Mass Effect 3 - FemShep vote - wrong move? @ Destructoid

Originally Posted by Jack
Why does anyone care again?

Eh, because 20% females might be the result of poor marketing?

Originally Posted by JemyM
My comment;
The only female protagonist with blonde hair and blue eyes that I can remember are Samus Aran and Giana in Giana Sisters to Commodore 64.

Actually, the original Samus in the very first game, if you enter the code that let you play without the suit, had green hair.

Originally Posted by Sergorn
I could also name Cloud Strife from Final Fantasy VII and The Avatar from Ultima (even if some of the game offered personalisation the blue eyes blonde male became the canon version in the end)

I don't count that because they got lazy and prioritized other things due to EA's meddling. The Avatar was always supposed to be 'you' and once the visuals got up to a point where you could distinguish features you got the option to customize. That is, prior to EA coming along.

Originally Posted by JemyM
I actually continued the Final Fantasy series myself and realised that it's one series in which blondes are very common for some reason.

Japanese like them. Then again they also like purple hair so I'm not sure that means very much.

Blone hair is something … not one finds every day in Japan, no ? Except Foreigners and the ethnic group of the Ainu, I guess … ?

What I mean is, that blone people might perhaps be so "popular" in Final Fantasy games, because they are so … odd looking ? - I mean, compared to the majority of the peoples there ?

Originally Posted by elikal
That aside, yes indeed game industry is so chauvinistic and lost in super old fashioned stereotypes, always female with biniki chainmail. That is so childish and nerdy! A gentleman should value a woman as strong and honored equal not as as show—girl puppet!

In principle, I think the same.

Because … "Chicks in Chain Mail" (there's a book with that title) is imho a discussion topic in itself …

Originally Posted by JemyM
1. Cloud Strife (Final Fantasy VII)
2. Avatar (Ultima)
3. Duke Nukem (Duke Nukem Forever)
4. Samus Aran (Metroid)
5. Giana (Giana Sisters)

Need 5 more. Only main characters are accepted.

George Stobbart and Guybrush Threepwood came to my mind instantly… but then again it often feels like adventure games belong in a different dimension.

It doesn't bother me too much. I wasn't even aware of this until it was over. The one they chose looks like a guy in a wig though. After seeing that, I kind of think they should have stuck with the default female Shepard. But probably wasn't sexy enough so they wanted to go with some other model, kind of like how they completely changed Ashley.

i think all the fem sheps bioware gave us to choose frome looked like shit.
but the blond one was the number one on the shit list.

ive played me1 with a "trinity from matrix" look a like.and it felt okay.

Originally Posted by elikal
As one who used to be blond (alas age changed that) and is blue eyed I understand and agree. There is a strong anti-nordic resentment in the game and entertainment industry, down to Comics heroes and movie heroes.

I'm sorry, but that's just ridiculous.

Did it ever occur to you that maybe there are more dark hair/eye heroes because there are more dark hair/eye people in general?

I seriously doubt it's because the entertainment industry has an anti-nordic agenda. For the record, I have blond hair and blue/green eyes.

Don't worry everybody Bioware has heard your cries and has a new vote going on now. The same blonde picked but now you can vote on her hair color. Good job everyone they heard the bitching.







See Bioware loves you and listens to there fans.

Ah Bioware, they sure know how to communicate with their community about the important things.

That hairstyle looks so ugly. There's just something so off about it. What woman wears her hair like that?

An interesting editorial, touching the matter : http://www.gamasutra.com/view/news/3…rotagonist.php

We have advanced in many arenas, but our diversity is definitely weak, both within studios and in our game characters.

Ah, now he finds that, too ?
Took long until he found it out …

I’m not calling for video game affirmative action, per se, but too much of the same thing leads to an insular medium. And why is it that so many of our protagonists look the same? Why should the protagonist be Caucasian and not African? Or Indian? Who will it alienate?

I'm writing that since several years now …

Williams found, further, that while the in-game representations didn’t match the U.S. population, it did match the ethnic makeup of the IGDA. So, it seems, we make characters that look like us, not like our players […] .

I'm also writing this since several years now …

White people are the "safest" group to include in entertainment media. You can make them heroes, you can vilify them, and nobody will bat an eye. Make your protagonist black, and you’re likely to get some backlash about the portrayal, no matter how hard you try. That’s nothing compared to the can of worms you open if you make a nonwhite character a main villain. The backlash may not be severe, but I think developers are still wary of it.

True as well.


One commentator points out to a similar article called "The Devolution of Character Designs" : http://uk.xbox360.ign.com/articles/117/1177659p1.html


Another comment :

In one of his interview, Cliff Bleszinski was asked about that and he answered that it was due to the technical limitations of current technologies. It's easier to make bald space marines […] .

And one of the imho most important comments :

This whole discussion just reinforces one point. Where are the female protagonists? Women make up roughly 50% of the population (varies slightly from country to country ).

I can only recomment reading the comments there !

Originally Posted by Alrik Fassbauer
One commentator points out to a similar article called "The Devolution of Character Designs" : http://uk.xbox360.ign.com/articles/117/1177659p1.html

Thanks man, I was actually going to refer to this article in my complaints above but couldn't find it.