Focus Friday | Ashley Williams

Well, we are nearing the end. After today’s post we will have only 3 LI’s left to discuss in Focus Friday: Miranda, Jack, and Tali. Last week we discussed the survey results pertaining to our favorite L2, Kaidan Alenko. This week we thought it appropriate to dive into the player input regarding his comrade-in-arms, Gunnery Chief turned Spectre, Ashley Williams.

Ashley and Kaidan are not the same. They are two very different characters. Ashley is outspoken and opinionated. Kaidan is shy and low-key. Kaidan is certainly capable wielding a firearm, but his emphasis is on biotics. Ashley is a hard-core “soldier”, all the way. Kaidan was created as “the” heterosexual Love Interest for female Shepard. Ashley was created as “the” heterosexual Love Interest for male Shepard (Liara is technically bisexual, as far as human terminology goes). Kaidan’s entry into the game is subtle and a bit snarky. Ashley’s is the complete opposite — she sprints onto the screen, guns blazing in your face as she battles her attackers.

No, they are most certainly not the same.

However, despite their differences, in the world of Mass Effect they are congeners.

During the events of the original game, the player must choose to sacrifice whether Ashley or Kaidan in the war against Saren Arterius, Sovereign, and the Geth. From then on, Ashley and Kaidan have interchangeable “roles” in the series. This fact has lead to significant dissonance in the playerbase.  Often times players feel that Ashley and Kaidan have become too interchangeable.  Their character treatment blurred to the point of losing a bit of the characters themselves (i.e. inappropriate animations or uncharacteristic verbage). This perception regarding the…malleability…of the VS (Virmire-survivor) was magnified in Mass Effect 3, as Ashley’s character was altered by a significant amount physically from her previous self (see above right).  We’ll discuss player reaction regarding this change, and many other aspects of Ashley’s romance and character in the comment recap below.

Players have strong opinions about Ashley — mostly due to Ashley’s strong opinions. As a result, they tend to either love her or hate her, and those who took our survey were no different. Continue reading to see what they thought!

Here are the statements which correspond to Ashley’s section of the survey:

• I was satisfied with the quantity of content in the romance.
• I was satisfied with the quality of content in the romance.
• There should be different interactions for a romanced versus unromanced Ashley.
• There should be an actual reward for staying loyal to Ashley throughout Mass Effect 2.
• I have other comments.

Not familiar with Ashley’s romance?  After the break we have a tribute video that features some lovely moments between Ash and BroShep, courtesy of TheBroomKing (YouTube)…

Monday Musings | Sexism in Gaming

If you are reading this blog right now, chances are pretty good that you also read other columns on the web about gaming.  If so, over the past 6 months, you’ve seen a flood of articles on one topic in particular: sexism in the gaming industry.

What kinds of articles?  Well, there are a few examples here, here, and only a few days ago…here.

At ME3 Cosmic Love we’ve been debating how to address this issue on the blog.  It is a sensitive topic, and must be approached as such.  Despite this fact, it was mentioned by players in several sections within the survey comments, so we do feel obligated to discuss it.  Not doing so would be a disservice to the 8,000 players that completed our survey.  This week we will touch on a variety of topics that are related to this issue, including those that don’t relate to the world of Mass Effect directly.

With that said, below is my own personal contribution to our theme this week.  I will speak as a woman, as I am one. Please note that this article will not be comprehensive.  I will miss things. I will mention things that don’t bother another person.  When it comes to sexism in gaming, there will be differences of opinion.

Focus Friday | Samatha Traynor

This week we’re excited to discuss one of the newly introduced characters in Mass Effect 3, namely, the results pertaining to the lovely, Samantha Traynor.   Sidebar:  Some of my relatives are watching Law and Order SVU with Adam Baldwin in the other room right now, and all I can keep thinking is….”It’s Kal’Reegar omg!” 

Anyway…back on topic.

Samantha is the only known lesbian in the trilogy, and is a bit of a replacement for Kelly Chambers’ character in ME3, serving as Commander Shepard’s Communications Specialist.  According to the survey, she is one of the lesser romanced characters in the game, attracting only 11% of respondents.  Despite this, many players had positive things to say about Sam, and compared to her male counterpart (Steve Cortez), she was romanced by more than twice as many people.

While I couldn’t find a “tribute” video for Sam similar to the others posted, I did find a nice video of the Memorial Wall Scene that does feature her.  If any of our readers decide they want to make a tribute video for Sam, similar to the others we’ve featured on the blog, just let us know, and we’ll gladly replace the video linked below :]

Bester76 (BSN/HTL) was awesome enough to put together a tribute video for Sam, so as promised, we’ve swapped it out with the video below!