I'm asking here is "what exactly is different"?

It's certainly not how passionate the fanbase is, considering how many self-described "Losties" and people that claim Jedi is their religion there are running around in the world. Granted, Bioware's fanbase is more vocal and passionate than most, having just accomplished something thought impossible by convincing a company to patch a book. Still, it's more of an issue with the medium itself rather than the work's fans.

I know that there was no shortage of hardcore Star Wars fans who weren't exactly "happy" with The Phantom Menace, but to my knowledge there was never any movements to get George Lucas to reshoot parts of the movie. "Yeah, things like the lightsaber battle and seeing some of the characters again were nice, but that Jar-Jar character is an insufferable skidmark stain on the metaphorical underpants of this movie. Get rid of him, make Anakin about ten, fifteen years older and get rid of all of the podracing and I'd say you'll have a much better movie. So yeah, what I'm saying is film it again."

Now, besides the fact that saying such things would make you look like a stark raving madman, something sadly not stopping people now, the reason no one made outright demands to Lucas to "fix"his movie is because it's functionally impossible. The thing with movies, and indeed any visually recorded creative medium, is that it requires numerous different elements to create. Not just the presence of the actors, either. To theoretically refilm even one scene of "Phantom" after the fact actors would need to be contacted, sets (re)constructed, props and costumes gathered, camera and sound equipment would need to be bought or taken out of storage, and depending on the scene all of the above would need to be lugged out to a location somewhere. That isn't even taking into account all of the post-processing like basic editing, folly work, special effect and, of course, re-releasing the movie.

With that all in mind changing Mass Effect 3's ending is a more reasonable request from a technical standpoint. For the most part the only people or resources Bioware would need to actively seek out are, in theory, the voice talent. Beyond that everything else is already in-game or they have the staff to create whatever is needed on hand. Whatever they make can be delivered to the audience with next to no effort via download, much like a patch or any other downloadable content. Essentially the argument boils down to "well, if they're able to make DLC for the game, they're able to make a new ending".

Indeed, there is a precedent of sorts for this kind of thing in the form of Fallout 3, but I wouldn't quite point to it as an example of history repeating itself.

As the game comes to a close the player character has the option to activate something called "Project Purity", which for the sake of brevity is a way to fix the Capital Wasteland and make it less of a putrid, irradiated armpit of a place. However, the control chamber for the project is heavily irradiated so whoever steps into the room to turn it on will die. It comes down to a choice between choosing who to kill off, yourself or the leader of the local Brotherhood of Steel forces Sarah Lyons.

... except that, you know, you have companions who are immune to radiation poisoning who could do it so no one has to die.

Comic by PhoenixFuryBane

This plothole aside, the main issue with Fallout 3's ending was that, after completing the main quest, all gameplay was over. If you're scratching your head at this statement and don't quite understand the problem, you have to understand that this is a Bethesda game we're talking about. Bethesda's "hat" as a developer is to create massive, immersive worlds that you can faff about in for hundreds of hour and essentially do whatever you damn well please, up to and including actively ignoring the story. Compared to the game's then closest contemporary, Oblivion, not being able to play after Fallout 3's ending was completely unexpected and rather jarring. There was a lot players didn't do under the reasonable assumption that "I can do it after finishing this quest", but finishing the final mission in the main questline locked out all other content without any real warning.

Eventually "Broken Steel" was released as the third DLC pack for the game and tweaked the ending, fixing the plothole and allowing players to keep playing after the end. Even in spite of all that I would hardly call Broken Steel precedent for what's happening here. While this does show that a game's ending can be changed after the fact, the circumstances are entirely different. With the Fallout 3 situation the ending change was primarily a gameplay fix. Any changes to the story were so negligible that they could have just as easily not been included and there would barely be any difference. While Broken Steel was made to address a gameplay issue that would effectively lock the player out of other content and end their character's journey, the drive to alter Mass Effect 3 is one targeted just at the writing.

For the sake of contrast, allow me to show you the complete opposite of the Fallout Precedent, a game that suffered from the exact same problem as Mass Effect 3 in which an otherwise solid game with brilliant writing was derailed in the last five minutes.

Enslaved: Odyssey to the West wasn't exactly a game that broke sales records, but it reviewed rather well and still worked for what it was. The story itself wasn't exactly Shakespearean in it's complexity, with the driving focus of Act 1 being that one of the main characters gets back home. From Act 2 onwards it becomes a story of revenge as a result of what the characters found at said home. Still, the main strength of the story came from the character's themselves and their interactions. As things progressed it became apparent that it was far more about the journey and the characters, not the end destination.

Which is good, because it turns out the "end" of everything is a reveal that Pyramid, the omnipresent and threatening presence in post-apocalyptic Earth who uses a massive army of mechanical soldiers to abduct and seemingly enslave what's left of humanity, is actually The Matrix.

I'm not even joking.

The characters actually look more confused than I was.

Enslaved's last ten minutes or so introduces so many plotholes that the writers might as well have shot the game's script point-blank with a shotgun. The degree in which the game's ending disappoints and derails things is on par with what happened at the end of ME3, but I've never seen any movement or community drive set up to fix this. I could jokingly say the reason for this is because a grand total of seventeen people actually played this game, but even that hints to the real reason. There just isn't any passion for Enslaved, at least nowhere near the levels that Bioware's fans show for the Mass Effect series, and that's because players failed to become invested on an emotional level.

Entitlement

I hate to harp on the issue of modern gamers having an undeserved sense of entitlement any more than I already have in the past, but it's an issue that's come to the forefront of all of this madness.


Just to clarify, look at the above picture. The overall movement to retcon ME3's ending is called "Retake Mass Effect 3", with a great deal of emphasis on the word retake. Exactly who are you retaking the game from? Bioware? They're the ones that made it. The game is in no way yours and you don't have the right to dictate what happens to it.

I know that it seems like I'm retreading ground from previously in this article, but bare with me here. As I see it, everyone clamoring for a change to the ending feels that they're entitled to something different, something "better" than what they've already been given. My usual response to these sort of complaints is that you are owed nothing free, nothing extra, and you in no way deserve anything.

... except this time, well, you do and you don't. At the end of the day I still stand by the belief that you really don't have the right to demand anything of a developer, regardless of whether or not they can technically do it. After making their game and shipping it out in working order you don't deserve anything else, but in this case it's just not about additional content anymore. It's about something else.

For five years now fans of Mass Effect have been a part of the story. They've seen the universe change, they've watched as characters have developed and grown. In some cases they've started relationships with some of those characters and have taken things even further. They have grown attached to the story and the characters involved in it. They care about these people and what happens to then, and you know what? In that regard you're right. You do deserve something better. You deserve, at the very least, closure to something several years in the making that you helped give your own personal touches to. Instead, where there should have been resolution, there are only more questions. You feel cheated. I know for a fact that I do.

I guess what I've been attempting to explain here is that, while I disagree with the drive to make the ending change, I still agree that what we were given just isn't good enough. We're sort of in murky waters here, If anything, I guess my stance could be summarized as "I agree with why this movement exist, but not with it's existence" if that makes a lick of sense.

Either way, I think it can be agreed that events are rapidly approaching the point of being taken too far (that is if we haven't crossed that line already). Bioware is currently dealing with a storm of disgruntled fans and bad PR the likes of which I have never even seen within our industry before. All thanks to fifteen minutes at the end of a game.

Fifteen. Minutes. Regardless of what side of this debate your on or what your stance is, you have to remember that's all it is. Fifteen minutes of story and exposition that went wrong. Perhaps more importantly, it's fifteen minutes at the end. Think about everything leading up to that last moment. Everything you played, everything you experienced. Everything you felt as events were unfolding. Up until the tail end of the game was brilliant, and regardless of what your feeling on the ending are those fifteen minutes cannot devalue whatever you were feeling earlier on in the story. No matter how bad those fifteen minutes are, even up to the point where you have to ask yourself if anything you did actually mattered, those fifteen minutes can never take away the emotional impact you were feeling before.

If everyone had just taken a minute to take a breath and put everything into perspective like that, maybe we wouldn't be where we are now where things have degraded so fast. Sadly, we are now, and all we can do is sit and wait to see how all of this unfolds, for better or for worse.

~V

Max "Vanguard" Phillips is a freelance photographer, occasional writer and a long-time gamer. He's nowhere near important enough to be bribed by anyone, so don't even bother accusing him of anything.

The Quickest Mass Effect 3 Review Ever

+ Spectacular graphics and animations
+ Smooth combat gameplay
+ Epic story and quests
+ That good ole' Mass Effect music
+/- Multiplayer (Not my thing, but someone else may enjoy it)
- Jessica Chobot (Why, Bioware...Why?)
- DLC already, seriously?
= Definitely worth playing, regardless of the internet haterade


For my longer review, click read more!

Lara Croft Cosplay Tutorial/Information

I thought I might do a costume information/tutorial article for my Lara Croft cosplay from the 2012 Tomb Raider game. Please let me know if this sort of thing is helpful, and I'll definitely do some more! Also, if you're awesome at costume-making and have any suggestions for ways to improve or better ways of doing something, please share - this is a learning environment!

The Decision
I chose to cosplay as Lara Croft from the new Tomb Raider game because she's the first Lara Croft I actually feel like I connect to, both on a character and design level. She retains the best qualities of the previous Lara's (strong, independent, intelligent), and adds a more realistic element to the famous lady through her more "natural" looks and vulnerability. I whole-heartedly support the movement the designers are doing with her new look and wanted to design a costume around the new Lara.

The Materials
I used quite a lot of store bought things in this costume, as most was just clothing. I bought quite a few pairs of cargo pants before deciding on the pair I did because I couldn't find a suitable color. I also had some difficulty finding pants because I'm super tall. I'm 5"10 so finding pants is extremely difficult. The pants I chose are actually way too short for me, hence I added the tall wool socks. They hold down the pants, while adding a more hiker look. After I bought the pants, I used sandpaper to rough up the knees so they looked worn. I also ran it through the washer and dryer a few times to loosen it up.

I used boots that I already owned to cut some costs. I wish they were brown, but I used sandpaper to rough them up just like the pants so that they didn't look shiny. Luckily, I wore the boots to PAX East last year, so they got tons of wear and tear walking around all day - perfect for my survival look.

I purchased the tank top in, what I think, is the most perfect color ever. I looked so hard for that perfect shade of blue-gray. I actually found that particular tank top at Ann Taylor Loft for the very affordable price of $10. I used a white tank top that I already owned underneath, to add a layered look.

As much as I love the costume, I have struggled with the leather holster. I made a makeshift holster for NYCC out of pleather, but I think it stands out from the costume in a bad way. I'm hoping to improve this costume over time, since leather is expensive, so I will add more information as the costume changes.

I made the necklace out of clay and leather. It was fairly simple to do, but very fragile. I also made the bandages out of ripped linen fabric. I wanted them to look like something Lara would actually use in a tight fix for bandages. 

The Tutorial
Or How To Fake A Dirty Look

My lovely fiance actually did my makeup for Lara Croft and I think he did a fantastic job. Here's a quick tutorial of how to achieve the same thing:

Supplies:
- Brown Hairspray dye (Available at Halloween Costume stores)
- Brown Facepaint
- Blood capsules
- Charcoal (ground up)

1. Make sure your skin and outfit is clean and oil-free so that they makeup will stick better.
2. Apply brown hairspray onto paper towel or sponge and lightly sweep on areas you want light dirt. Focus on areas that would get dirty if you were actually the character.
3. Use brown facepaint on your fingers to streak areas that you want to look like mud-like dirt. We used lots of this to accent the lighter dirt.
4. Break blood capsule and drip onto areas that you want realistic blood look. Let it drip to where you want, and lightly dab or use a hairdryer to dry the blood. Now, the blood had to be reapplied a few times during the day because it faded into my skin, so keep this in mind for conventions.
5. Use ground up charcoal to smudge over blood, dirt, etc. This will darken everything up and really give it a realistic overtone.

Notes:
- Remember to make everything pretty evenly dirty. If you dirty up your face and shirt but skip your chest or arms, it's going to stand out against the dirt.
- Bring lots of those makeup removal wipes as the face paint and hairspray takes a heavy washing to come out.

I hope this article was helpful for any of you future cosplayers - Feel free to comment with any questions and I'll be happy to answer. I'll be wearing this costume at PAX East 2012 on Sunday and I hope to see you in Boston!

As always,
LadySnip3r