Gamerisms

When letting a player choose the gender of their character in an RPG, how do you feel the developers should approach what lines, romances, and other things are available? In Mass Effect, Maleshep and Femshep have the exact same lines and everyone treats you the same, apart from pronouns (which I've actually had my femshep called sir as an oversight) and one instance where Femshep is told "stripper quarters are over there." Thoughts?

Anonymous

I (gaminginpink/Amy-jean) personally love the way Bioware handles gender. It’s probably helpful that their writing staff for Mass Effect and Dragon Age is 50-50 male-female. I haven’t played with manShep, but when it comes to femShep being told where the “stripper quarters” are or otherwise being underestimated for being a woman, I think that having a few lines like that add to the realism of the universe. I think it’s plausible that in the future where ME takes place, some people are still gonna be sexist douchebags, and it’s all the sweeter when femShep proves them wrong. Other than that, I love that they basically have the same dialogue (apart from errors) because it goes to show that gender doesn’t change a whole lot. Or at least, it shouldn’t.

I also think that Bioware deserves a lot of praise for allowing gay/bisexual romance options, which keep getting better as their series progress.

That’s my two cents, anyway! Other gamerisms editors, feel free to add your thoughts/everyone else feel free to discuss in our ask box!

Posted 4 months ago

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