CS Special | Gender Disparities in Mass Effect

Looking out at the blue sheen from the planet below.  Catching a glimpse of her reflection in the observation port.  Humanity’s greatest hope.  What a rush.  The first words out of Commander Shepard’s mouth were mine to choose.  And this woman...I can’t help but connect to her.  Thus, I become immersed into my first female avatar of the Mass Effect series.  Role-playing my protagonists with the amazing denizens that BioWare created, is a marked achievement I have yet to find in most other games from different developers.  For this, I truly thank them.

For anyone who has been reading my Monday Musings, you will know that I play both female and male player characters (PCs) in role-playing games.  Mass Effect was the first RPG, however, that had me more attached to one gender over the other.  This was not a matter of voice-acting.  Both Mark Meer and Jennifer Hale did a fantastic job.  Their delivery was uniquely their own, and made for playing the two genders more varied, adding to replayability.  If I was to theorize why I felt female Shepard so compatible, it might have something to do with the “world” of Mass Effect.  Though set in the future, there was much that could be related to what we have here and now.  Combine that with a very “human” feel to this PC, gave me a sense of…familiarity.  This is strictly my theory, but it seemed to match how I react and relate to the character.  And it goes without saying, being a woman myself, certainly affected how I connected to the female avatar.

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.