ME2 - Shepard's gender

[Lehcar]

Really, by looking at all the advertising, you'd never have a clue that you have the option to play as a man OR woman in the ME games...

 

Does anyone else find it strange that every single piece of "official" art and the trailers only show Shepard as a man? I think it's weird. femShep is feeling neglected here.

 

And I don't like it, either, cause frankly, I like female Shepard a lot more than male. Shepard is WAY better as a woman. <3

 

Plus, her voice acting is a heck of a lot better.

Edited December 15, 2010 by Lehcar

[CommanderCrazy]

Actually, the voice acting is worse IMO.

It's extremely monotone and never changes from talking in the Normandy to talking in the heat of battle.

[DonKnotts]

There are more men playing video games than women. The gap is narrowing, but the numbers are still divided clearly enough for marketing people to make an easy decision of it. I'm a man and I always play as a male, so if a game was presented to me as the lead (player) character being a woman, I would be less inclined to play. A freind of mine was playing some cartoony RPG, I can't remember the name, where the PC was a woman who just lost her husband or fiancee (or some such) and the plot seemed to revolve around romance for her. I just couldn't understand why he would want to play that game. Some people just don't get that whole "see the world from the other side of the fence" angle. When marketing a game, movie or anything else it pays to market directly to your biggest demographic.

[Vindekarr]

I agree crazy.

 

Typicaly I play anything with a pulse. In some cases, without a pulse aswell, but that's mostly a metaphore.

 

I dont feel any stigma at all about playing as someone of a diferent race, sex, sexualily, species, or any degree of seperation from my white, male real world self.

 

Fat gay one legged Inuit with a handlebar mustache? fine by me as long as he has a good story to tell.

 

I was raised to judge and catergorise people on their actions, not their physiology. If that fat gay one legged Inuit was a good person, then they are a good person. it doesnt matter to me that they're fat, homosexual, one legged, or an Inuit, because at core they're a good man and thus worthy of respect, that they are fat gay one legged and from the north means absolutely nothing.

 

But very few others agree with that. You wouldnt belive the amount of wierd looks, "die gaybo!" texts, and times I was booted from SGs in COV for playintg a female character. Most men just cant force themselves to step outside their real selves, and that's a real shame because they're missing out on a bunch of good games that have a female lead character, like Beyond Good And Evil.

 

Now, one way a developer often tries to get around this sexism is by twisting and contorting the female character into something grotesque and unrecognisable: a shambling pile of tits clad in a bikini usualy, like that pathetic Dead Or Alive series. A lot of men get so used to that image of women in gaming that when they see, for example my COV character, who wore floor length mage robes, with not even her face visible, they are confused further still.

 

So thus, they think they've only got the option of either making a female sheperd that's basicaly two almost bare breasts and some legs, or only showing the male version. It's stupid, but due to human stupidity, good marketing.

[Lehcar]

Male Shepards voice is crappy, imo HIS voice is the one that is extremely montone. Lacks expression, emotion completely. The person (voice actor) sounds like they were just reading their lines. FemShep's actually has expression.

 

And how dare you all speak ill of femShepard and female gamers like we;re all "tits with some legs"? What is that supposed mean? What is wrong with you fool men.

Edited December 16, 2010 by Lehcar

[JimboUK]

The voice acting for the male Shep is awful, he sounds like Mr Bean, I just can't take him seriously. I'm glad the marketing drones ignore the Female Shepherd, I shudder to think what changes they'd want to make to her.

[CommanderCrazy]

TBH, I think both voices were fairly monotone, but FemSheps was just droning on and on and sounded like a drill with a low battery.

Male Shepard's wasn't much better, but at least it changed from talking in the main base to talking in battle.

 

I do live by the line "To each their own", so if you like playing as a female shepard, then I won't hold it against you.

I'm just saying that her voice acting isn't really 'top notch'.

Edited December 16, 2010 by CommanderCrazy

[brokenergy]

Because... no one really cares about FemShepard? Male is the standard use for marketing purposes across the video gaming industry because many gamers are male (note that it is slowly changing). Also note that I'm not being not sexist about this little fact but I would rather see a male than a sexualised female advertised to draw players. As much as I like ME, I would rather play male than female. Hale really did a blotchy job in ME, not her best voice performance while Meer I can tolerate because he didn't over performed like Hale did.

[Vindekarr]

Male Shepards voice is crappy, imo HIS voice is the one that is extremely montone. Lacks expression, emotion completely. The person (voice actor) sounds like they were just reading their lines. FemShep's actually has expression.

 

And how dare you all speak ill of femShepard and female gamers like we;re all "tits with some legs"? What is that supposed mean? What is wrong with you fool men.

 

Lehcar, take a deep breath and reread what I've said.

 

Im talking about characters, not the people who play them.

 

Frankly there is no image in my mind for "female gamer" just as there is no image in my mind for "male gamer" that's like asking me to formulate an image of a "representative human being".

 

If you want to think that Im somehow being sexist, go right ahead, but what Im saying is this: developers think that the only way they'll coax a man into playing as a female character is by sexualising that character beyond any recognition. It's worked before. Dead or alive is one of the most offensively chauvanistic insults to humanity in recent memory, yet it sold with huge success. Why? tits.

 

As for your second point, I've said so many times why I dislike ME, that I'm not going to say it again. I do not like it at all.

Edited December 16, 2010 by Vindekarr

[AWarGuy]

Strange I'm a man and I always play as a woman, guess I like to check what different genders can offer (Eg Mass Effect 2 I have a Fem & Male Shepard.)