Character Gender, and the Picture on the cover.
- Thread starter Aurgelmir
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This is actually something that pisses me off. Why invite your players to create their own canon if you're going to try and imprint your own on the game anyway?
I especially don't understand why Bioware went to all the trouble of hiring some random model to be their male Shepard blueprint in this instance.
I think in build-your-own-character games, it should just be a rule that you don't put any form of lead character on the box art. Something like Mass Effect in particular would've looked fine with a picture of the Normandy and a selection of aliens. That would've told you all you needed to know without scouring catwalks for berks to put on it.
I especially don't understand why Bioware went to all the trouble of hiring some random model to be their male Shepard blueprint in this instance.
I think in build-your-own-character games, it should just be a rule that you don't put any form of lead character on the box art. Something like Mass Effect in particular would've looked fine with a picture of the Normandy and a selection of aliens. That would've told you all you needed to know without scouring catwalks for berks to put on it.
Bioware did a study, and found out that like 80% of the time, players play as a Male Shepard.Aurgelmir said:
http://www.escapistmagazine.com/forums/read/7.230772-BioWare-Mines-Data-From-Mass-Effect-2
Why bother making half your boxart of a female character when only 1/5 the players will be playing as a female Shepard? The more important question is: Why do so few people play as a female?
Why not double covers like Dissidia? You can change the cover between the heroes and villains. Can't cost that much more right? They feel the need to include useless art on the inside, at least let the reverse serve a function.
My time in MMOs has taught me that most people will always roll a character of the same race, gender, ethnicity and hair colour as themselves for their first/main character, they're boring like that.
Turn that around and you get: If ME did not have a prefab male Shepard on the cover and as the first character selection option, more people would probably explore other options.RelexCryo said:
Seriously, if Mass Effect started by first picking a gender and next and appearance, probably more people would go into character customization. In my opinion, this is one of the few things that Bioware half-assed with ME. Commander Shepard is like DNA, everyone has a different Shepard, so why they chose to market the game with a prefab gender and face is just something i cannot understand. And the fact that they did not create an equal female prefab saddens me.
That's not true. I don't think BioWare ever mentioned anything about canon. If they did they should have also mentioned which ending (either renegade or paragon) was canon, which they didn't.Zenode said:
For example in DA2 using the import feature where my Hero of Ferelden was female, whenever she was mentioned she was adressed as a she.
I tend to play them as female, if only because I am a girl and I feel there aren't enough kickass female protagonists (Samus, Chell, Bayonetta and Rubi Malone are A-OK in my book). But the box art doesn't bother me. I'm well aware that I'm considered a minority in the gaming community, and generally, I tend to know whether or not I want to buy a game before I even see the box art. It doesn't play a part in my decision. I care about what's inside.
There is a Default which gets picked if you don't have an import that makes the warden a Male Cousland (I think) who did the dark pact with Morrigan. So I think it's canon. Don't know about ME but I think that male was the default too.Nimcha said:
I honestly don't mind if they're male or not. Sometimes the game has a better feel with one or the other depending on preference. I played KotOR 1 with Revan as male because I felt it more appropriate and 2 as female. ME and Hawke as male and Warden as female.
RelexCryo said:
Thats just it isn't it. I bet most people play Male Shepard because he is the default choice. He is on the cover, he has the unique look, so you choose him.feauxx said:
But if the game did something like wow does, randomly selecting a class/gender/look/race when you press new character you might get some completely different metrics.
Because that is the thing with metrics, if you don't analyze them you can't know if they are "true"
Different covers would be cool. Half-life 2 had like ~3 or so different covers released. More covers for a game can only be good.Aurgelmir said:
In games where you can choose your characters gender(and appearance) these sort of marketing issues come up a lot. You really can't use the character on the cover since most people will tweek their character to look different anyway.
I don't think being the default option makes something canon. Then again I don't really care, my Hawke was female in two playthroughs and male in the third. I usually mix it up like that, except for Mass Effect where I just can't see Shepard as anything else than a badass redhead woman...darth.pixie said:
In a third world country, yes, they do.TU4AR said:
For anyone who likes to have a hard copy and wants to see that box on their shelf, yes, they do.
OP: I don't think enough people care to make it worth-while. Although just not showing the main character and only NPCs could solve this.
I thought we just took it for granted that Shepherd was a hermaphrodite, so the picture on the cover covers both bases.