Too long ago, I wrote about my experience with the The Jade Empire, and I expressed the intent to write more posts focusing on video games. Though I’ve had many topic ideas since then, I never really got the bug to need to write them. My fairytales and my movies got in the way, because when it comes right down to it, my passion is in stories. Bioware, through The Jade Empire, caught my attention and inspired me to write that post nearly a year ago. And it’s Bioware that brings me back to discussing the medium today.
Sometime between then and now, my boyfriend found himself unable to bring his Mass Effect 1 & 2 save files into Mass Effect 3, and decided to replay the series from the start. This happened after I had intentions of eventually trying the Mass Effect series myself. So while he spent his days catching up to his lost save, I watched, and I put a lot of thought into what my character might do differently.
Now that I have the first two games, this is to the best of my memory the first time I’ve played a game that had both a fully voice acted protagonist and the choice of dialogue responses for them. I’ve had experiences with the personality-driven dialogue wheel, but sans voice acting, and I would definitely say now that the voice acting is the biggest part of what makes my Mass Effect character feel genuine to me.
First of all, FemShep’s voice actress Jennifer Hale is as amazing as the internet claims. She gives an incredibly nuanced performance, and I especially love that she maintains a touch of bad-ass attitude regardless of which alignment choices I make. My Commander Shepard still feels like the same person during any type of dialogue.
Watching my boyfriend’s play-through, I realized that the same can’t be said for the male Commander Shepard. Mark Meer is still a fine voice actor, but he delivers the dialogue very matter-of-factly. At it’s best it’s just bland, on average I feel like the character is reading lines or is being too level-headed, and at it’s worst an awkward attempt at a passionate delivery makes me laugh when I shouldn’t be.
I’ve discussed (and mildly argued) this point with him, and his take on the difference is thus: that the male Shepard’s delivery is meant to be flat, because that makes it easier for players to envision themselves in the role. On the other hand, the female Shepard, having not been designed for the core (male) demographic, is instead a predefined character.
Generally you see a game written for one type of character or the other: either you get to make up a character to your tastes, or you play a character purposefully designed for the game. Often, the former is a way for the player to imagine themselves as that character.
But I have a real issue with the idea that the “blank slate” character makes for a more immersive experience. I have no problem playing characters opposite my own gender, but I could never see myself getting invested in these games if I played a male Commander Shepard. Every time he opens his mouth, I’m aware that it’s a video game. I understand the logic of the argument that his blandness allows more interpretation from the player, but for me it just reinforces the fact that he is not a real person. I have the same problem with a lot of Bethesda games, where the player characters are ultra-customizable, and silent. I can play the games and have fun, but I feel like I’m following quest objectives and not like the story has any impact on my character.
There does seem to be support for a gender divide here; disregarding the issue of what gender they’d rather play as, it seems that men prefer to play the blank slate and women prefer to play the fully realized character. I do, after all, completely boggle my boyfriend’s mind with how many hours I’ve put into my Bethesda RPGs to still have *cough* never actually bothered to finish any.
I hate putting it so simply, because I love the character creation process in all types of games and I love making my character my own. It feels wrong to say that I’d rather have my protagonist be predefined.
The best way I can explain it, for myself if not for all FemShep fans, is that I do want to play my character my way but I also want her to be realized in front of me, and to feel real within her world. This is why I praised Bethesda in the past: their games are really good at allowing for player choice as well as creating a character with a tangible connection to the story.
I’d love to hear other opinions on this, from both genders and lovers of any types of games. What kind of character do you prefer, or find more immersive? What are your thoughts on the different voice acting styles in the Mass Effect series?
Three Times Told 