The player

Changing gender may open up a whole new gaming dimension, says JOE GRIFFIN

GENDER CHOICE is increasingly common in role-playing games (RPGs). Just as you can choose your ethnicity, appearance and back-story, a simple click determines whether your character is a man or a woman.

A (male) gamer recently told me that he enjoyed playing the Mass Effect series as “Femme Shep”. Previously it hadn’t even occurred to me to play RPGs as anything other than male. After all, gaming is living by proxy, so isn’t it easier to relate if you’re playing the same gender? But curiosity got the better of me, and I tried both Kingdoms of Amular: Reckoning and Mass Effect 3 as a female character.

Let’s start with Mass Effect 3. My initial reasons were quite shallow. As far back as Green Beret in 1986, I was already tiring of the badass super-soldier in games: the apparent vulnerability of the slinky female was more interesting, and echoed sci-fi classics such as The Terminator and Alien. It also doesn’t hurt that Jennifer Hale is a better voice actor than her male equivalent, Mark Meer.

Surprisingly, however, the game’s narrative became a little richer for starring as a female. I know that individuals don’t represent all women, but it is interesting to see a woman in these scenarios.

In Mass Effect 3, Shepard is representing earth in both negotiations and battles, and gets teased about her weight by her commanding officer (with the same dialogue as if it’s a male character). Bioware tend to be socially progressive gamesmaker, so it’s in keeping with the Mass Effect series (where mixed alien ethnicities marry and same-sex relationships aren’t a big deal) that a woman would be the savour of the universe.

Reckoning also takes place in a world that’s usually filled with brawny male heroes – the fantasy genre. The tale of a warrior resurrected (via a magic experiment) works better with a woman. After all, women were revered by the pagans, partly because they could create life. And her soft appearance makes the violent fight scenes more shocking.

Next time you’re choosing gender at the start of a game, choose the opposite to your own. Let me know how you get on.