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Analysis: On FemShep's Popularity In Mass Effect
by James Bishop [PC, Console/PC]
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September 8, 2010
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[In this Gamasutra analysis piece, James Bishop discusses the popularity and appeal of the often overlooked female protagonist in Mass Effect, and why playing as a female drastically changes the user's experience.]
Mass Effect is a game I powered through on the 360 because I was on a bender, having just acquired my first Xbox ever. When it came time to put the controller away, I had finished the first game and its sequel in less than a week. Truthfully, I only played the original because the sequel was coming out. I figured that understanding the story so far is important in this kind of game.
What I did not expect was my sudden attachment to the female incarnation of Commander Shepard—fondly referred to as FemShep around the web—during the first game and my continued connection in the second.
It’s not that I’m opposed to BroShep/ManShep but something about the female version drew me in and made my gameplay that much more meaningful.
I’m not alone in my adoration, either. There have been numerous polls, hundreds of votes cast and countless discussions about FemShep and her alluring nature.
It isn’t a stretch to say that BioWare has managed to, seemingly unintentionally, create a female protagonist that has attracted the attentions of hundreds if not thousands of people.
The popularity of the female Commander Shepard, as opposed to the standard male one, even extends to some of the products associated with the game. Specifically, the hardcover Collector’s Edition guide has screenshots that walk the player through the game section by section. All pertinent quests, places to go and people to shoot often have an associated picture of the Commander.
And they’re all of a blonde FemShep that the person making the guide decided to play.
That is to say, the person who had to explore every edifice, speak with every NPC and generally scour the game for tidbits willingly chose to play as FemShep. Mind you, blonde isn’t the default hair color either, so it was a conscious choice on the part of the person taking all of the screenshots.
What, You Can Play As A Female?
 The weird thing about the popularity of the female option is that there has been absolutely no marketing for FemShep. Commander Shepard, as evidenced by posters, box art, promotional videos and television advertisements, is male. He is voiced by Mark Meer and the character is modeled after Mark Vanderloo. In some ways, he might as well be Mark Shepard.
Any casual observer may be entirely unaware that playing a female protagonist is even an option in Mass Effect or Mass Effect 2. So why is FemShep so popular? Any standard textbook on marketing will lay down some laws about brand and name recognition. Icons, figureheads and mascots tend to be very clearly defined for just this reason. Imagining a completely unadvertised female version of Kratos is, while sort of sexy, mind-boggling.
There are two main reasons as to why this has occurred. The first and admittedly less academic of the two reasons is pretty simple to explain: female gamers may jump at the chance to play female characters. (Not to mention that anyone wanting to romance Jacob, Thane or Garrus has to play as FemShep.) That isn’t to say that females can’t play as Mr. Commander Shepard but simply that, given the rare option, it seems like women would be prone to trying to play their own gender.
With the more general hypothesis out of the way, the second is that people play as the female version precisely because Commander Shepard is male in all other ways. The lines, the character animations and various other tidbits are male-oriented in a way that makes FemShep more than your stereotypical RPG female protagonist. For one, she wears practical armor. Well, mostly, but it is science fiction after all; we can accept floating visors and the like.
Mass Effect is a bit of an odd franchise because while all the official materials that relate to marketing and the like showcase a man, leading many to assume that the canonical Shepard is one, the story within makes every effort to avoid such insinuations. Pronouns are used sparingly and often tend to be gender neutral at best and at worst the “he/she” conversion is integrated smoothly into the dialogue. Even in the Mass Effect: Redemption comic series, they refrain from referring to the Commander as one or the other, going so far as to say that it’s difficult to discern gender from the remains they found.
Dude Looks Like A Lady Only Vice-Versa
 But even with these intentionally neutral mechanics, many of the other male characteristics seep into the FemShep gameplay. For example, you can choose to dance at the clubs present in the game, be it Afterlife or the Eternity Bar or what-have-you. Because the option was there and I happened to notice it, I figured I’d go ahead and dance a bit. Never know, right? Dancing could, theoretically, be an important part of the game.
And it was.
But that wasn’t because some quest triggered or an NPC wandered up to offer me a job. This was an important moment in my gameplay because Commander Shepard, my FemShep, was doing the standard animation that all the NPC male dancers perform. She swayed to and fro while the other females cut a proverbial rug.
Speaking from anecdotal experience alone, it looks as if many of the character animations were used for both models. As another obvious point of animation-borrowing from ManShep to FemShep, there is a scene when speaking to Miranda where FemShep is sitting in an almost undeniably male position: slouched over in her chair, hands between her legs with said legs pushed out in a v-shape.
The borrowing only becomes obvious when wearing the party dress from the Kasumi's Stolen Memory DLC while talking to Miranda in the previously mentioned scene. Shepard’s hands are through the fabric, for one, and you can see up the dress. There is, in fact, a reason that girls sit as they do in skirts and dresses.
It goes beyond just the aesthetic, though. Shepard presents the same set of lines regardless of gender. Whether you’re telling off the Illusive Man, saving a disease-stricken batarian or pushing some Blue Suns thug out a window, the actions and dialogue are the exact same. None of this proves to be a hindrance to FemShep, nor is she popular in spite of it.
In fact, FemShep is so wildly popular because of it.
The moment that FemShep prepares to take on the threat to the universe, she inevitably will give an impassioned speech as to why they must do what they are preparing to do. This is true for both games in Mass Effect and many other franchises. The oddity is that it’s an empowered female doing the speaking.
If we wanted to see yet another righteous man bolstering his troops, we’d watch Braveheart, play Halo or just roll up a ManShep. Watching FemShep, and hearing Jennifer Hale, doing this bolstering is almost unsettling. It shifts our expectations and moves us to the edge of our seats. And we love her for it.
[James Bishop is a freelance writer for various outlets, holds a Bachelor of Arts in English from Indiana University Southeast and is not fond of the Oxford comma. He can be reached at jamesrollinbishop at gmail dot com.]
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I hope for Mass Effect 3, both genders get proper animations and at least some gameplay differences. As well as the FemShep's default image needs to be as high quality as MaleShep's default image.
I didn't find it that enthralling, but interestingly I didn't find her annoying either, perhaps because it's nice to see a female game doll(*) not behaving as a simpering womanchild.
On the other hand, Bioware's recently-published stats on the game show that 80% of players just play the default character (male) and class, suggesting that such things as gender choice etc don't really matter a whole lot and that the "all things to all gamers" approach that inflates the costs of many a project may actually not be worthwhile.
(* About "doll": This isn't meant to be derogatory. I've taken to referring to all game "characters" controlled by players recently as dolls as I think it more accurately describes what they are and what their relationship is to a player rather than a "character" which doesn't really suit)
I also take issue with the statistic because--as far as I can tell--it does not account for the context in which the game was sold and played. By exclusively featuring the default (white, heterosexual) male protagonist, the advertisements for Mass Effect did not give women unfamiliar with Bioware a visible point of entry. I hope that these statistics will be used to make the character creator more visible, not to justify the lack of diversity.
Isn't the solution to make games with other kinds of dolls then? Tomb Raider, Beyond Good and Evil, Metroid Prime, Left 4 Dead 2 are cases in point.
The other question that comes out of that then is "does it ultimately matter what race/gender/sexuality a doll is supposed to represent?"
I also adored my female Shepard, but then I didn't know she was the same as the male one for my first playthru! So perhaps I just "adore Shepard", and generally play the female PCs. Anyway, I thought she could stand a bit feminity - that dress wasn't really what I had thought of, but it worked. It's like seeing Captain Janeway in a dress, lol. I also loved the way she flirted... very confident and witty, a modern woman in that regard. :)
I would be so bold, and argue that the paragon route is tailored to FemShep, the renegade to ManShep. Of course it's a bit of a stretch, but the direction holds true IMHO.
I would love to see BioWare (whom I adore for being open about sexuality compared to other devs) make the female option more visible in their promotion campaigns. And perhaps make a FemShep that acts like a woman, and a ManShep that acts like a man - not saying that it's easy, but if anyone can pull it off, it's the BioWare guys (perhaps it should be more BioWare gals! lol).
It would be nice to see the breakdown of gender of Shepard in completed games. I wonder if it would be more even split and the large number of defaults are people who are trying the game but won't finish?
I've been playing video games since Pong came out when I was in junior high school. Yes, you did the math right; I'm in my 50s. There are lots of things I can do to appear younger, at least judging from the ads on late night TV, but there isn't much I can do about my reaction time. Even playing the level over several times to memorize where the threats are, often I simply couldn't hit the buttons with the precision the game called for.
So, yes, I imported my favorite FemShep, and yes, I'm female, but I think my age has more to do with why I couldn't play Mass Effect 2 than any other factor.
I think I may have done something similar on my first play through, not knowing how biotics etc., would affect gameplay. My second playthrough was a fem engineer. I think they need introduce to you what your choosing between. Or present a randomly chosen combination as default. :)
I had toyed with "robot" or "figurine". But Joss Whedon-esque "Doll" felt best.
I would love to see more games like Beyond Good & Evil! :) Although--as a player--I think character creators have their place, I wouldn't argue that it would be easier for everyone if more games were written for female characters/dolls instead of forcing a pronoun switch. I'd also say that the same goes for representations of race and sexuality.
The question of whether the "race/gender/sexuality a doll is supposed to represent" matters is a good one. I would argue that, so long as the white, heterosexual male is the normative doll, and so long as most deviations from that norm exist on a spectrum of offensive stereotypes, what race/gender/sexuality the doll represents absolutely matters.
Personally, as a player, I don't necessarily need a doll that shares my experiences to enjoy a game. However, on the rare occasion that I do find a doll with which I can identify, I really appreciate it.
As Tadhg Kelly pointed out, some 80% of players played a Maleshep, which is kind of surprising.
In a related note, they introduced the female version of the lead for Dragon Age II, which is a change from the male only ads thus far.
There's just something sexy and comforting about playing female characters. No, it's not a mother infatuation thing either. ( I know what your thinking, so just get that outta your head right now;)
The voices are usually very soothing for me. ( no, not the voices in my head... Those sound different:)
I'd much rather look at a females backside all day than a man's. And I love it when the females talk, and bendover in front of me, wiggle and jiggle... And when they cop an attitude and kick azz.
It's no secret, A womans presence is extremely powerful.
Not that there was much sitting in that dress; It felt so preposterously out-of-place back on the Normandy that it was straight back to the armour, thank you.
The lack of "feminine" animations didn't bother me in the slightest. In fact, the juxtaposition of a female character into some very masculine situations/movements is very artistically appealing, not to mention dead sexy :)
What I think they mean is 80% of players have played a male Shepard at some point. Not 80% of players have played only the male Shepard and never played female once.
While I enjoyed the masculine animation on FemShep, I think the game would have benefitted from more distinct female animation. I tire of the concept of a "tough woman" being traditional masculine behavior with a female skin. Female doesn't necessarily have to mean "girlie", it is just a recognition that men and women have different physiques and therefore would go about performing similar actions differently.
We got to pick the sex, but not the gender. I mean, I'd not only love to see in the animations that she's a woman, but in the gameplay - outside of the romances. I think BioWare usually gets the romances right, but other than that, we're talking "gender awkwardness". Of course, I can't judge this for ManShep, cause I ain't one... ;-)
I kinda like all the male mannerisms she has. It makes her seem very tomboyish and not used to social graces. Watching my g/f play as Femshep toying with the idea of courting Jacob was uncomfortable as he was so clearly not interested. I liked that she was that out of practice in such ways.
Also, referring to Jacob, let me just say this: just because femshep wants to strike a conversation doesn't mean she intends to drop down on her knees right there and then.... many of the female players I've talked with about this say that they completely avoid all interaction with jacob cause of the i-wanna-be-your-dog attitude femshep has. Sorry. Also not on.
It's not that I don't agree with you, but maybe you should check the forums first, and see what hardcore female players have to say about it. In that respect ME1 was a lot better, and it's not accidental that most of us prefer it to ME2.
Again, sorry to burst the bubble. Oh, and, in case you haven't really noticed, MOST male players play femshep cause Jen Hale's voice is divine and femshep model has a nice bottom.
I hope this is mostly good!
I'm active on social.bioware.com as well, sort of to let you know. The article isn't about what I or other people wanted FemShep to be but more of why it struck such a chord with me and the exploration involved therein.
So this is more about the lure of the exotic other (in this case, strong female leads when the industry is full of muscular, macho men) and less about feminism and the rights of FemShep as a woman.
Hope that clarifies some stuff, Margie.
Now, I'm new to the Mass Effect series. I just played my first game of ME2 and now want to get a copy of the first game to catch up with the story.
Right out of the box, I played the female Shepard. Why? I've always been partial to female characters in games because it allows for more robust role-play when I take it seriously for blogging etc. (I wrote and maintained a very successful Fictional blog, with a Female Character, for Eve Online for over 2 years). I've always based my characters after the woman I'm closest to in life and let me tell you, I know some 'very' colorful woman! Woman are a source of inspiration for me, for more reasons then i could possibly explain here.
The Female Shepard in Mass Effect 2 is all I know at this point. Granted, I've only rolled through it once, so far, and I have a feeling I'll be playing a few more rounds to see how the story tells from other angles.
The Female Shepard I've personally experienced so far (first impressions) has been nothing short of astounding. I have never been so impressed with a game production in my life and that's saying a lot. The story is captivating, it's well written and flawlessly executed.
The points made about further development and improvements on the highly under-marketed female Shepard are incredibly valuable and noteworthy to me as a new-comer to the series. Now, I find myself looking forward to ME3 after just 30 some-odd hours of play.
This is Science Fiction at it's finest and Mass Effect has set, no, raised the bar for my expectations of other developers and brands.
The Female Shepard is a hidden gem I found as soon as I rolled my first character and I'm glad I did.
Thanks James, thanks Maggie. Most of all, thanks to 'all' the female gamers out there who have made their points with a loud, clear and collective voice. I sincerely hope Bioware takes heed and not only listens, but takes serious action on the next production run.
Now, if Bioware threw us a surprise and had multiple voices to choose from during character creation... I'm just sayin' '-)
Cheers!
Stew B.
That said, I'd agree that FemShep's animations leave a bit to be desired in some cases. Although I think I saw where the new LotSB DLC added a more feminine "sitting" animation, so BioWare seem to be listening to people's complaints. I've never pursued a male romance with my FemShep, so I can't comment on any of those. And what exactly do you mean by "the EPIC FAIL of Kasumi's mission"?
On-topic, I just finished a playthrough with an imported FemShep from ME1. Personally, I couldn't care less about her pixelated bottom - I just love Jennifer Hale. Mark Meer is way too robotic, although I do think that he's improved a bit since ME1.
what I mean by epic fail: i like the type of mission it is, because it is unique, it has style, humour but if we want to make femshep into a female james bond as they kinda tried to, we're severely lacking in elegance. Ok, let me be straight, I KNOW this is a game, this is pixels we're talking about and honestly in some respects I find it of little importance whether or not she runs like a man a duck or a Ferenghi for all I care. But since that's the subject, i feel i have to get my mind around it and be truthful. one model for both just doesn't work. i understand the simplicity behind it, mechanics-wise, and how much more time, effort and god knows what else would be involved in having two models instead of one, but let's just say this was also the case for ME1, where femshep had altogether very acceptable moves (the dancing always sucked anyway) So, Kasumi mission is a femshep in a dress behaving like a transexual. I see how some people would identify with it, I don't personally. I know that women don't have balls preventing them from sitting crosslegged for example. Anyway, that's what I mean by epic fail, everything else about the mission was spectacular.
To the other James :) (sorry bout this) i hear you. but look at it this way: having a model that was feminine oriented, for both. how hard is it for you to wrap your mind around a John Shepard with female movements and mannierisms? it's just as bad for a woman to try and identify to a male-femshep. i understand your point about the industry, but it's not so in my point of view, the entertainement industry has kickass women especially in science fiction for decades now. Do I need to mention Rippley? I'm not saying anything about her rights she's a fictional character god knows where it's gonna end up, it's fine by me. but you seem to be differentiating being feminine from being female. idealy speaking, there is no distinction.
as for why shes so popular, i stick to my comment Jennifer Hale is the factor. i wish Bioware realizes that she has made femshep much more solid than Meer has managed to do with maleshep. (and the universal gaming comment of "since i'm gonna be looking at a characters backside throughout the game i might as well look at a sexy backside rather than a dude's)
Though I'm not sure if it was just simpler for Bioware to use one set of movements, reactions, etc for both, but they didn't go out of their way to give MShep man things to do or say or give FemShep girly things to do. I liked that.
Now, if they DID do that down the line with another game, great! It would show me that they're growing as a company. (I'm just now playing KOTOR and holy WOW have they come a long way when it comes to romances. ;) )
Also, I see that even though you mentioned the scene with Shep and Miri, you used my Shep's hilarious social fau paux with Garrus. :3 A little credit for the screenshot would be nice. (silentstephi)
Lastly, I have to say too: My enjoyment of FemShep's VA also goes a long way towards my enjoyment of FemShep in general. Hale is phenomenal in the bad ass department. I've never gotten the feeling that FemShep is geared more towards a Paragon route while an MShep is geared towards the Renegade: I play as a Renegade FShep most of the time, and find it much more satisfying than a Paragon FShep. But, again, that's just me.
The statistics that came out a few weeks or month ago were a bit disheartening, but I doubt that's all that they're looking at. It was just a sampling. I hope that they look at the percentages pertaining to the folks who finished the game; they're the ones that really got the most out of it.
From here, I'm pretty sure. (http://social.bioware.com/forum/1/topic/128/index/1296298/333)
PS: Nice screenshot! ;)
Sexism is still mildly pervasive in the industry. I think it's clear BioWare deserves credit for trying to write complete female characters – characters that aren't solely the sexpot, or the person to be rescued, or the token female hero to cynically appeal to a demographic – but I remember writing an email complaining about the use of 'mankind' instead of 'humanity' in the game. These are small things, but I felt like they added up. I'm pretty sure they took that seriously at the time (I don't remember what particular use I was referring to, honestly).
Clearly you (as players and fans) care about these issues; you need to make sure that you bring them up on the BioWare forums or in emails. The folks there are great, and they really DO listen to your feedback.
That said, making games is never a democracy; there's a vision that they'll try to deliver on, and they'll make the decisions that they feel they need to. :)
But the reason I'm enjoying FemShep its because... well its a normal woman, just like Ripley in aliens. Actually its exactly WHY Ripley was great as a woman, both parts were written for males, Ripley was then changed to a female. In fact you could say that since they were written with males in mind, no femal stereotips were used, and you get a "normal" person, be it a woman or a man. So without all that girly like boobtastic, no brain attitude you get from most girl/woman? in films and games you get normal persons that can be then filled as male or females without any sort of problems.