I'd wonder who would take on the lead role in the third Mass Effect game.

I would probably just respawn at my last save.

I don't give a rat's ass. I played Mass Effect on my PC, but Mass Effect 2 will be played on my Xbox 360, which I did not have during the first release. It's all good with me. Play me baby, just play me and let the game be played.

Commander shepard can die at the end of me2, its one of the endings, its only gong to happen if you screw it up to much

I'd probably cry, considering the first one had me very emotional by the end. And killing off shepard isn't something they'd go easy on.

As long as I don't have to completely re-roll a new Sheperd to slog through again, I'll live and try to not make the same mistakes.

But apparantly if your ME2 shep is dead on your last save you simply start another shepherd for 3. I think.

If it makes sense and the story is good I wouldn't mind that much.

I would react by loading a previous save. I'm pretty sure they said there are only some endings where that could happen. Although they might actually kill off Shepard in Mass Effect 3.

I wouldn't care.  For some reason I never get attached to my character, but I get attached to the characters around me.  I'd be more upset if a crew member died.

I would not be happy. I like my evil lesbian Shepard.

Yeah. Someone else already mentioned this, but Shepard can live or die depending on your actions.

It wouldn't effect me, I'll probably want a new head character by the end of MS2 anyways.

He's the lead character. He won't die.

It'd actually make him more of a hero. I just hope that if Bioware does pull something like that he dies for a cause like detonating a bomb to stop something or whatnot. And then he can come back as a ghost. With ghost powers. Yeah....

I'd be fucking pissed, since I see my custom Shepard as a real (and dear) character.
 
But if it served the story well I'd deal with it, since it'd be a fucking sweet game regardless.

They've already said he dies in one of the endings, but it results in the storyline being over, so you would have to start Mass Effect 3 without a save (or just reload to an earlier save and redo the end obviously).  It sounded like you'd have to really force the issue to end up with a dead Shepard.
 
Shepard.

I don't really identify with player-created protagonists, so it probably wouldn't be the end of the world for me.
 
Mass Effect's universe has a lot of potential and I wouldn't mind playing from another perspective (a new human member of that special forces team, space pirate, explorer, member of alien military, etc) in later games.

It would laugh if rather than it being some huge epic battle/decision that kills him, they just get some lowly geth sniper to pop him in the back of the head as he strolls onto the normandy.

I'd cry, then realize I get to play as Wrex, and get excited!

Wouldn't be thrilled about it,  but my trust in Bioware is really high so I'd stick with it.

I always found Mass Effect's combat rather simple and somewhat dull, not bloodthirsty like Gears of War, Killzone 2 etc.

They said it wouldn't be unexpected or random, so you basically choose whether or not Shepard dies. It's hard to react to something you choose yourself.

I wouldnt care remotely

Seeing as he is essentially a blank slate, he is by far the least intresting character in the whole game, so I really couldn't give two shits what they do to him.

I'd be pretty shocked and if they did it right I'm sure it could be a very dramatic moment.

Shit Just Got Real.

I would go back and get the better ending.

be glad i never have to hear male shepards nasally voice actor again

" be glad i never have to hear male shepards nasally voice actor again "

Considering Mass Effect is a trilogy, and they said that ME2 will be the "dark" part of the trilogy (much how Prince of Persia 2 was the dark part of that trilogy) I highly doubt that Shepard will die at the end of 2. In fact I'm almost sure that he/she won't. 

As others have said, there will plenty of chances Sierra adventure game style along the way where Shepard can bite it. An example floating around in the current previews is that Batarian offers you a space cocktail (I'd like to think its a Pan-Galactic Gargleblaster) and if Shepard drinks it, she dies. There's also the Normandy scene shown in the previous demo. I believe they've stated there is a way to get Shepard all the way and alive on the other side of the game, and that that is the only ending that will allow your data to transfer to ME3. So yeah, Shepard most likely doesn't have to die.
 
All that said, if they did it well and Shepard's death was done well within the narrative, I actually think it could be pretty powerful. She/he is far from the most interesting character in the game, but Shepard also represents a certain amount of your own effort and choices. By extention, seeing Shepard die is like watching your proxy die and showing the final fate of the decisions you made. 
 
The messed up thing would be if the decisions you make in ME1 make it harder to survive ME2, though I can't think of any other than if you put the wrong people in power (I'm looking at you, Udina.)

" @Karmum said:

" I'd wonder who would take on the lead role in the third Mass Effect game. "

Hayden Christensen.  "

It would suck. But its all about how BioWare does it. I know BioWare could do it, in an acceptable way if they deemed fit too. They wouldn't shy away from it, if they felt it plausible I guess I am trying to stay.

If they do they better kill him like I wanted Bungie to kill Master Chief, GOD BUNGIE WHY DIDN"T YOU KILL HIM it would have been so awesome: Cortana kills herself to try and save Master Chief but it isn't enough the Chief against impossible odds thousands of enemys attacking him from all angles he kills hundreds maybe thousands until his armor is falling apart and when they are all dead the Chief falls to the ground you see his helmet roll away shattered and broken from the battle and you finally see his face as a look of peace crosses his face and he lets out a final breath and then the marines come and find him and what he did against all odds to save the universe. That is how the Fucking game should have ended and it would have made it the best game trilogy ever made, but they couldn't let him go and so if they are going to kill Shepard, do it right.

Ain't gonna happen.  Like what.  But, to answer your question, I wasn't particularly attached to Shepard in the first game so I wouldn't care since I always make a lady.  A pretty one at that.

I would be interested in seeing both outcomes for the third game honestly. How they would make the third game relevant without him alive..who you would be controlling otherwise.

I want to see his hand get chopped off by his dad.

The only thing Mass Effect lacks in my opinion is better asses and intense combat.