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No, this blog isn't about Second Life.
I started playing Mass Effect 2 a few weeks ago, and it made me stop and re-examine an aversion I've had since I was a little kid - playing as a female character in video games.
As far back as I can remember, whenever a video game would provide me the option to play as a girl, I would pass it up like the "Canada Dry" button on a vending machine. It's not difficult to figure out why - Guys, especially at a young age, have a highly-scientific, genetically-prewritten drive to prove how not gay we are to ourselves and our friends (unless we actually are gay, of course). This means lots of farting, horrible jokes, and no association with a weakness of any kind.
For most of history, women have been portrayed as the embodiment of weakness. And, for a long time, games did nothing but reinforce that image. Princesses always needed to be rescued or helped. Even when they weren't a liability, female characters would often just provide healing to the muscley main hero(es). There are a few exceptions, of course, like Alis in Phantasy Star or Samus Aran in Metroid. Personally, I don't think Samus even counts. She's just a male character who you find out later is a woman. Big surprise, but not a big step forward.
My friends and I used to play Super Mario Kart a lot, because it's an awesome game. A friend of mine, Jacob, became attached to the Princess character. That was his favorite racer. He took a lot of crap from the rest of us, sure, but he always seemed to take it in stride. That is, until my dad walked in one day and saw him racing. My father called him Princess Jacob from that day forward. Cruel? Yes. Hilarious? Also yes.
That's the way things were for me, right up until the year 2010. Now, back to Mass Effect 2.
I started up a game of Mass Effect 2 as a male character (naturally) and got about 10 hours into the story. I loved the game. The characters are great, the voice acting is superb, the story is solid, and the graphics are really pretty. As I developed a deeper fondness for the game, something started to feel.... wrong. It was hard to pin down, but I didn't feel like I was having the ultimate Mass Effect 2 experience. It took a lot of thinking, but I finally nailed down the problem. I loved most of the characters, but there was one character I didn't care for - Shepard. The main character. My character.
After this frustrating revelation, I decided to start a new game as the female Shepard, or "Fem Shep." It was mostly out of curiosity, because I didn't think I could enjoy the game as a female character. Here are the reasons I was blown away -
First of all, the voice actress for Fem Shep is much much better than the voice actor for Male Shepard. It's not that the male actor is bad. He does his job just fine. But, Jennifer Hale as Fem Shep takes it up a notch. In the game, you hear Shepard before you customize him/her. When I heard Fem Shep, I knew I had to give this character a try and do her look justice. My design centered on a look that works well for female politicians - hot, but not threateningly hot.
![[image loading]](http://i809.photobucket.com/albums/zz20/NukeTheStars/MassEffect2femshep.jpg)
Secondly, Fem Shep isn't super-dainty, but also isn't some parodied sassy chick. She's just a woman. It's odd, because almost no other game goes for this. Girls are either princesses or maids or manly women with machine guns. Where's the realistic middle ground?
Thirdly, Female Shepard as a character is strong. The only implications that she is weak come from the world around her. For example, when Fem Shep walks up to one guy in a bar on Omega, he says something along the lines of "Oh, I think you're in the wrong place, honey. Strippers get dressed over in that room." Like in most of the conversations in the game, it gives you choices for how to respond to this. I decided to respond by sticking a gun in his face and threatening to pop a cap in his ass. It was empowering, and something you can't really experience by playing as the male character. He'll just be dissed by krogans. But then again, who isn't?
So, now I'm getting the full Mass Effect 2 experience, and through Fem Shep, it is quickly becoming one of my favorite games of all time. All that being said... I'm not sure if I'm going to go after romance options with any of the male crew members. That might be pushing it. Although, I would like to find some cute new outfits for Shepard! ^_^ Hmmmm. I need something that will match my purse..
If all else fails, just go by a quote from Tomb Raider developer Jeremy Heath-Smith - "If I'm going to be staring at someone's bum all day, I'd rather it be a female bum."
Girl power.
-Nuke
 
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If all else fails, just go by a quote from Tomb Raider developer Jeremy Heath-Smith - "If I'm going to be staring at someone's bum all day, I'd rather it be a female bum."
Trying to not sound gay ^^
Seriously though, I'd be spending way too many time customising her to ultimate hotness. I always just choose the default character, nothing wrong with playing the female characters though.
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I don't like the male Shepard voice actor at all, the lines just sound flat and boring. Jennifer Hale is always good though.
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I always thought guys like to choose to play as female character if the choice is given. Take that gay MMO (maplestory) I used to played. Guys literary made female accounts just to play as female characters.
EDIT: I have a feeling a mod going to change the title to "Playing Video Games as a Female Character" soon.
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Female characters are great =P. In MMOs, I always liked to have my secondary/alt be a girl. lol. Opens up a lot more opportunities for joking around.
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I've almost exclusively played female characters when given the option. For laughs and because I'd rather stare at the back of a sexy woman than a bulky guy for hours.
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I love playing female characters too, but not all of them are correctly developed.
That's the case of Faith, the girl from Mirrors Edge, the game's mindblowing (too easy though), but she's another character in the story, no personality, no nothing.
In L4D I get a lot of crap playing with Zoey, she's so BM lol
Otherwise, i like to play fighting games with females  SF4 is all the way Cammy ;D
Killer Instinct from SNES goes Orchid, etc, etc.
Some RPG's i played got pretty nice females too, but just few of them got a female as the main character (Crono Trigger is no challenge with a Lucca/Ayla/Marle team, altought mi fav is Robo/Lucca/Magus ;D)
Maybe I never have the chance to play Mass Effect 2, but ill save some space in my heart.
AW, how can you forget GladOS from Portal?
Dammit, so much side-characters with much potential!
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I play girl characters all the time in MMORPGs. When everyone there is a hot-blooded teen or yuppie who hasn't gotten laid in 3 months, expect the hits to come in like rain, and there are reasons why some chose female characters; even meta reasons... one game I know had a much faster casting animation for females than males for certain important PvP spells. Guess what, lots of power-players had girl characters.
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I usually play first as a Guy, then once I beat the game I play it again as a girl. Resident Evil 1/2, Mass Effects come to mind.
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United States33597 Posts
I've always enjoyed playing 'ugly' female chars when the choice is given. Tauren female in WoW =o
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I almost exclusevely play female characters, atleast I've done so in MMO's. Well first character in world of warcraft was an undead male, but later on rerolled into a female character and I've been keeping that trend ever since, all of my alts are females and it has carried over to any other game I play.
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On July 06 2010 14:39 Waxangel wrote:
I've always enjoyed playing 'ugly' female chars when the choice is given. Tauren female in WoW =o
Tauren female is faaaar from ugly, sexy as hell!
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On July 06 2010 14:39 Waxangel wrote:
I've always enjoyed playing 'ugly' female chars when the choice is given. Tauren female in WoW =o
Awww yeah, *highfive*
Yknow, NTS, I also just started playing Mass Effect 2 with a male character and I'm starting to feel the same way. I'll probably switch to a female character before I go to far in, I only played the very beginning.
(Also, is it just me, or does this game seem sort of dumbed down from ME1? What happened to enemy shields and my HUD? Whatev, l'll probably just faceroll through on easy mode and play it for the dialogue.)
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Single player I just go either way. Generally whatever looks the coolest and prettiest. Sometimes the features are just more developed in one gender in some games. I thought the males in Elder Scrolls games looked better but the females in Dragon age looked better.
In the few mmos I've played, I've never created a female character.
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On July 06 2010 14:47 hoborg wrote:Show nested quote +On July 06 2010 14:39 Waxangel wrote:
I've always enjoyed playing 'ugly' female chars when the choice is given. Tauren female in WoW =o Awww yeah, *highfive* Yknow, NTS, I also just started playing Mass Effect 2 with a male character and I'm starting to feel the same way. I'll probably switch to a female character before I go to far in, I only played the very beginning. (Also, is it just me, or does this game seem sort of dumbed down from ME1? What happened to enemy shields and my HUD? Whatev, l'll probably just faceroll through on easy mode and play it for the dialogue.)
It's the difficulty. IIRC most of the data from the HUD is still there, it's just minimized. You have to pause to see some things, though. Play on Hardcore, it's still decently easy but you actually have to start using your skills the way they're intended. On Normal or below you can just run and gun with a pistol and never even use your ME stuff.
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I always create female characters in games/mmos too. Unless there's some insane disadvantage, or certain story purposes (I've played through DA:O like 3 times). In LP2, not only are the Femme Fatales kinda cool but their levels get good guns. I'm not manly 
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Calgary25998 Posts
I played as a girl in Mass Effect too! Not sure why but it was enjoyable.
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Hong Kong20321 Posts
dude i love playing as female chars >_> fuck trying to be ubermanly 24/7 or w/e you call it haha
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+ Show Spoiler +1) I actually like the male voice actor for Shephard more, I guess this one is more of personal preference.
2) I thought the male Shephard was just like that as well, again personal preference.
3) I think this one is a matter of personal preference too.
Conclusion: I think it's just personal preference, the only female character I've really played was in Diablo II because you couldn't be a Sorcerer.
I think it's just as common for a guy to play as a woman character today as it is a male. In fact I've heard the exact opposite argument, that if you play as a guy, you're gay (the Tomb Raider quote).
I personally prefer playing males in RPGs because I feel I get better immersion, but I guess some guys can get just as good of an experience, if not better, playing as a female.
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i remember hearing this on a podcast in relation to mass effect 2: "if i'm gonna go through more than 5 hours on a video game I might as well look at a nice ass while doing so."
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EPT
