[PC/PS3/360/WiiU] Mass Effect 3

[Waven]

Originally Posted by synaesthetic

And I was just being a smartass.

Edit: I'm a girl who's tired of game heroes not being girls, or if they are girls, being oversexualized whorebags. And don't say "hurr go play jRPGs" because seriously, I don't really like the jRPG game mechanics. I find them dull and repetitive...

... despite the fact that I am totally buying Atelier Rorona as soon as I get a PS3...

Truth is the vast majority of most game's playerbase is male. Most players want to identify with the character they are playing, after all we're talking about role playing games. So it doesn't come as a surprise that there are more male player characters in general, more people choosing the male character if there's a choice and if the player character is female she's usually, as you already put it correctly, oversexualized - to put it briefly : This is a male-centric industry, it's a simple and comprehensible decision for a developer to customize a game for a male playership.

The industry has put some effort into gaining more of a female playerbase in last 5 years or so but that is more or less restricted to certain games that function within gender conventions (sims, several wii games).

[BetoJR]

Originally Posted by DarkLordOfkichiku

Hmmmmm.... So, what'll the third one be supposed to be a shout-out to?

2000's smart and awesome sci-fi serials? BSG, maybe?

[Skane]

I don't really see why it should be a surprise... Male Soldier Shepard is the default character. Given the attention spans of most people (note, people, not gamers), they will just hit the Start Game button instead of spending time to customise.

Cheers.

[Kyero Fox]

Originally Posted by synaesthetic

And I was just being a smartass.

Edit: I'm a girl who's tired of game heroes not being girls, or if they are girls, being oversexualized whorebags. And don't say "hurr go play jRPGs" because seriously, I don't really like the jRPG game mechanics. I find them dull and repetitive...

and I agree heavily about that. We need more Samus's and Hildegard's(soul calibur 4) and less Tifa's and bayonetta's

and more Saica's (Sengoku Basara 3) shes one of my new favorite bad ass women.

[Waven]

Originally Posted by Skane

I don't really see why it should be a surprise... Male Soldier Shepard is the default character. Given the attention spans of most people (note, people, not gamers), they will just hit the Start Game button instead of spending time to customise.

Cheers.

Not that many however ...

http://www.1up.com/news/bioware-deta...effect-2-stats

(thanks again to Who for this reference )

I don't think ME1/2/(3) is a game that you just insert a coin in and start rolling anyway. This is clearly for gamers, not necessarily hardcore gamers though.


On another note: I haven't been following this thread for long, so am I too late to join the "demand to see Tali's face in ME3 or heads will roll!" club ?

[Irkalla]

Originally Posted by Waven

Truth is the vast majority of most game's playerbase is male. Most players want to identify with the character they are playing, after all we're talking about role playing games. So it doesn't come as a surprise that there are more male player characters in general, more people choosing the male character if there's a choice and if the player character is female she's usually, as you already put it correctly, oversexualized - to put it briefly : This is a male-centric industry, it's a simple and comprehensible decision for a developer to customize a game for a male playership.

The industry has put some effort into gaining more of a female playerbase in last 5 years or so but that is more or less restricted to certain games that function within gender conventions (sims, several wii games).

Wow, thanks for the stereotyping there. But it holds enough truth, fact is that women prefer playing unsexualised women characters to bulky marines. (except if they can play a male gay character!) and we are generally dissatisfied with the small spectrum of games like that. Basically only narrows down to Bioware games + some others, like Bloodlines. I can speak for myself that I don't want any mushy garbage or nerfed down games, I just want a good story where I can play (and possibly customise) my own character. It's all I ask of the industry. If they changed their policy just a little bit to cater visually and market wise to women, they would get so much more new flesh to buy their games.

[synaesthetic]

I'd point out the Fallout series here, as well. The first two games are too graphically primitive to visually sexualize your female protagonist... and Fallout 3 and New Vegas absolutely don't oversexualize the Lone Wanderer/Courier...

Unless you kill a Gomorrha prostitute and steal her slave girl outfit...

My Courier wore either modded veteran NCR ranger armor or Vault 34 security armor for the whole game.

And my Lone Wanderer was in T-51b Power Armor for most of the game thanks to Op Anchorage.

[Keroko]

There's also the detail that, unless you use 3rd person view or die, you never get to see your wanderer/courier.

[Waven]

Originally Posted by Irkalla

Wow, thanks for the stereotyping there. But it holds enough truth, fact is that women prefer playing unsexualised women characters to bulky marines. (except if they can play a male gay character!) and we are generally dissatisfied with the small spectrum of games like that. Basically only narrows down to Bioware games + some others, like Bloodlines. I can speak for myself that I don't want any mushy garbage or nerfed down games, I just want a good story where I can play (and possibly customise) my own character. It's all I ask of the industry. If they changed their policy just a little bit to cater visually and market wise to women, they would get so much more new flesh to buy their games.

Uhm ... please tell me where my post is stereotyping in any way

[Kyero Fox]

character customization games, I definaly play a male character and get them to resemble me as much as I can.

the fact is that sex does indeed sell, sadly half of the population of men would quickly choose the sexy stuff first.

Most of the people who played female shep, only did it to have lesbian sex...

[Alchemist007]

Lol, I chose Femshep after a few playthroughs just to see the differences in the story (dialogue). It's pretty interesting.

[synaesthetic]

Originally Posted by Kyero Fox

character customization games, I definaly play a male character and get them to resemble me as much as I can.

the fact is that sex does indeed sell, sadly half of the population of men would quickly choose the sexy stuff first.

Most of the people who played female shep, only did it to have lesbian sex...

My female Shepard is definitely attractive, sure, but she isn't a sexpot.

And for your information, I romanced Garrus in ME2 even though I am not even straight. But Garrus is JUST SO DAMN MOE.

[Kyero Fox]

Originally Posted by synaesthetic

My female Shepard is definitely attractive, sure, but she isn't a sexpot.

And for your information, I romanced Garrus in ME2 even though I am not even straight. But Garrus is JUST SO DAMN MOE.

I think even a good amount of male players would romance Garrus if he was bi XD I know I would, in one play through.. i wouldnt do it for the gay sex... hell no.. but the bromance XD

[Who]

Originally Posted by Kyero Fox

I think even a good amount of male players would romance Garrus if he was bi XD I know I would, in one play through.. i wouldnt do it for the gay sex... hell no.. but the bromance XD

I think the most difficult part for males who want to romance Garrus is who has the flexibility and who has the reach. That is, when he's not calibrating.

[Waven]

Originally Posted by Who

I think the most difficult part for males who want to romance Garrus is who has the flexibility and who has the reach. That is, when he's not calibrating.

"I am commander Shepard and this is my favorite post on this thread!"

[kujoe]

Frankly, I don't mind a male, soldier Shepard as the face of the game. Sure, I'm a guy too, but you won't see me whining that he's not Asian or something else.

With Mass Effect being a brand, I understand that the face they chose was established for a reason—that being, it's better to be specific about your message while trying to appeal as widely as possible instead of being too open but risking becoming too vague. It didn't have to be a male soldier per se, but Bioware saw it fit to use that image anyway for reasons they deemed valuable.

That's the nature of things unfortunately; moreover, it would be unwise to suddenly change the face of your brand when it has recently gained a solid foundation in the market. Take note, default male Shepard is primarily used in marketing media, and while it may not speak to your circumstances specifically, you recognize him and thus the game he represents.

[Xion Valkyrie]

Originally Posted by synaesthetic

I'd point out the Fallout series here, as well. The first two games are too graphically primitive to visually sexualize your female protagonist... and Fallout 3 and New Vegas absolutely don't oversexualize the Lone Wanderer/Courier...

Unless you kill a Gomorrha prostitute and steal her slave girl outfit...

My Courier wore either modded veteran NCR ranger armor or Vault 34 security armor for the whole game.

And my Lone Wanderer was in T-51b Power Armor for most of the game thanks to Op Anchorage.

Rectified with mods =P

Power armor is also pretty terribly balanced in vanilla. With mods there's actually a good reason to wear them.

[synaesthetic]

Yeah I didn't bother using power armor in FO3 without the Better Power Armor mod, which made it (ALMOST) as good as it was in FO2.

And yes I know there are TONS of mods to turn your Lone Wanderer/Courier into a melon-breasted supermodel, but seriously, who would use that other than pervs? That's just a huge hit to suspension of disbelief. The Fallout universe is dirty and grungy; nobody looks that good anymore!

[Xion Valkyrie]

The people in the vault should at least look 'decent'. The people living in Tenpenny Tower should also look pretty good in comparison. The problem is they just had really terrible modeling in general, as well as textures. The face especially had a ton of lighting problems which just made you look like a freak in most lighting types no matter how you adjusted it.

This has been a problem pretty much all their games so far, but it looks like they're trying to get better looking people with Skyrim.

You could be dirty and grungy but still look good =D

[Alchemist007]

Originally Posted by synaesthetic

Yeah I didn't bother using power armor in FO3 without the Better Power Armor mod, which made it (ALMOST) as good as it was in FO2.

And yes I know there are TONS of mods to turn your Lone Wanderer/Courier into a melon-breasted supermodel, but seriously, who would use that other than pervs? That's just a huge hit to suspension of disbelief. The Fallout universe is dirty and grungy; nobody looks that good anymore!

Good looks can come naturally, but roaming the wasteland in zero armor showing cleavage is a little unbelievable, unless you're just that damn good at survival