Most video games star white males.

[PhiMed]

I think that's a terrible idea. When the protagonist is fully customizable, he/she/it loses their CHARACTER. Quick... who's your favorite Mass Effect character? I guaran-fucking-tee you didn't just say "Shepard". Wanna know why? Because Shepard has to be a boring wet blanket in order to fit everyone's idea of who that person should be. Bioware games have their place, but I'm glad there are games that don't adopt that model and actually tell a concise story.

On the other hand, quite a lot of us who play as FemShep are very attached to Commander Shepard; it's a rare occasion for us to be a female action hero with real agency and personality. Plus, Jennifer Hale's performance as the voice of FemShep is just that good.

Shepard only has the personality that the player chooses to project onto him/her. Because the character's personality (not RESPONSES... PERSONALITY) changes drastically based on player choices, the character literally has no personality unique to him/her. Players can choose to make the player a saint, an asshole, conflicted, or wildly inconsistent. There IS NO personality inherent to the character Shepard.
If the only thing required for you to become attached to a character is "agency" (God, I hate that word...) and the lack of a Y chromosome, then enjoy your mysandry, I suppose.

 

[ms_sunlight]

Spoiler: spoilered for brevity

I think that's a terrible idea. When the protagonist is fully customizable, he/she/it loses their CHARACTER. Quick... who's your favorite Mass Effect character? I guaran-fucking-tee you didn't just say "Shepard". Wanna know why? Because Shepard has to be a boring wet blanket in order to fit everyone's idea of who that person should be. Bioware games have their place, but I'm glad there are games that don't adopt that model and actually tell a concise story.

On the other hand, quite a lot of us who play as FemShep are very attached to Commander Shepard; it's a rare occasion for us to be a female action hero with real agency and personality. Plus, Jennifer Hale's performance as the voice of FemShep is just that good.

Shepard only has the personality that the player chooses to project onto him/her. Because the character's personality (not RESPONSES... PERSONALITY) changes drastically based on player choices, the character literally has no personality unique to him/her. Players can choose to make the player a saint, an asshole, conflicted, or wildly inconsistent. There IS NO personality inherent to the character Shepard.
If the only thing required for you to become attached to a character is "agency" (God, I hate that word...) and the lack of a Y chromosome, then enjoy your mysandry, I suppose.

I'm sorry you feel that way, because it sounds like you had a lot less of an engaging and consistent experience with ME2 than I did. I felt that whatever way I played my Shepard, the voice acting, visual presentation, animations etc. led to a presentation of a believeable and compelling character.

I don't know why you think I'm misandrist; I like men well enough. I'm married to one, and I like him enormously. I also have no problem with games where you have a pre-defined male character, like DE:HR or TW2. I just like playing as a woman sometimes, is all, and as a PC FemShep rocks.

 

[AusGamer44]

I don't think EVERY game should have a fully customizable character,although I think in Mass Effect's case both Shephards were pretty good in fulfilling their role as wish fulfilment avatars.You're right,at the end of the day,character is the most impt thing.This was just one solution I proposed to redress the balance.I would just love to play as a REALLY awesome female character.Perhaps another idea is that until more developers are brave enough to invent and give the lead to a cool female hero,they could give supporting female NPCs who worked really well and resonated with the public titles of their own.I would LOVE to play as Alyx in Half Life 2!
Perhaps in the end,we need not just to encourage women to play games,but to CREATE them.When I was in animation class in art school in 1992,only 2 of us of the 25 students in the whole faculty were women.(Our computer animation classes were in their infancy,and only ONE guy was really wanting to be a games developer.How times change!)I have no idea how many women are learning computer animation these days,but I hope it's more than in 1992.I guess really,like all the other arts,until women invade in decent numbers,the 'voice' of that art will be one sided.