224 réponses à ce sujet

[Pepperoni Blob]

Hi, I'm new to the Forums and was pushed to join by a friend. I've been with ME since the first one and hope to happily discuss everything there is to ME.
 
Alright, now to the task at hand. As we all know, ME gives you the option to either be a male or female Commander Shepard. But obviously, the one used for all the media coverage is Sheploo, the default male Shepard. So, did Bioware throw in Jane Shepard just to please a certain minority? I seem to think so. Being male I was never bothered by this in the start but I have a friend who happens to be a girl who also happens to play Mass Effect as a female Commander Shepard.

Does Bioware acknowledge she exists? Obviously they do (even though many disagree). I do like many others, but to what extent do they? Now, let me make this very clear.

The media

Sheploo this, sheploo that!



Nope, no Jane Shepard here.



Nope, not here either.

This issue sits right there with Shepard romancing... let's say.... Kaidan. Would a gay Shepard be bad for publicity. In this moment in history? Yes. Would a female Shepard be bad for publicity? No. You have Miranda, a character sexualized to great extent by Bioware, but not the cool and confident Femshep?

Many have said that alternate covers would have worked. Not really, no. But a default with no Shepard would have.



Now that's more like it! Kinda anyway.....

Did Bioware learn they're lesson? Perhaps. Or perhaps this is just a placeholder since ME3 is still 1 year away. But putting poor ignore Femshep on the back of the of the case would have also gained some points in my eyes. Why not do that? Heck, they didn't even, in both games, imply on anywhere in the covers that you could play as a women.

But Femshep has been used in the media believe it or not! In the back of the ME1 case, there is a screenshot of a women wearing the N7 armor with helmet and visor on. Something is something I guess.

In the end, you the community are always the judges.

[Nashiktal]

There is already a thread over this, I think its in the character forum. Also this has been over multiple times.

[theSteeeeels]

practically all games are aimed at male gamers

the fact that bioware gives femshep a voice actor who has just as many lines as the male, a long with creating her unique romances options, yea bioware put effort into her. but you cant expect them to market a femshep when promoting males will make more money and is safer

[Pepperoni Blob]

Im new, cut me some slack guys.

[aimlessgun]

Welcome to the forums.

You may find that this doesn't get much response because it is a very well-worn topic. I agree with your post and it's well written though

The Femshep thread in the Character and Creation forum puts out a lot of photoshops editing Bioware marketing to have femshep on it, as well as fanmade trailers w/ femshep, so I suggest you check the thread out.

Long story short on the topic: Bioware made a choice and seems to be sticking to it. Many people (rightly, I think) argue that femshep could be used effectively in marketing even if not as the 'poster person' of the franchise.

The game is skewed to males, but I think Bioware recognizes female gamers as an important part of their playerbase, so maybe it'll happen.

[Stonen80]

Most gamers are males, no big secret.

[Nashiktal]

Pepperoni Blob wrote...

Im new, cut me some slack guys.

New or not, we will still point out a well worn topic. Don't get me wrong, you did a nice organized post, but this is one of the few cases where using the search feature might actually bring up multiple examples of this.

[WizenSlinky0]

Due to story continuity and the usual adaptations to other mediums, including novels, mangas, and other animations...companies often choose a "canon" version of the story they tell. Sometimes this is female (a la KOTOR II by Obsidien) and sometimes it's make (a la Mass Effect). Bioware tends to lean towards the male canon.

The canon version usually gets the most marketing.

But of course that's just my take. I'd suggest you hit up the other threads to see more arguments.

Modifié par WizenSlinky0, 04 mai 2011 - 12:56 .

[CheeseEnchilada]

Bioware is very aware of their female gamers. The effort put into designing Thane as alien eye-candy and Jacob's abs would point to this.

Marketing's a whole other kettle of fish, of course.

[sevalaricgirl]

Stonen80 wrote...

Most gamers are males, no big secret.

Actually, this is not true anymore.  More and more female gamers are playing rpgs, especially Bioware games.  I'd say it's about a 55/45 split now with women from their late teens to us who are older playing rpgs.  Shooters maybe, but not rpgs.

Modifié par sevalaricgirl, 04 mai 2011 - 01:07 .

[Harmless Crunch]

Well welcome to BSN OP!
But on-topic.......I dont think its just BioWare's desicion you have to remeber Microsoft and EA are were behind the marketing for ME1 and ME2 respectiveley. And although its a shame what do you think a big publisher is going to choose? A male space-marine or a female space-marine?

[AdmiralCheez]

Bada-bing.

[HealthyGiraffe]

Naturally yes. It's simple business. The overwhelming majority of Mass Effect players are male.

It sounds harsh, but it is true. That's why the media appeals to men more.

[Manic Sheep]

Sheploo is the iconic default shepard that everybody associates with mass effect. Its brand recognition and they actually paided to use that face. 
Who cares what gender is on the box anyway?

Modifié par Manic Sheep, 04 mai 2011 - 01:16 .

[AdmiralCheez]

To be honest, I could care less about Commander Placeholder. So his face is on the box, so what? The game's what's important.

Although I never understood why creating your own character was so undermarketed, since that's part of the appeal of a game like this...

[aimlessgun]

AdmiralCheez wrote...

Bada-bing.

Riveting.



Actually I'm going to read this when I have time, thanks.

[Da Mecca]

That and I don't understand why no improvements or updates have been made to the creation system

I mean it's kind of a big deal.

[InvaderErl]

sevalaricgirl wrote...

Stonen80 wrote...

Most gamers are males, no big secret.

Actually, this is not true anymore.  More and more female gamers are playing rpgs, especially Bioware games.  I'd say it's about a 55/45 split now with women from their late teens to us who are older playing rpgs.  Shooters maybe, but not rpgs.

I think that guesstimate is off. While recent statistics show that more girls are indeed gaming, the majority of them are playing casual games.

Consider statistics that showed that 82% (!) of players play as MaleShep.

http://www.destructo...ng-188362.phtml

I just can't imagine that number being like that with a supposed almost even split.

In that right its not surprising and honestly totally logical that the focus on marketing is on MaleShep (especially since they're PAYING for that face) though I still think they could do to play as FemShep during gameplay and such.

Modifié par InvaderErl, 04 mai 2011 - 01:24 .

[WizenSlinky0]

I would caution against using percentage of people choosing a certain character gender. Just as there are males who would rather play as a female Shepard, there are women who might play as a Male Shepard.

While it might still give weight to why Male Shep is the posterchild, it doesn't give weight to the overall male gamer arguments.

[ObserverStatus]

AdmiralCheez wrote...

Bada-bing.

interesting, i'll have to bookmark that for future reference.

[InvaderErl]

WizenSlinky0 wrote...

I would caution against using percentage of people choosing a certain character gender. Just as there are males who would rather play as a female Shepard, there are women who might play as a Male Shepard.

While it might still give weight to why Male Shep is the posterchild, it doesn't give weight to the overall male gamer arguments.

True enough and I didn't mean to imply that was the percentage of male/female gamers in ME but merely as I said I can't imagine that number being like that with an even split. Its nothing more than me guesstimating.

Modifié par InvaderErl, 04 mai 2011 - 01:41 .

[WizenSlinky0]

InvaderErl wrote...

True enough and I didn't mean to imply that was the percentage of male/female gamers in ME but merely as I said I can't imagine that number being like that with an even split. Its nothing more than me guesstimating.

Nothing wrong with guesstimation!

[LiquidGrape]

InvaderErl wrote...

I think that guesstimate is off. While recent statistics show that more girls are indeed gaming, the majority of them are playing casual games.

Consider statistics that showed that 82% (!) of players play as MaleShep.

http://www.destructo...ng-188362.phtml

I just can't imagine that number being like that with a supposed almost even split.

In that right its not surprising and honestly totally logical that the focus on marketing is on MaleShep (especially since they're PAYING for that face) though I still think they could do to play as FemShep during gameplay and such.

Well, you can't possibly trust those numbers. They have no context.
They do by no means specify whether the subjects play exclusively as male Shepard, or most often as male Shepard, or if they simply ever played a male Shepard. And vice versa.
The same 80% who've played as MaleShep could just as well have played as FemShep for all we know.

There is also this BSN poll with over 3000 votes to take into account, which shows a clear preference for FemShep overall.

Furthermore, Jesse Houston of BioWare admitted to FemShep being the alleged "fan favourite", yet apparently this doesn't warrant the slightest piece of marketing exposition.
Which is odd.

As late as August last year, EEDAR (Electronic Entertainment Design and Research, world's largest research institution in the field of video games) published a few reliably contextual statistics on the subject of gender disparity in 7th generation video games, and how the sex of the game's protagonist is apparently a non-factor when it comes to critical acclaim, and by extension, financial revenue.

Give it a looksie! I think it's interesting.

When it all comes down to it, the only reason Sheploo and MaleHawke are the allegedly "marketable" versions is because marketing makes them so. It's a self-affirming circular notion.
It's probably a misconception of what is required to meet that desired sales quota, mixed with an ounce of cowardice.
Not pointing fingers here, it's prevalent in all media. I just wish it wasn't so.

Modifié par LiquidGrape, 04 mai 2011 - 01:50 .

[InvaderErl]

LiquidGrape wrote...


Well, you can't possibly trust those numbers. They have no context.
They do by no means specify whether the subjects play exclusively as male Shepard, or most often as male Shepard, or if they simply ever played a male Shepard. And vice versa.
The same 80% who've played as MaleShep could just as well have played as FemShep for all we know.

From the Destructoid Article:

"82% play as male Shepard, 18% as female Shepard"

This is not the earlier information from IGN that gave JUST the 80% with no further info on FemShep. This info came out two months after those figures first surfaced.

So in any of these set-ups that you offer:

LiquidGrape wrote...
most often as male Shepard, or if they simply ever played a male Shepard"

It would indicate that either only 18% of players play FemShep most often

or only 18% have ever played a FemShep.

LiquidGrape wrote...
There is also this BSN poll with over 3000 votes to take into account, which shows a clear preference for FemShep overall.

And over 2 million people have brought Mass Effect 2. We cannot hold those numbers to be any indicator of the greater whole past these forums.

LiquidGrape wrote...
Furthermore, Jesse Houston of BioWare admitted to FemShep being the alleged "fan favourite", yet apparently this doesn't warrant the slightest piece of marketing exposition.
Which is odd.

Its a blurb and FemShep's fanbase is very devoted which is what he could have been referring to. You complain that the Destructoid figure is vague but this is even moreso.

Modifié par InvaderErl, 04 mai 2011 - 02:12 .