106 réponses à ce sujet

[Inspectre]

naledgeborn wrote...
Though like Seboist said in an other thread the only love interest I can take seriously for Fem Shep is Kaidan whereas Sheploo is good with Ash, Jack, Liara, and Miri.

Actually, if Mass Effect was more realistic, I believe that Asari would only be attracted to the human female form.  Not to say that they wouldn't go for the other races or males, but that would be taboo.

Ah, realism... I miss you so.

[Aggie Punbot]

I play both fem Sheps and male Sheps but prefer male Shep likely for the following reasons:

1). All of my fem Sheps would be loyal to Kaidan since his is the only female romance that I really like and playing every fem Shep the same way tends to get a little...tedious.
2). I much prefer playing as a (mostly) renegade player and I think that man Shep's voice is better in the games (YMMV, of course).
3). Quite frankly, the female hair textures are complete crap. If I could make a 'prettier' female Shepard I'd probably be more inclined to play one more often. This contrasts with male Shepard's generally short hair that doesn't look nearly as bad.
4). I play the Dragon Age games almost exclusively as females so I play as male Shepards to counteract that.
5). I have never played anything resembling a shooter before Mass Effect so playing as a "generic bald male marine" is a new experience for me and I like it.
6). I find it impossible to play as a renegade (or dark side) female in *any* game, and since I prefer playing as a renegade in ME. . . well, there are my options.
7). I really like exploring the bromance side of things once in a while.
8). I really enjoy male Shepard's paragon romance with Jack...especially if he's a renegade. Jerk with a heart of gold, anyone?

Modifié par TS2Aggie, 31 mai 2011 - 01:29 .

[Shanya]

I play FemSheps, mostly because I am woman and because somehow I manage to produce "ok-looking-FemShepy". I can just better connect with FemShep, may it be paragon, renegade or inbetween. In DAs I also play female chars and basicaly any game that I play and that has a female option, I will most definetly pick it. I still remeber times when you could play only a man in a game, didnt bother me as much then but the gaming experience did lack tho... always wanted female-wolfstein, lol... Now, I usualy make one male char, seriously try to play it... but heh, never finish it, besides I just cant bring myself to romance female chars so even my male chars end between the sheets with... well, males.

[wizardryforever]

Sister Helen wrote...

Dangerfoot wrote...

I also like the look of female models more than overly bulky male models. I don't really "project myself" onto characters period, but I don't see how knowing that your character has the same parts downstairs makes it easy for you to pretend they are you. And why would you want to anyway? Role playing games are for role playing. People who name their characters after themselves and try to recreate their face just kind of baffle me.

Oh good God, people DO that?!  * Rubs here eyes in disbelief. *

Reading these forums are always an education.

Well yes, of course people do that.  I'm rather surprised at how surprised you are at that.  People use games as a form of escapism (which sounds condescending, but it's not), and as a result will do a number of things to ease the transition, like making the character look and act like they would in that situation.  Just like there are people who think up vast backstories to their characters and play them like a puppeteer does his puppets.  Both are valid styles of play, and frequently overlap to some degree.

As for the OP, I have to say that I play a male for many of the same reasons that have been listed here.  I'm male, and it is easier to identify with Shepard if he is male.  I strongly dislike Hale's voice acting; it is far too breathy and over-emotional.  My first playthrough was with MaleShep. 

Interestingly, I have fewer qualms about playing female in other RPGs, like Dragon Age.  I think it has to do with the voice, or lack thereof.  Maybe if I could choose the voice, or play through dialogue with only text, I'd be more inclined to play FemShep.  As it is, I only have one playthrough of ME1 and ME2 with a FemShep, and something like twenty with a MaleShep.

Modifié par wizardryforever, 31 mai 2011 - 03:21 .

[ADLegend21]

I play both but I play femshep a little more cuz I'm intrigued by female protagonists since damn near everything has a male saving everyone, so its a nice change of pace for a female to be punching out Yagh's and headbutting Krogan's and destroying sentient starships from dark space.
(plus, like Jen hale suggest, I like checkingout her ass as she walks xD)

[Labrev]

I have the most connection to my canon, male and designed after me. But otherwise I tend to play as and prefer doing femshep. Not sure why.

[Zall]

While femSheps are pretty awesome, I still prefer playing manSheps. I'm such a fangirl for Sheploo

[Siansonea]

ManShep or FemShep? For me, the answer is "yes".

I love my ManSheps. I love Devon Shepard's quiet diplomacy, his earnest devotion to justice, his undying love of Liara T'Soni, his almost busybody-like tendency to help every single person with every single problem they have. He's just a great guy. I also love Ethan Shepard's cocky doucheyness, his "git 'er done" mentality, and his social myopia. His "I've been dead for two years so I guess me and Ashley broke up so I can totally hit that Jack ass" thought process is a laugh riot, and I can't wait to see how it bites him in the butt. And I love Martín Shepard's solid dependability, his dedication to fair treatment without making a big show, his desire to just do the job the best he knows how. I love his dopey crush on Kaidan Alenko (denied!), his awkward attempts at chatting up Jacob Taylor, and his solid refusal to let a lack of personal fulfillment keep him from doing the hardest job in the galaxy.

But I love my FemSheps too. Ashley Shepard is literally a psychopath, but she's so weird she's awesome. The woman feels a connection to an asari serial killer and a thief—and no one else. She goes out of her way to get people killed, if she can't kill them outright herself. But underneath it all is—more depravity. She's awesome in a can't-look-away sort of way. She slept with Kaidan, then slept with Jacob, then got Jacob killed by sending him to do a job she knew he wasn't qualified for. She let Ashley Williams die on Virmire because she didn't like that they had the same first name! Ashley Shepard is a TRIP. Leah Shepard isn't nearly as colorful as Ashley Shepard, she's a rather obtuse engineer who misses pretty much all social cues and gets stuck in analysis a lot. She found some comfort with Kaidan, but after he read her the riot act on Horizon, she saw that getting involved romantically with a crew mate was a mistake. If there was a way to defeat the Reapers through sheer logic, Leah would find it. Much less analytical than Leah, Simone Shepard is a biotic powerhouse, and there's no situation she feels her biotics can't handle. Well, maybe politics. She's happy to leave all that to the politicians and sycophants, she's got a galaxy to save, and little blue babies with Liara T'Soni to provide a future for. She'll do what it takes, she'll bend the rules and even break them, but she always has the greater good in mind and at heart.

So yeah, ManShep or FemShep, FemShep or ManShep. I can't decide!

Modifié par Siansonea II, 31 mai 2011 - 04:40 .

[Jane Shepard]

I'm a woman and I play only FemShep. In fact I always choose female characters if there is such an option. I love FemShep. In different movies most of the time men are the saviors of the Earth or the whole Galaxy and women are somewhere on the backround. In Star Wars movies for example I can't remember any female jedi as one of the main characters (well, games are different). I think without FemShep Mass Effect Universe couldn't be so interesting. My choice is female Commander Shepard. And I can say I have a connection with my canon FemShep, she reminds me me

[Manic Sheep]

I prefer playing as a woman because I am a woman and I like female heros. I also don’t particularly like mansheps voice tho I do have 2 male characters.

Modifié par Manic Sheep, 31 mai 2011 - 07:32 .

[Dangerfoot]

Eshaye wrote...

For me it's actually difficult to understand how people DON'T connect with their main characters in games like these. *shrugs*

Take for example a well known actor, let's say Johnny Depp as Captain Jack Sparrow. He still looks like Johnny to some degree but he gets to be a pirate. Same with Shepard, you can customize him/her to look like you if you want and even name them however you want but they are not you, you're just playing that role.... 

I'm not sure why I'm trying to explain that except to say it's not exactly the alien concept you two are making it out to be. 

I just don't see why you'd want to limit your character to have your appearance and in some cases, your personality. When I roleplay, I do "connect" with my character, but not by making it into me, and not by making it into a person that I wish I was.

In fact I would actually compare my version of the RP experience to acting, with a virtual barrier seperating me from my role. I'm making a person that is nothing like me, and then I go through the game making choices as if I'm this person. I find it compelling to see what happens to the characters I create, and sort of fill in the blanks with my own improvised narrative.

I couldn't tell you why I have an easier time connecting with my female characters though. Every time I make a male character I just kind of get a vibe from him that he's just a generic, beefy, doofus hero, no matter how much I try to roleplay. Meanwhile I am actually concerned when my female characters get into trouble and I feel more for them in the emotional scenes too.

Modifié par Dangerfoot, 31 mai 2011 - 11:26 .

[Fraevar]

I've played both and while using a custom manShep did connect me a bit more to the character, the fact that manShep just feels like any old other generic action hero means I don't really find him all that interesting, thus I don't find the game interesting.

femShep is interesting simply because she's not diminished by her gender nor is her gender even pointed out a whole lot. She's just a kick-ass space marine, and putting a woman in that role means that ME can offer something other games and films don't. So yeah, think my ME2 ratio is 10:1 in femShep playthroughs vs manShep playthroughs.

[genaroneto]

I'm a guy but I always go for femshep. I consider her more realistic than manshep, he talks like hes reading the text on a teleprompter. Specially in ME1, I just can't take the Saren battle dialog in Virmire, for me it looks so much fake and unnatural the way he talks, man. It totally breaks the density of the moment. In ME2 Meer is a little better, but I still get femshep, is funnier to go on renegade moments with her.

[Kronner]

Male Shepard - because that's what feels natural to me (since I am male too). I'd also take Meer's voice acting over Hale's any day and twice on Sundays. To me, female Shepard sounds emotionally fragile most of the time, and I do not like that at all.

I've played female Shepard a few times, but that was just for kicks, it was not nearly as good as the male Shepard for me, especially because of her voice and animations. 

So for me, Commander Shepard will always be a guy.

Modifié par Kronner, 31 mai 2011 - 12:07 .

[Siegdrifa]

For me fem Shep all the way.
Every time i tryed to play a game with mal Shep, i stop less than a hour latter because it's definitly not the real Shep for me.
Strangely, i can play both Hawke.

[elarem]

I'm a woman and when I play as FemShep it's really me reacting as a renegade, paragon or a mixture thereof, but without the inhibitions of real life.

My son said I was sexist (he plays male and female characters). I couldn't play the game with a Sheploo and so I created a ManShep. I hated it at first, but halfway through ME he was ok, and now I have several custom ManSheps. I feel that it's more of a role playing experience when I'm playing as a male.

So my ratio is roughly 2 FemSheps to 1 ManShep - but my first playthrough of ME3 will be my original renegade FemShep.

[MrDbow]

I have always played as a MaleShep because, as a male, I can insert myself as if I am the character. Plus when companies do demos or show videos of their games and they have an "established" character, I like to think that I am playing their intended vision of the game. So its always Sheploo for me.

However, I have tried doing the FemShep route since ME1 and I just could not get past Eden Prime. I thought the character didn't feel real to me (default FemShep). But several months ago, I finally sat down and just hammered out on the character create screen on ME1 and spent hours trying to fine tune a FemShep. When I finally found "the face" and got past Eden Prime, it was a welcome surprise of how much fun I had playing on the "other side."

I had found that the FemShep on ME1 was a better experience than Sheploo (in no small part to Hale's Voice Acting). However, I was also a little disappointed on her VA for ME2 compared to Meer's.

So, Now I have 2 of my own Canon playthroughs to import.

[Golden Owl]

AtlasMickey wrote...

I'm really not interested in immersing myself in the Mass Effect universe. I just like art, beauty, and thinking about sci-fi. I am mostly a spectator to events in the Mass Effect universe, but an emotionally invested one, because I'm now drawn into the experience of building an interesting character in the Mass Effect universe. I tend to find female characters far more interesting than male.

Also, I like to draw, and I thought it would be interesting to try to create a female face using the purely numeric combinations offered in the game. What would I come up with and what might it reveal about me? How might it be different or similar to everyone else's? Every piece of art is in some sense a self-revelation. A bunch of little details come together and all of a sudden you're like, "wow, I made that!" It was endlessly fascinating and thrilling to see this woman I made given a voice and the leading role in so many dramatic events.

There's a bit of a "Weird Science" aspect to it for me. From my heart and from my hand, why don't people understand?

I very much do understand what your saying AtlasMickey....yes, it is art, is why I have something of an issue with people trolling each others Sheps...is each individuals creation, their art work, it's awesome to see and appreciate.

[Golden Owl]

AngryFrozenWater wrote...

OP... There is a poll link in my signature. You can read dozens of opinions there. Have a look. Interesting read.

Thank you AngryFrozenWater...very much appreciated.

[Golden Owl]

Siansonea II wrote...

ManShep or FemShep? For me, the answer is "yes".

I love my ManSheps. I love Devon Shepard's quiet diplomacy, his earnest devotion to justice, his undying love of Liara T'Soni, his almost busybody-like tendency to help every single person with every single problem they have. He's just a great guy. I also love Ethan Shepard's cocky doucheyness, his "git 'er done" mentality, and his social myopia. His "I've been dead for two years so I guess me and Ashley broke up so I can totally hit that Jack ass" thought process is a laugh riot, and I can't wait to see how it bites him in the butt. And I love Martín Shepard's solid dependability, his dedication to fair treatment without making a big show, his desire to just do the job the best he knows how. I love his dopey crush on Kaidan Alenko (denied!), his awkward attempts at chatting up Jacob Taylor, and his solid refusal to let a lack of personal fulfillment keep him from doing the hardest job in the galaxy.

But I love my FemSheps too. Ashley Shepard is literally a psychopath, but she's so weird she's awesome. The woman feels a connection to an asari serial killer and a thief—and no one else. She goes out of her way to get people killed, if she can't kill them outright herself. But underneath it all is—more depravity. She's awesome in a can't-look-away sort of way. She slept with Kaidan, then slept with Jacob, then got Jacob killed by sending him to do a job she knew he wasn't qualified for. She let Ashley Williams die on Virmire because she didn't like that they had the same first name! Ashley Shepard is a TRIP. Leah Shepard isn't nearly as colorful as Ashley Shepard, she's a rather obtuse engineer who misses pretty much all social cues and gets stuck in analysis a lot. She found some comfort with Kaidan, but after he read her the riot act on Horizon, she saw that getting involved romantically with a crew mate was a mistake. If there was a way to defeat the Reapers through sheer logic, Leah would find it. Much less analytical than Leah, Simone Shepard is a biotic powerhouse, and there's no situation she feels her biotics can't handle. Well, maybe politics. She's happy to leave all that to the politicians and sycophants, she's got a galaxy to save, and little blue babies with Liara T'Soni to provide a future for. She'll do what it takes, she'll bend the rules and even break them, but she always has the greater good in mind and at heart.

So yeah, ManShep or FemShep, FemShep or ManShep. I can't decide!

I love the indidvidual stories Siansonea....thank you for sharing them.

[Killer3000ad]

I am a guy but I play femShep primarily because I don't like Meer's delivery of the dialogue, and I just about had my fill of grizzled square-jawed, broad-shouldered space marine types already.

[Golden Owl]

There is such a variety of reasons here...Thank you everyone, it's been a very interesting and thought provoking read...my appreciation to you all.

I do note very distinct likes in regards to the VA's, I think BW may have really hit the nail on the head, as people seem to be really drawn and connected to either one or the other, there seem to be quite firm lines drawn.

[ladyvader]

Normally when I am giving a choice on male or female characters, I play a male character.  But Mark Meer VO work is bad to me.  It's ok if you play as a renegade, but sucks bad as a paragon.  Which I play more times than not.

Jennifer Hale's VO work is great.  There is a difference between renegade and paragon.  Meer's is not.  Too monotone for my taste.

That is why I have more female Shepards than male Shepards.

[Siansonea]

I would LOVE it if there was a DLC of alternate VOs for Shepard of both genders. I would love for Morinth's voice actress to voice FemShep, and a MaleShepard voice track done by the voice actor who did Hawke in DA2 would be great. Having three full voice options per gender would just be the bees knees.

[Aggie Punbot]

You do realize having three voice options would probably more than triple the cost of the game itself? Enjoy your $200 game because I certainly wouldn't pay that much for a game no matter how good it was.

Modifié par TS2Aggie, 01 juin 2011 - 09:05 .