Sean TrundleAMST334 – SP13

Multiform Narrative in Bioware’s Mass Effect 3

“Agency, then, goes beyond participation and activity. As an aesthetic pleasure, as an experience to be savored for its own sake, it is offered to a limited degree in traditional art forms but is more commonly available in the structured activities we call games … Can we imagine a compelling narrative literature that builds on these game structures without being diminished by them?” (Murray 128-9)

Commander Shepard…

…or Commander Shepard?

“In the right hands a maze story could be a melodramatic adventure with complex social subtexts … The maze could be composed not only of spatial twists but of moral and psychological choices. Just as it is hard to see where a tangle of virtual corridors is leading, so too would it be hard to foresee the consequences of your actions.”(Murray 131)

These choices aren’t arbitrary … Of course your decisions matter, the result of those decision is simply not made explicit. What the game doesn’t do is rub your face in your choices.” – Ben Kuchera, Penny Arcade Report

“But here’s the thing: My choices did have consequences. So many, on so many of the characters, in so many ways. It’s just, those consequences occurred on my long path toward the ending. And, well, that’s bloody brilliant, isn’t it?”-John Walker, Rock Paper Shotgun

Works Cited Kuchera, Ben. “Why the Ending of Mass Effect 3 Was Satisfying, and Worthy

of the Series” Penny Arcade Report. Web. 20 Jan. 2013. “Mass Effect: A Sales History” VGChartz.com. Web. 20 Jan. 2013. “Mass Effect 3.” Bioware.com. Web. 20 Jan. 2013. “Mass Effect 3.” Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. 19 Jan. 2013. Web. 20

Jan. 2013. Walker, John. “What’s Right With Mass Effect 3′s Ending.” Rock, Paper,

Shotgun. Web. 20 Jan. 2013.

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