255 réponses à ce sujet

[JeffZero]

TS2Aggie said a lot of things I would have said otherwise. As much as it gives me no pleasure to do so, I must agree with them on all counts.

[Shimmer_Gloom]

TheKingOf-Kings wrote...

Shimmer_Gloom wrote...

If you have been following the the thread so far, the dialogue has shifted away slighty from the OP.  I don't think many people want Sheploo 'replaced' so much as 'suplemented.'  And I think this is something we can totally talk about.

Unique animations is a valid problem (though truefully I didn't learn of it until I started forum lurking) but it has little bearing on marketing.

I only read like the first three pages and this page, but i'm not seeing much of a difference. Supplemental marketing is pointless and costly, which is what you are asking for. You don't seem to understand my point. If you are on these boards complaining about this issue, then Bioware/EA don't need to market to you, because you will buy the game regardless.

And I never said animations and marketing have any bearing on each other. I am saying as femshep players who love that character, you should all put your voices towards an issue that matters, like unique animations, not something as pointless as a few words or some pretty pictures on a game cover.

Supplemental marketing is pointless and costly?  I was not aware of that.  It had seemed to me that what with the Dark Knight's ARG having gotten so much buzz other things youtube videos and the like that it was something that was becomeing more viable.  I do not work in that industry (marketing) so I have no idea of the cost/effects.  I was just basing it on the prevalence of it in media.

If diversifying a portfolia works for investment wny can't it work for marketing.  I mean, really how expensive would it be to shoot a youtube video?  I mean, something EXACTLY like the Game Informer ones but highlighting something like Femshep?

Hell.  If its too costly I could do it.  For free.

[Whereto]

For this to work, you have to ask a person that has only heard about mass effect, what they associate with mass effect. My guess would be male shep

[Shimmer_Gloom]

Okay. My last post was atrocious. I'm heading to bed yall. I think I shall make a dedicated thread for my points once I actually think them through and run them through a word processor.

It was fun though!

[Aggie Punbot]

That one post of yours wasn't that bad, Shimmer_Gloom. :-P However, you must realize that additional marketing (or as you call it, 'supplemental marketing') still costs a crapload of money for any medium. . . and would still confuse the morons out there that can't tell when the playable character can be both male and female even after it's explicitly stated as such.

It's interesting that fem Shep fans aren't even happy with the fact that they get an option that male Shepards do not: the ability to be bisexual or gay. Also, fem Shep got an incredibly talented and experienced voice actress to lend her talents to this character. And even after these two boons, fem Shep fans are still wanting more, more, more. I think this may be an example of how trying to expand the gaming community to include women only results in more demands being placed upon the company who was, quite frankly, generous enough to offer up the option of playing as a female in the first place. Kind of reminds me of the tale of the Camel's Nose: no matter what you do, it's never good enough.

I used to like playing as a female Shepard, and I like playing as a male Shepard. I think some of her animations could use a bit of work but all in all I think they did a great job on fem Shep. If people want to get the word out about being able to play Commander Shepard as a woman, do it. Word of Mouth ™ made Dragon Age: Origins one of the bigger success stories in recent gaming history and it could do the same thing for ME3 if you think it would make that much of a difference; just don't fault a gaming company for using a tried-and-tested formula of success when it comes to marketing said game.

Modifié par TS2Aggie, 27 avril 2011 - 08:48 .

[Gabey5]

its a trilogy, the default face was chosen

[gavccu]

Shimmer Gloom raises some interesting points on possible marketing strategies. I think one of the main points here is that as illustrated a few pages back is that there could be a niche for attracting more female players to the titles; a marketing campaign aimed at both might accomplish that.

Im no Don Draper, but what about, say a tv spot (a bit like the windows 7 one) that shows male and female gamers one after the other saying "i'm Commander Shepard"interspersed with a 2 second clip from ME3 including a different Shep each time - illustrating the possible varities for your own character? Hell, you could include at the end Hale, Meer and Vanderloo saying the same, ending on the iconic Maleshep as the last Shepard visible at the end of the commercial?

Am i thinking about this too much?

[Aggie Punbot]

Actually, that's a good idea. The one thing I loved about a certain Call of Duty commercial was that it showed both men and women, older and younger, enjoying the game. I suppose the problem with that, though, is that fem Shep players don't really care about who plays the game or attracting women to the game franchise so much as they just want focus on fem Shep.

Modifié par TS2Aggie, 27 avril 2011 - 10:44 .

[MidnightRaith]

TS2Aggie wrote...

Actually, that's a good idea. The one thing I loved about a certain Call of Duty commercial was that it showed both men and women, older and younger, enjoying the game. I suppose the problem with that, though, is that fem Shep players don't really care about who plays the game or attracting women to the game franchise so much as they just want focus on fem Shep.

Whoa, whoa, whoa, I leave to sleep, and the thread changed that much? The main focus for this thread when I was last here was not to highlight FemShep because of my, or any other established FemShep player's, benefit, but to show the under-represented female gamer, that is passing up games like this, that there are good female protagonists out there. I missed about three years of playing this game because I never heard that FemShep was an option. Only the MShep was protrayed and that seemed to bland and predictable to me as the standard badass male lead.

This isn't, or wasn't, about a mere focus on FemShep just to focus on her. I've already been converted, I don't need this. This was mainly a way to talk about how Bioware could take advantage of a respectable female protagonist and use her to attract the female market that is so sick of over-sexualized female leads. However, instead, when I look at the comercials, ads and any other marketing media, FemShep does not exist. Why? That is my main question.

Yes, Bioware has done an awesome job on FemShep and a fantastic job at hiring a VA, yet, what does that matter when no one outside the fanbase knows it? Like I said, I already know she's great and so do all the other FemShep fans, but why pool all your resources to make FemShep a truly good female protagonist when you aren't going to aim her at the female gaming population? We could of easily gotten a lesser, yet still good FemShep. Instead we got a great one. Why not take advantage of that in marketing? I don't think this is asking for too much. Last I was here, I was asking for a reversible cover. Hell, the damn idea is optional. That is not asking for Bioware to throw away MShep, confuse all the players and just explode with FemShep AweSomness!!!111!! Just put her there. Make the perspective new player realize that she is there.

[MidnightRaith]

TS2Aggie wrote...

@Shimmer_Gloom Nah, not directed at you. It's more people like MidnightRaith that irritate me. You, at least, are more respectful when it comes to things like this.

I can't really fault anyone that prefers fem Sheps over male Sheps because, let's face it, Hale does do a fantastic job. The people I really cannot stand are the people that deliberately go around bashing Meer every place they go so the people that actually do like his work can't avoid their spitefulness.

Can't we all just get along?  *puppy eye look*

Seriously?

Sigh. The last post I made regarding my dislike of Meer, I made it sound like no one ever admits that they don't like Meer. My apologies. I meant only that that one person was the first since I've been here. I'm a pretty new member and you have to understand the circumstances. I come from another forum where if you so much as admit that you even remotely like FemShep, you are immediately branded as a loser for not respecting the awesomeness of Meer. Yes, the opposite of the cases you are referring to are happening to me.

Do I dispise Meer's VAing? Yes, yes I do. However, I never meant for that to go beyond an opinion. I realize that people like him, but I meant what I said in that I don't understand how people can like him. If I came across as flaming people that do like him, I apologize. I don't mean to sound like that other forum and I honestly don't think that I did..... At any rate, yes I like Hale, but do I hate the people that like the VA that I can't stand? No, no I don't. He's obviously likeable to others and I honestly don't begrudge them for it.

[lolwut666]

Nyoka wrote...

The game is marketed exclusively to men and then we act all surprised when the game is played mostly by men.

Go RAEG on that other thread, please.

[Centauri2002]

I don't see the harm in having an alternative cover for those of us who play FemShep. It'll be a nice nod to a representation of Shepard who has been sorely under appreciated. It's not going to change the fact that Sheploo is the face of Mass Effect but it will show that BioWare recognise that FemShep has a large fan following. She's still their creation after all.

[Fault Girl]

I was recommended ME, a few years back looked at the cover and turned it down (I really can;t play male characters unless it isn't an RPG). I did not realise that you could play a female character. I play DA:O and when I saw that it was Bioware I researched ME again and found out. I was late on the band wagon due to it not screaming out from the box.

I too also work in retail and trust me most customers are idiots most of the time and as much as I would love to see an alternate cover, it'll be too much hassle.

[Clonedzero]

again, a huge point thats been mostly ignored.

the only people who care about femshep being on the cover are the people who are already going to be buying the game on release day. they'll probably pre-order the game months in advance as well.

switching your marketing character this late in the franchise is well REALLY dumb. "hey who's that chick? i dont remember her from the trailer? eh,, maybe i should look into the game more before buying"

not saying thats a smart track of mind, but its one that would happen.

though femshep fans do seem quick to deem themselves superior by claiming their opinions as fact and insulting meers voice work (which i personally think is better than hales but whatever)

so basically, no. not going to happen.

[SimplePlan2k8]

I don't know if anyone has suggested this, but I imagine Bioware could do a reverse cover thing with FemShep on the inside so you could swap it round if you wanted.
I dunno, just an idea

[snfonseka]

Nyoka wrote...

I think it's reasonable to assume that women ("Despite gaming being seen as a male activity, female players now make up about 40% of the gaming population.") who don't know the game and have never heard of it (even though they might have inadvertently seen the ME2 box in a game store, alongside other boxes featuring bald space marines like the ones featured in every other shooter in the world) are not going to sign up to this forums to ask for a certain type of cover for ME3 or to do something else (including buying the DLC's). They should get to know Mass Effect first. How could we possibly achieve that?

Exactly.

So you are trying to say that female gamers will show interest in a game, if that game box has a female character in front. So in other words, their decision on a game will based on a box-art of a game. I don't have many gaming female friends, but there are few.

By looking at the way they act and behave regarding choosing a game, I have to say you have dishonored their intelligence (by mentioning above).  Because they don't buy a game/ show interest in buying a game, just by looking at a box-art. They first do their own search/ info gathering regarding the game, they want to buy.

Out of the topic: The article (your link) is based on MMOs, more specifically on EverQuest II. 

Modifié par snfonseka, 27 avril 2011 - 02:33 .

[Kreidian]

Female Shepard needs more marketing, no doubt. Most people play male soldier Shepard because almost all marketing features male soldier Shepard. I've met people who played ME2 not realizing that you could have an alternate gender, or even an alternate class. I've also met a lot of gamer girls who never played ME because they never realized that you could play a woman in the game.

Certainly most of the people who want to see more FemShep marketing are going to be online and on these forums, and so marketing to them probably isn't a high priority. But these are still the very passionate fans of the series. We may be a minority but it's still a vastly significant portion of the fanbase. And most of the people who talk the loudest about this game prefer to play FemShep. ( So in a sense FemShep has the edge in word of mouth advertising. )

By contrast most of the people who play default male Shepard don't actually care one way or the other about the marketing behind it. They don't care about the story nearly as much. They just come, play the game, and they're done, they just happened to go with the default options. So for them FemShep marketing would be just as effective for the most part.

Now I understand the marketing strategy that involves providing a recognizable brand to the product, hence putting a face to the title. Still I don't think it would be such a huge marketing investment to add some FemShep fan service.

It's true come release day I'll be there at midnight picking up my copy of ME3. But I'll say this much, if there was a special edition of ME3 with FemShep on the cover, I would definitely pay extra for it.

[snfonseka]

Kreidian wrote...

Female Shepard needs more marketing, no doubt. Most people play male soldier Shepard because almost all marketing features male soldier Shepard. I've met people who played ME2 not realizing that you could have an alternate gender, or even an alternate class. I've also met a lot of gamer girls who never played ME because they never realized that you could play a woman in the game.

Certainly most of the people who want to see more FemShep marketing are going to be online and on these forums, and so marketing to them probably isn't a high priority. But these are still the very passionate fans of the series. We may be a minority but it's still a vastly significant portion of the fanbase. And most of the people who talk the loudest about this game prefer to play FemShep. ( So in a sense FemShep has the edge in word of mouth advertising. )

...

I am pretty sure most of those people don't know to start their console/ pc or even start a game. <_<

[Centauri2002]

snfonseka wrote...

Nyoka wrote...

I think it's reasonable to assume that women ("Despite gaming being seen as a male activity, female players now make up about 40% of the gaming population.") who don't know the game and have never heard of it (even though they might have inadvertently seen the ME2 box in a game store, alongside other boxes featuring bald space marines like the ones featured in every other shooter in the world) are not going to sign up to this forums to ask for a certain type of cover for ME3 or to do something else (including buying the DLC's). They should get to know Mass Effect first. How could we possibly achieve that?

Exactly.

So you are trying to say that female gamers will show interest in a game, if that game box has a female character in front. So in other words, their decision on a game will based on a box-art of a game. I don't have many gaming female friends, but there are few.

By looking at the way they act and behave regarding choosing a game, I have to say you have dishonored their intelligence (by mentioning above).  Because they don't buy a game/ show interest in buying a game, just by looking at a box-art. They first do their own search/ info gathering regarding the game, they want to buy.

Out of the topic: The article (your link) is based on MMOs, more specifically on EverQuest II. 

So, from what you're saying, it doesn't matter who's on the boxart then, because people will already know Shepard is customisable, so no harm in putting a female Shepard on the front. 

That said, I don't think many are advocating a change in marketing strategy. We're realistic, after all. All that we're asking for is an alternative cover. It could be in the form of a reversible cover, as suggested above.

@clonedzero: Don't go making gross generalisations like that, it's not doing your point any good.

Modifié par centauri2002, 27 avril 2011 - 02:57 .

[Sylvianus]

Yeah, realistic, that's the better way. An alternative cover, an alternative trailer for M3.

Not more.

Modifié par Sylvianus, 27 avril 2011 - 03:00 .

[Centauri2002]

Sylvianus wrote...

Yeah, realistic, that's the better way. An alternative cover, an alternative trailer for M3.

Not more.

Aye, exactly. It's not asking for much. It's the final game in the trilogy, they might as well put in a little extra to please the fans. And I'm sure having the extra cover art or a second trailer with FemShep will draw in some extra new players that may have passed it over otherwise.