For whatever reason I played as a female in Mass Effect, thus making all trailers for Mass Effect 2 hella awkward. I thought the story fit a female protagonist well, and the voice acting was better. Destuctoid wrote a nice article on the matter supporting a female character. What do you guys think?

I'm just a "play as a dude" kind of dude, but I can see why someone would like the female Shepard's voice acting and style better.

Nothing wrong with that, even though my character in mass effect is on my avatar, other games like fallout 3 and dragon age orgins, I always create a female character because they are fun to look at for hours at a time killing stuff.

I did both, as I played through Mass Effect several times. However my favourite Character that I plan to carry on with was the female Shepard. I agree that the voice actor was better, and I just felt it was easier to make a cooler looking female character.

I just stick with default Shepard. He's generic, but he fills the role perfectly and I honestly can't imagine Mass Effect without his macho space marine image. I will do a run with a female character only for the lesbian alien sex. 

When given the choice I always play as a female character. Nicer to look at and listen to.

Male Shepard was the only good looking character model for your protagonist. Even default female Shepard was very meh looking imo. I tried creating a custom male and custom female Shepard, but it was IMPOSSIBLE to make one that looked good, irrespective of how much tweaking you did. Some of the custom Shepards from video reviews I saw were ugly as frack.

As far as I'm concerned, there is no such thing as a male Shepard. The actor for the role is so incredibly stiff and bland on his delivery that it very seriously sounds like a first read. Bioware is typically very good about their cast, but Male Shepard is unbearable in his monotony. 
 
Female Shepard on the other hand comes across as extremely strong and confident. And while Sheppard is supposed to be something of a blank slate for the player to project themselves onto, Jennifer Hale evokes just enough of it for it to come across as a natural experience for the player. 
 
Besides, aren't there enough bald space marines to go around? :)

I discovered the other day that Jennifer Hale does the voice for the female Sheppard. It upped my interest in replaying the game as a female character by roughly 300 percent

Female Shepard's voice actor is BO$$
 
and if I'm going to stare at somebody's ass for hours when moving my character around, it should at least be a woman.

" As far as I'm concerned, there is no such thing as a male Shepard. The actor for the role is so incredibly stiff and bland on his delivery that it very seriously sounds like a first read. Bioware is typically very good about their cast, but Male Shepard is unbearable in his monotony.  Female Shepard on the other hand comes across as extremely strong and confident. And while Sheppard is supposed to be something of a blank slate for the player to project themselves onto, Jennifer Hale evokes just enough of it for it to come across as a natural experience for the player.  Besides, aren't there enough bald space marines to go around? :) "

Played both. Liked both. I actually really enjoyed male Shep's rollicking (if overplayed, I admit) heroism while I though Jennifer Hale's reading was a bit dry in some parts, though evidently this is the minority opinion.

Jennifer Hale is a damn good voice actress. 

"Jennifer Hale is a damn good voice actress.  "

Female Shepard is totally the way to go. I made a good interesting character model for my lady Shepard, and decided she was the one. Well, she was, until BioWare decided that they were gonna take her name - Miranda - and give it to one of the characters in Mass Effect 2. We can't exactly have two Miranda's running around, can we? Damn you, BioWare.
 
To go off-topic a little, how great would it be if I kept my Miranda Shepard, but it became a running joke that she and Miranda Lawson have the same name?

Femal Shepard VA is just better.
As it is, I always alternate between male and female in games that give you a choice.

Yeah I played as a male the first time through Mass Effect but the second time through was a female and she is my best character, a level 59 Vangaurd and thats the one Im bringing over to Mass Effect 2 
 
I'll admit that I almost always play a female character in games 

" Female Shepard's voice actor is BO$$  and if I'm going to stare at somebody's ass for hours when moving my character around, it should at least be a woman. "

Played as female but I could never get the face to look... natural. So have remade a male for ME2, plus male Shepards better at being a jerk.
 
 

I agree with Vorbis, I prefer the male voice for a Renegade character.

" @Heartbreak said:

" Female Shepard's voice actor is BO$$  and if I'm going to stare at somebody's ass for hours when moving my character around, it should at least be a woman. "

If your immediatly focusing on a mans ass, I'd say you're probably supressing something ;)  But yeah, I generally agree that the female Shepard was a much better role.  Her character model was nowhere near as good, and it was impossible to make anything that didn't look like it was made of clay but her voice acting was great, and it's nice to play as someone besides the bald space marine for a change, or the typical scantily clad female.  Indeed, I think we need more lesbian space marines. "

I'm practical: I always make a female and male character if I can. I prefer a ladies' bottom.

Also, in ME - Jennifer Hale for the win. She erased Bastila fucking Shan from my mind with that and Ophelia from BL.

Vanderloo-looking and Meer-voiced Shepard is and will be the iconic Shepard. Can't do anything about it, but the Mass Effect series have enough replayability to try both sides, and I think the female storyline should have something special, really.

I played both usually always do just to see what different plot points you can reach or just to see how much different the speech options are.

I also felt the story worked better for a female Shepard. Strangely enough, I felt Dragon Age Origins story worked better if you played as a female as well. Playing as a female just seemed to better highlight certain aspects and elements of the story in both games such as being the first human specter in ME, or a Gray Warden on DAO. Maybe it's a recent Bioware thing, or maybe it's just because I always get the feeling that women are second rate in the worlds/universes that Bioware has been creating recently. I dunno it's just a thought.

The voice actor for "Jane" seemed to have more depth of conviction, from what I heard, and she played it tough, which was a really welcome change from the usual stock choices we get.

I generally play my dude as the good guy that does all with shivalry while my female shepard becomes the badass one that puts everyone in their place. So ME2 will be even more appropriate for my female Shepard since it's right down her alley. :)

I played as a female Shepard due to the fact that the female voiceacting is waaay better than the male one...

"I chose a female out of curiosity [in Dragon Age: Origins] and was immediately taken out of the experience when everyone seemed to be treating her like a male." [Destructoid]

" Jennifer Hale is a damn good voice actress.  "

I hate having to play a male character.  It really colors my gaming experience, and makes me dislike otherwise good games.  Thankfully there's games like Mass Effect, Oblivion and Fallout where I can customize the protagonist.

Man, I've never done a full playthrough as a female Shephard, but the one time I made one, I thought the voice acting was just not right.  Maybe it's just because it wasn't what I was used to and I could hear the male shephard in my head saying the same lines.   I thought the male voice acting was ace though.

"When given the choice I always play as a female character. Nicer to look at and listen to. "

The main reason I played female was because of Jennifer Hale.  I usually play a rogueish type of male in RPGs, but knowing Jennifer Hale was doing the voice made me make the Mass Effect version of Ellen Ripley.

I would always choose female if your going to spend a long time looking at the back of a character... might aswell make it an attractive female (Dont know where i heard that from). However my dad is an idiot and when he walks in on me playing as a girl he would be like "OOOHH YOUR PLAYING AS A GIRL! HOW CUTE!"

I agree that female Shepard was better, but will play male because it makes me feel more personally involved in the story and lesbian romances aren't my thing.

" @Metal_Gear_Sunny said:

" Jennifer Hale is a damn good voice actress.  "

I agree with that. I've loved her since she played Bastila in KotOR. "

The male Shepard has pretty bad voice acting in many parts. The female Shepard has okay voice acting in most parts.

"The male Shepard has pretty bad voice acting in many parts. The female Shepard has okay voice acting in most parts. "

" @natetodamax said:

"The male Shepard has pretty bad voice acting in many parts. The female Shepard has okay voice acting in most parts. "

I never had a problem with the male Shepard. Am I alone here? "

I prefer default Male Shepard.

I played both but somehow I enjoyed myself way more with my Jane Shepard Renegade version. Plus she really looks like one mean woman. I gotta take a screenshot.

"

Nothing wrong with that, even though my character in mass effect is on my avatar, other games like fallout 3 and dragon age orgins, I always create a female character because they are fun to look at for hours at a time killing stuff.

"

It's always interesting to play as a strong female, the male "stock" Shepard seems a bit generic. 

When it comes to games that have the player shape the story through decisions, I always pick a male character.  The choices that my character makes is a representation of the choices I would make if in the same situation, so there would be a disconnect between the character and I if she was a female (especially in romantic situations).