User:The Millionth One/FemShep


 * Need to expand for Commander Shepard article, if nothing else.

The female Commander Shepard, often nicknamed "FemShep"...

Development
[The male and female versions of Shepard were voiced by Mark Meer and Jennifer Hale respectively. Both of them had worked with BioWare many times previously. ] Hale has said she is very invested in helping to "create" the stories of video games, though she herself is not a gamer. Although Hale does object to certain lines if they seem out-of-character in other works, she prefers not to mess with the words for Shepard and BioWare.
 * http://www.vg247.com/2012/04/05/femshep-voice-actor-doesnt-want-to-let-go-of-shepard/

During the development of the first game, the female Shepard was given equal importance as the male; unique lines were written for her as well as a unique romance option. When describing her, Casey Hudson said "[s]he's not a caricature of the idea of role-playing as a female, but instead she's very impressive as a strong female character that's sensitive yet extremely confident and assertive".

The default female face changed slightly between the first and second game, but underwent a big redesign for Mass Effect 3. Six different designs for the default female Shepard were hosted online, and fans were told to vote for whichever design they preferred via Facebook; many different designs were made before the vote, but were whittled down to six by BioWare staff. The blonde Shepard with freckles won, though BioWare later decided that the hairstyle may have interfered with the vote, and so made another competition to decide that. The red-haired Shepard won.


 * http://kotaku.com/5892386/my-female-shepard-how-youvechanged

The female Shepard had not been advertised heavily previously as marketing wanted to only showcase one character, so that consumers could easily understand who the hero was. For Mass Effect 3, BioWare wished to "acknowledge" the demand for material with the female Shepard.


 * http://kotaku.com/5962692/shes-commander-and-shes-quite-partial-to-a-spot-of-snowboarding
 * http://kotaku.com/5973042/theres-a-second-surprisingly-unsexy-commander-shepard-statue-coming
 * https://www.gameinformer.com/b/news/archive/2012/09/26/female-commander-shepard-coming-to-north-america.aspx


 * http://kotaku.com/5842345/there-will-be-no-female-shepard-seth-green-or-video-game-stories-in-the-mass-effect-movie

Reception
Although reports showed that only 18% of players chose to play as a female Shepard in Mass Effect 2, vocal support for her was high. The female Shepard was nicknamed "FemShep". Hale was nominated for "Best Performance By A Human Female" at the 2010 Spike Video Game Awards, though lost to fellow Mass Effect voice actor Tricia Helfer (playing Sarah Kerrigan in StarCraft II: Wings of Liberty). PC Gamer's Tom Francis listed an appearance of FemShep on the box as one of 15 things he wished to see from 3.


 * http://www.gameinformer.com/b/features/archive/2013/10/14/top-10-memorable-character-voices.aspx?PostPageIndex=2
 * http://www.1up.com/features/six-female-characters-do-it-right
 * http://www.gamesradar.com/high-horse-case-femshep/
 * http://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2012/02/10/femshep-lives/
 * http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2012-03-21-ms-effect-the-rise-of-femshep
 * http://www.gamasutra.com/view/news/30143/Analysis_On_FemSheps_Popularity_In_Mass_Effect.php
 * http://www.gamesetwatch.com/2010/09/column_the_spoony_bard_on_fems.php
 * http://www.wired.com/gamelife/2010/09/mass-effect-2-femshep/
 * http://kotaku.com/5899965/raise-your-hand-if-you-prefer-femshep
 * http://www.technologytell.com/gaming/134737/ill-take-fem-shep-male-shepard-day/


 * http://www.pcgamer.com/2011/07/27/mass-effect-3-death-to-blonde-shepard/
 * http://www.gamerevolution.com/features/mass-effect-3s-female-shepard-looks-fine-bitches
 * http://www.1up.com/features/top-5-video-game-non-troversies