Bioware Posts Character Design Decisions to Open Vote on Facebook

Original Article Link - The Escapist

Bioware, a division of Electronic Arts and creator of the popular series Mass Effect, recently setup a Facebook page which allowed users to vote on the default character design of the female version of the game's protagonist, Commander Shepard. Games from the Mass Effect Series are incredibly story-driven and allow players to customize their protagonist even more than a character from The Sims...

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According to Bioware's statistics, 83% of all player customize their character, 13% use the default male design, leaving only a small 4% that actually use the default female design. So from a business perspective, why go through the trouble of creating a public vote for something that only 4% of the player-base will use? I believe the answer is free publicity through social networking. The voting pages (Round 1, Round 2) required Facebook users to first "Like" the Mass Effect 2 group, then "Like" a picture in their photo album in order to cast a vote. As users of Facebook are already aware, these "Likes" permeate the side bar and advertising space of the user's friends, granting Bioware free advertising for their upcoming game, at the small cost of rendering and posting a few images on Facebook. Also, by using a public vote on a social networking site, players feel empowered because they feel they have a say in the decisions of the company. The downside is that those who do not win feel alienated and ignored. For the 23,841 players that didn't get the character design of their choice, the loss is small and somewhat trivial. However, basing more crucial, design-related decisions on public opinion would most certainly divide the fan-base and deter the losing side from purchasing the product. Therefore, while I applaud Bioware's attempt to listen to and connect with its supports, I discourage them or any other company from trusting the public opinion of "The Internets" for important design decisions.

This article was written for BYU CS404, for the current events assignment due Sept. 13th.