FemShep #5

The beauty pageant that had gamers in a frenzy

It has been seven years since the release of the finale of the Mass Effect trilogy and I cannot believe that I am only finding out about this turmoil now. Perhaps it is better to let sleeping dogs lie and not disturb the dust that has already settled but I cannot help but feel the need to bring up this topic again because I feel it has been a major injustice to FemShep and her fans.

I only recently became entirely absorbed by the wonder and magic that surrounds the Mass Effect series and, while doing some reading before writing my post about the debut to the series, I came across blogs from other dissatisfied Mass Effect fans regarding the beauty pageant that BioWare dared to create for FemShep. Being a FemShep fan, as well as a Mass Effect fan, I could not help but also feel strongly about this injustice.

For those that do not know, when playing any of the Mass Effect games you are able to choose either a male or female version of Shepard and you are able to fully customize your Shepard to make him/her look exactly as you would like them to. Naturally, games have default versions of the avatars for those who would just like to jump into the game but FemShep always feels like she was an afterthought by BioWare. At least that is how I perceive it.

In both the first and second installments of Mass Effect, the default avatar for FemShep is a badass redhead. Of course, as stated above, you could change that but it feels that the designers of female Shepard envisioned her to be that way. Don’t get me wrong, I am not suggesting that you should not customize your Shepard (heck, mine have looked different every time I’ve replayed the game) but default characters do suggest that the character was modeled on a particular person. For example, male Shepard was modeled on Dutch model Mark Vandaloo but FemShep was modeled after nobody. This, once again, reiterates that BioWare did not appear to put much effort into the development and promotion of FemShep despite that she does make-up 100% of the game for some players.

Due to the lack of shine that FemShep received in the promotion of the first and second games, BioWare decided that it was time to give Shepard her time in the limelight, alongside her male counterpart, in which they would both receive camera time in the trailer and on the box art. But BioWare soon discovered a massive flaw in this and that was that they did not actually have a fixed design for FemShep as they did with her counterpart and suddenly the entire beauty pageant was born.

And so a series of female Shepards’ were lined up and given numbers and fans were required to vote for which Shepard they believe should be the official face for FemShep. Let’s take a step back from the politics for a second and look solely at female Shepard’s character.

If you compare female Shepard to male Shepard, what are the honest differences? Aside from slight boobs, narrow curves, longer hair, lingerie, and her choices in romantic partners – there is absolutely no difference. Yes, female Shepard was even modeled on male Shepard right down to walking, combat and sitting – as seen by FemShep’s nonchalant wide-leg display of her delicates while wearing a dress in Mass Effect 2. Alright, you don’t actually see anything but I am sure that even a female soldier would not openly display the pistol hidden under her dress while on a secret mission.

FemShep has become a revelation among the female heroines of gaming. Maybe because she was based on male Shepard exactly or simply because she did not require a man to hold her hand to get shit done. Not only was she already a certified badass at the start of the game but she also became the first human spectre, stopped Sovereign, stopped the Collectors and saved Earth and the rest of the galaxy. Yes, that is one tall order and she served it up just right. Arguably, male Shepard did the exact same and that is the beauty of it: a game where both the male and female character are bathed in the same light, are given the same glory – are seen as equals. So, why in the name of pyjak, was female Shepard sexualized?

I am not going to be one of those gamer girls that whine about feminism while waving a pole with a burning g-string attached, but I do question BioWare’s lack of thinking with regard to the entire fiasco. Even if FemShep was highly disregarded in the promotion of the games prior to the finale, she was still seen as an equal to her counterpart in that they are treated the same. But by putting her up on the Internet for ‘fans’ to choose which one they see as her face is dehumanizing to her character and all that she has achieved throughout her hard work. We did not see any voting going on about the face of male Shepard? All of these debates happen within the design rooms and leave fans to anxiously await the decisions but FemShep was pinned up like a cover girl going against everything that she represents in the game.

FemShep 5 became the winner of the contest representing the typical face of Caucasian beauty: blond with blue eyes. I am not going to go into an entire debate about what is regarded as beautiful in the eyes of various cultures and societies but I will say this: why the hell does the character model have a haircut that isn’t even available in the game??? Even if FemShep 5 was not the one to be selected I would still be upset with the entire premise of the contest. FemShep 5 was selected based on the thoughts of what ‘fans’ considered to be appealing to them and not as a representation of who they see as the face of the badass that is Shepard.

Studies conducted after the release of Mass Effect 2 showed that 18% of players chose to play with female Shepard instead of male Shepard. While this might not seem like a lot statistically it is still a fair amount of people. The ones who made up the majority of the voter’s roll were possibly not even FemShep players or not even Mass Effect players, to begin with, which is why the entire vote system was unfair to start off with.

Many would argue that the only reason people are getting upset, or that the matter received any media attention, to begin with, is that it was a lineup of female characters and not male. Personally, if it were male Shepards’ lined up I would get just as upset because a certain identity would be entirely stripped apart by the bias and politics of the real world. Gamers play games in order to enter a world where the real world’s issues are left behind and by creating this beauty pageant, not only was FemShep’s identity stripped, but they brought politics into the gaming world tarnishing the innocence of the Mass Effect games.

Even though FemShep #5 is blond the default character in Mass Effect 3 is still a badass redhead so my question is: why was the contest held in the first place? Yes, there is the business side of it where even bad publicity is still publicity. FemShep or no FemShep, the media went into a frenzy when gamers threw tantrums over the contest and this stir in itself created a lot of exposure for the series. I was half expecting to find FemShep figurines together with a matching Normandy model and dream house after all this stir. So if that was BioWare’s intention then I am saddened that FemShep had to become a sacrifice for media attention.

Despite all that FemShep has been put through I still consider her to be my favourite Shepard – blond, brunette or redhead, she is still the badass that saved the galaxy. No matter how you picture your FemShep she will always remain close to all our hearts because she is amazing.

If you would like to read more on the opinions of others surrounding the pageant then feel free to follow the links below:

https://www.destructoid.com/why-the-mass-effect-3-femshep-vote-was-the-wrong-move-208186.phtml#disqus_thread
https://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2012-03-21-ms-effect-the-rise-of-femshep
https://kotaku.com/fans-picked-the-blonde-in-a-controversial-video-game-be-5826702