I generally enjoy playing a female more but I tend to play males almost as much. Allot of it depends on what class and personality I want to create and if the game will be playable with said personality. Playing a different sex than my own has never been an issue for me and I see neither males nor females as more complex than the other, just different natural and social programing. Personality difference between my male and female characters are Huge though.
But it is a role playing game so no matter how misinformed you'd be about how the other sex works it would not be wrong, could even play a totally male mind trapped/born in a female body.
For me the decision typically depends on two factors:
1. The kind of character I want to create 2. The inherent diversity (or lack thereof) in the fantasy world
One of the problems I have with D&D is that gender dynamics tend to be a bit screwy (and Baldur's Gate is not immune to this) - women are often pigeonholed as broken-bird spellcasters or man-hating nutjobs, and I've never even heard of an adventurer's party primarily comprised of women.
So the first time I played through the trilogy, I used a Neutral Evil elven sorceress and an all-female party (with the exception of Edwin and later Sarevok). I felt like I was experiencing a fantasy narrative in a new and interesting way.
With KOTOR2, I decided the "Star Wars" universe really needed an Asian hero; with ME, I went with Female Shepard because I wanted to see a sci-fi story with a woman soldier on the level of Ellen Ripley or Sarah Connor. And then my Hawke from DA2 was female, black and a lesbian.
@thene You can play it as you like but as you probably noticed the videos have a canon shepard, one that the first writer idealized. Because usually if its up to gamers all we will ever get is some heroine with huge boobs and a nice ass, which I like; But not on a Story that intends to be serious. Aand I just remembered ashley from me3...
There is no real "canon" gender for Shepard (at least, not yet). There is no official material which states Shepard is male.
I quite honestly feel the story works better when Shepard is female -- I can't play a male Shepard seriously.
What the first writer thought of the matter originally is not really relevant. If you knew how many drafts a story goes through from conception to the final realized product, you would know that only very rarely do characters spring to mind with full characterization.
As @jaysl659 said quite well, the femshep was only pumped as a markting stunt by EA because of the number of people that was demanding a female shepard... instead of caring about the story they prefer pushing a different sex into the protagonist, cool. A sign of the times maybe.
This is just plain wrong. You could choose to play a female Shepard right from the beginning. The difference was, the default male face for Shepard was modelled off an actor, whereas the default female Shepard wasn't. Yes, they pushed choosing a new default female Shepard as a marketing scheme, but what is wrong with that? (Personally, I didn't care for the end result; I stuck with my custom face.)
But since you could create your own faces, the lack of a "proper" default female Shepard never bothered me. What was more important to me -- and the main reason I chose to play a female Shepard (other than that I generally find heroines more interesting than heroes) -- was the voice acting. Female Shepard sounds a lot better, plain and simple.
-sick, it's a strong word but yea after reading so many things, even pcgamer had a article about how femshep was so awesome... god... I'am pissed just as I would be pissed at a group of people trying to make a male version tomb raider the official.
You're getting pissed for no reason whatsoever. Mass Effect is a ROLEPLAYING GAME. Shepard is a customizable character. Shepard is only male if you want him to be, and if someone else wants their Shepard to be female, how does that affect your game?
Shepard, in my mind, is a woman. It leads to some interesting conversations with my brother, who always plays Shepard as male.
Tomb Raider -- Lara Croft -- is not customizable; she is always a female character (and the Tomb Raider games aren't normally RPGs, either). That situation is not really analogous.
@lDanielHolm This is basic. There is a story, each people play as they want. Then there are the videos in which bioware has to decide on a shepard, that is what i call canon and dont bother me with your definition. As i said a thousand times already, what i don't like is 100 nerds screaming "femshep ftw" at conventions as i think its sad, but thats is just an opinion of course. Since you quoted me so much you could have read for example "You can play it as you like" and avoided some useless text. -In my mind- shepard is a guy, that guy in the videos, so I guess we are done here.
I'm with @jaysl659. I always play male for the immersion. I tried playing Mass Effect as a female because there was a very vocal minority of people lauding Jennifer Hale/femshep. I actually preferred Mark Meer. *shrugs*
There's a gamer couple I know who always play the opposite genders in games. It's kindof funny knowing the 5' 2" cute female is playing a male barbarian while her 6' 3" husband is in control of a female halfling. Whatever makes people happy!
@lDanielHolm This is basic. There is a story, each people play as they want. Then there are the videos in which bioware has to decide on a shepard, that is what i call canon and dont bother me with your definition. As i said a thousand times already, what i don't like is 100 nerds screaming "femshep ftw" at conventions as i think its sad, but thats is just an opinion of course. Since you quoted me so much you could have read for example "You can play it as you like" and avoided some useless text. -In my mind- shepard is a guy, that guy in the videos, so I guess we are done here.
It is not "my" definition, it is the definition. As in, what the word actually means. The Shepard in the videos isn't canon; it is simply an example of a Shepard.
Clearly, it is NOT just in your mind, as you straight out say that it bothers you when people say they like female Shepard.
As for the videos -- there are videos with Shepard as female, just as "canon" as the ones where Shepard is male--namely, not at all.
when i play as a male i think of the character as myself, some representation of me. if i play as a female, then i direct her actions and roleplay her character as she is a more independent entity. end result is, i cannot force myself to be evil when playing male, but can be an evil bitch without second thought because i'm sufficiently distanced. so, for immersion male, for fun and exploration female, i guess.
therefore i usually play females to experience some different options and paths (which is about 20% of the time in bg) and also for male romance options (sigh) if there are no M/M options available.
as for ME- if i'm not mistaken, devs wanted the players to make their own story and included MANY options for MANY fans. canon here serves only the developers themselves, because they need to set some events as fixed or most probable when they navigate the storyline and make new games. even canon gets more and more obsolete here, since the inclusion of transferable choices.
and do not forget the power of symbols- having one face represent the game for five years creates a powerful recognition and association, and human face is the best emotion invoking symbol. it is PR.
In games like KotOR, ME, DA:O I play as a female because if I'm going to be staring at someone's backside all game it may as well be a nice one. BG 1&2, IWD, I have no preference. I have a whole host of characters that slot nicely into protagonist mode that gender is irrelevant.
In games like KotOR, ME, DA:O I play as a female because if I'm going to be staring at someone's backside all game it may as well be a nice one. BG 1&2, IWD, I have no preference. I have a whole host of characters that slot nicely into protagonist mode that gender is irrelevant.
@lDanielHolm who the hell do you think you are to think you can interpret what I say? grow up kid, go have some fun with your femshep and do not bother me anymore. ps. those videos are ONLY from me3, the markting stunt, so the male shepard(me,me2,me3) is still (more) representative.
o.O’ I see, even with simple questions such as these, there’s always arguments to follow as well.
Personally, I play both male and female characters, but I usually treat most gender optional games like a ‘Doll House’. lol, yes, yes, I know. The games already provide a story for your protagonist, but I tend to give them their own personalities/quirks and side stories as well.
Depending on how I wish to play, maybe I’ll make a timid and shy male ranger, or perhaps I’ll play a female cleric with a mother-hen personality. The list can get pretty extensive and detailed, but those are just two minor examples. It’s always fun though. XD
Soooo I guess, when it comes to in-game genders, you could say that I role-play within a role-playing game? o.o’
I tried to play as female character but my twisted (virtual) mind always made me get beating just to see me suffer and only when I was near death I started to fight back...
I will usually play a female in games whenever the option is given. For BG2 though, I did both just to explore the romance options for the male characters, which I found to be far more interesting than Anomen was for female characters. I felt like more effort was put into the writing.
I feel that male characters always get more romance options in games. Complete BS if you ask me, I like to play both male/female and usually feel cheated in my female run through.
I play both females and males, sometimes, transpersons (belt of masculinity-/feminity ftw! With some mods, my female char actually got busy with Shar-Teel when wearing the belt.)
Always rolled a male hero for the Baldur's Gate series.
Rolling a female toon and thinking of romancing Anomen in BG2 just feels so... ugh... These are the cases i wished BG2 has the "special belt" from BG1. Anomen and Edwin are strong candidates for such a gift.
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Allot of it depends on what class and personality I want to create and if the game will be playable with said personality. Playing a different sex than my own has never been an issue for me and I see neither males nor females as more complex than the other, just different natural and social programing. Personality difference between my male and female characters are Huge though.
But it is a role playing game so no matter how misinformed you'd be about how the other sex works it would not be wrong, could even play a totally male mind trapped/born in a female body.
1. The kind of character I want to create
2. The inherent diversity (or lack thereof) in the fantasy world
One of the problems I have with D&D is that gender dynamics tend to be a bit screwy (and Baldur's Gate is not immune to this) - women are often pigeonholed as broken-bird spellcasters or man-hating nutjobs, and I've never even heard of an adventurer's party primarily comprised of women.
So the first time I played through the trilogy, I used a Neutral Evil elven sorceress and an all-female party (with the exception of Edwin and later Sarevok). I felt like I was experiencing a fantasy narrative in a new and interesting way.
With KOTOR2, I decided the "Star Wars" universe really needed an Asian hero; with ME, I went with Female Shepard because I wanted to see a sci-fi story with a woman soldier on the level of Ellen Ripley or Sarah Connor. And then my Hawke from DA2 was female, black and a lesbian.
I quite honestly feel the story works better when Shepard is female -- I can't play a male Shepard seriously.
What the first writer thought of the matter originally is not really relevant. If you knew how many drafts a story goes through from conception to the final realized product, you would know that only very rarely do characters spring to mind with full characterization. This is just plain wrong. You could choose to play a female Shepard right from the beginning. The difference was, the default male face for Shepard was modelled off an actor, whereas the default female Shepard wasn't. Yes, they pushed choosing a new default female Shepard as a marketing scheme, but what is wrong with that? (Personally, I didn't care for the end result; I stuck with my custom face.)
But since you could create your own faces, the lack of a "proper" default female Shepard never bothered me. What was more important to me -- and the main reason I chose to play a female Shepard (other than that I generally find heroines more interesting than heroes) -- was the voice acting. Female Shepard sounds a lot better, plain and simple. You're getting pissed for no reason whatsoever. Mass Effect is a ROLEPLAYING GAME. Shepard is a customizable character. Shepard is only male if you want him to be, and if someone else wants their Shepard to be female, how does that affect your game?
Shepard, in my mind, is a woman. It leads to some interesting conversations with my brother, who always plays Shepard as male.
Tomb Raider -- Lara Croft -- is not customizable; she is always a female character (and the Tomb Raider games aren't normally RPGs, either). That situation is not really analogous.
-In my mind- shepard is a guy, that guy in the videos, so I guess we are done here.
There's a gamer couple I know who always play the opposite genders in games. It's kindof funny knowing the 5' 2" cute female is playing a male barbarian while her 6' 3" husband is in control of a female halfling. Whatever makes people happy!
Clearly, it is NOT just in your mind, as you straight out say that it bothers you when people say they like female Shepard.
As for the videos -- there are videos with Shepard as female, just as "canon" as the ones where Shepard is male--namely, not at all.
Here are two:
And yes, Femshep is the one true Shep.
therefore i usually play females to experience some different options and paths (which is about 20% of the time in bg) and also for male romance options (sigh) if there are no M/M options available.
as for ME- if i'm not mistaken, devs wanted the players to make their own story and included MANY options for MANY fans. canon here serves only the developers themselves, because they need to set some events as fixed or most probable when they navigate the storyline and make new games. even canon gets more and more obsolete here, since the inclusion of transferable choices.
and do not forget the power of symbols- having one face represent the game for five years creates a powerful recognition and association, and human face is the best emotion invoking symbol. it is PR.
ps. those videos are ONLY from me3, the markting stunt, so the male shepard(me,me2,me3) is still (more) representative.
i wanted to post again but have no idea what to contribute to the discussion as it stands
I only talked again about it because what I said was being distorted.
Personally, I play both male and female characters, but I usually treat most gender optional games like a ‘Doll House’. lol, yes, yes, I know. The games already provide a story for your protagonist, but I tend to give them their own personalities/quirks and side stories as well.
Depending on how I wish to play, maybe I’ll make a timid and shy male ranger, or perhaps I’ll play a female cleric with a mother-hen personality. The list can get pretty extensive and detailed, but those are just two minor examples. It’s always fun though. XD
Soooo I guess, when it comes to in-game genders, you could say that I role-play within a role-playing game? o.o’
Rolling a female toon and thinking of romancing Anomen in BG2 just feels so... ugh... These are the cases i wished BG2 has the "special belt" from BG1. Anomen and Edwin are strong candidates for such a gift.