The Better Business Bureau’s Marjorie Stephens has said it’s possible Mass Effect 3 was falsely advertised due to the lack of “radically different ending scenarios” the public was promised.
According to her blog post, the game was advertised as giving players the ability to “experience the beginning, middle, and end of an emotional story unlike any other, where the decisions you make completely shape your experience and outcome,” and going further to say that “along the way, your choices drive powerful outcomes, including relationships with key characters, the fate of entire civilizations, and even radically different ending scenarios.”
Stephens said the issue here, is whether BioWare falsely advertised and according to her, “yes, they did.”
“In the first bullet point, where it states “the decisions you make completely shape your experience”, there is no indecision in that statement – it is an absolute,” she said. “The next statement is not so absolute. It states “your choices drive powerful outcomes”. A consumer would have to very carefully analyze this statement to come to a conclusion that the game’s outcome is not “wholly” determined by one’s choices.
“This statement, really though, is very subject to interpretation. Also this is just a small example of their advertising and does not take into account anything that might have been said, as far as their public relations and other advertising campaigns.”
Stephens concludes stating that the “lesson to be learned” from in this case is “companies should give careful consideration to how they word their advertisements.”
“Otherwise, there could be detrimental effects, especially in the era of social media and online forums,” she said.
