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Essay

The Ongoing Saga of Commander Shepard’s Hair (Of All Things)

by Becky Chambers | 11:57 am, August 23rd

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Let me tell you about Commander Shepard. To me, Commander Shepard is a brave and selfless woman from a small border colony, orphaned at a young age by Batarian slavers. She fights with pure physical strength, leaving technical expertise and biotic powers to the loyal friends who follow her into battle. She prefers the raw fury of an assault rifle, though she is tactically minded enough to see the wisdom in using a sniper rifle from time to time. She is fiercely committed to ending the Reaper threat – not just for humanity, but for the entire galactic community. She loathes the xenophobic methods of Cerberus, and will tolerate them only as far as her cause demands it. Her best friends are Garrus, a pragmatic Turian who has been there since the beginning, and Tali, a young, feisty Quarian that she has taken under her wing. Her real strength comes from her love for Liara, a brilliant Asari archaeologist. Shepard remains faithful to her even while their paths keep them apart. She engages others with a cool head and sincere respect, except for that one time that she lost her shit and punched a reporter.

So, unless they’re going to put all that on the box, I really don’t care what color hair they give her.

What does give me pause is the need to have a contest at all. The whole thing has an icky beauty pageant sort of air about it. It’s as if they’re saying that the original FemShep was fine so long as she stayed behind the curtain, but she’s not really going to go out on stage looking like that, is she? Or, if you’ll allow me another metaphor, it felt like running onto the playground, ready to jump on the swings and play some make-believe, only to have one of the popular girls walk up to you and ask, “Didn’t you wear those jeans yesterday?”

(Not that such a thing has ever happened to me, or anything.)

What I find worth musing over is that nobody ever kicks up a fuss over the default male — in any game, to my knowledge. In Mass Effect’s case, there was no need to hold a contest. BioWare said, “This is the default BroShep,” and we said, “Why yes, so it is.” What would have happened if they had put the default FemShep on the box without any sort of contest or community input? Would everyone have accepted her as she is?

As much as it saddens me to say it, I tend to think not. I think we still would have seen those two camps manifest, on a smaller scale, regardless of whether or not there was a contest involved. Leaving straight men out of the equation for a moment (sorry, dudes, I’ll come back to you later), I think the reason for that is because as far as women are concerned, Commander Shepard is a way bigger concept than just a character you use to blow up aliens.

See, I believe that the ire we’re seeing over Shepard’s hair stems from the fact that most female gamers are coming off of years (decades, in some cases) of trying to be fairly represented. Yes, things have gotten much better for us, and yes, some game developers are trying to keep us in mind when they make new titles. But we still carry that history around, even if some of us don’t spend too much time dwelling on it. For me, BioWare titles like Mass Effect and Dragon Age were the first RPGs that ever made me really feel like an equal (and I praise BioWare sincerely for that). Getting my incarnation of Commander Shepard on the box – even if she wasn’t exactly my Shepard – isn’t so much about the character. It’s about me feeling included. In a way, an official female Commander Shepard is a symbol, a mascot for our place in gamer culture. I think that on some core level, giving her face equal exposure is a validation that women gamers not only exist, but that we exist on the same level as our male comrades.

When I look at it that way, it’s obvious why her appearance matters so damn much to us, even if we’re going to change it the minute we get into the character creation screen. We’re not just trying to define her. We’re trying to define ourselves.

All of this brings to mind a conversation I had with my friend Nils a few weeks ago. While chatting about player character gender, he told me he usually plays female characters in games, so long as the gender choice doesn’t overly affect the story. Why? To paraphrase, he doesn’t find most game designers’ concept of masculinity as something that he can relate to. Even though he is biologically male, and identifies as male, and presents himself in a traditionally masculine manner, he finds the narrative disconnect between himself and a female character easier to accept than that which he finds between himself and a hyper-aggressive macho man.

As a Vulcan science officer once said: fascinating.

Thinking back on that, I can’t help but wonder what would happen if we had a contest for the face of BroShep. How would that play out? Would the masculine narrative disconnect finally come to light? Would there all of a sudden be squabbles over the squareness of his jaw, or how big his biceps were, or how much stubble was too much? Would we see man-fancying FemShep players voting for the BroShep they found most attractive, even if they didn’t plan on playing as him? If the male Commander Shepard was suddenly seen not just as a toy to play with on screen, but as a representative mascot for all male players, would we see the same kind of division that we’re seeing over FemShep?

I wonder.

In any case, the fact that one of the best female characters in gaming history has been reduced to a discussion of her physical appearance has left a bad taste in my mouth. But I’ll get past it. No, I’m not going to vote in the contest. I’m just going to keep watching trailers and dodging spoilers and saving up for the Collector’s Edition of Mass Effect 3. FemShep is going to be on the box, you see. It’s a step. I’ll take it.

(comic via Penny Arcade.)

Becky Chambers is a freelance writer and a full-time geek. She blogs over at Other Scribbles.

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  • http://twitter.com/Tubular_Whitney Whitney Hall

    Hey, that’s not Joe Flanigan! Stupid misleading headline.  

  • Ceili

    They have a point. I voted for blondeShep because I like long hair, and I’ve never been a fan of the shorter options. I don’t care for the blonde look, and it seems like most, despite the voting, wanted her to remain a redhead. Which is why I’m not surprised–though I am quite pleased–to see redhead in the lead after all.

  • http://twitter.com/acidragdoll Bel

    I think Bioware’s intention with this one was purely marketing-driven, and I bring this up not because I think any point you’ve made is invalid, but because I’ve yet to see it acknowledged.  I know I can’t be the only one quietly covering my mouth and shaking my head in awe that nobody anticipated this firestorm – or did they, and that’s why they’re trying to hand the blame off to us?

    There WERE no FemSheps without eyeliner available.  I wish that didn’t annoy me as much as it did – and MY shep wears eyeliner! (Well, it seemed like a good idea in ME1, the eyes looked too dull without it, and a little bit of eyeliner in ME1 became a hell of a lot in ME2 and… yeah, looks like they’re not fixing it for 3.)

  • Anonymous

    I only came across this at the hair color point, and seriously rolled my eyes.  In her thirties, practical hair, and  a scar, yep.  Not this youngun’.  She ain’t my Shep.  And my Shep isn’t bloody caucasian either.  :p

    But I’m kinda happy that the red-head is winning, since that’s the most similar option to default FemShep anyway.  Makes sense.  I wondered why they didn’t go with the default FemShep in the first place as well.  I like your reasoning on this.

  • http://twitter.com/acidragdoll Bel

    Possibly because they never actually put that much thought into her.

  • Anonymous

    Heh, well that’s a given, I think.

  • http://www.facebook.com/diacritic Nick Simmonds

    I think I’m just going to have to go back and replay as FemShep.  I tend to make characters that look as much like me as possible, because I enjoy the RPing element and it helps me immerse myself, especially in Bioware games that have so many path options.  It’s gratifying to be able to build myself—which, I’m aware is a privilege that I enjoy, and if I could I’d extend it to every gamer ever.

    But I can certainly manage the cognitive dissonance of making choices as someone else, and this is the teenth time I’ve seen Hale’s voice acting praised in this saga, so it’s clearly something I should experience.

    Like I said on the discussion of Portal’s Chelle, I wish game designers would more often make games that mean beardy, able-bodied white guys like myself have to play as someone else, or at least where the default is such, because it isn’t the first thing that comes to mind, and it’s a worthwhile experience for me, and because the immersiveness of playing “oneself” should also be available to everyone else.

  • http://www.spaceunicorn.net Jayme

    Part of why I’m excited about the Jane Shep redesign has been hit upon in the comments already. Original default Jane never seemed as if they’d paid as much attention to her looking like a real person as they had with Sheploo (default male Shep was modeled from and looks exactly like model Mark Vanderloo). Oh! And I wanted to add that I like Sheploo because he does not look overly manly to me. Not like Garrett Hawke. Mmm, Garrett Hawke….

    Another thing, from what I understand following Twitter and watching BioWare Pulse, is that with the new or updated or whatever engine, they have a much improved way of creating and using hair textures in 3. So, what better excuse for making some changes. Apparently there will be several new hairstyles to choose from in the character creator.

    Lastly, I think one of the main reasons the 2nd round of voting is going on is because the player will not be able to take new default Jane Shep and tweak anything about her appearance. If you want that saucy mole, strong jawline and smoldering green eyes, you will have to take her with that set hair color. And, as it turns out, BioWare was not wrong in thinking blonde was only winning for the style.

    Personally, I voted brunette both times. Because I am one. That is how I designed my custom Shep, because I like my characters to look like myself. And my femShep is in want of a new hairstyle. Even if I think blonde new proto-default Jane is the most badass out of all the choices.

    FYI, it’s not just femShep getting a new look (and I’m not alone in thinking original default Jane looked years younger than new proto-default Jane). All the characters will have an upgraded look. I am stoked for this. I am also very excited for any femShep to be featured in art for the CE of ME3. I liked hearing that would be available, and I liked being able to vote. Really, there’s no reason for anyone to fight over any of it. That’s just people being bratty because their champion is losing the popularity contest. My brunette Shep is not winning and I’m not bitching about it.

  • http://www.facebook.com/people/Kristin-Frederickson/852880113 Kristin Frederickson

    I don’t care two flips what Femshep’s hair colour is, but there are three issues/semi-issues I take with the whole thing;

    a) Her hair colour doesn’t matter, but her hairstyle does. I have long blonde hair myself and I can guarantee I wouldn’t waltz around trying to fight aliens considering how much it falls in my eyes. Both male and female Shepard should have buzz cuts.

    b) I think they missed an opportunity to have a non-white box art character, but oh well. Baby steps – at least there’s a Femshep at all right?
    c) This really shouldn’t have been opened to public voting at all. Fans in general don’t know what the hell they want, and they certainly don’t all have degrees in character design (thus why Femshep looks like she’s going to end up with long hair, despite the incongruence with her character).

  • Francesca M

    I’m .. confused. This is the default character right? This is the character you alter to make what you want them to be. Because when I played Mass Effect and I was making my default I made her what I wanted to be not using their standard. Odds are most people are going to change this character anyways, I don’t see the point of getting worked up. Heck I made a mistake in making my character and in the end I thought it made her more interesting than what I would have done. Seriously I know I’m probably going to get flamed at, but seriously.. if you didn’t play with Default Fem Shep why would you start now.

  • http://twitter.com/acidragdoll Bel

    The black shep came in #2 after blondie, for what it’s worth.

  • http://twitter.com/#!/Akheloios Akheloios

    This annoys me solely because it’s the same as the recent Harley Quinn character revamp. A successful character/design, popular, decent fanbase, abandoned because she’d started to get a bit more name recognition and a sexy outfit might attract people who had only heard of her recently. DC hoping in Harley’s case, Bioware in femShep’s, that the new fans attracted by the ‘sexy’ redesign might outnumber the original fans/players who leave the fanbase because of the eye-candy redisign.

  • http://twitter.com/barometry Barometry Jones

    Wow. It’s been a long time since I saw the default FemShep, and I now realize that I spent a lot of customization time making a face that looks… more or less exactly like the default (except for the hair). And who are these people who want a younger Shep, male or female? My Shep is definitely a grizzled soldier. I keep hoping for the option to give her some grey hair at the temples.

    In the context of this discussion, I’m kind of amused that the default avatar image on the Mary Sue is clearly meant to be a male outline. And by “amused” I mean “disappointed”.

    ETA: by “default FemShep” I meant “default from the first two games”.

  • http://twitter.com/Squidgee Kristin Bremmer

    I’ve done a few different playthrough’s (admittedly, all FemShep, my boyfriend plays as BroShep (I watch and criticise)) and all of my FemSheps have been different. The first I supposed looked a bit like me, the second (and my favourite) looks like Starbuck – kickass, no nonsense and a cheeky rebel, my third was pale, asian and dark haired and very by the book. I also used the latter for my renegade playthrough.  Incidentally, my favourite is probably the most opposite to me.  I think a lot of people will choose to do this and any one, single version of FemShep cannot embody this. 

    Eh, what does it matter? I’m still super-excited for ME3, I try to avoid hype and that’s all this is. Hype. An easy way to generate some mouth-traffic. Plop one idea/ proposal out there and watch the angry masses rise!

  • http://www.facebook.com/curtis.owings Curtis Owings

    Even with customization there were limits on how far you could push the model.  They all ended up pretty similar.   The new Shep is prettier, but ya know shep wasn’t a hottie.  Not that she couldn’t be both, but she wasn’t.  She was bad ass and no non-sense.  Besides, the original femshep wasn’t “ugly”.  She was thin and buxom (just not stupid buxom).  She wasn’t the impossibly configured Miranda.  I’d have to see some story-line to explain the new youthful appearance… I mean Shepard should have a 1000-mile-stare that virtually never says “Hey, baby” or “I’m about to throw a pout”.

    As to the story-line, it is wonderful.  Games like Mass Effect (IMO) are going to become a widespread story telling medium.  We will almost cease to think of them as games.

  • http://twitter.com/acidragdoll Bel

    FemShep never had a successful character design, and I think a bit of eyeliner is a bit different from… whatever Harley’s wearing.  It’s worth remembering that this Shep DOES serve the desires of a fair chunk of the FemShep fanbase – many of them female.

  • http://twitter.com/KomiIsDrawing Komiyan

    c) was my issue too, why the heck is this a vote? Bioware, you know what you’re doing, you’re all big boys and girls now, make your own choices and we’re sure they’ll be fine.

  • http://www.facebook.com/people/Janelle-Bouchard/100002528395762 Janelle Bouchard

    Honestly, I couldn’t care less if they made her blond. I do care that
    the last picture in article makes her look more like young dancer in
    soldiers armor rather then a seasoned veteran and military commander.
    Wearing highly stylized layered hair down and thick eye liner? Please.

  • http://pulse.yahoo.com/_7G4SWUX2MCWWXLMYNN347JMIZY Frodo Baggins

    So let me get this straight. Snyder turns Lois Lane, an individual, specifically defined, 70-something-years-iconic character into a blonde in a major blockbuster film that is explicitly intended to reboot, redefine, and re-establish the series based on THE archetypal superhero comic and people say, “Well, whatever, it’s a little weird, but not that important to the character.”

    But when Bioware lets players vote on the default look of a character that’s existed for four years, whose recognizability amongst the general populace is fleeting at best, whose appearance is completely unrelated to anything else about her character because any user can customize her to look however the hell they want, in a medium where the point is allowing the user to experience intense gameplay more than to observe a fictional character’s life and choices, and those voters chose a blonde, the response is, “HOW DARE THEY BETRAY HER CHARACTER THAT’S NOT MY FEMSHEP WHAT A STEP BACK FOR FEMINISM.”

    I don’t understand it.

  • http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=37607345 Kelly Miller

    I’m just going to load up my original FemShep and hope she looks like the cantankerous bad ass I’ve come to love.

  • http://twitter.com/acidragdoll Bel

    I think it’s more of an “all out of bubblegum” look.

  • http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=727485092 Katy Turner

    My problem is with that high-maintainance hair.   I have a hard time picturing Commander Shepard - space badass, sitting in the salon getting those layers cut in.  Or spending twenty minutes in the bathroom mirror every morning straightening that fringe and styling it to fall sideways in spite of gravity.  Do game designers know how much time and hairspray that takes?

  • http://twitter.com/CasiphiaGamer Karena/Casiphia

    I was a late adopter to Mass Effect (not being huge into sci-fi), and started with ME2 only after falling in love with DA:O and deciding to give BioWare another try.

    Being female, I prefer to play female characters, for whatever reason, but I’m not against playing male characters. I don’t feel left out or empowered either way. That being said, I found the FemShep *so* much more badass than the male. I guess it was the voice acting and the fantastic body language programming (I used default male as nothing looked right and custom female who looked like my human noble warden), but I didn’t want to be with/know/be the male, but I’d want to be with/know/be the female *shrug*

    I feel that the whole voting thing is ridiculous. But in the end, just be realistic/practical (I know, how dare I ask for either in a video game). I dislike those crime shows with the ME or the investigator has her hair hanging down and waving all over the place and contaminating everything (if my hair touched a dead body, I’d freak). Female cops who were impractical shoes make me /rage. 

    When I create my characters, I think other than a Peggy (Married With Children) looking blood elf in WoW, all my characters have hair that is suitable for what they do. Maybe I’m the exception to the rule. I fall in love with *my* character.

    Absolutely, some of the time she’s going to be made up, and look nice, when she has time – everyone should take pride in their appearance. Other times, not so much. I don’t know about you, but 18 hours, no sleep, physical exertion? There’s only so much that sweat proof mascara can do. 

    You have the 3 origin stories, and that could slightly affect appearances as a means to exercise individualism/habits, but ultimately, she’s going to be a soldier (and really, you want a hair do that will resist helmet-hair, c’mon!). 

  • Anonymous

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  • http://twitter.com/GracieValenti Grace Valentino

    Ha! I came here for the same reason.

  • http://twitter.com/GirlsAreGeeks Girls Are Geeks

    So, what you mean is that gender shouldn’t make a difference as to the importance of appearance … but it does. 

    Amen.

    Can’t wait for the day it doesn’t matter anymore.

  • Corey Waits

    Am I the only one who thinks the blonde choice looks like Joffrey from Game of Thrones? Have another look at the face… Yep, there you go. Cannot unsee.

  • Ritchie Tiongson

    I just want female Shepard to be the default one. If they’re letting us have a say in choosing what she looks like, then so be it. Thanks for the opportunity. I do wish they’d look a bit more mature, yes, but…

    Anyway, she’s still the same Shepard. Strong. Independent. A will tougher than armor plating. They’re not letting fans change that. Appearance is the one thing they’ll let us alter, which leads into the selection process. For the record, I wish they’d gone a step further by making a special website where you could only log in if you had a Bioware account with a female Shepard in a completed saved game. That way the only ones who could vote would be those that played her.

    (Final note: Yeah. GREAT voice acting.)

  • http://twitter.com/EleniRPG Eleni

    Commander Shepard’s age isn’t an opinion. It’s 31, give or take a year depending on whether you’re looking at ME1 or ME3. To give an example of a woman who is 31: Zooey Deschanel. Now, I have to say it’s a little hard to tell how old a drawn or computer-animated character is, but I don’t think they look out of line. OK, now that’s out of the way…

    I can’t complain about the second round of voting, because I actually was one of the people who complained “The blonde has the coolest hair style, it’s not fair to the other hair colors!!!!” Having brown hair myself, I always gave my Shepard brown hair, so I wanted to see a brunette with that hair style. Well, I got my wish. As it happens, I actually like the look with black hair the best. But any of the hair colors are fine by me. I’m glad they gave other hair colors a chance with the second round of voting. And I’m a woman who plays as FemShep. So sue me.

    I guess I can understand how, if one used the default FemShep appearance in ME1 and ME2, one might be disappointed to see the default being replaced now that she’s in the spotlight. However, when I found out that she was getting her picture on the case and her own trailer, I *hoped* that they would change her appearance. I was always disappointed with the default, and designed my own because I thought it was relatively easy to get a cooler look. What I was actually hoping was that they’d design the new default FemShep after a real woman’s face. After all, the default BroShep is designed after A FRIGGIN’ GORGEOUS MODEL. To say that it’s somehow unfair and sexist to want the default FemShep to be pretty is to ignore the fact that BroShep could pass as a fashion model.

  • http://twitter.com/EleniRPG Eleni

    Ideally the people voting on FemShep’s appearance would be FemShep players, voting for the appearance that most closely matches their own vision of her. It is unfortunate if the voting got taken over by guys choosing the hottest one. But the vote itself isn’t saying that appearance matters more for the female Shepard than the male Shepard. The original default FemShep was seemingly thrown together as an afterthought. The original default BroShep was designed after a gorgeous male model, because they knew he’d be the face of Mass Effect. Now that they’re putting FemShep in the spotlight, why doesn’t she deserve the same model treatment BroShep got? I’d have liked to see her designed after some actress’s face, but I don’t think the new designs and the vote are necessarily worse than making her look like a beautiful model.

  • http://twitter.com/EleniRPG Eleni

    And for the record, I don’t put makeup on my Shepard, but I don’t mind it for the “photo shoot” that is the cover design. If it makes her eyes look more intense, great. Maybe in the future, makeup is so advanced that its application is instant.

  • Anonymous

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  • Anonymous

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  • http://pulse.yahoo.com/_7G4SWUX2MCWWXLMYNN347JMIZY Frodo Baggins
  • http://www.facebook.com/people/Jessica-Storton/100000137913644 Jessica Storton

    To be honest, I’m a female game (Since I was 6, and I’m going on 30 next year) who almost always chooses the male gender when given the choice. When I was younger, of course I always had to be Chun-li, or Jade, or Sonya, but now? Almost of my WoW characters are male, save one. One. This choice of her hair color, or lipstick, means very little to me. It doesn’t effect how I connect to Shep.

  • Anonymous

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  • Anonymous

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  • http://twitter.com/acidragdoll Bel

    I don’t know.  Maybe it’s just the fact that I started with console JRPGs where the rule of thumb is “The Higher the Hair, the Closer to God,” but the impraticality doesn’t bother me.  I can see why people voted for that hair – it looks nice, but in that artfully messy kind of way.  I think the idea most people had was that that DID look badass.

  • http://www.facebook.com/johnradclyffe John Radclyffe Lohan

    ‘future-makeup’ is now my headcanon to explain my femshep’s ME1 –> ME2 eyeliner increase! Thanks for that. 

  • http://twitter.com/Raptorendame Bianca M

    I do understand the problem quite well.

    My FemShep is blonde, yes, and she even has one of the long haircuts, but thats because I like female characters to look a certain way (and in this case, I do have blond hair too *g*). Loved that Bioware did give me the opportunity to finally feel like developers saw women as gamers too. The first time I played Mass Effect and DoA I had been thrilled, because I never had those oppertunities. I was honestly irritated and shouted at my boyfriend:” Oh God, they got extra, earnest content for a female character! And she looks real! Like a person, capable of taking care for herself!”.

    I would have appreciated it if they just had said: “Here, that’s your FemShep for the trailer.”. Just like with the male one. Would have spared everyone much trouble. And it wouldn’T have felt like some Germanys-next-topmodel rip-off (yeah, we got that show too). I just want to see a trailer with her, and I’m all happy. As long as she looks like the soldier she certainly is. :)

  • Anonymous

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  • http://www.spaceunicorn.net Jayme

    That style doesn’t necessarily take a lot of time and hairspray. That is a lot what my hair would look like naturally if it were cut like that. It seems more practical to me (certainly easier to pull a helmet over) than a fashionable ponytail. Ha! It takes me more time to get my hair into a smooth ponytail than it would to get my hair to look like new Shep hair. Maintaining layers takes a hell of a lot less time in the salon chair than getting them cut in the first time. I can imagine my Shep takes 30 minutes once every month or two to maintain get out of bed ready hair. :)
    Not everyone has the same kind of hair.

  • Anonymous

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  • http://www.facebook.com/people/Megan-Winemiller/100002719589086 Megan Winemiller

    You know how the American populous is; they only care about appearance, and that’s all they cared about here. Even though it’s for a video game where you have to run around and kick ass. Who cares about practicality? They just want to stare at the ass of some ‘hot’ CGI chick who I’m sure most of them wish was real (ignoring the fact that the majority of them would never, ever stand a chance).

  • http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100000639751451 Kenneth C Pennington

    I’m a male gamer who often (usually) chooses to play female characters in RPGs when given the option. Mostly for RP purposes. I’m already playing a bad-ass space marine, soldier, wizard, thief, whatever, that I’ll never be IRL, so why not make the character, taller or shorter, or a different race or sex while I’m at it? I find it helps me take on the character’s perspective better, by pulling me more out of my RL self.

    Also, when given the option, I always custom create my characters. So, my first time through ME & ME2 I had a kick-ass redhead FemShep who took no guff, but was a paragon of righteousness. I played a male the second time through – a white-haired, pasty, smart-assed jerk. I’ll probably play through a third time pretty soon, in anticipation of ME3 … probably go FemShep again.

    As a father of both a girl and a boy (both gamers), it actually kind of irks me that so few games even give you the option of playing a female! I realize the audience for (non-casual) games is mostly male, but have they ever stopped to think that they might actually attract more female gamers if the whole gaming culture wasn’t so loaded with testosterone? Or that maybe some us us guys want to play female characters, too? Geesh …

  • http://www.facebook.com/people/Michael-Walsh/570455360 Michael Walsh

     Honestly, the only reason I voted for Blonde Shepard is that she reminded me of Samus. You know, another space-faring heroine that can’t be stopped by anything short of an army, who happens to be voiced by Jennifer Hale (in Metroid Prime).