Mass Effect 2 - BioWare

[Kyral]

Originally Posted by synaesthetic

SOME WHITE MALE DOUCHEBAG WITH BROWN HAIR AND A BEARD OR GOATEE.

Stop bashing Gordon Freeman, you meanie! >.<
He is a nice hero and he is wearing glasses! I like people with glasses... it makes it easier to identify myself with them. :3

Okay, seriously. It was already stated that most people simply can choose thier Shepards appearance so this argument is not really valid here, yeah I know you didn't ment it seriously.

I pretty much prefer male heroes in rpgs over female ones out of the same reasons you prefer yours... identification purposes.

The only hero I actually choose to play as a female was the one from KotoR 2, because word of gods stated The Exile was female, so it was the canon choice.

And remebering Kyero's Shep... my Shep is quite... well... not ugly but not good looking. With somehow greasy looking hair and lazy eyes...

[Kyero Fox]

Originally Posted by Kyral

Stop bashing Gordon Freeman, you meanie! >.<
He is a nice hero and he is wearing glasses! I like people with glasses... it makes it easier to identify myself with them. :3

Okay, seriously. It was already stated that most people simply can choose thier Shepards appearance so this argument is not really valid here, yeah I know you didn't ment it seriously.

I pretty much prefer male heroes in rpgs over female ones out of the same reasons you prefer yours... identification purposes.

The only hero I actually choose to play as a female was the one from KotoR 2, because word of gods stated The Exile was female, so it was the canon choice.

And remebering Kyero's Shep... my Shep is quite... well... not ugly but not good looking. With somehow greasy looking hair and lazy eyes...

^ compared to my shep?

and yes the exile was canonly female but shoulda been male .. i really wanted to do the romance with the jedi chick

Raven how ever was the male. i DO hope that there are references of what happen to them in KOTOR3(online hehe) maybe even expansions!? :O

back to Mass effect

[synaesthetic]

What I'm saying, translating that AVGN style rant, is that almost all video game heroes are men. This is disproportionately the majority, even higher than optional sex selection. I can see how this is, as gaming as a hobby has traditionally been disproportionately composed of males.

But that's not true anymore. There are loads more female gamers, and we should really see more games with female protagonists who aren't sex objects (one of the biggest reasons I love Commander Shepard, incidentally).

Oh and speaking of HL2... Gordon Freeman is basically a non-entity because he never talks, never has any character development at all.

Interesting bit about the Jedi Exile--she is only canonically female because of a typo in an official publication, and publications are considered superior to video games in the very-srsbusiness Star Wars canon. Originally the Exile was intended to be male. But I'm happy she ended up female--because she is a good example of a female protagonist who is not sexually objectified at all.

Except maybe one comment, by Atton, when you first wake up on Peragus...

[Drake]

I used two different characters for all of my play-throughs, a male renegade and a female paragon.

Best of both worlds =D

Looking back I did the same thing with KOTOR aswell so I'm surprised people stick to a single character.

[Kyero Fox]

Originally Posted by synaesthetic

What I'm saying, translating that AVGN style rant, is that almost all video game heroes are men. This is disproportionately the majority, even higher than optional sex selection. I can see how this is, as gaming as a hobby has traditionally been disproportionately composed of males.

But that's not true anymore. There are loads more female gamers, and we should really see more games with female protagonists who aren't sex objects (one of the biggest reasons I love Commander Shepard, incidentally).

Oh and speaking of HL2... Gordon Freeman is basically a non-entity because he never talks, never has any character development at all.

Interesting bit about the Jedi Exile--she is only canonically female because of a typo in an official publication, and publications are considered superior to video games in the very-srsbusiness Star Wars canon. Originally the Exile was intended to be male. But I'm happy she ended up female--because she is a good example of a female protagonist who is not sexually objectified at all.

Except maybe one comment, by Atton, when you first wake up on Peragus...

Samus was one of those girl protagonists until zero suit... and that horrible Other M or what ever. I can list several female protags that arent sex appeal that I like MUCH more than sex appeal protags like Lightning from FFXIII.. and YES she is.. armpit fetish much?

[kujoe]

Despite Bioware giving the players freedom when it comes to creating their own stories, some of their games have a set up 'canon' that gets created or suggested in the end.

KOTOR - Revan is a male jedi, light side.
KOTOR2 - The Exile is a female jedi, light side.

In Mass Effect, it seems there's a preference for male, renegade Shepard. Apparently, it's talked about in the books; moreover, if you don't import a file in ME2 the renegade options are considered default. I've always imported an ME file, so I can't confirm that one, nor have I read any of the books.

[Kyero Fox]

Originally Posted by kujoe

Despite Bioware giving the players freedom when it comes to creating their own stories, some of their games have a set up 'canon' that gets created or suggested in the end.

KOTOR - Revan is a male jedi, light side.
KOTOR2 - The Exile is a female jedi, light side.

In Mass Effect, it seems there's a preference for male, renegade Shepard. Apparently, it's talked about in the books; moreover, if you don't import a file in ME2 the renegade options are considered default. I've always imported an ME file, so I can't confirm that one, nor have I read any of the books.

i think the canon shepard is renegade and paragon, or paragon.

[Kyral]

Originally Posted by Kyero Fox

^ compared to my shep?

Pretty much.

Originally Posted by synaesthetic

But that's not true anymore. There are loads more female gamers, and we should really see more games with female protagonists who aren't sex objects (one of the biggest reasons I love Commander Shepard, incidentally).

Problem here is, most gaming developers still have said mindset.

Originally Posted by synaesthetic

Oh and speaking of HL2... Gordon Freeman is basically a non-entity because he never talks, never has any character development at all.

Yes but most action game heroes of old were clean shaved (or had some stubbles) and looked a lot more battle hardened or muscular.
But Gordon was one of the few back than that would feature a beard, together with Kyle Katarn (who also was clean shaved back in Dark Forces) he more or less established the image of the brown haired bearded protagonist.

Actually some games who have said "non-entity" heros could be quit interesting. Remember the very first Unreal game? As soon you started the singleplayer campaign you would have to choose a name, model and skin. Back then I thought it was a pretty nice feature that you could even play as a woman if you wanted.

Same with Megaman ZX. I did choose Aile over Vent because I thought it was about time they made a female protagonist in a Megaman game.

Originally Posted by synaesthetic

-she is only canonically female because of a typo in an official publication.

Her gender was stated first in the "The New Essential Guide to Droids" and it the female form was used about three times to describe the Exile without any usage of the male form, so I don't know if you really could call that a typo. :-/
Anyway... Chee gave his ok, thus she is as canon as she can get without Lucas saying so himself.

Except maybe one comment, by Atton, when you first wake up on Peragus...

Atton is a ingame character, so this doesn't count!

Originally Posted by Kyero Fox

Samus was one of those girl protagonists until zero suit... and that horrible Other M or what ever.

Samus is quite a interesting example (and your opinion about Other M is noted, I do not agree here, ah well... ).

And for some she was already a sex object even befor her Zero Suit, with her old clothes showing a lot more skin (including her belly button).

Hm... I must admit when I started to play Metroid it was Super Metroid and the fact that Samus was female was already a well established fact, so no "OMFG ITSA GRRL!!!" moments for me.
While I do admit that I think Samus is cute (in her current design. Ponytail, Zero Suit and all). I will never stop to see her as some kick-ass powersuit wearing person. But at the same time, I fail to understand all the rage that was going on when they started to give Samus a character. Like in Metroid Fusion, many fans were angry that Samus did reminiscent over Adam and they were like: "What!? Samus should have no feelings! She's a cold-hearted killer machine!" I don't have to mention Other M.
But I was not bothered by it and it never changed my opinion of her.

[Kyero Fox]

I never played it, Im just quoting what i hear every where I go, and Zero Punctuation rips on that game BAAAAAAD

i didnt mind them giving her a personality, but going all girly and being scared of Ripley? wtf... she should have been "/sigh.. why cant you just stay dead, its gettin to easy to beat your ass now"

but back to the matter at hand, Mass effect

[Keroko]

I have no problem with Jenifer Hale herself, her work with Bastilla was greatly loved by me. Her work on Femshep though... it really has nothing to do with the quality, which is fine, but me just not liking the voice. Entirely subjective, but the main reason why I stick to maleshep.

My second reason is that for some strange reason, I find it easier to play male characters in Mass Effect. I say strange, because in any other game I always pick the female characters. Heck, even most OC's I create tend to be girls.