Mass Effect hiatus speculation and reactions (consolidated thread)

Video-games are a media where lore changes as characters come along by definition. And heroic stories overall lend themselves to outlier characters. Many, many girls bravely grabbed the swords and dressed as boys and kicked ass when female characters were not a lore norm. Veritable battalions of resentful male drow and reasonable drow females ready to truly love fled Underdark.

I was here when the content for a female PC was tentatively intergrated into the games while a lot of player base groaned how it is awful that their character is such a slut, and can they please shut down options for another male to hit on them or for them to hit on males. I have been here when the female-specific options introduced literally boiled down to "sleep with him" for quest resolution.

When I came back after my hiatus, the content for a female PC felt as organic as the one for males. I still see an occasional rant about women being a warrior is unrealistic, or that they should be penalized on STR in the ruleset closing warrior classes for them. How it's against history, lore or common sense.

I don't want to play in a setting that will dress my character in stockings and push bras and put women in the position of chattels because "it's true to the period/lore". But I understand that when creating the lore, maybe it was considered cool. And that instead of creating a brand new IP, they simply tweaked it some, to let women dress normally, or have STR equal to males, or for it to be okay for a guy to kiss another guy. For me, it is a sign of moving towards welcoming more players into the already beloved world, rather than using lore as a fence, and letting it fossilize.

Sometimes it will be awkward. But, eventually, I hope it will become as organic as having multiple LIs for a female PC, or not having your stats limited because of your race or gender, something that players nowadays take for granted.