How biopunk is Mass Effect?

If I intend to research Mass Effect as a work of ‘biopunk’ then it seemed logical to figure out just how many plots ticked the biopunk box. Unfortunately, this meant doing the one thing I hate the most: compiling spreadsheets. It was a necessary evil. Mass Effect has so many plots, plot devices and themes raging through its work that it was the only way to neatly compile any data. It would be typical to write an examination of the themes of a work, just to realise I’d forgotten something significant because I hadn’t neatly and clearly collected the right information beforehand. A spreadsheet turned out to be the only way. The amount of information just simply would not fit on my whiteboard. The first time, so far, that tactic has failed me.

Creating the spreadsheet wasn’t the easiest, as I am not the most experienced at making them nor am I the most logical person. My haphazard approach often works well for developing a myriad of original ideas, but it isn’t the most efficient method for gathering numerical evidence. And, for once, that was what I needed. I just required a cold look at the numbers, the amount of plots, and then I could prioritise each plot for examination.

The simplest solution I could come up with was to go through the plots of the four games (in chronological order), and list which stories/mechanics fit as biopunk under the categories of gameplay, main missions, side quests, characters and general lore. They were then ranked according to whether the biopunk themes were primary or secondary considerations. For instance, a krogan shouting poetry is not a primary biopunk story. It does not overtly deal with genetic engineering or concerns with biological identities. It is not a moment that changes the games substantially. However, the asari and krogan are wrestling with the legacy of a ‘sterilisation plague’ – which is undoubtedly biopunk, and therefore counts as a ‘secondary’ biopunk story. Very quickly, the numbers started to add up. In total: 101 plots and game play mechanics counted as biopunk. That’s right. 101. That’s a large number of Dalmatian puppies to have, and a ridiculous amount of plots to consider, particularly when I’ve almost certainly missed some key details that I will only be able to discover as I replay the series.

But the beauty is that not all of these are required to be mentioned in my specific research project (although I look forward to writing papers on the ‘discarded’ plots). But logging the different instances of biopunk moments and mechanics helped to build a greater understanding of the story as a whole. It was an extremely helpful tool – I’ve already ordered a larger whiteboard.