Current Events > Mass Effect Has a Big Disdain of Democracy

(+) Yeah! (+)

https://www.gamespot.com/articles/mass-effect-has-a-big-disdain-for-democracy/1100-6492171/

It starts! The articles about how Mass Effect isn't woke enough for 2021.

Especially love (that's sarcasm btw) this line.

Mass Effect's treatment of everyone who's not military or in agreement with you makes those ideas feel disingenuous, because as much as it seems to care about unity and diversity, it doesn't express any trust in other people. And in the era of QAnon, the US capitol riot, and ongoing lies about the rigging of the 2020 US presidential election, Shepard's side feels like the wrong side to be on.

Because gaming journalism

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For a game that wants to be about friendship and diversity, everybody's an idiot except Shepard in the original Mass Effect, and it feels bad.

lmao

Yeah, I love introducing people to Shepard's friendship. His shotgun's full of it.

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"Shepard's side feels like the wrong side to be on."

LOL. Do these people even play the game. Without Shepard the Reapers would of poured into the galaxy by complete surprise and all space faring civilizations would of been killed off.

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AmericaTheBrave posted...

Because gaming journalism

Yes, it's a stupid article, but far-righters complaining about bad journalism...glass houses and all that.

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I expected polygon

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People complaining about woke shit is more annoying than people trying to be woke

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It's okay to analyze a game's plot for its themes.

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Antifar posted...

It's okay to analyze a game's plot for its themes.

No no analysis of anything. Just sit and consume product.

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I can just hear Anderson yelling from the cosmos:

"Listen to yourself. You're Indoctrinated!"

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Antifar posted...

It's okay to analyze a game's plot for its themes.

It absolutely is. But I don't think "politicians are presented as ineffectual bureaucrats who stand in the way of real progress" is an anti-democratic stance.

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whoever wrote this article is such a fucking loser
grow up. talk about something that matters instead of trying to inject real world issues into a fucking video game

LinkDaLunatic posted...

instead of trying to inject real world issues into a fucking video game

https://i.redd.it/09kvwhza13271.png

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Antifar posted...

It's okay to analyze a game's plot for its themes.

Yes, but this isn't an analysis, it's written to score points and because the journalist is embarrassed to be writing about games instead of real news.

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AmericaTheBrave posted...

Yes, but this isn't an analysis, it's written to score points and because the journalist is embarrassed to be writing about games instead of real news.

Yeah, they should be aspiring to Breitbart or InfoWars where the real shit gets done

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AmericaTheBrave posted...

Yes, but this isn't an analysis

You may not like it or agree with it but it is lol

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Mocking ineffectual politicians who refuse to do anything despite evidence staring them in the face seems almost a direct mocking of American republicans right now, despite being written long before their support of a terrorist coup.

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The funny thing is that the galactic government in Mass Effect is even a worse Democracy than many modern ones. It literally has a species based system where only members 3 species (later 4) can sit at the highest seat of government.

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I regret going to read the comments on the article

"KEEP POLITICS OUT OF MASS EFFECT"

ffs, politics were a massive part of it and a clear criticism of governments that refuse to act despite evidence, just want to maintain a blissfully ignorant status quo and then even when the bad thing happens still do fuck all.

YellowSUV posted...

The funny thing is that the galactic government in Mass Effect is even a worse Democracy than many modern ones. It literally has a species based system where only members 3 species (later 4) can sit at the highest seat of government.

tbf, I wouldn't even call it a democracy. Only certain races are "worthy" and everyone else is essentially ignored and treated like a lesser individual. It's basically a caste system.

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Well this is the same website that fired a man because he gave a mediocre review to a mediocre video game. >_>

also lol.

this article sucks
yeah but Fox News!

getting big why dont you go play Call of Duty? energy from this topic lol

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AmericaTheBrave posted...

Yes, but this isn't an analysis, it's written to score points and because the journalist is embarrassed to be writing about games instead of real news.

Buddy I have news for you about other arts criticism.

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I'm not entirely sure what the TC's point is with this topic. It's a perfectly fine article. The dude is writing an analysis of the topics and themes Mass Effect attempts to tell. His mistake was believing that the game had a 'love, friendship, and understanding' theme. It absolutely doesn't. The council is made up of the three most powerful and influential races, based on who discovered the Citadel first. There was an immediate hierarchy set up.

Another thing he fails to note is the game is told through the prism of being in the military. That's pretty much why it has such an anti bureaucracy, anti red tape bend to it. Get shit done by any means necessary. What soldier doesn't dream of that?

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Funkydog posted...

ffs, politics were a massive part of it

Not just Mass Effect but scifi in general has been used as a vehicle for examining contemporary issues since forever

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Alucard188 posted...

His mistake was believing that the game had a 'love, friendship, and understanding' theme. It absolutely doesn't.

yeah, i have no idea where they got that idea from.
like, most of the games, ME3 especially is about forcing people to try and ignore the fact that they all hate each other for a just a minute

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Just shitty click bait for woke hivemind.

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Yeah, "Military strongman Shepard is screwing up galactic peace and democracy" is definitely not the right take.

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DezDroppedFreak posted...

I expected polygon

Oh Gamespot has been getting there with its desperate click pandering to movies, tv, and political centric news topics.

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CARRRNE_ASADA posted...

Just shitty click bait for woke hivemind.

But I was told Mass Effect fans are the woke hivemind.

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CARRRNE_ASADA posted...

Just shitty click bait for woke hivemind.

Judging by this topic, those are not the people who clicked.

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CARRRNE_ASADA posted...

Just shitty click bait for woke hivemind.

Anyone with opinions that go against the generally accepted truths is... part of the hivemind?

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DezDroppedFreak posted...

I expected polygon

I actually read it, and I probably shouldve done a better job of reading the OP since the problems we have with it are in different fields.

Maybe Im misunderstanding his overarching point, but I dont get how he came to the conclusion of equating Shepard to shit like the qanon movement. His pro military complaints boil down to its a video game where youre military and the portrayal of politicians being useless is pretty spot on to current events. See as recent as the 1/6 commission vote.

Antifar posted...

It's okay to analyze a game's plot for its themes.

Definitely, but that said

I feel like these specific types of pieces more often than not miss the point of whatever theyre trying to analyze and are just really lazy clickbait. Im having massive flashbacks to those polygon articles about Attack on Titan being pro fascist when that is quite literally the opposite of what it portrays

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CARRRNE_ASADA posted...

Just shitty click bait for woke hivemind.

Pretty much this. 'Gaming journalism' is a complete fucking joke.

Joohny posted...

Anyone with opinions that go against the generally accepted truths is... part of the hivemind?

IT IS a silly article. There's no intentional glorification of military. Just someone trying to please their boss.


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AlisLandale posted...

Well this is the same website that fired a man because he gave a mediocre review to a mediocre video game. >_>

Yes? Yes?

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Funkydog posted...

I regret going to read the comments on the article

"KEEP POLITICS OUT OF MASS EFFECT"

ffs, politics were a massive part of it and a clear criticism of governments that refuse to act despite evidence, just want to maintain a blissfully ignorant status quo and then even when the bad thing happens still do fuck all.

tbf, I wouldn't even call it a democracy. Only certain races are "worthy" and everyone else is essentially ignored and treated like a lesser individual. It's basically a caste system.

Yeah, it's effectively similar in theme to the metaplot of Harry Potter. Motherfuckers know Voldemort is coming back but they want to bury their head in the sand and pretend it's not happening.

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Holding a game made in 2007 to 2021 politics and current events ?, sounds like some major trolling to me.

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Antifar posted...

It's okay to analyze a game's plot for its themes.

*taps the sign*

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I think there is an argument here about some of these points to some degree but that he ended the article with Shepard's side feels like the wrong one to be on is just bizarre.

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The politics of Mass Effect does reflect the trends of fiction at the time. The original pitch was '24 in Space'

You're a Space Cop who essentially answers to no one to get the job done. This was done on purpose. As Shepard you decide what is right to do and the concept of excessive force doesn't really exist.

This does a good job of summarizing it really

In fact, no member of civil authority in Mass Effect really seems like they're that respectable. Playing Mass Effect today, it's been surprising just how much disdain the game seems to show for the idea of civilian government, institutions, and rules in general. The galaxy of Mass Effect is not an especially democratic place, and when it is, it's the know-nothing paper pushers who make up the government that put lives in danger. The time it takes to get the Citadel Council to sign off on an action could cost lives. Bureaucrats and their rules prevent you from stopping criminals and terrorists. You're the only one who understands the real threat, and everyone else just has their head in the sand if they're unwilling to let you do whatever you want to deal with it.

This is what a lot of fiction around that time period was like. Pro-military/authority and anti-bureaucracy.

I don't think it means the game is bad or anything and I don't think the article is really making that claim. I think it's interesting how much fiction can change in 14 years. Now TV shows about cops are potentially controversial.

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Everyone should have a disdain for bourgeois democracy

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Darmik posted...

This is what a lot of fiction around that time period was like. Pro-military/authority and anti-bureaucracy.

I don't think it means the game is bad or anything and I don't think the article is really making that claim. I think it's interesting how much fiction can change in 14 years. Now TV shows about cops are potentially controversial.

tbf, lots of the military/cops (C-sec) in the Mass Effect Universe don't come off favourably either, save Anderson/Hackett.

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Funkydog posted...

tbf, lots of the military/cops (C-sec) in the Mass Effect Universe don't come off favourably either, save Anderson/Hackett.

From what I remember doesn't Garrus say that the entire issue with C-Sec was all the red tape? That was his character arc in the first game right? Then in the second game Garrus becomes a vigilante who kills criminals.

Anderson can also briefly become a politician but ends up leaving to go back to the military.

Saren is depicted as a bad Spectre. But primarily because he gets indoctrinated by Reapers and takes things too far. I don't seem to recall the fact that he outright hates humans but has a position of authority over humans is ever really brought up.

Not saying that it should have been expected to though. It was a different time.

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Darmik posted...

From what I remember doesn't Garrus say that the entire issue with C-Sec was all the red tape? That was his character arc in the first game right? Then in the second game Garrus becomes a vigilante who kills criminals.

Anderson can also briefly become a politician but ends up leaving to go back to the military.

Saren is depicted as a bad Spectre. But primarily because he gets indoctrinated by Reapers and takes things too far. I don't seem to recall the fact that he outright hates humans but has a position of authority over humans is ever really brought up.

Not saying that it should have been expected to though. It was a different time.

Anderson absolutely brings up that Saren hates humans in the first game. It's part of Anderson's backstory on why he didn't become the first human spectre. He also mentions that Saren isn't widely liked because of his of lack of concern for how his methods affect other people.

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Darmik posted...

From what I remember doesn't Garrus say that the entire issue with C-Sec was all the red tape? That was his character arc in the first game right? Then in the second game Garrus becomes a vigilante who kills criminals.

Sure, but also plenty else you see about them from what I remember, with numerous corrupt individuals throughout, and you can even convince Garrus the rules are important (he still goes off to do ME2 things regardless) How he views C-sec (In a good/bad light) is something you shape with him. Then entire military's are caught up in their own petty squabbles, politics and nonsense, including the humans.

Saren's issue I thought you could mention, but the council just dismisses it. Choosing to favour him over you as he's trusted and you're "just a human causing trouble" which only further highlights the racism/caste system embedded in the galactic community/government.

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Pro tip, if you think something is bad journalism, don't freely advertise it and tell them they're doing a great job by the only metric they care about.

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Delta_Force posted...

I can just hear Anderson yelling from the cosmos:

"Listen to yourself. You're Indoctrinated!"

+1

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