The infamous ME3 F!Shep Contest

[wallwalker]

(Cut out the other stuff to post in its own post.)

I've read about the controversy that is apparently happening over the FemShep vote on Facebook and the fact that the blonde-haired, blue-eyed model is in the lead. (In fact, I think that it's been decided, with her as the winner.) The general point of that article appears to be that blonde model makes Shepard look like a bimbo, and Shepard deserves better.

All I have to say is, you have to be very careful using that argument. Because when you strip it down to its core, what you're saying is this: "It doesn't matter what a female character has done; what she looks like is more important." Because apparently blonde!Shepard is a bimbo - despite the fact that she's the same Shepard that's blown up Reapers, destroyed alien bases and punched out incredibly powerful aliens in single combat, and figured out ways to avert inevitable invasions. Why does it matter what she looks like? Either to us, or to Bioware?

And where is the female Shepard that we've seen for the past two games, the default one that more fans will recognize than any of these newcomers? Why wasn't she at least an option? What's the deal with that?

Comments

[crankyoldman]

This echoes my thing about femShep best.

What she looks like doesn't matter, but the fact that they had to do a whole contest with the general public unlike with the male Shepard really does. Because that sends a message that what she looks like DOES matter.

Believe me, I work in EDUCATIONAL gaming and I have to get into arguments with developers over how they design womenfolk (for grants that are supposed to emphasize diversity). It's ridiculous.

[owlmoose]

That's a really good article. I haven't played Mass Effect (although I've been thinking I really should), but Dragon Age, another BioWare game in which you can choose a male or female PC, has some of the same issues with the male be treated as default in the marketing, and by the characterization/dialogue etc.

[wallwalker]

It's a tangent, but you know what always irritated me about DA:O's character customization? You couldn't actually play a black character. The closest you could get was a mix of dark-ish skin and red hair, which was too Ambigiously Brown for my tastes. :/

[owlmoose]

Yeah, it's true. My husband, T, who is Chinese-American, was able to make a PC who was tolerably close to his skin tone/hair color/eye shape, but it took some doing, and the character doesn't really look "Asian". But then, pretty much everyone in Ferelden reads as white to me, party members and NPCs alike. Racial diversity is not DA's strong point (not, so far, in DA2 either).

On the other hand, I do think that the DA series does pretty well by its female characters, at least in DA:O and the first half of DA2 issues mentioned upthread notwithstanding. It's not perfect, by any means, but I've found it one of the better games I've played in that respect.

[wallwalker]

*nods* That's a much better article. Thanks for the link. (And I've read some of your rants about your co-workers. Argh, is all I have to say. I don't think I'd be able to deal with it.)

I honestly think that the first article was trying to say some of this stuff, but it took a left turn into frothing rage, and that's what turned me off. Because the rage was directed at the character and her perceived competence due to her appearance, not at the game designers who decided to make such a big deal out of it when one didn't have to be made. Also, it leaves me wishing that Bioware had, at the very least, created a poll for DudeShep's appearance as well... because, really, why not? How difficult could it possibly be to give both sides the same choice?

(As a side note, my very first reaction to the vote was, "Why is this even here? We HAVE a default female Shepard, a perfectly good character model. She's more recognizable by fans than some new model would be. Why can't they use that?" And I still don't think there's a good answer to be had for that question.)