Welcome to the thread! Always nice to see a friendly face.
So, the current point of discussion is, what would you like to see for the next femQuizzy reveal?
I like to see the default look of the human/elf/dwarf femquisitor and maybe be able to see her with long hair. Maybe show her in casual clothing instead of armor
If they show the Qunari again I wanna see a different class or more horn options. Seeing the rest of the races in general in the besides humans am curious,dwarf male could not see good at all
But they confirmed last year that we'd have multiple options for the qunari horns. Or do you mean being able to adjust a preset horn to various lengths?
I did mean adjust a preset to various lengths, but thank you for reminding me about the different options! 
That's awesome!
I've been reading through the thread again, and something caught my eye. The percentage of femSheps that completed the game and why I think it's just crap that is meaningless these days.
You know what? That whole 18% femShep number means nothing to me. In the years, years since the game came out, newcomers have been discovering the series for the first time. They neither didn't know or didn't care about the bad reputation that Mass Effect 3 got, and wanted to see what the fuss was about long after that poll was taken.
I was one of those that skipped the ME series (my post about the advertising is buried somewhere in the thread. ) Thankfully, I ignored the angry gamers and played the game for the first time in June of this year. I fell in love with the series and yes, it has some real weaknesses here and there. However, femShep didn't have an exaggerated strut. I never felt like I was second fiddle to a guy, and in a shooter with a sci-fi setting, that's extremely rare. Even more so than in the more traditional "sword and sorcery" fantasy RPGs.
Edit: Also, about a week after I finished the ME series for the first time, I got to tell Jennifer Hale at DCC how much her Shep meant to me. 
So yeah, as far as I'm concerned...that percentage has lost all meaning. I can't put stock in a number that doesn't have much current relevance. I played the game for the first time back about 5 weeks ago. I've read more stories about folks coming to the series in the last year. Okay, so what about those men and women that played femShep after that percentage was released? Do we not count because we missed some stupid poll from two years ago?
Sorry for the rant, but that's such a poor and tired excuse I've seen from posters before. That's a really stupid, archaic and crappy reason to exclude ~50% of the gamer population from marketing for BioWare games.
Totally agree, Mes. I think the validity of that number is weak, at best.
I only picked up the trilogy in the past year after multiple recommendations. The women I learned about it from didn't buy it when it first came out, either. It seems like a lot of female fans I talk to discovered it through word-of-mouth, which makes playing the game well after release more likely.
I really hope that Bioware releases similar demographic info for Inquisition, though, because I'm willing to bet that more women will be buying this game right after release. The genre alone seems more likely to attract more female interest, but I also hope the different marketing method is going to make a difference.
Could it be said that those women, if they were showcased at the beginning, would buy the game on first day instead? Thereby making those numbers change cause females were highlighted before it was already out. I would guess so. It seems to be true to those that I know, they also wouldn't of known without been told by someone.
A game like Tomb Raider is known and they don't need to see a trailer to know its a female lead. Which may, no idea, have a higher female buy on first day instead of later on. Leaving men out of the equation, I bought it on first day, and liked the game, especially the WW2 historical areas in it. I digress, point of sales possibly is reason I mention it. I am sure Bound by Flames didn't get as much female response due to lack of knowledge of her, having to locate the information in wiki (after it was released to know females were playable).
The light of footage and wide showing of playable females of Inquisition, I would say that its possibly going to have a higher female buy on first day than what other titles had that didn't talk about it. Gaider knows, why ignore that huge number of possible sales. I wrote on that cupecakequisition news story, a company would be ignorant to ignore a huge possible number of sales, nearly half the gaming community is females.
I think that even if the numbers is 1 in 5, that's still not trivial and it doesn't take into account other aspects about the demographic breakdown in terms of whether or not it helps in other ways (more people being excited and passionate in general).
I would love to see the female elven inquisitor, because many of my friends played female elfs in Origins, so I'm hoping that they'll be inspired to pick up Inquisition as well. Some of them skipped DA2, not because of lack of interest but because of lack of something that personally appealed to them, I think.
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As for statistics, unfortunately both ME and DA teams have previously shared such numbers in a way that I think was problematic. Especially the ME team, releasing mostly statistics that seemed to prove popular fan memes (that everybody chose Ash over Kaidan*, that most played as dudeShep, that few played as engineers, etc). And it was casually mentioned early on in DAI marketing that statistics showing that most players chose to play a male character were the ground for choosing which inquisitor to began with (and thus the male human Inquisitor naturally became the first Inquisitor ready to use in the early trailers).
(* The first thing that always comes up every time I mention that I played the ME trilogy is, "who did you romance?", and the second thing is always, "Who? Oh, that guy that died hugging the bomb? *leer*" It's seriously off-putting to see the ME gamedevs tweet statistics seemingly in order to give players comfort in knowing that they played the game the same way that almost everyone else did.)
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Hopefully they've seen from fan reaction that going beyond the numbers (and even against them) can cause a much more positive reaction among fans, no matter what class/gender/race they generally chose for their first (and possibly only) playthrough.
Hopefully they've seen from fan reaction that going beyond the numbers (and even against them) can cause a much more positive reaction among fans, no matter what class/gender/race they generally chose for their first (and possibly only) playthrough.
What do you mean by this?
What do you mean by this?
Well, I'm by no means an expert in marketing (which is probably why I don't see statistics as gospel, hehe). What I mean is simply that numbers aren't everything, and that by sometimes choosing the less-obvious choice there will be more people finding their interest piqued. So, the demo showcasing a female qunari mage, instead of for example a male human warrior, probably makes casual viewers pay attention and remember the product advertised/showcased by showing something different than what they expected to see.
Also, I think that showing inclusivity in the marketing makes a lot of people happy. I know there's been research showing for example that equality in the workplace makes female AND male workers happier. So by being inclusive in the PR strategy will potentially make male gamers more inclined to buy the product as well (and hopefully inspire some of them to play a female character for the first time).
I think that even if the numbers is 1 in 5, that's still not trivial and it doesn't take into account other aspects about the demographic breakdown in terms of whether or not it helps in other ways (more people being excited and passionate in general).
Oh, please don't mistake me. I'm not trying to say that 18% is a small number or trivial at all.
What I am saying that taking it as gospel, inflexible truth around two years after poll ended is a lame excuse for a poster to use.
The poll can say whatever it wants, it won't stop me from playing as a female. I like my femshep. And when DAI is released, I will enjoy playing my femquisitor.
Totally agree, Mes. I think the validity of that number is weak, at best.
I only picked up the trilogy in the past year after multiple recommendations. The women I learned about it from didn't buy it when it first came out, either. It seems like a lot of female fans I talk to discovered it through word-of-mouth, which makes playing the game well after release more likely.
I really hope that Bioware releases similar demographic info for Inquisition, though, because I'm willing to bet that more women will be buying this game right after release. The genre alone seems more likely to attract more female interest, but I also hope the different marketing method is going to make a difference.
Not to mention that the argument confuses whether or not someone will want to play as FemShep with the fact that someone might value the game more if they know there is an opportunity to play as FemShep.
Not to mention that the argument confuses whether or not someone will want to play as FemShep with the fact that someone might value the game more if they know there is an opportunity to play as FemShep.
There is that, too. Lots of guys will play male on their first run, female as their second. I know so many people who appreciate being able to choose, even when they usually choose one or the other.
As it happens, I just finished playing ME3 for the first time last week. The trilogy wasn't perfect, and I'll always be a DA girl at heart, but FemShep is amazing.
I played an Earthborn Shepard and she was black because ... well, no reason, really, except that I usually play white characters in Dragon Age and thought 'well, why not?' So I had a pretty amazing experience playing a protagonist who was a woman of colour and came from the depths of poverty and ended up saving the entire galaxy. It really brought home to me that a CRPG where you can make your own character is one of the rare places in popular culture where you would see a heroine like this.
Its strange I've played video games since I was 4 when my mam (not my dad) bought me a sega megadrive (I'm guessing she bought it because she wanted one and I was just an excuse). So I've pretty much always played video games so I know they're good and I know I can always find something out there for me. But I can understand how for women who've never been into games it could seem like games are not aimed at them. Its a vicious circle, game developers don't make games that will appeal to women (as in with strong female leads not as in candy crush) because not enough women play games but then women won't pick up the games because the developers aren't making games to appeal to them.
If I'm thinking about picking up an RPG I'll find out if I can play as a woman or not (and I pretty much always have to "find out" because its always a dude in the trailer) and if I can't I just won't bother buying it. Not to say I haven't enjoyed games with male protagonists, metal gear solid is one of my all time favourite games but it also has some fab female characters (and acting talent from the fantastic Jennifer Hale of course).
Obviously its not just video games, films have a similar problem and I swear tv had more strong female leads in the 90s (Xena, Buffy, Janeway) than it does now.
Not to derail anything but with the Fshep BW statistics BW used gold/ps+ members only so silver and no internet users did not get counted ME3 has the most data for Fshep. In this game we have 18% play as her (this is the number only counting gold and ps+ members). On the BSN a poll that was open to all players 27% of participants play as fshep only while 25% usualy play as fshep but have played Mshep, and 80% of players played a custom fshep compared to 42% playing custom mshep. All this data combines with fshep's high popularity to show she was more then worth the add many players say cannon shep is a woman even if BW says otherwise for promo matrial.
It's important to me at least BW is really showing off the fem inquisitor I hope when I see ads on TV she's there more then just that one ad I breifly caught on you tube. I want them to mention her at least if they won't show her off during the male trailers because people will pay most attention to that because they're conditioned to. I don't want it getting lost she's available too. I hope when BW does ME4 they focus on the fem hero equally with the male so they don't lose or fail to gain other wise intrested players due to they didn't know femhero exists.
There is that, too. Lots of guys will play male on their first run, female as their second. I know so many people who appreciate being able to choose, even when they usually choose one or the other.
The other thing is that gender choice is a great shorthand for: we have lots of customization, buy our game. They don't even need to show you the CC in a long demo, because here's these 5 different protagonists, different races and gender, different faces, etc.
Not to derail anything but with the Fshep BW statistics BW used gold/ps+ members only so silver and no internet users did not get counted ME3 has the most data for Fshep. In this game we have 18% play as her (this is the number only counting gold and ps+ members). On the BSN a poll that was open to all players 27% of participants play as fshep only while 25% usualy play as fshep but have played Mshep, and 80% of players played a custom fshep compared to 42% playing custom mshep. All this data combines with fshep's high popularity to show she was more then worth the add many players say cannon shep is a woman even if BW says otherwise for promo matrial.
It's important to me at least BW is really showing off the fem inquisitor I hope when I see ads on TV she's there more then just that one ad I breifly caught on you tube. I want them to mention her at least if they won't show her off during the male trailers because people will pay most attention to that because they're conditioned to. I don't want it getting lost she's available too. I hope when BW does ME4 they focus on the fem hero equally with the male so they don't lose or fail to gain other wise intrested players due to they didn't know femhero exists.
Thank you for clarifying that! That definitely puts the numbers in better perspective. I think the BSN numbers probably better represent the more hardcore fanbase. And while we've talked before about pleasing the hardcore fans vs. attracting the casual fans, it's definitely not insignificant.
Slightly OT, but you guys remember when we were posting pictures of what we hoped the female qunari build would look like? How do you feel about the new female Thor?
Though I'm not a fan of the boob chestplate, dem arms. 
There is that, too. Lots of guys will play male on their first run, female as their second. I know so many people who appreciate being able to choose, even when they usually choose one or the other.
Heh, I do the same, but just gender-reversed: I play female first time through, then usually roll a male the second time.
Heh, I do the same, but just gender-reversed: I play female first time through, then usually roll a male the second time.
Same! I actually played male Hawke first because everyone else in my house was playing Lady Hawke. I used to role play with other girls when I was a teenager, and male characters were always in short supply, so I just kind of became used to being the girl who makes male characters. I like being able to toggle between the two.
Same! I actually played male Hawke first because everyone else in my house was playing Lady Hawke. I used to role play with other girls when I was a teenager, and male characters were always in short supply, so I just kind of became used to being the girl who makes male characters. I like being able to toggle between the two.
Well, most of us are used to only having the choice of playing a male character for so many years growing up, so I was used to and fine with running around with a digital tally-whacker long ago. 
But I do roll female first because I can and that's what I like playing when I have the option.
I usually play female characters first but I like playing male characters too. My split with ME is around 2:1 female to male - in DA its even.
I actually played ME before any of the Dragon Age games, in hindsight I think DA does things better when it comes to inclusiveness. I think a lot of the GLBT players would have loved to have had more options than were given and ME2 was a bit of a let down in that area - they introduced a lot of new characters who could have easily been available for s/s romances. By the time ME3 came along it felt like a bit of an afterthought.
Sometimes, when a thread has a ton of pages (like this one), I'll click on just the responses from Bioware so I can get a sense of the discussion. I've greatly enjoyed reading through all of Allen's answers, and I find the discussion fascinating. I realize that I'm bringing up a post that is from almost a month ago, but I saw Allen quote this and it made me go down a line of thought I'd never explored before, so I hope nobody minds if I bring it back.
Right so as per Allan's request, let's bring it back to the lady Inquisitor!
Here's something I'm curious about. For women who will roll a lady Inquisitor, will you try to make her look as similar to you as possible, or the complete opposite? I think oddly when I was younger I was more keen on making my characters as different as can be... pink hair, tattoos, the works (I'm referring to DAO's Warden... that was a while back, now!). But now I'm more interesting in creating a character who resembles me more. I wonder if it's an age thing. Not sure!
And for the guys... When you play the opposite gender, do you try to make her look as attractive as you can, or like a female version of yourself, etc etc?
For context, I'm a male gamer who plays almost exclusively female characters in any game I'm given the option. This isn't to say I don't also enjoy playing male characters, but I find myself identifying much more closely with a female protagonist than a male one. More specifically, I identify with a lesbian female more than any other type of character. Sometimes this is to a degree that I will miss out on a lot of content that I would have otherwise enjoyed because, even when playing a male character, I wish I was playing a female character. This is most true in the Mass Effect games, where I have never once successfully romanced Ashley (by far my favorite companion), because I cannot get through that game with a Male Shepard. It was also a big issue for me with Mass Effect 2, because I really liked Miranda, and to a greater degree Jack, but when I start the game with a Male Shepard I always end up stopping and going back, because I would much prefer playing as a FemShep. I think Jennifer Hale's VO work has something to do with it, but it's a factor in nearly every RPG I play.
Anyway, the question above sort of struck me as particularly interesting in regards to people like me, who cross-play RPGs, and, as I said before, is something that I have never thought about before.
When I play DO play a male character, either by choice or because I'm forced to, almost all of the time I play whatever the default character model is. When I do make changes, it's almost always changing the hair color to match mine (I have really dark red, almost copper colored, hair). Other than that, I would say 99% of the time, I never change anything else. Mostly I just want to get it out of the way and get to the game.
But I will spend hours getting a female character model "right". I realize now that I have an idealized version of what I would want a female version of myself to look like. Same color hair as me, usually long; tall; athletic; blue eyes; deep, almost sultry voice. Other things depend on the Genre. In fantasy games I tend to want to play a woman who is funny, sarcastic, often caustic, and, at least on my first playthrough, almost always a rogueish character. But who has a softer, much more flirty side when it comes to social interactions. If I'm allowed to chose casual clothing they tend to be dresses or more lose fitting lounge wear, silk preferred, something where I can use my femininity as a weapon if needed. For Sci-Fi games I tend to play more severe, non-nonsense women with an iron will and who knows exactly what she wants and is not afraid to take it, and can often be straight up mean or have something of a sadistic side. I almost always play the solder type the first time through, and if given the option of casual clothing it's normally tighter, leather pants or a tight fitting leather jacket, and of the kind where I can use my sexuality as a weapon.
For context, I'm a male gamer who plays almost exclusively female characters in any game I'm given the option. This isn't to say I don't also enjoy playing male characters, but I find myself identifying much more closely with a female protagonist than a male one. More specifically, I identify with a lesbian female more than any other type of character. Sometimes this is to a degree that I will miss out on a lot of content that I would have otherwise enjoyed because, even when playing a male character, I wish I was playing a female character. This is most true in the Mass Effect games, where I have never once successfully romanced Ashley (by far my favorite companion), because I cannot get through that game with a Male Shepard. It was also a big issue for me with Mass Effect 2, because I really liked Miranda, and to a greater degree Jack, but when I start the game with a Male Shepard I always end up stopping and going back, because I would much prefer playing as a FemShep. I think Jennifer Hale's VO work has something to do with it, but it's a factor in nearly every RPG I play.
Can I just say THANK YOU for your wonderful post. This quoted part was particularly interesting to read, because I literally feel the EXACT same way except in the reverse - I'm a female who historically has identified with male protagonists and male/male romantic relationships.
"Why?" is something I've asked myself on a number of occasions. I mean let's face it, this doesn't sound very logical. There are a couple of reasons I think may explain this, at least for me. Firstly I've been bombarded with male protagonists left right and center my entire life, so I didn't even realize until relatively recently that women could be heroes too. I've said as much in my cupcakequisition letter to Bioware. What I didn't mention in that letter (because I didn't feel it was relevant to Dragon Age) was that Jennifer Hale as Shepard really helped to open my eyes. I LOVED playing as female Shepard. It was absolutely glorious.
And I think I identify with male/male romances as opposed to any others because male characters just tend to be better written. I'm talking in movies and TV shows. They are multi-faceted and very interesting, whereas so many women are still written as side-kick bimbos there purely for eye candy. I like romances between two fleshed out and complex characters, and in my opinion there just aren't that many heterosexual couples who fit the bill. So, for me this translates into Bioware games where I go for male/male relationships wherever I can. I suppose some of this also has to do with the sexism and inequalities in heterosexual relationships that I myself have experienced. I feel that two men would have a better chance of viewing each other as complete equals.
After all of this, I have hiiiiiiiiigh hopes for Inquisition. With what we've seen thus far of the lady Inquisitor, I feel like she may turn out to be another female Shepard for me in the best sense. And I think she and the companions will be awesome enough for me to feel comfortable with a heterosexual romance.
Am I making any sense?? 
Thoughts?
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