Why are some people OBSESSED with FemShep?

[Arcane Teuton]

EDIT:
I have come to the conclusion that the pinned comment is most likely the case, or at least something we should highly consider. And as such, since this thread has convinced me that it is more likely that they are a very vocal toxic minority, similar to many others, and considering more research I have done in private, I will be changing "so many" to "some" to more accurately reflect the situation for those who actually want to discuss.

Do not get me wrong, other people have submitted answers which are worthwhile and could be part of the solution. I wish I could pin more than one to highlight them all.

I have refrained from decapitalizing "obsessed" because I truly believe if the capitalization of a word has triggered you or offended you in some way, you have much bigger problems that me catering to you will not solve.

in general, this has been just as funny to me as it has been sad. but at least I have my answer, or at least an answer.

Stay safe everyone. Don't let toxicity and fragility turn you into... Those people.

__________________________________________________
Original post:

It has come to a point beyond simply having a preference. Instead, it's as if a lot of people want to completely destroy the notion that a male Shepherd is even possible.


Let me describe things in more detail for those who are interested in reading:

First off, we have game journalism. I cannot recall the last time I saw them use a picture of male Shep instead of female Shep. They always seem to refer to Shepherd as a her, and never as a he. This comes off as pure obsession. With most games which allow customizable characters, the community tends to make a distinction that both sexes are possible. So they use they, he/her, or they make sure to not use any pronouns (which would be grammatically correct) and simply refer to them by their name or title. But for this one, people will typically use "her" to refer to Shepherd, sometimes "he" but a lot less likely, and sometimes they do seem to make sure that it is gender neutral.

And I recall this being a thing even back in the day, or when I look at articles about the game from the past. They always plastered femshep on everything.

It reminds me of a SLATE article that demands players play as a woman, which was unarguably very sexist.



Then there's the weird obsession I have seen with players. There's one Youtube channel which always uploads highlights of the game using femshep, but I assume that's just because they're doing one playthrough and preferred to use femshep. So nothing strange there so far.

But then there are mods that do things like, replace pictures or game loading screens with maleshep with femaleshep. That in and of itself doesn't concern me greatly, but then you look at the comments on the mod, and they're all "OMG, BEST MOD EVER!!" "COULD NOT LIVE WITHOUT THIS MOD <3<3<3" "THIS MOD ACTUALLY MAKES THE GAME PLAYABLE!!!"

So again, what's with this weird obsession with femshep?

I've also seen a lot of people obsessed with forcing same-sex relations with mods and constant complaining and things of the sort, and people suddenly bringing politics into the mix such as with Garrus and suddenly demanding everyone hate him cause he was a cop, or how Ashley would totally be a certain politically affiliated 'terrorist' blah blah blah, but I can honestly explain the last two as a simple projection to try and vilify fictional characters you can do bad things to so you can have an outlet to express your rage. Even if it is very childish and shows to the world that you are a questionable 'member' of society and are likely a detriment to your country's political discourse, these people typically have conflict-free lives and lack actual enemies, opponents, or even friends to interact with, so they go out of their way to create problems they can solve to achieve some form of gratification. After all, most of the hate came from Twitter, which isn't surprising.

But that is all quite different and honestly doesn't interest me as much as this phenomena, since this has lasted for a much longer period of time and has been enforced to a greater extent.

[GoreTiger]

She's a hot redhead.
I read somewheres that people believe femshep to be the canon shep since she was chosen to voice the Andromeda send off msg right before the game came out.

I personally don't care either way, But I never play as femshep because I can't stand her voice. I think her voice acting is terrible. Not that maleshep is perfect but it felt like he put a bit more depth in delivering his lines then Femshep did. She just sounds so monotone to me and I hate it.

[5ean5ean]

1. Becuase Femshep is the best.

2. It triggers people who likes maleshep. Hence this topic.

Just a game....

[Jonathan Hunt]

For me, Shepard is "he".

And I still remember the statistics of Bioware where 82% prefer to play maleShepard

[Arcane Teuton]

Originally posted by 5ean5ean:

1. Becuase Femshep is the best.

2. It triggers people who likes maleshep. Hence this topic.

Just a game....

I don't even know where to start with this. It's like, 4 years after the whole "libtard triggered" trend, we see the opposite side of the spectrum coming late to the party. Except, they have no actual examples, so they just pretend people are triggered?

If you somehow got me being triggered from my post that's probably a result of you being mad at the question being asked in the first place, which resulted in you coming in with a mindset to paint me in an infantilizing manner in your own head, which resulted in you perceiving me as triggered because of a classic case of projection.

And then we have the "just a game" sentiment, as the person is completely unaware how games shape our culture and they think it is somehow just a completely separate medium which has no affect on the real world. LOTR is just a book... Marvel is just fiction...

"It's just a game. Why are you curious about this phenomena? It's not like human nature to be curious or inquisitive, to understand things. No, you just listen to what you are told, and shut up."

[Outbound]

Originally posted by jonathanhunt:

For me, Shepard is "he".

And I still remember the statistics of Bioware where 82% prefer to play maleShepard

And the number of people who thought that FemShep was added to the first game in Legendary Edition.

[R1BARA]

I only play as default broshep because to ME it is the only correct way to play Mass Effect. All the other versions of Shepard feel fake.

I do like that they included the option tho to play as femshep, just not for me.

[Outbound]

Originally posted by ✠ Tarnil Corvax:

Originally posted by 5ean5ean:

1. Becuase Femshep is the best.

2. It triggers people who likes maleshep. Hence this topic.

Just a game....

I don't even know where to start with this. It's like, 4 years after the whole "libtard triggered" trend, we see the opposite side of the spectrum coming late to the party. Except, they have no actual examples, so they just pretend people are triggered?

If you somehow got me being triggered from my post that's probably a result of you being mad at the question being asked in the first place, which resulted in you coming in with a mindset to paint me in an infantilizing manner in your own head, which resulted in you perceiving me as triggered because of a classic case of projection.

And then we have the "just a game" sentiment, as the person is completely unaware how games shape our culture and they think it is somehow just a completely separate medium which has no affect on the real world. LOTR is just a book... Marvel is just fiction...

"It's just a game. Why are you curious about this phenomena? It's not like human nature to be curious or inquisitive, to understand things. No, you just listen to what you are told, and shut up."

You started a rant about FemShep that cites nothing but your own opinions about her. You've got no legs to stand on when it comes to other people responding to you.

[Arcane Teuton]

Originally posted by Outbound:

You started a rant about FemShep that cites nothing but your own opinions about her. You've got no legs to stand on when it comes to other people responding to you.

I have referred to what has actually happened, both in game journalism and in the modding community. My opinions did not create these things out of thin air. You claiming it's a rant and simply my own opinion does not hold water, because I have referenced specific events which have happened.

You actually make me wonder if you know what opinions even are. My opinions consisted of: "It is weird that all these people are obsessed with FemShep." Which I backed up by stating the abnormal behavior which these people display, and comparing it to the much more common behavior. Citing specific events are not opinions, that is evidence. If you continue to just jump into discussions and make things up, no one is going to take you seriously.

[Dr.Abscondus]

I usually play Femshep because I don't want to look at Dudeshep's ugly yap hour after hour. I only play Dudeshep to romance the straight women. I'd play Dudeshep more if the character generator was better and I could make a Shep that looks like me, old, bald, and overweight. I'm used to looking at that guy.

[Arcane Teuton]

Originally posted by Dr.Abscondus:

I usually play Femshep because I don't want to look at Dudeshep's ugly yap hour after hour. I only play Dudeshep to romance the straight women. I'd play Dudeshep more if the character generator was better and I could make a Shep that looks like me, old, bald, and overweight. I'm used to looking at that guy.

Dudeshep's customization is a bit lacking, I would agree, especially in the beard department.

[Cruddy]

Because She's a woman, most men find women attractive and women want a charcter to identify with.

[ReKoNr]

Originally posted by RZ1:

I only play as default broshep because that is the only correct way to play Mass Effect. All the other versions of Shepard feel fake

Yep.

[valera-wrx]

the only reason to play maleshep is to romance Miranda and Tali (and Jack). Otherwise he often just doesnt match tone of dialogue. Shephard speaks a lot of funny nonsense, and voice of maleshep simply doesnt fit that

[BAITness]

Originally posted by ✠ Tarnil Corvax:

Originally posted by 5ean5ean:

1. Becuase Femshep is the best.

2. It triggers people who likes maleshep. Hence this topic.

Just a game....

I don't even know where to start with this. It's like, 4 years after the whole "libtard triggered" trend, we see the opposite side of the spectrum coming late to the party

Honestly you probably figured it all out yourself right there. Some people love to be contrarians, and gaming journos in particular love being contrary to fans of the games they write about (to the point that it is a bit weird honestly).

[The Commendatore]

They're an obnoxiously loud minority, that's all.