266 réponses à ce sujet

[Goodwood]

Back on the old BioWare forums, I was a big advocate of female Shepard over male Shepard, and for a plethora of reasons beyond their voices. But, to be frank (and to get that argument out of the way), Hale's performance is just orders of magnitude better than Meer's, whose charactarization has all the charisma of a tin can. That's just the most obvious argument, and like Samara says, if there are three humans in a room, there will be six opinions.

Moving right along, there are two very improtant reasons why, I feel, that a female Shepard should be embraced as a "canon" protagonist.

1. There are, already, far too many masculine heroes and main protagonists out there not only in video game land, but in other media such as literature, television, and film. This is, obviously, an artifact of most human societies being dominated by the male ethos; only within the last few decades have females come into their own as plot-centered characters in mass media. The Mass Effect games, so far, give a real sense of how a woman is just as capable of being such a driving force as any man out there, and demonstrates the value of diversity.

2. Girls and young women need more strong female role-models, both fictitious and real, and a female Shepard can be lauded as being such a role-model. Given the interactive nature of the Mass Effect games and how a player can imprint their own personality onto their chosen avatar -- even more so, given the possibility of molding Shepard to appear as a self-portrait of sorts -- this drives the point home even further. A female Shepard shows that standing tall against long odds is something that anyone can do if they have the gumption.

To sum it all up, male protagonists are boring and staid. It's time to change things up by showing that women are just as capable of saving civilization as men are, without suffering any of the stereotypes so commonly (and unfortunately) applied to women today.

Oh, and before anyone asks, I am a thirty year old man with a progressive point of view.

[Agamo45]

You're clearly looking for a fight.

[Sailfindragon]

While you make completely valid points. I have to disagree. I just cannot play the female shepard at all. I have tried many times. I am all in favour of strong female characters and role models. In my opinion I find the female shepard completely unrealistic.



BTW. I am female and in my later thirties.

[JeanLuc761]

While I agree with your point that male protagonists have been hogging the spotlight for way too long, I disagree with your blanket statement that "male protagonists are boring." Anyone who's played Mass Effect, Uncharted, Prince of Persia, etc knows that the leading male in those titles is a very charismatic and compelling individual.

Also, I completely disagree with the statement that "Hale's performance is just orders of magnitiude better than Meer's," but that's not a discussion for this thread.

Modifié par JeanLuc761, 17 mars 2010 - 11:32 .

[Goodwood]

Agamo45 wrote...

You're clearly looking for a
fight.

Eh, not really. If there is one, I won't fan the flames.

Sailfindragon wrote...

While you make completely valid points. I have to disagree. I just cannot play the female shepard at all. I have tried many times. I am all in favour of strong female characters and role models. In my opinion I find the female shepard completely unrealistic.

BTW. I am female and in my later thirties.

Given my inability to tolerate playing a male Shepard, I understand completely. Thank you for taking the time to acknowledge my arguments, though.

[WhosoeverTheMerk]

Goodwood wrote...

Back on the old BioWare forums, I was a big advocate of female Shepard over male Shepard, and for a plethora of reasons beyond their voices. But, to be frank (and to get that argument out of the way), Hale's performance is just orders of magnitude better than Meer's, whose charactarization has all the charisma of a tin can. That's just the most obvious argument, and like Samara says, if there are three humans in a room, there will be six opinions.

Moving right along, there are two very improtant reasons why, I feel, that a female Shepard should be embraced as a "canon" protagonist.

1. There are, already, far too many masculine heroes and main protagonists out there not only in video game land, but in other media such as literature, television, and film. This is, obviously, an artifact of most human societies being dominated by the male ethos; only within the last few decades have females come into their own as plot-centered characters in mass media. The Mass Effect games, so far, give a real sense of how a woman is just as capable of being such a driving force as any man out there, and demonstrates the value of diversity.

2. Girls and young women need more strong female role-models, both fictitious and real, and a female Shepard can be lauded as being such a role-model. Given the interactive nature of the Mass Effect games and how a player can imprint their own personality onto their chosen avatar -- even more so, given the possibility of molding Shepard to appear as a self-portrait of sorts -- this drives the point home even further. A female Shepard shows that standing tall against long odds is something that anyone can do if they have the gumption.

To sum it all up, male protagonists are boring and staid. It's time to change things up by showing that women are just as capable of saving civilization as men are, without suffering any of the stereotypes so commonly (and unfortunately) applied to women today.

Oh, and before anyone asks, I am a thirty year old man with a progressive point of view.

Yeah, what he said. Besides, if I'm going to spend 40+ hours looking at the back-end of a video game character, at least it should be a nice view.

[Big Yam]

We don't need another Lara Croft wannabe.

[Goodwood]

Big Yam wrote...

We don't need another Lara Croft wannabe.

Indeed. Commander Shepard, male or female, is a much deeper character than Lara Croft. The former is a leader, a heroine, an example, while the latter just runs around, jumping from ledge to ledge, shooting things and stealing stuff.

[arek_celera]

Goodwood wrote...

2. Girls and young women need more strong female role-models, both fictitious and real, and a female Shepard can be lauded as being such a role-model. Given the interactive nature of the Mass Effect games and how a player can imprint their own personality onto their chosen avatar -- even more so, given the possibility of molding Shepard to appear as a self-portrait of sorts -- this drives the point home even further. A female Shepard shows that standing tall against long odds is something that anyone can do if they have the gumption.

While I prefer femsheps for a number of reasons, I'm not sure I'd want my daughters idolizing the Butcher of Torfan.

[jakenou]

Real life female here, and I certainly support the OP's POV. However, I also like that the fem Shep is a popular choice amongst both male and female players across both ME1 and ME2, without it being a big deal that it's an option. Any custom character should be embraced as canon to the person who created him or her, simply because of the fact that the custom character creator exists, and elaborately so. BioWare will always use John Shepard as the promotional face for Mass Effect because they need to have that continuity to market the game and the foundation of the story, and I think it's pretty awesome that you can build a much more personal character off of that and still feel completely involved in the game. Fallout 3 kind of does the same thing but with less success I believe, because the "Vault Dweller" is just so ambiguous. BioWare specifically must be doing something very right b/c I felt the same immersion and personalization with KOTOR as I did with Mass Effect, and it's a kind of spark I've never quite hit with any other games.

[Goodwood]

Yeah, I can understand that. That's why there are so many other options for Shepard's background -- and even then, it's still possible to play as a paragon from that background.

[XxXgunziXxX]

sometimes whycant womenbe happy with what theyhave u now get to vote and work in factorys whatelse do u want ? if i was the law i would make it thatwomanare no diffrent tomen so the man could slapthe girl and vise versa ..-. fricking goverment

[Sailfindragon]

XxXgunziXxX wrote...

sometimes whycant womenbe happy with what theyhave u now get to vote and work in factorys whatelse do u want ? if i was the law i would make it thatwomanare no diffrent tomen so the man could slapthe girl and vise versa ..-. fricking goverment

Why does this have any relation to the OP?

[enormousmoonboots]

Sailfindragon wrote...

While you make completely valid points. I have to disagree. I just cannot play the female shepard at all. I have tried many times. I am all in favour of strong female characters and role models. In my opinion I find the female shepard completely unrealistic.

BTW. I am female and in my later thirties.

Why do you find her unrealistic?

100% agreeing with you, OP. I'm goddamn tired of bald unshaven space marines. Default Manshep is just so generic.

[Neria Rose]

XxXgunziXxX wrote...

sometimes whycant womenbe happy with what theyhave u now get to vote and work in factorys whatelse do u want ? if i was the law i would make it thatwomanare no diffrent tomen so the man could slapthe girl and vise versa ..-. fricking goverment

What's going on with your spacing?

[enormousmoonboots]

XxXgunziXxX wrote...

sometimes whycant womenbe happy with what theyhave u now get to vote and work in factorys whatelse do u want ? if i was the law i would make it thatwomanare no diffrent tomen so the man could slapthe girl and vise versa ..-. fricking goverment

Troll harder next time. Maybe you should fix your spacebar first, too.

[XxXgunziXxX]

>_> but i do play as em shep neraly all the time the ales are like boring ._. -thats coing froma guy- .... oh and yes sugar and **** got under meh space bar sonow it only works whenit wants to

Modifié par XxXgunziXxX, 18 mars 2010 - 12:01 .

[Goodwood]

In any case, it's so much more fun watching FemShep shouting at the Admiralty Board (through the Charm options in Tali's trial). Hale really comes through in those scenes.

[jakenou]

XxXgunziXxX wrote...

sometimes whycant womenbe happy with what theyhave u now get to vote and work in factorys whatelse do u want ? if i was the law i would make it thatwomanare no diffrent tomen so the man could slapthe girl and vise versa ..-. fricking goverment

LOL @ the absurdity of this post

enormousmoonboots wrote...

Sailfindragon wrote...

While
you make completely valid points. I have to disagree. I just cannot
play the female shepard at all. I have tried many times. I am all in
favour of strong female characters and role models. In my opinion I find
the female shepard completely unrealistic.

BTW. I am female and
in my later thirties.

Why do you find her unrealistic?

100%
agreeing with you, OP. I'm goddamn tired of bald unshaven space
marines. Default Manshep is just so generic.

I can't see how the female Shep is any more or less realistic than male Shep:huh:

[Goodwood]

Shavon wrote...

Of course I love this thread! It is practically canon for all my games to have Female Shepard. Except for one. Anyway . . .

Female Shepard Launch Trailer!

Epic.

Simply epic.

[Daurf815]

Ah yes, "FemSheps", a suggested female savior of the galaxy, we have dismissed that claim.

Modifié par Daurf815, 18 mars 2010 - 12:11 .

[WhosoeverTheMerk]

XxXgunziXxX wrote...

>_> but i do play as em shep neraly all the time the ales are like boring ._. -thats coing froma guy- .... oh and yes sugar and **** got under meh space bar sonow it only works whenit wants to

Please... invest in a new keyboard. Either that or open it up and give it a good clean.

[XxXgunziXxX]

i cant im useing a laptop ._.''''''