A few gamers on social media are calling out Bioware for seemingly deliberately making their female characters uglier in Mass Effect Andromeda. For some reason the main female protagonist in the game appears to be less attractive than the model she’s based off.
In the game you can either play as a male or female version of the same hero, Ryder. While the male character retains the wet, hot sex appeal of the original model, the female character’s design seems to fall a bit flat.
When compared to past Mass Effect games it does appear a conspiracy to rob straight men, lesbians, bisexuals, straight trans men and gay trans women of their virtual eye candy. Or is it something more?
In past editions, the lead female character, Miranda, was modeled off the actress Yvonne Strahovski. Mass Effect 3 came out over four years ago, but still looks like a more accurate representation of the model.
None of this would be an issue if they simply got a less attractive model to play the lead and transposed her appearance accurately.
For feminist game critic Liana Kerzner, the discrepancy between men and women indicates that Bioware may be “othering” women.
“For me the issue is not the isolated appearance of the character,” she said. “It’s that it’s so different from BroRyder that one could say they’re no longer actually male/female avatars of the same character. FemRyder is a totally different take on the protagonist, and since she is the alteration, while BroRyder adheres more closely to the actor’s looks, this is the Othering of women that feminists complain about.”
Essentially by playing down the models looks, Bioware is treating men “normally” while treating women “differently.”
And this isn’t the first time the accusation has been made. Bioware was criticized on message boards for “uglifying” their female characters in the Dragon Age series.
“That’s something that happened in Dragon Age too—Cassandra, Josephine and Serah were more “normal”, while Dorian was Captain McPerfect Ass,” Kerzner said.
“Fantasy is just that, fantasy, and if they send a message that your male star is significantly higher status than your optional female lead, it sends a message that women must choose between being valued for our looks/sexuality or valued for our minds and achievements. Making women choose while men don’t have to has profound impacts on real life women in leadership positions.”
In BioWare’s attempt at creating a politically correct character design, they may have been a bit sexist themselves. Not only did they deny slight chubs to straight male gamers, they may have also denied women the right to be treated like everyone else.