By Alec Meer on July 25th, 2011 at 9:28 am.
Oh dear, there appears to have been some kind of mistake here. Bioware, as part of their long-awaited marketing acknowledgement of the female version of Mass Effect hero Shepard, have offered fans the option to vote for which of six new versions of FemShep (I really dislike that portmanteau for reasons I can’t entirely pinpoint, but it seems rather too late to resist it now) will be added to the character creator options in Mass Effect 3. However, none of them look like the FemShep I know, and thus presumably you know. Mysterious! Someone must have uploaded some fan-art by mistake, right?
Somewhat depressingly, the blond, blue-eyed, most trad-sexpot of the six is currently winning this Facebook-based vote by around 10,000 Likes. And they all seem rather more geared towards young’n'hot than the FemShep of old. There’s obviously no reason at all Shepard can’t have conventional (or even extraordinary) good looks, but for me at least part of the appeal of the character is that she’s a million miles away from so many other games’ depicition of female heroes.
I’m sure this is really only about expanding the range of visual options for the character, but there is this niggling worry that maybe someone hopes to recast FemShep as something more marketing-friendly – given the news that just 18% of ME players plump for a female starship captain.
Still, don’t panic: ME 1&2′s default FemShep will remain alongside whatever the new one ends up being, and obviously we’ll be able to have a good old face-tweak again too. And, of course, the excellent Jennifer Hale will return for voice duties, which gurantees that regardless of how the character looks, she’s going to be that familiarly wry, no-nonsense hardnut we so admire.
25/07/2011 at 09:32 alice says:
My ME1 and ME2 FemSheps were fairly different, the key thing being Jennifer Hale’s awesome voice acting that prevented me from losing suspension of disbelief. I am curious if they are gonna cannonize another go at the face editor, I am definitely open for more options being available.
25/07/2011 at 09:34 soldant says:
What was wrong with the default FemShep face? I thought that one was pretty good. Am I in some sort of minority?
25/07/2011 at 09:38 Icarus says:
I picked the default face for her, yes. Just gave her black hair instead of red.
Edit for screenie:
http://i63.servimg.com/u/f63/15/23/17/92/shep10.jpg
25/07/2011 at 09:55 Alexander Norris says:
Yeah, seconded. These all look either not-vanilla-enough-to-sell or else too-vanilla-to-be-interesting, whereas the default one was safe without being on the cover of Maxim.
I like the Asian Shepard the best out of this batch, but there’s no way in hell she’d get voted in. :(
25/07/2011 at 10:10 McDan says:
You’re not in a minority at all, the default femshep face was definetely the one they should have used fro marketing, as then more people would have recognised her. These new faces are rubbish, I’m only voting for the blonde one because she looks better than the others, which isn’t really a good reason at all.
25/07/2011 at 11:49 Dr I am a Doctor says:
She looks like Jake Lloyd
25/07/2011 at 15:31 briktal says:
I usually pick a face close to the default in games because a) I’m bad at face editors and b) halfway through I just give up anyway.
25/07/2011 at 15:59 Urthman says:
Too young. She looks like a 16-year-old kid, not a veteran soldier.
26/07/2011 at 02:39 joeymcjoeysalot says:
Completely agree with you Urthman. She’s been through 2 epically long battles. I’d put her at least at 28 by now.
26/07/2011 at 09:25 Dhatz says:
its the future, you dont need to age, being cyberized is so natural most people dont even think about about it.
25/07/2011 at 09:35 Richard Cobbett says:
Can’t stand “FemShep” either. I think of her as the “Shepardess”.
Or, to be more accurate: Shepard. Because that is who she is.
25/07/2011 at 10:24 alice says:
Wrexess.
25/07/2011 at 11:19 MiniMatt says:
I’m worried about what this might say about me but every time I hear “FemShep” I imagine something sat next to “FemFresh” in the pharmacy.
25/07/2011 at 11:36 lurkalisk says:
I always called ‘er Boobard.
25/07/2011 at 11:37 Mirqy says:
Cobbett is pink. Has he always been pink? Is this new? Has he been hired? You look good in pink Richard.
25/07/2011 at 12:19 Richard Cobbett says:
Nah, I just still have an editing flag on after helping out last week.
25/07/2011 at 15:58 Urthman says:
The correct usage is Shepard and DudeShep.
26/07/2011 at 15:04 Ezhar says:
She-pard. Duh.
25/07/2011 at 09:37 Danny says:
When will people learn, democracy doesn’t work.
25/07/2011 at 09:41 Danny says:
The internet also proves its idiocy with some of the comments about the ‘ethnic’ version of Shepard.
25/07/2011 at 09:59 Kdansky says:
As if that version (Rihanna as inspiration I guess?) had even the remotest of chances of winning this. I can hear the hateful and mocking cries of “lol nigger shepard” from here. The blonde one is incredibly sexed out, and the first two remind me a lot of female Hawke. All in all, a very poor selection.
25/07/2011 at 12:04 lurkalisk says:
I don’t think anyone will vote for an ugly Shepard, regardless of gender. They don’t NEED to be particularly attractive, but why not? If it’s the substance of the character that matters, looks can’t possibly hurt. There’s nothing wrong with not having such looks, but the good in “good lookin’” is there for a reason.
…Unless you’re one who thinks pretty ladies don’t really exist and false rumours of their existence only hurt people’s self-esteem.
25/07/2011 at 14:36 Fierce says:
@lurkalisk
I think it has more to do with how whenever good looks are introduced, they tend to eclipse everything else of various (ie. probably higher) value, thus the “dammit, Democracy doesn’t work!” reaction of Danny, which I tepidly agree with. It’s like how politics can be, and sometimes is, dominated by which politician voters like, or produce good feelings upon the “first impression” test, rather than upon whether the politician represents the voter’s best interests or policy beliefs. The visual may be the source of harmless titillation, but it’s also the source of cultural profiling, vulgar assumption (ex. scantily clad women are sluts) and all kinds of undesired side-effects.
Therefore, it’s surprising you managed to type “If it’s the substance of the character that matters, looks can’t possibly hurt” with an -I assume- straight face. Good looks according to whom? White people it seems. Substance never gets eclipsed by good looks? There are many women, some of them the world’s most recognized and respected models, who would disagree. Lara Croft included.
That the blonde haired, blue-eyed iteration is “winning” speaks far louder than your slightly naive ideal ever could, and at best illustrates how the true subjectivity of beauty gets drowned out by overwhelming cultural saturation of what is “Normal” and what is “Other”, possibly(?) where Danny is coming from in the context of your comment.
For what it’s worth, I think the entire “vote for the New Female Default Shepard” objective is silly in that it only serves to generate the useless marketing data that the majority of the Mass Effect gaming population reflexively gravitates to the blonde and blue, while completely failing to cater to the voters professed needs. If the ending voting percentages turn out to be 37%-28%-17%-10%-6%-2%, what exactly is the obstacle to including all six model parameters in the Character Creation screen? Saving an extra 20MB in installation footprint? An extra 12 hours of development time? The objective of the voting seems to be marketing tripe of the worst kind, when the exercise itself could be awesomely used to raise awareness and appreciation of the female playthrough possibilities of the game.
Imagine Mass Effect, the game relentlessly “misinterpreted” by an ignorant news media, actually increasing gender equality in video games! Now that’s a day I wouldn’t mind seeing.
25/07/2011 at 16:00 Urthman says:
Fierce, all this is just about which picture on the box.
25/07/2011 at 20:27 rivalin says:
God, how achingly “correct” some of this discussion is, she’s only attractive “according to white people”, that’s not really true though is it? given how universal the preference for white women seems to be, especially among the ethnic group that does well in professional sport (not the done thing to draw attention to that fact though is it?)
Also, how is it sexist to pick the most attractive woman? The male Shepherd is based on a male supermodel, while the old female Shepherd wasn’t particularly pretty. Did anyone complain that he was objectified by all those tight t-shirts?
26/07/2011 at 06:54 Nalano says:
@ rivalin
Wait. You’re combating “political correctness” by saying Black athletes like to hook up with blonde bimbos?
I’d laugh if I wasn’t so sure you weren’t just trolling. But at any rate, the Nordic supermodel is a type and that type is very over-hyped and over-rated.
Based on which of these six Shepards looks most like a marine who punched Cthulhu twice, I’d have to say that none of them do, but #1 comes closest.
26/07/2011 at 09:27 Dhatz says:
they shouldnt even present any sexychick faces to begin with.
25/07/2011 at 09:38 Orija says:
Why can’t female protagonists look like soldiers instead of lingerie models. Fucking love A Song of Ice and Fire in this regard.
No. 2 for me.
25/07/2011 at 14:59 Zyrxil says:
The same reason why male protagonists have to modeled on male model Mark Vanderloo. Players need to identify with the Heros, and that’s easier if they’re good looking.
25/07/2011 at 09:38 Cunzy1 1 says:
Grrrr!I’masangryasNu-PrinceofPersiaFemShep
25/07/2011 at 09:39 Kaar says:
FemShep sounds like a female hygiene product
25/07/2011 at 10:45 jon_hill987 says:
I was also going to post that in response to the “I really dislike that portmanteau for reasons I can’t entirely pinpoint” comment.
25/07/2011 at 10:49 gwathdring says:
:P
25/07/2011 at 09:40 Stuart Walton says:
My Shepard is the only Shepard. Plus she looks like she can handle herself in a firefight.
Yes, I did call her SpaceVixen.
25/07/2011 at 09:46 P7uen says:
I don’t know who that is, or who any of the above are.
They are not Shepard! My Shepard is the only Shepard!
Shepard!
25/07/2011 at 09:47 Cunzy1 1 says:
Shepard!
25/07/2011 at 10:36 Kid_A says:
Wrex.
25/07/2011 at 11:12 sasayan says:
Kaaaahn!
Wait, sorry, wrong series.
25/07/2011 at 12:31 P7uen says:
Newman!
25/07/2011 at 13:20 gwathdring says:
Why the heck haven’t they thought of doing a “My Shepard” ad campaign? For example, taking a bunch of gamers and having them do melodramatic “My Shepard” monologue snippets over the top of game footage with their custom Shepard in play? That would show off the variety they like to talk about when they mention how many plot choices you have and bang on about how many decisions are stored in your save file. That could be a pretty good ad campaign.
25/07/2011 at 14:24 Nalano says:
Because I’m pretty sure “hey, you can be as nerdy and obsessive as these guys!” will really win over a mainstream audience.
25/07/2011 at 17:20 edgeblend says:
TETSUO!!!
25/07/2011 at 20:58 GHudston says:
No, my Shepard… and so’s my wife!
Wait, no…
26/07/2011 at 09:29 Dhatz says:
wtf why here is a intimidate/ charm stat? so ridiculous, those already are in the special meters.
25/07/2011 at 09:41 Arglebargle says:
I never play these with the default faces, so it doesn’t seem like much of an issue to me. The voice work is what’s the defining element, since that never changes.
I recall actually being bothered by hearing the same voice when trying to go through an all renegade run. It just seemed … wrong… somehow.
25/07/2011 at 09:42 Inigo says:
What’s the betting that the others will be added later as paid DLC?
25/07/2011 at 10:44 Optimaximal says:
Obvious sarcasm aside, the game has a character generator. All 6 can be made in game, along with the 7th TRUE Female Shepard (you know… my one).
25/07/2011 at 11:33 Inigo says:
So what’s the point of the vote? Does the winner become the default face or something?
25/07/2011 at 12:01 Dr I am a Doctor says:
yes
25/07/2011 at 12:04 Qazi says:
If you’d have clicked the first link in the article, you’d have been sent to this article http://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2011/06/17/lady-shepherd-to-feature-in-me3-marketing/ .
So, yes. They want a face to use as new default, because the old defaults aren’t marketing shiny enough.
Or, on a second reading, maybe not. Hmm. Ambiguous.
26/07/2011 at 09:26 Erd says:
What a surprise it’d be if the winner wasn’t the face you knew was going to win from the outset.
25/07/2011 at 09:43 VelvetFistIronGlove says:
They all look exactly the same, only with got different haircuts and skin colour.
And none of them look anything like my female Shepard.
25/07/2011 at 09:54 Stuart Walton says:
Plus they all have the same make-up, which incidentally looks like it was done by a man as they all look like they began their career on a street corner.
Not one of them looks like they are the sole survivor of a thresher maw attack on Akuze or someone who could repel a Batarian attack single handedly.
Bioware, you get a fail. Please try harder next time.
25/07/2011 at 09:57 Fwiffo says:
‘Bioware, you get a fail. Please try harder next time.’
I’ve been saying this more and more lately. :(
25/07/2011 at 15:02 sinister agent says:
I was wondering if it was just me. They do all look the same. And they shouldn’t have any makeup at all, damn it, this is a secret mission to prevent a war, not a bloody catwalk.
25/07/2011 at 15:48 DarkNoghri says:
That’s what I thought too. I’m abstaining from the vote, because they’re all the same, and none of them are correct, anyway.
If Bioware is trying to find a model to use for marketing, they’re missing the point. We didn’t want a female in the marketing, we wanted Shepard. And those are not her.
25/07/2011 at 23:30 Jarl Hamburger says:
Ack, my thoughts exactly. Is the third one meant to be the Asian sort of FemShep? She looks more white than she does Asian.
25/07/2011 at 09:44 coldvvvave says:
Femshep 5.
Even though I’m going to create a custom MALE character.
25/07/2011 at 09:45 trillex says:
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1839558/ – Phew, Jennifer Hale is still in there. You guys had me worried.
25/07/2011 at 09:46 phoenixdk says:
Gotta love the hypocrisy of them using default male shepard but not even having default femshep as a choice – will sigh a million sighs when they inevitably pick the blonde as the marketing shep.
And here I was thinking that finally getting femshep recognised was going to be “a good thing” :(
25/07/2011 at 11:40 Staump says:
Unless I missed something, it seems like the voting is just to have one of those Shepards as one of the preconstructed characters, not the replacement for the original female Shepard. Therefore having the original female Shepard as one of the options would be pretty silly…
25/07/2011 at 11:45 phoenixdk says:
You’re right, I was just reading into this that marketing-wise they’re gonna go for female shep that look like/is exactly like the one which wins this vote and not the default female shepard (to go alongside default maleshep) for marketing.
Maybe i’m overly cynical, but them’s my gut feelin’s
25/07/2011 at 09:46 CaptainBinky says:
None of those options look anything at all like my Shepard. But then I was going for the Vasquez from Aliens vibe.
Having said that, my male Shepard looked like a fat Bruce Willis (aka Bruce Willis).
25/07/2011 at 09:47 Kuroko says:
I love Nº5. She looks like my Shepard, but with messier hair… no problem with that, I’ll just roleplay that she went even MORE renegade (if that’s possible).
If she ends up being chosen (I hope so) I would even buy a poster. After all, she is my Shepard :)
25/07/2011 at 09:47 duncanthrax says:
Why do people care? They all look unfriendly and antiseptic.
25/07/2011 at 10:32 gwathdring says:
Yeah …..
25/07/2011 at 09:50 heretic says:
They’re all ugly except 5 maybe.
Anyway what’s wrong with a female Shepard with nice assets?
Male Shepard is tall and muscular, why can’t we have a stupidly gorgeous lingerie model female Shepard?
25/07/2011 at 10:02 Orija says:
Why can’t we have a tall and muscular female Shepherd?
25/07/2011 at 10:05 Symitri says:
Why can’t we have a stupidly gorgeous lingerie model male Shepa- oh wait.
25/07/2011 at 10:31 gwathdring says:
I’m with these two.
25/07/2011 at 10:38 skalpadda says:
Male Shepard has a very distinct face with a lot of personality though, which can’t be said about what looks like it will be the default female version. Doesn’t affect me since I’ll be importing my saves and never go with default looks in RPGs, but it’s a shame they couldn’t come up with something more original and an even bigger shame they’re turning it into a beauty contest on the internet.
edit: It also looks like she’s around 16 years old. And where did this male obsession with blondes come from anyway?
25/07/2011 at 10:52 heretic says:
@Orija that really isn’t my point.
Most women will pick men who are tall and muscular and will find that attractive.
Why can’t men pick women on their nice features?
And I’m not against having a tall and muscular female Sheperd. As long as options to make her sexy aren’t removed because “we’re against portraying women in games as lingerie models”.
Point is, attractiveness sells. Be it male or female, so stop your nonsense. Male Shepard is modelled after a real life Dutch model apparently, why can’t female Shepard be Milla?
Anyway I sure hope they pick 5.
25/07/2011 at 11:08 gwathdring says:
That’s fair, to a point. But so many female game characters look like lingerie models. And a lot of the rest look like prostitutes. How many female game characters look like professional soldiers, or normal women?
You could turn it around. How many male game characters look like professional soldiers? Crap. Lingerie models? Crap. Musclebound to the point of being ugly as opposed to sleek and sexy? Wait, crap. Normal men? Ha! Finally. Not too many look like normal men. You have me there.
There’s stereotyping on both sides. But it’s so much less varied with stereotyping with the women of gaming. There are so many fewer prototypical gaming women than prototypical gaming men. It’s as disappointing as the cup-sizes are ridiculous.
And finally, in a game where you play a military professional who has been through hell and high water, perhaps the most bad-ass person on the planet … I think tall and muscular makes a wee bit more sense. And for the record, I don’t like the default Shepard. He didn’t look like I thought Shepard should: proud, professional, firm, somewhat handsome but not necessarily a heart-throb (or a professional model). He also didn’t look like the action movie style toughest military bastard in the universe, which I wanted for my Renegade Shepard later on.
Side note: I did a Daniel Craig-like Shepard completely by accident … not the most bad-ass Shepard possible, but not bad at all; he’s got a pretty good death glare, and a decent calm yet prepared expression necessary for a Bond film. The first time I took a screenshot I suddenly realized he was the spitting image of that guy from that James Bond film that I barely remember and I found it hilarious that I didn’t notice while I was making it.
25/07/2011 at 12:40 Ergates_Antius says:
That’s definately not the hairstyle of someone who has spent long enough in the Military to rise to the rank of starship captain.
25/07/2011 at 14:27 Nalano says:
While you could say that tall-and-muscular is the default “male” thing and lithe-lingerie-model is the default “female” thing, thing is, we’re talking a marine, here.
One who (at least in my case) headbutted a Krogan. Tall-and-muscular would be apropos for both genders.
25/07/2011 at 15:11 Fierce says:
Might want to read my post above this thread, if you wish. I wrote it before reading this area.
25/07/2011 at 15:51 heretic says:
@Fierce
I agree that it is a bit of a crappy marketing strategy.
As far as I’m concerned I’d rather they include all 6 models they posted on facebook. I’ll just pick the one I like.
But as others have pointed out, we’re meant to be talking “marine” here, not some bimbo.
I agree that if you’re looking for believability you’d want someone who’d be capable of headbutting a krogan as pointed out.
But not everyone is looking for believability, I enjoyed the Bloodrayne games even though you had a bimbo vampire in heels doing cartwheels and dispatching nazis and monsters (lol).
A female Shepard looking butch isn’t what I’m looking for, but that’s a personal choice. As long as the developers allow people to make choices on appearance then I have no problem with that.
25/07/2011 at 09:50 skinlo says:
Real men play with men!
25/07/2011 at 09:50 skinlo says:
Hmm.
25/07/2011 at 09:55 Gnoupi says:
This.
25/07/2011 at 09:56 Kuroko says:
Indeed: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vwB2XFIIF7o
25/07/2011 at 09:57 Raiyan 1.0 says:
Real men want to be inside other men!
25/07/2011 at 10:16 coldvvvave says:
But I thought RPS readers were ok being inside JC Denton.
25/07/2011 at 09:51 Ubernutz says:
Number 2 looks like Alison Brie. Now trying to reconcile Community and ME.
25/07/2011 at 10:08 Hillbert says:
If this leads to anyone shouting “Pop pop!” in the middle of a battle. I’ll be happy.
25/07/2011 at 10:39 The Sentinel says:
Christ on a stick! Annie! How’d I manage to forget about my beautiful Annie. That girl would get it every which way a man was able to give it.
Sorry, feminists, normally I’m a model male in that regard but Annie brings out the Beast Who Must Be Sated. Rrowwr!
25/07/2011 at 11:20 formivore says:
http://www.avclub.com/articles/fine-here-is-that-picture-of-alison-brie-and-gilli,59026/
25/07/2011 at 09:52 aircool says:
No4 or No1 for me. Can’t seem to find the button to vote though.
25/07/2011 at 10:27 jezcentral says:
Ditto. (On the 1 or 4, and lack of button.)
Edit: You have to “Like” the ME2 page, before you can “Like” the photo.
25/07/2011 at 14:29 Nalano says:
Thanks, jezcentral. Was wondering, myself.
26/07/2011 at 09:37 Erd says:
When a company gets a lot of likes, do they get something? Like a licence to data-mine the likers profiles or something? Using Facebook for things they used to handle with forum polls makes me wonder.
25/07/2011 at 09:55 Raiyan 1.0 says:
Was all this really necessary? Yeah, I chose LadyShep, but never did I feel offended that EA wouldn’t put her on the cover. And I’m definitely furrowing my eyebrows at this whole choose-the-prettiest-Shepard business.
25/07/2011 at 10:03 DarkByke says:
Why?
25/07/2011 at 10:27 gwathdring says:
Because they acknowledge female Shepard at last with a beauty contest? It doesn’t feel sexist exactly, but it feels … off. Something about it just doesn’t click. I mean, they could have done posters with female Shepard or a trailer. But they’ve got a facebook exclusive beauty contest instead. On the one hand, it’s easier to sculpt a custom face when you have a wider variety of starting looks to start from. And it’s nice to have pre-made one’s for the people who are bad with the editor which takes getting used to if you want to really make a nice looking face (here meaning either a realistic looking face, not necessarily an attractive one). But otherwise it’s a silly gimmick I don’t care much about. But something seems a bit off to me, as silly gimmicks I don’t care too much about go.
25/07/2011 at 11:20 Raiyan 1.0 says:
gwathdring put it better than I could. Something just puts me off.
25/07/2011 at 12:17 phoenixdk says:
^ what he said
25/07/2011 at 12:21 Hindenburg says:
Given that the default male Shepard is based on a professional male model (and thus, someone that was involved in beauty contests), i really can’t see what’s the difference. At least they’re giving the players choice and a chance to increase the number of folks that play listening to Hale. Can’t exactly chalk that up as a bad thing, imo.
25/07/2011 at 13:25 gwathdring says:
Which still boggles me a bit. Do women find him alluring, handsome or even powerful looking? He seems so … pointy. His face is just awfully pointy and angley. Do a lot of women think that’s a good thing? I guess it’s a poor measure since I don’t have personal preference to go by here, but he doesn’t seem that attractive to me. Was he a face model or a body model? Why bother picking a model in the fire place? Is Shepard supposed to be a model or a soldier? The whole thing just confuses me, and this beauty contest thing makes it even more surreal and now it’s also a bit … off/uncomfortable as well.
25/07/2011 at 13:38 phoenixdk says:
“Which still boggles me a bit. Do women find him alluring, handsome or even powerful looking? He seems so … pointy. His face is just awfully pointy and angley. Do a lot of women think that’s a good thing? I guess it’s a poor measure since I don’t have personal preference to go by here, but he doesn’t seem that attractive to me. Was he a face model or a body model? Why bother picking a model in the fire place? Is Shepard supposed to be a model or a soldier? The whole thing just confuses me, and this beauty contest thing makes it even more surreal and now it’s also a bit … off/uncomfortable as wel”
As a certified woman, no, I don’t find him attractive, I’d never thought of him as “pointy” but very boring, bland and a bit “meh” for my tastes. I’m actually more attracted to default femshep, but that might have something to with heavily associating the voice acting with the faces. Male=bland, dull, Female =ACTUAL PerSONALITY
(Needless to say I play as femshep)
25/07/2011 at 13:43 FKD says:
I would agree with what Phoenix says.. he is quite bland, and not in the least attractive. And I go for the female Shepard as well for both the voice acting, and she is just more attractive period. But then again, there are reasons I feel that way, so I was probably “not the woman you are looking for” when you asked that question! lol :D
25/07/2011 at 14:30 Nalano says:
@ phoenixdk
“As a certified woman…”
I wanna see the paperwork.
26/07/2011 at 09:39 Erd says:
How much of the ‘boring’ is from the voice coming out of the face though?
25/07/2011 at 09:59 mickiscoole says:
I’m a fan of #5, if only because It’ll be easier to change in the character editor to what is essentially my shepard with a less screwed up face.
(http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10150245299281795&set=o.85811091644&type=1&theater)
Failing that, #2
25/07/2011 at 10:00 Nero says:
Hello Samus Shepard!
25/07/2011 at 10:05 PanzerVaughn says:
Blondeshep will win, because it is Samus Shepard.
25/07/2011 at 10:08 Alethron says:
She looks like Stana Katic from Castle
25/07/2011 at 10:08 gwathdring says:
I liked the default. Classy. Not trying too hard.
25/07/2011 at 10:10 kwyjibo says:
Pick the black one. EA’s marketing department would hate it if it won but make no comment about it. You know it’s true.
25/07/2011 at 12:11 somnolentsurfer says:
Totally this. None of them look even vaguely like a battle-hardened commander who’s saved the universe twice and died once. But, ridiculous hair aside, number 4 is the least offensive.
25/07/2011 at 10:10 Squirrelfanatic says:
Why contain it? It’s cool.
No seriously, why not add them all to the character creator and just use the most popular one as the default and / or box cover model? Oh wait, maybe that is what they are doing…
25/07/2011 at 10:17 gwathdring says:
I don’t like any of them … but I also don’t see why they’d take away pre-made options because of how a face-book vote went. The wider the variety in pre-made options the easier it is to custom-build a face.
But damn the hairs are weird. None of them look like soldiers, either. Maybe it’s the pose?
25/07/2011 at 10:11 Superbest says:
How come they all look like pop singers? What with the Rihanna Shepard and Katy Perry Shepard and all… Granted, my Shepard looked like a beefier Summer Glau, so yeah.
Also, are those the only pictures? Seems like a pretty poor angle to go by.
25/07/2011 at 10:36 Corrupt_Tiki says:
I don’t like any of those, and that rihanna one, god it’s like a clone, kill them with bad singing.
I made mine to look as much like Tanya out of RA2 as I could lol.
25/07/2011 at 10:14 gwathdring says:
Wow. I don’t like any of them. The first one wasn’t terrible I guess …
I’ll be sticking with the default or making my own.
25/07/2011 at 10:17 talon03 says:
I’m with Richard on the FemShep thing. She’s not FemShep. She’s SHEPARD.
I play an ever-so-slightly tweaked default, and every one of those six give me a somewhat “uncanny valley” feeling… They’re saying that that’s Shepard, but you JUST KNOW that it’s not right.
25/07/2011 at 10:18 dethtoll says:
Hopefully mine’ll just carry over. Yeah, she’s blonde and blue-eyed (blame it on the fact that I’m convinced she’s the alternate universe version of Samus Aran) but I like her, she’s got high cheekbones and her upper lip sticks out juuust a tad.
25/07/2011 at 10:23 Masked Dave says:
Pfft, Shepard is a man.
25/07/2011 at 10:40 Kuroko says:
She is not a man ><
25/07/2011 at 16:23 Teddy Leach says:
Yes she is a man!
25/07/2011 at 20:03 Kuroko says:
No, she is not.
25/07/2011 at 10:23 Milky1985 says:
Anyway way to vote thats NOT a obvious ploy to get more views/hits on a social network?
No?
Tbh the femshep chosen for the picture above would be the one I would chose.
25/07/2011 at 10:24 FakeAssName says:
I vote #6 … or I would if I actually had a Facebook account. (fuck social sites, it’s all communist jackassery)
and if I actually liked the series, but I don’t so I won’t. the fact that I think #5 to be the worst of the lot (lack of personality that exists in the other 4) but that’s the one that is winning by a landslide is proof enough that I won’t like this game any more than I have not liked every other Bioware title.
25/07/2011 at 11:10 gwathdring says:
Communist? Are you sure? I think you’ve got your stereotypical versions of various political philosophies mixed up.
25/07/2011 at 12:56 FakeAssName says:
I said fucking commies because I meant fucking commies!
you go be a drone for the socialist movement of sucking ass hole and lying about how spiffy your life is in order to get more people to be your “friend.”
If my “friends” want to talk to me about the stupid shit that happened to them they can fucking call me or *gasp* knock on my god damned door.
worst case scenario is that they can write me a fucking letter, that includes paragraphs and shit, then e-mail it to me (i’m not so backwards as to expect them to physically mail it to me). Because if what ever it is can be explain it in a one line anecdotal sentence, it probably isn’t worth the time to tell it to me.
25/07/2011 at 13:32 gwathdring says:
I don’t like social networking sites either. I was trying to make a joke, but I honestly can’t tell you what was meant to be funny about it … my bad. I’ve always associated social networking with centralized government and surveillance, so if I were to pick a cartoonish boogeyman government, I’d pick Fascism or Dictatorship or something instead of communism. But I can’t tell if you are being more or less serious than I took you for. Assuming more, just in case, what the hell does communism have to do with social networking and fake on-line friends?
25/07/2011 at 13:55 FakeAssName says:
(I’m fucking around, I really do hate Facebook and the like but that’s just cause I think they are stupid. I figured I should practice channeling my inner “old bastard” for RP value.)
25/07/2011 at 14:32 Nalano says:
To be fair, while I also hate #5 – we don’t need any more blonde stepford wives – you can’t blame BioWare for the idiocy of the folks on Facebook, any more than you can blame the idiots on Youtube every time a developer releases a vid.
25/07/2011 at 10:25 StickyNavels says:
Maybe there’s something wrong with my monitor settings, but are any of the alternatives supposed to be Not White? The darkest of the bunch looks tanned to me, at most.
All in all, very mundane, stereotypical stuff. Which I guess is in line with Bioware’s usual stuff.
25/07/2011 at 10:46 FakeAssName says:
… you really expected something else?
Bioware struggled with getting Asian looking characters into Jade Empire, and even then they looked more like frogs that had been hit with a frying pan than authentic Asian features.
25/07/2011 at 14:34 Nalano says:
Well, #4 is closest but still has the Michelle Obama I-spend-six-hours-each-morning-with-a-hot-comb hair.
25/07/2011 at 10:26 Moni says:
If I was going to vote I would vote for black female Shepard, so it’ll be a minority two-fer.
But none of them look like Shepard, so I’ll probably just select male Shepard and pretend she had an accident in the Maximum Face factory.
25/07/2011 at 10:34 Corrupt_Tiki says:
I played FemShep, And I loved her! I do hope I can keep the one I made.
25/07/2011 at 10:37 Vayl says:
Bioware once again show how stupid their marketing department is, I don’t know really what theya re thinkign there.
What would they think the masses would choose? when most of them by their own numbers (and don’t get me started on designing by comitee and numbers like Bioware is doing) don’t play female Shepard they have no reason, motivation or incentive to choose anything that represents what a female shepard would really look like, and melrely choose the most sexy possible to see on marketing materials.
The Blonde one, that is the most voted by far is a complete wrong look, whiel the male Shepard, no matter if you like or dislake the face has the right look and sends the right message “i’m a badass that can save the world”, female Shepard seems like the will strip of her clothes and go on a runway showing off their langerie.
Can anyone honestly tell that face/attitude is right for Shepard?
25/07/2011 at 10:48 Lemming says:
I’m liking #4. But then I have a thing for Latinos. Minority femshep FTW?
25/07/2011 at 21:45 Kevin says:
I did try to go for a Latino Shepard in the vein of Ding Chavez from the Tom Clancy books and Rainbow Six. But unfortunately, Jésus Armando Maria de San Pedro didn’t seem to go too well with the Anglo-Saxon last name “Shepard.”
And unlike Jennifer Hale’s voice, the male Shepard voice doesn’t go too well with any other face save for the default face in my mind.
25/07/2011 at 11:02 FKD says:
When I first started hearing about ME I had seen quite a few pictures of the female Shepard and thought you had the choice between the two sexes and thought that was it as far as character creation went. But then after getting the game and finding there WAS more customization I then realized the pictures were simply of the two defaults. I also figured by them being the default, and by magazines showing pictures of both, that there was no “official” Shepard, and at the very least, if there was an official one, it was really both, just dependant on sex. So I was quite surprised (and honestly rather annoyed) when I found that Bioware was constantly using ONLY the male version.
And like a few others, mine is blonde/blue eyes as well, but I kept the stock face for the most part because I felt it was quite well done, and she certainly has the “look” you would expect of someone was fully Renegade, or atleast had pretty much fought the entire galaxy by herself. And I think Jennifer Hale’s voice really fits that face as well, as she does great at a no-nonsense, let get this done kind of character.
With that said, there is no reason that a “more attractive” person can not have any of those qualities, and that a “lingerie model” would be unable to stand up against those same odds. It kind of boils down to the typical pretty face = incompetent BS sexism society perpetuates.
25/07/2011 at 11:09 John P says:
They look like the fucking Spice Girls.
And what a surprise the Facebook community goes for the most-weeaboo option.
This whole thing is pathetic.
26/07/2011 at 09:43 Erd says:
What the christ is a weeaboo?
25/07/2011 at 11:32 lunarplasma says:
I voted for #6, myself.
25/07/2011 at 11:33 Hammelbamf says:
I chose the “wild blonde” one :)
25/07/2011 at 11:45 Teddy Leach says:
“Somewhat depressingly, the blond, blue-eyed, most trad-sexpot of the six is currently winning this Facebook-based vote by around 10,000 Likes.”
You sound surprised.
25/07/2011 at 11:48 brulleks says:
My One Real Shepard is a female middle-aged redhead, personality-wise a cross between Captain Janeway and a female Mal Reynolds.
Needless to say, I refuse to vote.
25/07/2011 at 11:48 westyfield says:
Meh. I prefer the default female Shepard to those six, and it doesn’t bother me anyway as I’ll be importing my Shepard from ME1 and 2, who looks nothing like any of those six. I think I’d rather Bioware didn’t put female Shepard in the marketing – in the trailers it’s going to be weird hearing Shepard’s (Jennifer Hale’s) voice coming from the mouth of someone who isn’t my Shepard.
25/07/2011 at 11:52 Shinryoma says:
The one that looks like Natalie Portman!
25/07/2011 at 15:55 DarkNoghri says:
So, 4/6 of them?
25/07/2011 at 11:57 Metonymy says:
This version of Samus isn’t a cringing, needy victim of an abusive relationship.
Sounds like an overall positive.
25/07/2011 at 12:01 terry says:
These are pretty terrible :(
25/07/2011 at 12:20 vodka and cookies says:
I’d quite like to see #6 but yeah #5 was always going to win with nerds voting
25/07/2011 at 12:23 Gilly says:
I’ll take the one that hasn’t been bombarded with kilotons of make-up and a personal hairdresser…wait, what’s this? In the modern world, all women are photo models, and those who are not are no women?
FUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU-
25/07/2011 at 13:36 gwathdring says:
Even the macho male commandos did modeling in high school. The future is entirely populated with the children spawned from the hellish pit of Beautiful People dot com, which has been stockpiling genetically linked deadly neurotoxin for years.
25/07/2011 at 14:37 Nalano says:
As Miranda pointed out, genetic tinkering a la Gattaca is the wave of the future.
25/07/2011 at 16:17 Gilly says:
Still doesn’t explain the never-dishevelled hair and ever-unchanging make-up. I thought this was about grimdark soldiers doing nasty, brutish things! Not permanent cosmetics!
Also, all the Femsheps look like they’ve taken their haircuts straight from the 2010s.
25/07/2011 at 12:55 Zwebbie says:
Tip for BioWare: Number 4′s hair is the most difficult to create, and as far as I know, no Western developer ever managed a hairdo that complex (in the East, FFXIII has some wonderful hair). You’ll fail.
On an unrelated note, when I played Mass Effect I made a female Shepard with the longest blond hair I could find and a ton of make-up to take the piss out of BioWare, but it’s less funny now that they’re doing the same themselves.
25/07/2011 at 13:57 Turkey says:
This is stupid.
Stop being stupid, Bioware.
25/07/2011 at 14:01 Nalano says:
I voted for #1, but then it seemed weird for me to keep seeing the most badass marine in the galaxy in anything other than a crew cut.
But then, a friend called my FemShep “the littlest cancer patient” and now I want to hurt him with something sharp and pointy.
25/07/2011 at 14:15 stahlwerk says:
When I played ME 1 for the first time, I chose the default female configuration, space-marine and all, but I think I moved the scar around. I played the game in a very goody-two-shoes manner, yet not trying to be as paragon as possible, since I didn’t get the relevance of that stat in conversations, or maybe because that’s what I expect the default behaviour of a protagonist to be. All in all this lead to a strangely heroic, yet timid experience.
Then for the second playthough (sadly unfinished) I picked a male space-mage but made him look a bit like this fella, blond hair, scarred face, furrowed eyes. I played him in the most renegade way, because one thing I wanted to do was to unlock the renegade conversation options as soon as possible. And it was just glorious, also the sometimes nonplussed voice acting of maleshep could easily be interpreted as snark.
All in all, I think default character is helpful for first time players, because you need to understand the game play mechanics before you can make informed decisions. I hadn’t played a Bioware RPG before, so I didn’t understand to what extend the stats, background, or looks of your shepard mattered gameplay wise. Respectively lots, less and not at all.
To the topic at hand I say it’s a bit sad that they seem the need to replace the default female version to make the option more appealing. ME1&2′s default female face has a lot of character beyond OMGHotness, and while it doesn’t look a lot like her, it matches Hale’s voice almost too well. I can’t see them successfully replacing her stern complexion with a more model-y type and Hale’s shepard voice still fitting, yet if Hale changed her performance (of what she would be more than able, having a really broad range of voices) to fit the sexy better it would play against a lot of the shepards out there.
Strange also that Bioware PR surmised that male shepard apparently didn’t need a pageant, but what if I’d like to have my Mr. PerlmanShep represented? Why is there no “ugly” or even “moderately handsome” option in the vote? (yeah, yeah, rethorical question)
25/07/2011 at 14:18 Kefren says:
Please can we have more games where heros look normal rather than good looking. We should care about them because of writing and predicament.
25/07/2011 at 14:21 Nalano says:
All the more reason to prefer the printed word than whatever Hollywood’s up to these days.
25/07/2011 at 14:39 Gaytard Fondue says:
None of the women I served with in the military wore any make-up when on duty. And yeah, camouflage face paint doesn’t count.
25/07/2011 at 14:40 JKjoker says:
1, 2 and 3 are probably the most realistic ones for a soldier that frequently uses helmets, 4 and 6 just look ridiculous with their model hair and 10cm layer of makeup, and the blonde (5) looks like a compromise between the realistic ones and the model ones
so i support the blonde, she is good looking without being ridiculous and not generic short hair boring
i have never been comfortable with the default shepardess, her face just feels wrong, so i always redesigned her (altho because of the unnatural lighting in the char creation screen i ended up making two weird aliens with big jaws in me1 and me2 without noticing)
25/07/2011 at 15:04 Nalano says:
Generic short hair?
I thought blonde locks and/or bangs were the generic staple of female characters.
Hell, the short-haired female characters I can think of were noted for generally not being generic: Pvt Vasquez et al.
25/07/2011 at 15:13 JKjoker says:
well since most of the chars i play are generic short hair dudes, generic short hair dudettes look just as generic to me
i dont think she is the best possible one, i had to choose between those 6
25/07/2011 at 14:42 kibayasu says:
No matter what she looks like, I will always, always, find it amusing that every single woman in the ME universe has breasts so massive and firm that combat armor needs to be molded around them. This concept art has also seem to have made the boob armor a lot more pointy than previous games. Perhaps this is to protect against the new husks!
25/07/2011 at 14:45 DainIronfoot says:
You think that armour is for protection? Not at all, it’s because MERE LINGERIE CANNOT CONTAIN THE BOOBS! Plate steel is the only way!
25/07/2011 at 15:06 Nalano says:
Could be larger.
25/07/2011 at 15:07 Strontium Mike says:
I would of thought after all the fuss and since this is for the collector’s edition cover they might of made an effort and licensed someone’s appearance like they did for Male Shep.
I wonder will the camera angles, textures and lighting still be set up for default Male Shep? Will visors etc still clip on Fem Shep or any custom head?
25/07/2011 at 15:16 Ratamacue says:
You know, I love most of BioWare’s games, but damn do they make themselves look like idiots sometimes.
25/07/2011 at 15:29 shoptroll says:
I don’t see why they need to do this. Default Female version is perfectly fine.
Even more curious, why can’t we vote on the appearance of Male Shep too? I for one would like a less meat headed looking grunt on the cover.
It’s only fair, right?
25/07/2011 at 15:31 derella says:
I was pretty bummed when I saw the blonde had won. Shepard is a badass commando… Why would she run around with feathered hair? I was hoping the brunette with the short hair would win.
25/07/2011 at 15:43 silver1881 says:
I hate #5′s long hair. She’s still a soldier, and that long hair blowing in her face is totally impractical. It doesn’t matter if she’s pretty if she can’t do her damn job. But she’s the prettiest/Barbiest, so of course she’s winning. I do like the others, except for Blondie and Bangs. Interestingly, someone from Bioware marketing did a survey on Twitter a while back regarding what she should look like on the box, and the default redhead won by a landslide. So…apparently that information was ignored.
It would be nice if they had a vote somewhere other than Facebook, for those of us who don’t use it. One there and one on the Bioware forums, maybe.
I guess when it comes down to it, my Shep looks nothing like any of these, so it doesn’t really matter. At least marketing is throwing us a bone and actually acknowledging she exists, so that’s a step. And it only took until the third game in a trilogy…
25/07/2011 at 15:47 Starky says:
Number 6 = Uma Thurman in Pulp Fiction.
Vote for her damn it!
25/07/2011 at 15:59 Sicram says:
no 5 reminds of mine although my femshep is a readhead and has a red eyeshadow
25/07/2011 at 16:08 Kaira- says:
They all look very strong and very angry. It frightens me. Hold me, someone.
25/07/2011 at 16:38 Teddy Leach says:
She’s going to dominate you.
25/07/2011 at 16:16 seattlepete says:
I can’t be the only one who made both my male and female Shep as ugly and ridiculous as possible? Blonde cornrows, blonde eyebrows, wide-set blue eyes, scrunched up nose, no chin…I also opted for the pink suit since it was the most eye-searing.
Am I wrong?
25/07/2011 at 16:17 DrGonzo says:
Why would she be wearing make up at all? Really ruins all the female characters.
26/07/2011 at 00:26 DainIronfoot says:
There’s not much make-up in the army. They only have that night-time look and that’s a bit slapdash isn’t it?
25/07/2011 at 16:22 v_ware says:
Nr 1 looks the most shepardish.
5 is just another blonde bombshell…
25/07/2011 at 16:37 Pointless Puppies says:
I’ve never understood why BioWare keeps putting make-up in the FemShep options. In fact, I find it odd why there’s even an option for that in the in-game editor.
I just find it weird that a battled-hardened marine fighting for her dear life would take the time each morning to apply lipstick and do her eyelashes. Who’s she trying to look good for? The Krogan mercs trying to slit her throat?
25/07/2011 at 16:41 Nick says:
You’ll create/impor your own anyway, so who cares really? I don’t know who that dude is they have in all the ME adverts either, but it doesn’t matter.
25/07/2011 at 16:49 Tatourmi says:
Not enough love for number one and number six, but that is a matter of tastes.
25/07/2011 at 16:55 exurban says:
This whole thing has been weird to me. My Shep has been a female Vanguard for both games.
25/07/2011 at 17:05 ziusudra says:
Bioware. How the mighty have fallen.
25/07/2011 at 17:14 Cuchulainn says:
Never mind the femshep thing, anyone else change the colour of their armour in ME2 so that it looked more like a HEV?
25/07/2011 at 17:25 Saskwach says:
For all the totally legitimate concerns about popularity contests and make-up and stuff, the thing that gets me the most is that none of those Shepards look like they could ever have Jennifer Hale’s voice. Maybe it’s just me subconsciously projecting my personal OnlyShep but I can’t imagine Shepard being anything less than mid 30s. 1-6 all look in their mid-20s. Plus none of them could have those caramel smooth tones.
25/07/2011 at 17:44 CloakRaider says:
Holy christ people picking an attractive shepherd what an outrage.
25/07/2011 at 17:47 Vinraith says:
Unfortunately this was the inevitable consequence of shining a brighter light on female Shepard. Not that it really matters to me, as I’ll just import my ME1/2 FemShep for game purposes, and I never watch trailers for games I intend to (eventually) buy anyway.
25/07/2011 at 18:32 ghazbanbodarr says:
Perhaps this is all a clever ploy to distract us from the fact that they inflated her breasts by about two cup sizes.
26/07/2011 at 09:48 Erd says:
Why Hello there, Dragon Age 2.
25/07/2011 at 18:52 Apples says:
I voted for blonde Shep. I’m a woman; in real life I’m a programmer who slobs around in jeans and no makeup but foundation. My Shepard, on the other hand, had styled hair (red, but in a similar style to the blonde Shep), eyeliner and blusher, a fairly similar face to those Sheps except a bit older and less pouty, and nice-looking customised armor. Hence I picked her. Sorry for ruining ME3 guys :’( Seriously though, what exactly is wrong with a female Shepard who wants to look good as well as be the savior of the universe? How is the blonde version any less authentic or more insulting than the others? Honestly I’m pleased that they offered up some fairly non-traditionally-feminine versions, but ‘respectability and strength of character’ is not inversely proportional to ‘attractiveness’ or ‘femininity’. Nor does she look like “a lingerie model”; it’s not as if they’ve put her in a chainmail bikini. Yes, she’s been sexed up a bit to act as marketing material, but let’s not forget that male Shep is literally a male model.
25/07/2011 at 22:15 TillEulenspiegel says:
It’s all about the menz. The women are depicted as male sexual fantasies, and the men as male power fantasies. That’s the problem.
It’s a pretty consistent pattern across various forms of media.
25/07/2011 at 19:02 Deviija says:
I completely agree with you, Mr. Meer. I too find this rather depressing. And frustrating. The same standard, the same sexpot idealized blonde, blue-eyed, white female. The Samus, the Zela, the Princess Peach types that can be alluring and sexually appealing, but never too intimidating to not be accessible.
Honestly, none of these Shepards are remotely inclusive or diverse. They all share similar facial features in some kind of amalgamation of Scarlett Johansson/Natalie Portman, and the ratio of minorities/mixed race features in the choices is really shallow. The only dark-skinned character there is fairly light-skinned for brown/black.
But I think what you’re trying to pinpoint is that this ‘poll’ ultimately boils down into a “Vote For The Hottest Babe” contest rather than voting for whom would make the best Shepard as Shepard. Of course, as I mentioned above, the real lack of any diversity in skintone and facial features, lack of any scarring, and the overuse of makeup, really sells it for the contest really is.
25/07/2011 at 19:25 wootles says:
You speak mounds of truth. Every one of those options lacked any sort of variety that makes you wish to vote at all. Perhaps what explains this is that sometime between now and then the human race comes close to mass extinction, and only a handful of humans are left to populate. In this context I could believe the reasons why everyone should have somewhat similar features. Whatever happened to other ethnic variations or how about age for that matter?
25/07/2011 at 20:16 Real Horrorshow says:
Of course Blondie wins. Sigh.
25/07/2011 at 20:24 Lucifalle says:
*Cries* Why internet? Why?
I absolutely loved the original female shepard :(
25/07/2011 at 20:28 mkultra says:
I will never deny I would prefer playing a sexy, 21-year-old-with-predatory-features Shep over the default. But, with tweaking, it’s possible to take her into hot mom status.
Angry moms are where it’s at. Hopefully a dead child is thrown in sometime as a plot device. And betrayal. Lots of betrayal.
Shepard’s gonna Shep.
25/07/2011 at 20:29 Hypatian says:
4 and 6 are some interesting new options. Of course, I always tweak all the sliders by hand anyway…
And of course I can’t vote, because I am one of the 3 people left in the universe who don’t have a Facebook account.
25/07/2011 at 21:03 Rii says:
3, 4, 5 are ok. None of them are great. This whole thing does feel more than a little ‘off’ and the only thing mShep communicates to me is ‘hi I’m mcblandface here to star in mcblandgame’.
25/07/2011 at 21:28 Davie says:
Yeah, I picked 2, because she appears to spend the least amount of time on her hair and has the angriest expression, which is entirely suitable for a role played by Jennifer Hale.
Still, there was nothing wrong with the original Shepard. There’s no point in character customization if every option is gorgeous, really. My male Shepard was a rather homely guy, himself.
25/07/2011 at 21:35 Kevin says:
I should hope that if these were considered for what the new image they’re trying to go for for Femshep in ME3 that these haircuts would be available in the character creator (not that the modders won’t already be adding mohawks and freedom spikes into the mix somewhere down the line).
25/07/2011 at 22:04 Kevin says:
I am a feminist (I believe when it comes to women’s rights, there is no such thing as moral relativity), but I feel like as of late a lot of guys are trying to avert using the male gaze to the point that I’m really cynical with their motivations. For better or for worse, it’s going to be a part of society for as long as there are Y chromosomes and eventually we’re going to have to come to terms with the fact that admiring the female body doesn’t automatically make a person a misogynist.
But if we want to eliminate that gender-based asymmetry, really the best men can do is not to hold a double standard whenever it comes to things like if it’s reprehensible if a man is the one that stays home and does the housework and takes care of the kids. Eliminating man on man homophobia I think is a good start (though that’s probably not going to happen anytime soon, unfortunately).
25/07/2011 at 22:09 TillEulenspiegel says:
If you’re a feminist, why repeat this mind-bogglingly dumb strawman?
I’d like it very much if more media weren’t targeted at horny 14-year old boys. If pandering to male sexual fantasies weren’t the default mode of advertising. That would be nice.
26/07/2011 at 01:15 DaFishes says:
Current opinion goes like this, on BioWare’s forums:
- You 18% of players who choose female Shepard, you should be grateful for this choice of Spice Girls.
- If you’re a woman and you don’t like that these six Shepard options don’t look like marines, it’s because you’re jealous that they’re prettier than you are.
- That there’s any marketing being done AT ALL for female Shepard is evidence that male gamers are oppressed.
- Blonde Shepard is awesome because I’d Hit That.
So yeah, kudos, BioWare, for excellent marketing and community management.
26/07/2011 at 02:42 oatmeal says:
Can’t a female character be attractive, even if she’s a soldier? You never hear anyone whine when there’s a sexy male lead character. What makes this so laughable is that it’s mostly guys who complain. What do they think, that they’ll score points by being politically correct? It seems like the more bland a female character look, the more they claim to like her. It’s obviously just immature teenage boys who are attracted to beautiful women.
The comments I’ve read about this story (here and other places) have been just as expected: negative and hypocritical. It’s one of the reason I don’t want to look at “discussions” on video games on the Internet anymore. It just sickens me how most people think.
26/07/2011 at 06:33 Rii says:
“What makes this so laughable is that it’s mostly guys who complain. What do they think, that they’ll score points by being politically correct?”
“It just sickens me how most people think.”
Yeah … me too.
26/07/2011 at 06:02 Jibb Smart says:
I’ve just bought Mass Effect 2 (finally). It’s downloading right now, and after seeing videos of FemShep beating up perfectly healthy male soldiers with her fists, I’ve decided there’s no way my suspension of disbelief can carry that far, and I’ll have to be male Shepard.
That, and I always play a guy because I’m a guy.
26/07/2011 at 06:48 Nalano says:
I tend not to play guys because I am a guy and thus it feels rather redundant.
But at any rate, are you saying that no woman can beat up a guy?
26/07/2011 at 13:30 Jibb Smart says:
I’m saying that that woman can’t beat up those guys. There’s martial arts prowess, but then there’s strength. Men don’t just tend to be a bit stronger than women; they tend to be a lot stronger. Take into account that the soldiers and mercs depicted in the game are pretty well built, and that FemShep is built for beauty, not for breaking things.
26/07/2011 at 07:17 Rii says:
Re: the nomenclature issue.
Given that BioWare for whatever inexplicable reason established a default, male Sheppard in the course of the game’s marketing, it’s hardly unreasonable for the Hale-voiced Sheppards to be referenced with respect to that baseline.
I prefer to refer to them as fShep and mShep, but only because the former is quicker to type and the latter aesthetically pleasing in its consistency with the former. To actually object to the ‘FemShep’ label is, I think, a bit unreasonable under the circumstances.
26/07/2011 at 07:54 Saskwach says:
News Flash: For daring to be a man with an opinion on sexism you are officially a Politically Correct Hypocrite trying to Score with the Ladies. More at 11.
Seriously, do better with the mudslinging. Who ever got laid posting about feminism on the internet?
To all those asking what’s the big problem with being attractive as well as a soldier, the answer is: nothing. I’ve met plenty of lookers in my time as a reservist. But none of them slapped on more make-up than a clown, and they all tied their hair back (especially “out field”) because the army’s big on actually being able to fight effectively and not wasting your time looking good doing it.
Yes, Male Shepard is some sort of model. But the important part is he wouldn’t look out of place in the mud with bullets whizzing over him. All those FemSheps would. Bioware set out to make a “hawt” FemShep, not a soldier FemShep. With MShep they also wanted a guy who looked the part.
That’s what’s “off” here.
26/07/2011 at 08:28 Rii says:
“Yes, Male Shepard is some sort of model. But the important part is he wouldn’t look out of place in the mud with bullets whizzing over him.”
It’s easy with mShep because the ‘male as warrior’ look has never really gone out of fashion. Alternatives have had their days in the sun, but that’s always been a safe base to return to and one that is congruent with Sheppard’s role in the game, and indeed in most video games. In contrast, with women we continue to have a conflict between practicality and cultural standards of beauty – which in turn reflects the fact that women actually doing stuff is a comparatively recent innovation – and so it becomes a balancing act on BioWare’s part.
That being said, I think they’ve gone in entirely the wrong direction here in opening it up for a vote. Gee, I wonder which one is gonna win? /rolleyes
26/07/2011 at 17:25 TheGameSquid says:
One day, I swear to god, I’ll make a game starring a whole bunch of the most mediocre/ugly-looking people you’ve ever seen running around in world where it’s absolutely IMPOSSIBLE to do your hair, finely trim your beard, choose the best shoes in your closest and apply make-up before going into sweet sweet alien combat.
Then I’ll go in time, publish it and solve my many psychological complexes! HUZZAH!
28/07/2011 at 17:03 Gvaz says:
Numbers 1 and 6 are the best ones. You’re all stupid if you think otherwise.
03/08/2011 at 17:43 CloakRaider says:
I’m going to take the Penny Arcade attitude on this. Just because she’s blond, means she’s a trad-sexpot? What the fuck is this nonsense.