217 réponses à ce sujet

[CDHarrisUSF]

To me, the "I don't want to spend the game looking at a man" sentiment always comes off as latent homophobia, insecurity in one's sexuality, or just really shallow. I have no problem playing a FemShep (usually my second or third run), but at least come up with a better reason than that. I also find it kind of funny that the "fix" for the "problem" of being too hetero to look at a male character is to role play as a woman.

As for why I want to see my Shepard get his little blue babies, there are two main reasons. First, my "canon" Shepard (first run through the game) is essentially a blank canvas on which I project myself. My ideals are Shepard's ideals. My motivations are Shepard's motivations. Since I don't know what's coming on the first run, I am reacting to situations as I would with his limited knowledge and living with the consequences. So, since I want to settle down and have children, my Shepard wants to settle down and have children.

The second reason is that my Shepard is a man of his word. He made a promise to Liara that he would come back. He promised marriage, old age, and lots of little blue children. He will survive the Destroy ending. He will hunt down the Normandy (or die of old age in the process). He will give Liara the family she was promised. Plus, he already died to save the galaxy (and she had to watch). They both deserve a rest.

Modifié par CDHarrisUSF, 19 avril 2012 - 06:33 .

[Aweus]

Dawson14 wrote...

You really like taking things out of context and twisting them into whatever works for you don't you?

I'm not in shock, I just don't get the obsession and fascination so I asked several questions that covered a  variation of themes/topics within the game and members. Which, of these you took one sentence and desparately tried to flame me for and then admitted you ignored the rest of my post because you didn't care about the other things. Now you are trying to say I'm judging others which I am not. I am simply asking questions to clarify people's emotions and thoughts. 

Since you've already had this "pathetic" discussion several times and have nothing to add, why not just move along?

Your own quote, including the context:

Crying about something not getting put in the game? I was deeply emotionally invested in the story line and got a little teary eyed during the deaths of Mordin and Legion among others, but NEVER would I cry over a FemShep holding a blue baby picture I saw in a forum. I just don't understand it. How do men cry/get teary eyed over pictures posted in a forum that refer to something that never got put into Mass Effect? That fact is what really bothers me because I honestly can't imagine a reason to why grown men would do that.

I summarized all that with "You are in shock that someone cries about a blue baby fanart?". Was that a far fetch? I dont think. But if you will insist that your abovementioned quote means something totally different I will not protest. Mind can play tricks but that is how I read it.

I am simply finding your approach very narrowminded and I dont mean to use it as an offend, just a statement. You keep saying that I am narrowminded even though in every post I try to say that people are different and it is not my right to judge anyone what makes them cry. If anything at all. If you can shed a tear becouse of Mordin, why someone cant becouse of a blue baby? Why would it bother me why someone is crying? For example, I am not gay in RL. And honestly, I find images of two guys kissing each other to be rather... repulsive. This week in episode of Games of Thrones there was a scene with two gay guys kissing each other. I was eating something at that time and I had to stop and wait it out. That is how my own sense of taste works. Am I homophobic? Hell no. I have my full respect to gay people same as to any other people. I understand that this is something that works for them. But would I go and ask around questions how is this possible that two guys likes to do this? They are having fun, they like this, they are not hurting anybody, this is how their brains work. Let them have it. 

And why I am not moving along from this discussion? Becouse sadly I am easily "trolled". Even it was not your intention to troll anybody I just get a similar feeling from it. I know this is my weakness. I cant easily differentiate between RL talk and Internet talk. For me if someone writes to me something over the Internet it carries same weight as if someone would be talking straight to my face. That is why I am easily trolled by "true trolls" which already pushed me to create few passionate tirades on this forum.

[sistersafetypin]

JaylaClark wrote...

Well, why do I play a female anything? Because the option's actually present for once. But I've played plenty of games as males, and almost tried to play ME1 as male, but Mark... has improved his delivery over the games, I've seen on Youtube. But it was so painful that I couldn't get past Eden Prime. (My second attempt at the game ever. My first was Jayla Shepard, my third, the original incarnation of Alyna, my canon playthrough.)

The thing is, the closer a character is to either me or my MarySue self (named Jayla Clark in my head, natch, and I do a good impression of her in Second Life ), the more attached I am to it. This hit its peak, possibly, in Dragon Age 2, where the climax hit, and I was stabbed in the heart by it. As someone else was shortly thereafter, in the game... but with Liara? Alyna's so perfect a being in my eyes that I almost flip the roles and imagine myself as Liara in the game.

I don't know what it is about the little blue babies, though. I think it really is a symbol of the promise made and denied. From Shepard to Liara, and from Bioware to us. Our Shepards deserve happy endings, for frak's sake, they've built no less than seven snowmen in the Sahara, they've earned it...

(And any guy who legitimately sniffed at the pictures of blue babies, gains twenty masculinity points. I've decided this. Real men aren't afraid to cry.)

I like you, human 

[Asuka Bianchini]

I'm a girl, played FemShep, stayed hetero and loyal to Garrus through the 3 games (just 1 of my alt shep romanced thane) and I wish mordin was alive to make Turian-human babies possible, but im ok with krogan babies.

[bahamutomega]

So I've read literally hundreds of ending threads since I've finished the game and came here to find comfort in others that found the ending as horrible and devastating as I. After reading those, I've come to find a trend that I really can't comprehend.

Members on here seem to have a large obession with FemShep and her romances/potential blue babies. It seems to me that more people prefered or played with a FemShep over a Male Shep. I'm a normal guy in my mid 20's and not once did I ever have the urge to play as a FemShep. I tried to have a mindset that I am Shepard so I picked a Male War Hero Spacer. I played mutliple playthroughs of ME1 and ME2 and once with ME3 and always played as a Male. 

I can understand if you are a female gamer why you'd pick a FemShep, but if you are a male what is the attraction to FemShep? Is it because you don't associate Shepard as yourself, but rather just an observer and find the character attractive/appealing? Or is it something else?

several reasons (mid 30's, married, 1 child).  i'm not interested in hearing robotShepard.  i'm not interested in have maleShep's ass face me for the entire game.  finally, and most importantly... to quote Al Pacino in Heat: Cause she's got a GREAT ASS!!!

mainly, it's personal preference.  for me, it stems from WoW and having my character's ass face me on screen all the time.  if i'm going to be looking at my screen for hours on end, i'd like the subject matter to be attractive.  good scenery gets my attention.  a woman's posterior gets my attention.  a man's posterior does not.

Furthermore, I've seen guys complaining that their FemSheps did not have enough male LI's, which I don't understand. Again, maybe this goes back to my idea of Shepard as myself, so I naturally wouldn't want to romance a male character because I am not gay. So the question I pose here is what's the attraction for male players to have a plethora of male characters to romance? In addition, why the desire to see an ending with babies with their FemShep and male LI? If you think of FemShep as yourself then I'm at a loss, if you think of yourself as an observer then I can understand wanting to see FemShep happy.

Another scenario I've seen is the massive amount of guys who played as a FemShep and are borderline obsessed with the lesbian romances with Liara/Ashley (particulary Liara). Ive seen the blue babies thread and for some reason it creeps me out. I think the fan art is actually pretty awesome and beautiful, but a lot of the comments leave me scratching my head. I'll try to explain my thought process here as well because I'm sure people will be confused why I have a "problem" with it.

i'm not homosexual, but there is something about hearing Garrus say "You know how i always like to take one last shot before i pop the heat sink" that has me laughing so hard i have tears coming down my face.  and my wife still refuses to buy me the "I had the reach.  She had the flexibility." t-shirt from the BioWare store.  even though it's true.

So again, I always played a Male Shep and romanced Liara. I'd love for a happy ending where he goes back to his crew pops a beer open with Garrus and gets to bone Liara till' the end of time. If they wanted to throw in a cutscene where I see some Shep/blue babies that would be fine too, but I have no uncontrollable desire to see that like the people in the blue babies thread. And I say uncontrollable desire because thats the feel I get in that thread. Members actually post that they are crying at the fan art....really? Crying about something not getting put in the game? I was deeply emotionally invested in the story line and got a little teary eyed during the deaths of Mordin and Legion among others, but NEVER would I cry over a FemShep holding a blue baby picture I saw in a forum. I just don't understand it. How do men cry/get teary eyed over pictures posted in a forum that refer to something that never got put into Mass Effect? That fact is what really bothers me because I honestly can't imagine a reason to why grown men would do that.

So could someone give me some answers to why this is happening and explain the reasoning behind the emotions/thinking. I'm not trying to be mean, just trying to understand. No idea why it bothers me so much that I had to post.

PS: Are there any other members out there like me who just played a hetero Shep all the way through?

well, i am one of the few femShep players who isn't obsessed about my "little blue children."  and yes, i romanced Liara.  or no one.

i just didn't find Kaiden that strong of a character - regardless of using Mass Effect Genesis (PS3) or playing ME1 on my PC, i really didn't like him that much.  in fact, i kill him every time simply because i think Wrex has a thing for Ash (i said in another thread and post that if Ash had been Krogan, they'd have been bunked together before the end of ME1).

seeing Garrus get together with Tali at the end of ME3 makes not romancing him worth it as well.  especially since he's ok with being used by Tali.  amusing, but as someone who wouldn't accept that from a woman IRL, i really doubt that if i was a woman i would tolerate that behavior.  they'd also be cute together.

Thane - he's cool...  but terminally ill... no prospect there for a future.  Jacob?  he ditches you like he ditches Cerberus and into the arms of Dr Cole.  but seeing as to how Miranda sees herself in you (only femShep was born with her abilities instead of being designed like Miranda was), Jacob would probably see himself in the same light as he did with Miranda: "She deserves a better man than I"  or something like that.

so out of the remaining characters, i am left to romance Liara.  homosexuality (and Traynor/Cortez) was only introduced into the third game.  i didn't miss it in the first two because (silly me) i figured human colonies were worrying about the propogation of the species, and homosexuality was not a topic that needed to be discussed (sorry for the injection of reality to a fictional world - there's information on just about everything else) in game.  or (and here's a shocker) - maybe it didn't need to be discussed about this particular character.

apparently protesting the exclusion of homosexuality in ME3 isn't grounds for compromising BioWare's "artistic integrity" but protesting the endings does compromise it.

unfortunately, due to the reasons i have discussed above, i have not played a "hetero" Shepard through the games (and i use quotes, considering the asari consider 1 person to be the "father" and the childbearer to be the "mother" even though they don't have gender).  but i understand your confusion about the obsession with the little blue babies.  tbh...  maleShep...  femShep...  i just don't get the little blue baby obsession.  and yes...  i remember the little blue babies being discussed in LotSB.

[grey_wind]

OP, the stats for ME2 show that only 20% of playthroughs are done as a FemShep, not that this number should really matter, just thought you'd like to know.

[KingKhan03]

I'm Male so I play as Male Shepard problem?

[Icesong]

i didn't miss it in the first two because (silly me) i figured human colonies were worrying about the propogation of the species, and homosexuality was not a topic that needed to be discussed

Modifié par Icesong, 19 avril 2012 - 06:43 .

[nightcobra]

male, play as male shepard but also wants shepard and liara to have children, hey i'm a sucker for brighter endings.

[Calamity]

Gotthammer666 wrote...


For the lack of male partners for FemShep she's got:
Garrus
Kaidan
Thane
Jacob

Garrus is an alien, Thane dies, and Jacob dumps you... so people wanting a straight, human relationship have one option (who might be dead, and some people find his... integrity annoying).

Gay FemShep options are:
Liara (arguably)
Traynor
Kelly
Allers
So a gay FemShep can have double the potential 'final' partners.

BroShep has
Ash
Kelly
Miranda
Liara
Tali
Allers
as straight options, while gay BroShep has:
Kaidan
Steeeeeeve!
in ME3 only.

Obviously gay BroShep is worst off here, but nobody's debating that - the issue is that straight FemShep has such a limited range of options, and is the only one to get actively dumped. Some see it as pandering to the 'lol lesbians are hott' crowd by picking the straight female options to dump on and expanding the gay ones, others see it as simply being stupid or uneven (ie Miranda should have dumped your ass or something).

Thank you for stating this! Im a hetero female and everytime I turn around I have some chick shoving her (_x_) or (o)(o) in my face! <_<

[billida]

Mass effect is a role playing game = I can be who I want.
Either stay close to what i am in real life.
Or try something different. We are given a lot of options, why not try them ? We have something called imagination.
I played male, female, straight, gay, lesbian shepards, all fun. The only thing I coudn't do was romancing Ash, she was too dead for that.

[Calamity]

tekkaman fear wrote...

Only time in the entire trilogy Femshep didn't feel right was the sparring match with vega. That just felt very wrong. This huge guy punching her in the head and not knocking the hell outta her was kinda unbelievable. I wish they would have had a different scene for femshep.

So much this.

Modifié par Calamity, 19 avril 2012 - 07:03 .

[pikey1969]

I played with a femshep, because it provided a great deal more distance between me and the player character. With femshep, it was far easier for me to just build a character and a story, and enjoy that experience. Like watching a TV show, except I have a certain degree of control of how that character and the story evolves.

I initially tried playing Mass Effect like a 'role player' would with a customized male shepard and it just didn't jive at all for me. He sounds different, is built different, and most importantly, no matter how much I can customize his face, he's still a predetermined character with his own mind/voice (albeit available in three flavors, renegade, paragon, and somewhere in the middle).

When a game gives me a character creation/customization screen, I immediately think, "oh I can 'role-play' here". Yet, the more I wind up projecting myself to the character, the more the game and the experience completely fell short. Even after I stopped trying to play like that, the shortcomings of that experience were too deeply embedded for me to try again. What's the point of customizing a character, when it's not really a true role-playing game?

One of the best things about Mass Effect is that it's limited and far more directed in terms of player choice, resulting in a far more cinematic and an overall better quality experience (well the endings MIGHT have something to say about that but yea), trying to play a customized male shep only ever got in the way of that. Femshep was immediately a better experience for me, cause it basically ruled out the 'roleplaying' aspect for me, despite all the attempts of the game to try and appear so.

That said, since ME2 I have quite enjoyed playing as a Sheploo, the **** renegade, partly inspired by the "Commander Shepard is an ****" videos on Youtube. After they introduced Miranda, there was NO WAY that I wasn't going to do a male character and tap that. And boy did my Sheploo tap that.

Modifié par pikey1969, 19 avril 2012 - 07:05 .

[Aweus]

Calamity wrote...

tekkaman fear wrote...

Only time in the entire trilogy Femshep didn't feel right was the sparring match with vega. That just felt very wrong. This huge guy punching her in the head and not knocking the hell outta her was kinda unbelievable. I wish they would have had a different scene for femshep.

So much this.

Yeah this looked awkward. But remember Shepard is full of cybernetic implants after Project Lazarus. Half cyborg I would say. So at least it makes some sense.

[pikey1969]

CDHarrisUSF wrote...

To me, the "I don't want to spend the game looking at a man" sentiment always comes off as latent homophobia, insecurity in one's sexuality, or just really shallow. I have no problem playing a FemShep (usually my second or third run), but at least come up with a better reason than that. I also find it kind of funny that the "fix" for the "problem" of being too hetero to look at a male character is to role play as a woman.

What is so shallow about preferring to stare at a woman's back rather than some strange man's?

How is that homophobic?

Not everyone's a role-player. Some people just prefer the storytelling/building aspect of role-playing games.

[PorcelynDoll]

Aweus wrote...

Calamity wrote...

tekkaman fear wrote...

Only time in the entire trilogy Femshep didn't feel right was the sparring match with vega. That just felt very wrong. This huge guy punching her in the head and not knocking the hell outta her was kinda unbelievable. I wish they would have had a different scene for femshep.

So much this.

Yeah this looked awkward. But remember Shepard is full of cybernetic implants after Project Lazarus. Half cyborg I would say. So at least it makes some sense.

I kind of liked that my femshep took down a big guy is heels, a dress and bling. Vega knows his place now.

[Calamity]

Aweus wrote...

Calamity wrote...

tekkaman fear wrote...

Only time in the entire trilogy Femshep didn't feel right was the sparring match with vega. That just felt very wrong. This huge guy punching her in the head and not knocking the hell outta her was kinda unbelievable. I wish they would have had a different scene for femshep.

So much this.

Yeah this looked awkward. But remember Shepard is full of cybernetic implants after Project Lazarus. Half cyborg I would say. So at least it makes some sense.

Yes and that is the only way I got through it but it still felt really awkward and looked even worse. LOL

[DJBare]

Aweus wrote...
Yeah this looked awkward. But remember Shepard is full of cybernetic implants after Project Lazarus. Half cyborg I would say. So at least it makes some sense.

That was the only thing that allowed me suspension of disbelief, I'd have easily gone along with femshep just being faster on her feet, but that's not the way they were sparring.

[guacamayus]

Dawson14 wrote...

So I've read literally hundreds of ending threads since I've finished the game and came here to find comfort in others that found the ending as horrible and devastating as I. After reading those, I've come to find a trend that I really don't "get".

Members on here seem to have an obession with FemShep and her romances/potential blue babies. It seems to me that more people prefered or played with a FemShep over a Male Shep. I'm a normal guy in my mid 20's and not once did I ever have the urge to play as a FemShep. I tried to have a mindset that I am Shepard so I picked a Male War Hero Spacer. I played mutliple playthroughs of ME1 and ME2 and once with ME3 and always played as a Male. 

I can understand if you are a female gamer why you'd pick a FemShep, but if you are a male what is the attraction to FemShep? Is it because you don't associate Shepard as yourself, but rather just an observer and find the character attractive/appealing? Or is it something else?

Furthermore, I've seen guys complaining that their FemSheps did not have enough male LI's, which I don't understand. Again, maybe this goes back to my idea of Shepard as myself, so I naturally wouldn't want to romance a male character because I am not gay. So the question I pose here is what's the attraction for male players to have a plethora of male characters to romance? If you think of FemShep as yourself then I'm at a loss, if you think of yourself as an observer then I can understand wanting to be FemShep and see her happy.

Another scenario I've seen is the massive amount of guys who played as a FemShep and are borderline obsessed with the lesbian romances with Liara/Ashley (particulary Liara). Now, lesbian romances are fine, no big deal. And I understand that if you are a male and playing a female character you would more naturally want to romance a female character instead of a male. But in regares to the obsession, Ive seen the blue babies thread and for some reason it creeps me out. I think the fan art is actually pretty awesome and beautiful, but a lot of the comments leave me scratching my head. I'll try to explain my thought process here as well because I'm sure people will be confused why I have a "problem" with it. 

So again, I always played a Male Shep and romanced Liara. I'd love for a happy ending where he goes back to his crew pops a beer open with Garrus and gets to bone Liara till' the end of time. If they wanted to throw in a cutscene where I see some Shep/blue babies that would be fine too, but I have no uncontrollable desire to see that like the people in the blue babies thread. And I say uncontrollable desire because thats the feel I get in that thread. Members actually post that they are crying at the fan art....really? Crying about something not getting put in the game? Are you being serious or just trying to get the point across that you really wish it was in the game?  I was deeply emotionally invested in the story line and got a little teary eyed during the deaths of Mordin and Legion among others, but NEVER would I cry over a FemShep holding a blue baby picture I saw in a forum. I just don't understand it. How do men cry/get teary eyed over pictures posted in a forum that refer to something that never got put into Mass Effect? That fact is what really bothers me because I honestly can't imagine a reason to why grown men would do that. And I know that sounds a little offensive, but it's not intended to be.

So could someone give me some answers to why this is happening and explain the reasoning behind the emotions/thinking. I'm not trying to be mean, just trying to understand. No idea why it bothers me so much that I had to post.

PS: Are there any other members out there like me who just played a hetero Shep all the way through?

I'm pretty much like you, tried to play ME1 as FemShep once, couldn't finish the first round of quests in the citadel.

As for the blue babies, I find it out of place here. I mean, I get that some people like the idea of a happy ending with children running around and things like that but in my opinion it doesn't fit the dark story that is mass effect.

Playing through an ending that involves children and shep living happily ever after would probably ****** me off as much as the endings we got, for some reason poeple want that and I respect it though I can't understand why.  A tragic, bitter-sweet ending is what fits the story in my opinion (without 'more speculation TM')

[CDHarrisUSF]

pikey1969 wrote...

What is so shallow about preferring to stare at a woman's back rather than some strange man's?

... the fact that it's a decision based on surface appearance, rather than a deeper reason (like wanting to experience the story through a female perspective). Making an important decision about your character over a nice ass is pretty much the definition of shallow.

[HellbirdIV]

tekkaman fear wrote...

Only time in the entire trilogy Femshep didn't feel right was the sparring match with vega. That just felt very wrong. This huge guy punching her in the head and not knocking the hell outta her was kinda unbelievable. I wish they would have had a different scene for femshep.

That's pretty damn sexist of you - women are biologically more tolerant to pain than men, as I recall, and Shepard is one hell of a strong woman.

Headbutting Gatatog Uvenk, anyone? Snapping Eclipse merc's necks in less than half a second? Yeah, clearly she could never stand up in a straight fight with a MAN...

[Kath]

DJBare wrote...

Aweus wrote...
Yeah this looked awkward. But remember Shepard is full of cybernetic implants after Project Lazarus. Half cyborg I would say. So at least it makes some sense.

That was the only thing that allowed me suspension of disbelief, I'd have easily gone along with femshep just being faster on her feet, but that's not the way they were sparring.

Also, all soldiers in the Alliance receive gene therapy for improved strength and stamina, so strength-wise men and women are pretty much equal. 

Edit: Though, Shepard is pretty strong on her own. Without the synthetics and gene treatment I still think she would have been able to kick butt. 

Modifié par Katherine, 19 avril 2012 - 07:22 .

[sistersafetypin]

Guys.... I don't think anyone actually wants blue babies IN THE GAME. We want our Sheps to have an ending that allows for the possibility of their birth sometime down the line

[Made Nightwing]

Wait...some people don't like playing as ManShep because it seems gay? But...Shep is supposed to be your avatar...am I missing something here?

[pikey1969]

CDHarrisUSF wrote...

pikey1969 wrote...

What is so shallow about preferring to stare at a woman's back rather than some strange man's?

... the fact that it's a decision based on surface appearance, rather than a deeper reason (like wanting to experience the story through a female perspective). Making an important decision about your character over a nice ass is pretty much the definition of shallow.

Or perhaps, the player doesn't regard the gender choice to be an important decision at all, ESPECIALLY if he's not a roleplayer and sees no reason to develop a personal bond/resemblance with the player character.

Also on a side note, surface appearance too can be an important component to a decision. In fact it often is. This is reflected in people spending hours just customizing their characters, either trying to make them look as much like themselves as possible, as hideous as possible, or as most aesthetically pleasing as possible. That to me is no less or more shallow than choosing to look at nice pair of bums.

Physical appeal is an important aspect of human attraction, why treat recognizing that as being 'shameful' or shallow?

ps. The stance that 'staring at dude's ass is gay' is homophobic. Preferring a woman's ass, as a man, isn't neccessarily so.

Modifié par pikey1969, 19 avril 2012 - 07:33 .