BioWare: 18% play Mass Effect FemShep

By Robert Purchese Published 20 July, 2011

"Aren't enough female heroes in games."

BioWare has revealed that "18 per cent of everyone who plays Mass Effect plays it with a female character".

David Silverman, BioWare marketeer, told vg247 he was "completely taken aback" by the vocal support for FemShep (female Shepard) in Mass Effect 2.

BioWare has decided to include FemShep on the Collector's Edition box of Mass Effect 3 as a result, and will even, for the first time, base an entire ME3 video around the female lead.

"It speaks wonders to the level of passion from our fans and also the power of social media," said Silverman. "You couldn't have done something like this a couple of years ago. It's truly amazing to be able to interact with the fans directly on a one-on-one basis."

Silverman attributes the success of FemShep to the character's strong vocal performance by actress Jennifer Hale.

"There aren't enough female heroes in games in general, so it's something that people can rally around and celebrate," Silverman shared. "Jennifer Hale does an absolutely incredible job doing the voice of FemShep, so people really connect with that."

Silverman went on to say that 13 per cent of fans opt for the pre-built Shepard character, male or female. That means the remaining 83 per cent choose to customise their own looks, class and abilities.

On the sexuality of women in the game, Silverman defended the gratuitous shots of crew member Miranda's bottom as necessary for her character.

"The fact is, some characters are defined by their attractiveness, such as a woman who is genetically engineered to be perfect," Silverman declared.

"Camera angles help tell the story and portray key aspects of each character - in Miranda's case, her curves and sexuality.

"We had similar shots of Jacob," he added.

BioWare released, in September last year, various Mass Effect 2 statistics pulled from the Xbox 360 and PC versions of the game. Apparently Grunt was more popular on Xbox 360 and Miranda on PC. What does that say about you, console gamers?

Mass Effect 3 with Kinect support.

Picture of Robert.

About Robert Purchese

Bertie is Eurogamer's Senior Staff Writer. When he's not hunting down news stories he's often found playing with his kids or gabbling about fantasy games and strange online worlds.

Read more articles from Robert by visiting the Robert Purchese archive page.

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Comments (62) Latest comment 7 months ago

Comments threads automatically close after 30 days, but please feel free to continue chatting on the forum!

  • bobfish09 #1 7 months ago

    I prefer femshep's voice acting, it has some emotion in it, but I find the romance parts to be awkward when playing as her.

    All for having more female protagonists in games though.

  • unacomn #2 7 months ago

    Not enough female heroes... I'm sorry, I can't hear you over how the camera keeps sticking to Miranda Sara Walker's ass like glue.

    Say, you know who was an excellent female lead in a recent game? Samantha Everett. Who's that you may ask? Someone in good game that didn't have a big enough marketing budget so that every gaming site and publication to constantly drool over years on end.

  • SClaw #3 7 months ago

    Jennifer Hale is a better voice actor. That's all there is to say.

  • ryanbreck #4 7 months ago

    I think I say this wherever the female Shepard is mentioned, but playing with the female version hugely improved my experience of the game. Without any disrespect to the male actor, Hale's performance is superb. I find it just bizarre that such a great performance, and one of the strongest female characters in video games, is entirely missed by the majority of people who play the game.

  • tyrant1 #5 7 months ago

    Aside from the cliched "female action hero" vibe I get (which I detest), I cant stand her voice acting. Its so whispy and annoying, and doesnt sound genuine, it sounds fake.

    The reason why its so popular is because Hale has been in so many roles and done so many positive characters, shes established a large fanbase.

    Oh yeah, and I didnt like Miranda. Her little sister storyline was okay, but like pretty much all the characters it was just some "okay" writing slapped on characters with no depth at all. The fact that you have to PAY for DLC to get her into a suit that doesnt look like it belongs in a strip club says it all.

  • MasterOfTheStick #6 7 months ago

    Lesbian sex is my main reason to play femshep. There's not enough lesbian sex in games.

  • GAmbrose #7 7 months ago

    Lesbian sex between video games characters is about as exciting as checking yourself for testicular cancer.

  • bad09 #8 7 months ago

    I prefer maleshep but do like to dress up as femshep when alone in my quarters.

  • Hamflank #9 7 months ago

    Adjustable bust size would probably increase the amount of female Shepards by 30%.

  • OxWearingSocks #10 7 months ago

    I think I remember Mirandas ass better than her face with the amount of camera time it had on camera. Not sure if that's a complaint though.

  • Cjail #11 7 months ago

    BioWare always use male Shepard for everything (official trailers, gameplay footage, demos, cover art, etc..) so they actually don't do a very good job to show the qualities of female Shepard.

    Edited by 1 at 20/07/11 @ 09:30

  • ZuluHero #12 7 months ago

    That's because saving the universe is man's work!! And you need a man's man to do it! Grrr! ;)

    Joking aside, for me, it was because I didn't like Hales voice work in the first game. Compared to Mark Meer, she was a bit wishy washy (at least for the opening planet), with no real emphasis on the destruction unfolding around her. I tried a "femshep" (does anyone else hate that term?) on the 2nd game, which was a huge improvement, but by that time it was just too late and male shepard (MalShep??) had already cemented himself in to my mind as the saviour of the universe. Hearing another voice with the same lines, delivered by someone else is just somehow.. wrong

    Anyway, it doesn't really matter, who plays who and why. All that matters is that the game is a great experience and people enjoy it. Roll on ME3!!
    Edited by 2 at 20/07/11 @ 09:19

  • Mister-Wario #13 7 months ago

    GAmbrose: I imagine a score of lesbians would disagree with you.

  • menage #14 7 months ago

    Femshep here, MaleShep is a dullard and don't like looking at a man's ass for 40 hours.

  • 5h1nj1 #15 7 months ago

    How do they know, what character I played? I have never told them and never been online with the game. My friends, who played the game, did the same. Isn't it based just upon some small percentage of gamers?
    We all had female chars, if I'm not mistaken.

  • Toothball #16 7 months ago

    I went straight for the female option when I started. I expected the overall percentage would have been higher, but I guess not.

  • Harmonica #17 7 months ago

    BioWare: truly a force for egalitarianism in the games industry. Puke.

  • sirtacos #18 7 months ago

    After playing FemShep, I tried going back to PeniShep, only to wince at every word the guy uttered.

    My Shep looks good, kicks more arse than Uma in Kill Bill, and has a decent voice actor to boot. Wouldn't trade that for nuttin'.

  • Subi #19 7 months ago

    Edit: *** WARNING *** This post contains sarcasm *** WARNING ***

    Only 18% played femshep? Wow, I had no idea 82% of Mass Effect players were female, BioWare is to be congratulated!

    /outrageous presumption that playing a male character in a third-person game makes you gay

    But yeah, I went straight for a female character too. If the game gives you the option I always do. And I am likewise surprised more people don't do the same.

    Edited by 3 at 20/07/11 @ 10:59

  • GAmbrose #20 7 months ago

    @5h1nj1

    They can gather up stats from the games you play so long as you are connected to Xbox Live (or Playstation Network)

    It helps all developers in the long run to get feedback like that.

  • TopKatt #21 7 months ago

    Are we getting the collectors edition in the UK? I can't find it for preorder anywhere.

  • 5h1nj1 #22 7 months ago

    2GAmbrose: Oh right, totally forgot about the console versions. :D Makes sense.
    I couldn't play it on anything else than a PC. The look of the games in hires and with forced AA was quite nice.

  • ShiroBen #23 7 months ago

    That headline is incorrect, it should read "82% of Mass Effect players doing it wrong".

    Also, I don't remember any shots of Miranda's bottom. So they can't have been THAT gratuitous.

  • GiarcYekrub #24 7 months ago

    MaleShep is my Paragon FemShep is my Renegade complete with melty face and red eyes, no med bay upgrade for her

  • butler` #25 7 months ago

    I played 1 & 2 as femshep. Chances are, I'll do the same with 3.

  • Caimbeul #26 7 months ago

    My X360 Playthough is a standard looking Commander Ethan Shepherd.

    My PC playthough is a custom hot Commander Julia Shepherd

  • Subdominator #27 7 months ago

    In what universe is 18 % vs 82 % a success for the loser? Well, obviously in Mass Effect universe. I like both my FemShep and my DefaultShep. But DefaultShep is what I'm more invested in. I think they put more effort into making him look right than the character editor, that's why I use him. No matter what I create, it always looks less realistic than DefaultShep. Part of the problem is that hair looks like shit in ME. With better hair instead of concrete on your head more players would play with a FemShep, I only do because I hacked the savegame so I could get the only decent hair style that is in the game - but for strange reasons only for NPCs, not in the standard editor.

    Personally I think it is pretty damn stupid to put FemShep on the cover of the collector's edition when 82 % of the buyers have never played with her. Just do a flip cover and everybody will be happy.

  • Jamash #28 7 months ago

    So what does it mean when they're taken aback by the vocal support of the 18% minority?

    I think all this means is that some of the people who choose to play as a Female Shepard are gobshites who make a big song and dance about their progressive roleplaying on the Internet, while people who choose a Male Shepard just get on with it and play the game without seeking kudos and validation for their decision.

  • Xardan #29 7 months ago

    All these femshep lovers are like a cult or something.

    I would be interested in knowing the percentage of male players who play as a femshep who actually have a real life girlfriend. I'm thinking its very low.

  • TeeHee #30 7 months ago

    "18% play as Femshep"

    Manshep confirmed as canon.

  • Paulie_P #31 7 months ago

    This again?

  • Kazama74 #32 7 months ago

    I just think it is great that the option to choose a male or female character was added. They didn't have to do all this extra work. Nobody would have noticed much. So kudos to them. I have played through ME1 + 2 with both. I think Jennifer Hale's voice acting wins hands down. She's just able to put so much more emotion into the role. That said, I played my FemShep choosing all the aggressive options, so that gives the VA more to work with than being a goody-goody diplomat.

    I finished ME2 MaleShep without the romance, because I felt Shep's heart lies with the romance he had in ME1 (Williams in this case). Just kept hoping the game would end with them being reunited. Now he's flying around space as a lonely bachelor full of regrets, staring out his window into space, Wing Commander 3 style, haha
    Edited by 1 at 20/07/11 @ 11:46

  • Dr.Mott #33 7 months ago

    "Silverman went on to say that 13 per cent of fans opt for the pre-built Shepard character, male or female. That means the remaining 83 per cent choose to customise their own looks, class and abilities."

    That's some quality maths there Rob.

  • BlitzwingHaz #34 7 months ago

    I played the games as Male Shep first, and maybe thats why I can't get used to playing as femShep. Her voice irritates me.

  • rowsdower #35 7 months ago

    I did ME2 with both and will only do ME3 with femshep. Hale is just the superior voice actor, especially as a renegade.

  • Subdominator #36 7 months ago

    @Dr.Mott: That's because the statement is false. He said that 13 % use male DefShep. 83 % use a modified Shep (of which 18 % use a FemShep). So that leaves 4 % that use female DefShep.

  • HyperTails #37 7 months ago

    I play as FemShep, as I prefer it and Jennifer Hale does the voice over.

  • Kanjin #38 7 months ago

    It's worth playing a female shepard for the Garrus romance

    //not gay

    //well OK kind of a little, but it's just him and George Clooney.

  • Inmediasress #39 7 months ago

    I have to say it's probably because yeah the fem shep voice acting is superb, male shep not so much not specially the voice acting itself more like the voice quality.

  • ForozM #40 7 months ago

    Chose femshep for my Insanity playthrough and I feel like a creep the entire time. Also only play on that save while I'm alone. Feels weird man.

  • Matthew_Hornet #41 7 months ago

    I played as Grace Shepard because I wanted my character to be a badass and Jennifer Hale does it best. Also after 20 years of male space marines it was fun because it was different. It's not exactly some grand feminist statement.

    But those 82% really are doing it wrong :-) But not as wrong as those poor souls in the 13% that play as the male default Shepard... so lost...

  • riz23 #42 7 months ago

    FemShep? Sounds like a depilatory cream that the ladies might put on for smooth legs.

  • oerhoert #43 7 months ago

    BioWare not doing themselves any favors with those quotes. Generally, if people refer to women as 'females' they're doing it wrong.

    To say that Miranda's character IS her sexuality, and call it a 'fact', well, it might not be downright chauvinistic, but it is not a very adventurous approach to writing characters. As a counter-example, Joan in Mad Men. Yes, curves, but the character is about a lot more than that.

    Also, note that his defense for lingering on Miranda's ass is that they did similar shots of Jacob ... drum roll ... a black man. Oh, the shock! I'd never come up with that idea myself, that's so original.

    It's OK with me going for mass market appeal, as long as they don't pretend they're at the forefront of anti-sexism.

  • frunk #44 7 months ago

    I am a simple man.

    I play FemShep...

    Simple reason... when I am expected to stare at someone's arse for 60 hours in a game - I want to to appeal to me :)

  • MadCaddy13 #45 7 months ago

    I just hate playing as females. In my eyes a woman would get destroyed in combat and make it a nit more unbelievable. Call me sexist but it's how I feel

  • psychokitten #46 7 months ago

    If genuine, that's one of the dumbest things I've read this week.

    Anyway... I play as FemShep, Jennifer Hale does a wonderful job at the voice acting, and I've kept my same Shep for the first two, and she'll join me in my last. It somehow feels odd to picture a different Shep than the one I'm attached to :)

  • thiagots85 #47 7 months ago

    well... 82% are missing a hell of a voice actress

    I always say to my friends : " I would marry that woman's voice"... and it's true


    I should go ... wait to play with my Seven Shep in Mass Effect 3 (yeah,yeah...George Constanza)

  • Sunyavadin #48 7 months ago

    In my circle of friends it's more like 98%...

  • soviet_ #49 7 months ago

    Female Shepard is terrible not only because the default and custom female models looks awful but mainly because Jennifer Hale is so bad it's unbelievable. It's not even voice "acting", it's just the same whiny sound she made whilst bored waiting for her cheque because she's a "name"

  • kiantsu #50 7 months ago

    I don't mind about customization, I'll take whatever character the game offers me.

  • metalangel #51 7 months ago

    @unacom: I agree with you, at least.

  • tyrant1 #52 7 months ago

    Im amazed at the amount of repressed homosexuals there are in gaming though.

    Just let it out boys. Dont tell lies that you would rather stare at a females ass for 30 hours, just look at the mans ass, there is no shame in it.

    Admittedly, Im a guy who plays Shepard as male, and I dont ever feel the need to stare at his ass, I concentrate on whats going in game, but if you guys feel the need to, dont be ashamed. There is nothing wrong with it, and certainly no need to hide behind playing a female Shepard.

  • frazzl #53 7 months ago

    +1 to all the people who think Jennifer Hale is a much better voice actor :).

  • WeakOrbit #54 7 months ago

    Shame you couldn't sleep with Grunt.

  • Golgo #55 7 months ago

    I've just started a playthru as FemShep: in predatory lesbian man-hating renegade bitch mode. She's great.

  • Gao #56 7 months ago

    I'm confused, it sounds to me like Bioware are saying they're the only ones to ever allow players to choose the sex of their main character!

  • Pumpatron #57 7 months ago

    I've played as male and female Shepards, and the female Shepard definitely has better voice work.

    But I prefer the male Shepard, its just a better fit for what the character has to do in my opinion. Not because she's female but because the character is physically quite dainty, if the male character had been very slim I'd have the same feelings.

    For me to believe in the character he/she needs to look like they can take care of them self in a physical fight.

    I've tried to explain this in a way that doesn't make me sound sexist, how did I do?

  • Caimbeul #58 7 months ago

    Sounds like the 18% made up of all eurogamer readers.

  • Pehmu #59 7 months ago

    Duh, of course Shepard is a woman.
    I know you can customize your character's looks, but the default face for MaleShep is very generic-looking. A guy in his mid 30's, dark hair ect. Game protagonists usually look something like that, because it's a safe bet.

  • Sar #60 7 months ago

    Female shep every time. No question. Jennifer Hale's voice acting blew the male shep's VA out of the water in both games, by a country mile.

  • tyrant1 #61 7 months ago

    Im surprised to see so many always claiming femsheps voice is superior. Its just fundamentally not in any way.

    If you drop the "zomg its jennifer hale" factor, what you are left with is a poor, raspy attempt at sounding tough all the time.

    And it doesnt work.

    There is an element of blandness to Meers performance, but it doesnt sound fake, or hissy. I mean its so bad with femshep Ive been physically unable to get any further than Eden Prime with the character way back in 2007.
    Edited by 1 at 21/07/11 @ 09:05

  • Harmonica #62 7 months ago

    @ Jamash "I think all this means is that some of the people who choose to play as a Female Shepard are gobshites who make a big song and dance about their progressive roleplaying on the Internet, while people who choose a Male Shepard just get on with it and play the game without seeking kudos and validation for their decision."

    Yeah, that all holds up pretty well, Mass Effect fanboys/girls are the most terrible gamers.

    The other thing that is hilarious is how many people say they play femshep and immediately justify it with 'because the voice acting is better.' Guilty conscience. Play it how you want, save the justifications.

    @ tyrant1

    Yup, couldn't agree more. It's just repressed feelings in general, the same kind of people that claim to have no opinion on whether any bloke is attractive or not, unless they're acceptable targets like David Beckham. Get over it, honestly. Either Shep is a fine figure of humanity.
    Edited by 1 at 21/07/11 @ 17:58