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[JohnnyFootball]

I Insist You Play Mass Effect as a Woman

You’ll regret completing this space trilogy series as a dude.

slate.com

But here’s one choice you absolutely shouldn’t make: Do not, under any circumstances, play the protagonist as a guy.

Look, there’s nothing wrong with men. I’m one myself! It’s totally OK to be a man, and in most circumstances, it’s perfectly OK to choose to play a male character in a video game when given multiple gender options. Many men find it very affirming of their identity to see their body type and masculine presentation reflected by their choice of on-screen simulacrum. According to BioWare, more than 80 percent of Mass Effect players chose to play as the male version of Shepard over the course of the trilogy’s initial release, and I’m sure most of these players simply didn’t know any better. That’s why I’m telling you before it’s too late that the female version of our hero Commander Shepard is the superior Shepard, and I insist you play as her.

I already completed ME1 as a dude.
I guess, I am ruining EVAN URQUHART's day!!

For the record, I have played all games as Fem and Male Shep and consider Mark Meer to be better, but both are good.

 

[Cornbread78]

Yo, I'm running with the ultimate ugly, cookie cutter, mofo ever....

I could get behind this cuteness though...

 

[yurqqa]

He should live in the country with dictatorship system.

Then he would've been able to really insist.

 

[Retinoid]

And I insist them to shut the fuck up and stop telling me what to do.

 

[M1chl]

Fuck you. Mark Meer >>>> Jennifer Hale

Such a generic performance

 

[OceanGaming]

"But here’s one choice you absolutely shouldn’t make: Do not, under any circumstances, play the protagonist as a guy."

Pissing journos off is my favourite passtime, so GuyShep it is.

 

[Shai-Tan]

I preferred Fem shep at the time but Jennifer Hale is now one of the most over casted voice actors. I'd play as a dude if I was playing it the first time today.

 

[Hydelol]

The author looks almost exactly how I imagined he would.

 

[existensmaximum]

I generally prefer to play as a female in Mass Effect but missing out on that sweet romance with Tali? Yeah, as if!

 

[ManaByte]

Siri has a more lifelike performance than Jennifer Hale as FemShep.

 

[Dick Jones]

I think it was in Shakespeare's Hamlet, Queen Gertrude said "The simp doth protest too much, methinks"

Link me to the future inevitable #metoo moment thread where we hear he is creeping on women. Just like all the other men who protest too much.

For the attention of the journalist "you can promote something by saying the voice work for FemShep is better without making some dumb comment like you have. It is true that FemShep is better, you haven't broken Watergate."

 

[Shai-Tan]

"But here’s one choice you absolutely shouldn’t make: Do not, under any circumstances, play the protagonist as a guy."

Pissing journos off is my favourite passtime, so GuyShep it is.

uh your reaction is baked into basically any provocative over-reaching op-ed. ie anyone who has a reaction like that is part of the intended audience

 

[DonkeyPunchJr]

OP would you summarize why they think you should only play Femshep? Not giving that shithole any clicks.

And LOL at “affirming of their identity to see their body type and masculine presentation”. Jesus, shut the fuck up Slate.

Let me know when they have an obese neckbeard body type with Cheeto-stained sweat pants. That would truly be affirming of my identity.

 

[darkangel-212559]

How about he takes a dildo and rams it up is ass?

I guarantee you he's an incel simp hoping that this article will get him finally laid.

Hint:

 

[Umbasaborne]

I hate articles like this. Ive always played mass effect as male shep, not because i hate women like the article implies, but because every time ive played mass effect over the past 14 years i try to role play, which means choosing and creating a character that is represenative of me. I think people should choose whatever gender they want, and they shouldn’t be bullied by articles like this to pick an option just because one is considered more “woke”. Mass effect is very personal to me, and i want my shep to be a reflection of myself. Both mark meer and jen hale are great as shepard as well, so its not like one performance is vastly better than the other.

 

[mansoor1980]

I hate articles like this. Ive always played mass effect as male shep, not because i hate women like the article implies, but because every time ive played mass effect over the past 14 years i try to role play, which means choosing and creating a character that is represenative of me. I think people should choose whatever gender they want, and they shouldn’t be bullied by articles like this to pick an option just because one is considered more “woke”. Mass effect is very personal to me, and i want my shep to be a reflection of myself. Both mark meer and jen hale are great as shepard as well, so its not like one performance is vastly better than the other.

 

[Banjo64]

‘Didn’t know any better’ proceeds to not list a single reason why you should, but thinks he has any authority to insist anyone does anything. You write for a rag. I insist you suck my cock lol.

 

[DonkeyPunchJr]

Okay guys I held my nose and clicked the link (with ad block) to see what the author’s points were:

- Jennifer Hale’s VA is really good

- The author voted for Elizabeth Warren

- Femshep is unmistakably a highly accomplished woman, not a man

- allowing you to choose between a male and female Shepard is an example of giving you too much narrative choice

- author fantasizes about getting pegged but is too afraid to ask

 

[STARSBarry]

I generally prefer to play as a female in Mass Effect but missing out on that sweet romance with Tali? Yeah, as if!

Tali? Please all us true spectres know there is no Shepard without Vakarian, this is why Female is the obvious choice.

 

[MAtgS]

Can't romance Tali as Femshep. So male I be.

 

[a multicultural team of v]

I never understood the hype around female Shepherd in the first place when these games first came out. Forums etc were extremely vocal about how great she was (this was mostly before wokeness so it was "genuine" support), but honestly I think the performance isn't all that good. Male Shepherd has a kind of funny nasally aloofness/sarcasticness to his delivery of most lines that somehow works really well.

 

[Punished Miku]

Clickbaity title, but really all he's saying is that he thinks the voice acting in Fem-Shep is better. I agree with that, and played as Fem-Shep back in the day. But I don't really feel all that strongly about it. I never did a full playthrough of Man-Shep, but he always sounded a little flat.

 

[Mister Wolf]

I'm not a woman and I certainly don't want to roleplay as one.

 

[fatmarco]

Obviously Jennifer Hale is a far better actor than MaleShep guy, but I never really liked Jennifer Hale's performance in Mass Effect, it always came across as a bit try hard.

The voice actress for Ashley had a great voice that could have been FemShep imo.

 

[Exede]

I played as Fem Shep, but i had errrr different reasons than this guy.

 

[Zathalus]

Allowing the player to choose between a male and female Shepard, however, is an example of too much choice resulting in less specificity and poorer narrative quality.

Does this idiot know what a RPG is?

 

[ArtemisClydeFrog]

And I insist them to shut the fuck up and stop telling me what to do.

Why are you telling them what to do?

I'll still do my playthrough with an ugly ass male Shep though

 

[HellforLeather]

Actual picture of the author

 

[ArtemisClydeFrog]

I hate articles like this. Ive always played mass effect as male shep, not because i hate women like the article implies, but because every time ive played mass effect over the past 14 years i try to role play, which means choosing and creating a character that is represenative of me. I think people should choose whatever gender they want, and they shouldn’t be bullied by articles like this to pick an option just because one is considered more “woke”. Mass effect is very personal to me, and i want my shep to be a reflection of myself. Both mark meer and jen hale are great as shepard as well, so its not like one performance is vastly better than the other.

The article is shit but are you really advocating for censorship of opinions and a safe space from those opinions?

My how the turn tables

 

[Dr. Suchong]

Just when I thought I couldn't possibly yawn anymore than I am doing today.

 

[Umbasaborne]

The article is shit but are you really advocating for censorship of opinions and a safe space from those opinions?

My how the turn tables

Lol he’s welcome to his opinion, just like im welcome to my own. Im just saying I dissagree with him, not that the article should Be removed. Lmao good god.

 

[GymWolf]

 

[Kindjal]

Authored by the Cuckold Simulator main character.

 

[brian0057]

Fuck you. Mark Meer >>>> Jennifer Hale

Such a generic performance

I agree.
Mark Meer delivers the most generic performance ever recorded.
The article is shit but Jennifer Hale is objectively the better voice for Shepard.

 

[Roufianos]

Seriously, why makes this thread and directly link this trash article? You're just giving this clown clicks.

 

[sobaka770]

Call me a homophobe and close-minded but while I think playing as FemShep is nice (and I've done a renegade FemShep playthrough), my only issue is that I have 0 interest in romancing guys. Like it feels awkward to me personally so the only romance path for me is Liara. That makes the experience much worse for me because romance is part of the fun in ME.

And let's be clear: apart from romance options the only difference is voice acting. And I don't think that Hale is so much better than Meer as Shepard. Like I don't hear it. I don't care about themes of female empowerment in videogames, especially when it's totally unwarranted. I love playing as women and powerful women at that: Aloy, Returnal chick, Lara Croft, Ellie/Abby etc etc. - as long as they are good games and characters I think it's great. I played as female Pathfinder in Andromeda as well.

This is a fantasy RPG - play as whomever you fucking want and if 80% of people chose male Shep - maybe it's not something that needs fixing.

 

[DevilMayFlyForAWhiteGuy]

I’m pretty sure I’ve played as FemShep more times than MaleShep at this point, but this article just comes across as either pathetic pandering/signaling or bait.

Finna feel up those Tali hips though when I get LE on sale a few months from now.

 

[N0S]

Always play male. I even made my twin sister in Andromeda ugly because I hate women.

 

[Fox Mulder]

I’m sure the wokeness anti white male shit is all over this today, but I did prefer the female VA when the game originally came out.

 

[Reindeer]

Unsurprisingly this is from the same person:

Why Didn’t I Know That I’m Transgender?

When I first started writing about LGBTQ issues for Slate, I knew nothing about what it meant to be transgender. I wrote from a butch lesbian...

slate.com

 

[Cravis]

 

[Rheon]

Playing as anything but male Shepard isn't on the cards for me.

He's too iconic.

 

[Bernd Lauert]

Call me a homophobe and close-minded but while I think playing as FemShep is nice (and I've done a renegade FemShep playthrough), my only issue is that I have 0 interest in romancing guys. Like it feels awkward to me personally so the only romance path for me is Liara. That makes the experience much worse for me because romance is part of the fun in ME.

And let's be clear: apart from romance options the only difference is voice acting. And I don't think that Hale is so much better than Meer as Shepard. Like I don't hear it. I don't care about themes of female empowerment in videogames, especially when it's totally unwarranted. I love playing as women and powerful women at that: Aloy, Returnal chick, Lara Croft, Ellie/Abby etc etc. - as long as they are good games and characters I think it's great. I played as female Pathfinder in Andromeda as well.

This is a fantasy RPG - play as whomever you fucking want and if 80% of people chose male Shep - maybe it's not something that needs fixing.

Call me a homophobe and close-minded but I'd only play as FemShep for the hot lesbo scenes tbh

 

[Trogdor1123]

Only played male Shep but I have heard the female performance is good.

I'll still play as male though this time through.

 

[SJRB]

Playing as FemShep is probably the only way for that guy to be with a woman for longer than 10 minutes.

What a dweeb.

 

[Dusktildawn48]

The corniness of male Shep is one of the reasons I love mass effect so nah, I'll stick with him.

"We'll bang, okay?"

 

[Strider Highwind]

Didnt click. Whole thread dont like the guy but he got free attention/clicks today. Stop clicking/posting this stuff already, people write stuff like that for reactions and attention, not favor. Meaning he doesnt care if you like him or not, he just wants your click.

Stop clicking that bs

 

[HarryKS]

Old game.


Good looking people don't even think about this type of stuff. Be good looking.

 

[Mistershine.]

Call me a homophobe and close-minded but while I think playing as FemShep is nice (and I've done a renegade FemShep playthrough), my only issue is that I have 0 interest in romancing guys. Like it feels awkward to me personally so the only romance path for me is Liara. That makes the experience much worse for me because romance is part of the fun in ME.

And let's be clear: apart from romance options the only difference is voice acting. And I don't think that Hale is so much better than Meer as Shepard. Like I don't hear it. I don't care about themes of female empowerment in videogames, especially when it's totally unwarranted. I love playing as women and powerful women at that: Aloy, Returnal chick, Lara Croft, Ellie/Abby etc etc. - as long as they are good games and characters I think it's great. I played as female Pathfinder in Andromeda as well.

This is a fantasy RPG - play as whomever you fucking want and if 80% of people chose male Shep - maybe it's not something that needs fixing.

Hey me, how am I today?


This is how I roll, always play as a woman and always romance women, because romancing dudes is gay. I think I'm going to start identifying as a male lesbian. We're still allowed to make shit like that up as we go along, right?

 

[fart town usa]

I dunno, it's hard to top male Shepard's meat headed, loveable aloofness.

Also, Slate is shit.