Poll: Question for all the Mass Effect players out there

[DataSnake]

So a friend walked in while I was playing Mass Effect the other day and asked why I was playing as a female (I'm a guy). It's actually because the male voice actor just doesn't sound right to me, but it got me thinking about the issue of representation and "playing yourself" in games. So, I thought I'd ask what everyone else thinks: do you play your own gender? Why or why not?

 

[Elfgore]

I guess I'm in the minority where I think Meer is better and... whoever voices the femshep is bland. It seems most people have that reversed.

I've done two full playthroughs of the game, both as maleshep. I'm currently working on a femshep run, since I only have played her through the first game, just to see how stuff changes. If I could just get past Mass Effect 1, we'd be golden. I really can't give a reason why, I do like malesheps default look I guess. That's probably the only reason... oh and Tali. Tali is a big reason why I play maleshep.

 

[Darth Rosenberg]

It's ridiculous for anyone (I'm referring to your not so savvy friend) to wonder at what gender someone in a game picks relative to their own actual one.

Some people play as 'themselves' in a gameworld.
Some people haven't the slightest interest in power fantasies, or choose to be more imaginative than that (behold my bias).

Both/all ways are fine. Personally speaking, I see no reason I'd play 'myself' in, say, Skyrim. I'm already me - I don't get much character narrative out of that. A different gender, race (or species), and moral/ethical perspective? That's simply more interesting.

I always lean towards selecting female PC's, mostly because our culture has always had more than enough male heroes and antiheroes - I like to see the tables turned (give me Buffy, or someone like Kara Thrace, over some vanilla male action lead any day). Aesthetics are also a part of it, especially where choice/variety of gear is concerned.

And a full Renegade FemShep just looks too damn awesome...

 

[Zontar]

I have to agree with the OP, I'm a guy who chose FemShep because ManShep's voice actor just don't sound right to me.

Which is ironic, given how he was just the place holder that Bio Ware had until they could get a proper voice actor, and someone important thought he was good enough for the role.

 

[carnex]

Played Male Shep but the reason is because i played him in the first game. In games where you can choose your own characters sex and it doesn't affect characteristics I choose purely on how it hits me in the moment. Skyrim and Fallout 3 female, Fallout New Vegas and Mass effect male etc. There is no meaning behind it.

And I have such bad taste in voice actors. I can enjoy almost anything. It takes something as bad as Chaos Wars English dub to put me off.

 

[Colour Scientist]

I played FemShep, which is my own gender.

I usually jump at the chance to play a female character whenever I'm given the option.

 

[Albino Boo]

I played Femshep out of habit from MMO's. Female characters are more likely to get picked for parties than males, largely because they think you are female.

 

[Longing]

I was femshep, not particularly because of voice acting (although jennifer hale is fucking awesome) so much as if given the chance, I will always play female characters. That's mainly the reason I prefer rpgs, as they let me play as my own gender.

ps. Meer was awful in the first mass effect, but I do believe he got better as time went on, he just had to find his voice.

 

[The_Blue_Rider]

Im a guy and I normally play as a dude just because. Like im not averse to playing as females, I just normally play as guys is as all.
On games that give me the option I'll usually do a second playthrough a chick just to have a bit of variety I guess.
Also I have the opposite problem, I think Male Shepard sounds great, its the Female Shepard who sounds weird. All of her moments where she's supposed to come off as threatening just fall flat. Where as the Male Shepard can just nail those moments, as well as do quite a good job in the softer moments I find.

 

[BathorysGraveland2]

Male, and I play a male Shepard.

My reason is the opposite of yours. I vastly prefer the male voice actor to the female actress, whose delivery I find really forced and Michelle Rodriguez-ified. I tried to play through as her on my second playthrough of the trilogy, but I just couldn't take her voice acting seriously, which is too bad. I was trying to go for some bald Ripley-esque character, but alas. The male voice acting may not be groundbreaking or perfect, but it sounds natural enough to my ears.

 

[Zhukov]

Male, Femshep.

Dat voice acting.

Mark Meer didn't do a bad job exactly, and some lines he even did better, especially the renegade ones ("big stupid jellyfish"), but he was mostly very flat, particularly in the first game. Plus I don't really play renegade much.

I play either gender on a whim in games with character choice/customization, but I never play "myself". The thought of actually pretending to be a space hero or dragon slayer or whatever makes me cringe.

 

[Shock and Awe]

From what I've seen, in the first game Meer was a lot less experienced then Jennifer Hale and was not as competent in the role. However as the series went on I think Meer got a lot better and his performance was more or less on par with Hale's.

 

[Darth Rosenberg]

I think Male Shepard sounds great, its the Female Shepard who sounds weird. All of her moments where she's supposed to come off as threatening just fall flat. Where as the Male Shepard can just nail those moments, as well as do quite a good job in the softer moments I find.

I agree that, generally, Hale doesn't quite sell a threat as well as Meer. But [for me] Hale absolutely nails the general character interactions and the goofy romance arcs better.

Although, frankly, by ME3 both were damn good. The Tali "emergency induction port" scene was very funny, with Shep's famous comebacks working great from both actors.

 

[Phasmal]

I have played both, but originally played FemShep, and she's the one I played from start-to-finish.

I prefer FemShep.

I wouldn't say I play `myself` in games, but I do prefer having the same gender as me. Mostly because occasionally getting called by the wrong pronouns kind of knocks my immersion a little bit. It's only tiny, but sometimes it gives me a `waitwhat` kind of moment. I'm not that bothered by it, but it's nice to have the option.

I know a few guys who play females all the time whenever they have the option, and mostly they give the butt reason, but I don't really buy it- if you're just staring at your character's butt all the time you're probably playing the game wrong.

Nothing wrong with playing a different gender in games, though.

 

[Cyberstrike_v1legacy]

I'm a guy who played the Mass Effect Trilogy over 25 times I played a female 22 times and a male 3 times and none of my male Shpeards made it past Mass Effect 2: Lair of the Shadow Broker because Mark Meer and Ali Hillis had zero chemisty.

 

[spartandude]

I have played both but dear god do i prefer Femshep to Maleshep. Whenever i talk about Mass Effect I just default to talking about Shepard as a women. Shepard is and has always been "She" rather than "he" to me.


Capcha. Poison apple... ok this is scary me and the gf watched Snow White earlier.

 

[Spanglish Guy]

I tend to vary the gender of my character in different games, I don't mind playing as a man or woman as long as I enjoy the game. For Mass Effect I chose MaleShep mainly because he was on the front of the box when I bought ME2 and I just wanted to get a feel for the game first, I just stuck with him after a while. I do need to go back and play as FemShep but I can never make time to play all the games again.

 

[Asita]

I'm not seeing a "male, both Sheps" option[footnote]Or a "female, both Sheps" one, but the male, both Sheps option applies most to me[/footnote]. I mained femShep for the first game but I shifted gears in ME2 because I thought the Garrus and Tali romances felt more organic[footnote]On the grounds that they had more time to develop[/footnote] than the first game ones, and I preferred the bash bros/bromance dynamic with the former as opposed to the flat out romance. That said, I've got playthroughs of the first two games as both maleShep and femShep (multiple times over, in fact), but haven't worked up the will to finish femShep's playthrough of ME3 (which I completed all of once).

Though playing as myself? Please. I tend to default to female characters when given the option (Probably 65-70% of the time, tbh), and when given customization options, I tend to simply try to make the character seem 'cool' to my eyes rather than trying to echo my own traits. Putting my own face in game just serves to break my immersion, as odd as that might sound.

 

[DaWaffledude]

I honestly do not understand why everyone loves Femshep. Her voice sounds so... Apathetic.

Granted, I've only played as Paragon MShep, and watched other people play Femshep, but still.