This is being posted in response to EA CEO Andrew Wilson's statement that Dragon Age: The Veilguard would have done better financially if they had built in Live Play service.

Let us say this clearly and without equivocation: the OG fans of the Dragon Age and Mass Effect series DO NOT WANT LIVE PLAY OPTIONS AND IF YOU HAD INCLUDED THEM, WE WOULD NOT HAVE PAID FOR THE VEILGUARD. IF YOU PUT LIVE PLAY SERVICE IN MASS EFFECT 5, WE WILL NOT BUY YOUR GAME. Let us tell you what we do want: We want great stories featuring strong characters. We want grey morality where our character's choices matter in the world and make a marked difference in the outcome of the game so that we can play time and time again, making new choices and experimenting with what happens. We want our characters to have agency and be the writer of their own stories. We want solid romances that make our characters feel good about themselves; and yes, we want some spice. You can leave the full-on smut to the fan artists on tumlbr dot com, but for the love of the Maker, the romance is one of the biggest draws in these games and the lackluster milquetoast y'all gave us in The Veilguard was not it. We want romances that build over time, that have some awkwardness to them, that feel REAL. We want to be able to go and find our blorbo at any time and feel comforted in knowing that there’s always a little peck on the lips waiting for us wherever they are (or, ya know, that sexy little ass-smack from the Iron Bull). 

Who are we? Overwhelmingly, the Dragon Age and Mass Effect series have drawn women; by most accounts The Inquisition's audience was 48% female. Maybe you don't know these numbers well, but that is incredible for a Western-style RPG. We remember playing online games in the early days and getting shouted off of servers the minute we spoke with our femme-sounding voices. We’re all over the world, we're mostly queer, we're all giant nerds and many of us have been with you from the beginning (to be fair I do have one friend who’s the straightest guy you know with whom I have had deep philosophical conversations about Bioware romances, so really, we also break stereotypes). Whether it was Jade Empire, KotOR, Neverwinter Nights 2 or Dragon Age: Origins that pulled us in, we've played your whole catalogue (excluding the absolute shit-bomb of Anthem; a poignant reminder here that we DON'T WANT LIVE PLAY). And let’s never forget the newer players who have found themselves in the newer offerings from Bioware; we are glad you’re here.

We took days off of work for the game releases to ensure that we could veg for a solid 24-48 hours and avoid major spoilers. We have podcasts and blogs and youtube channels dedicated to telling you what we want from your games and analyzing stories and romances. Whether or not you do your VERY BASIC MARKET RESEARCH is up to you, but at the very least, learn to listen to your writers and developers, ESPECIALLY the veterans who have given us EXACTLY what we want time and again (although, surprise, you fired most of them so I guess you’re SOL there).

Yeah, the world is on fire, yes, we have bigger things to worry about and YES, we will ALL be standing with our trans and queer family in the months and years to come because those are the kinds of people y’all have cultivated with these games (and if you’re signing this petition, you’re agreeing with that statement, end of). But these games are an escape and a balm. For the same reasons that humankind has always told stories and the same reasons we read, go to the theatre, watch a movie or a TV show, we play your games. It is escapism and empathy; we feel as the characters feel and we hurt when they hurt and we NEED that. This exchange of ideas is essential to human nature and for many years we have been able to take this comfort in your games; we would love to be able to do so for many years to come. We’re not saying to stick to the original formula and never change a thing, but we do need you to stick to the basic tenets that were set by you and agreed upon by us just for, like, basic continuity.

All of the above is just filler to tell you that we, the global fandom of Dragon Age and Mass Effect, DO NOT WANT LIVE PLAY OR MICRO-TRANSACTIONS IN OUR GAMES. By signing this, we are committing to boycott any Bioware game that includes live play. If the OG Bioware style is dead and gone, then we will go with it into that good night. There are fanfics and fan art and replays of older, better games out there. There are new games being developed every day that scratch the itch and we WILL keep an eye on what your former writers and developers are working on and support their products. Hell, Baldur’s Gate 3 does a pretty damn good job of giving us everything we ever wanted from your company (thanks, Larian!). But at the core of it all, we do want more Mass Effect and Dragon Age content because we’ve fallen in love with the worlds and the people and we want it to continue to be our balm and escape. And to Andrew Wilson? Sit down and play a damn story-based RPG before running your mouth. May I recommend Dragon Age: Inquisition or Mass Effect 2? I’d recommend going back to the originals, but you don’t seem like you care enough about your company to do that.

And one final note to the writers and developers: we see you. We appreciate you. We know that you did your best, but we’ve all looked a CEO in the eye and told them exactly what they needed to know to have him tell us to sit down. Maybe you tried a second time, but he gave you that “bring it up again and I’ll fire you” look and, at the end of the day, the paychecks were still rolling in and we all need to pay the bills, somehow. We know that you fought for us because those moments did, nevertheless, shine through in The Veilguard. Thank you. For everything.