Genderless narration in Mass Effect games, how?

[Tackhisis]

I've found out recently that in all three Mass Effect games the protagonist can be any sex, but all the game texts are the same for them both.
That would mean never referring to the player character to avoid calling it "him/her", "wo/man", "sister/brother", "bitch", etc. Could those who played these games explain how it was made to work?

[Deleted]

They call him/her by family name....Shepard. Even your love interest. It is like the nickname and/or stage name.

[Mellomania]

They just use Shepard/Commander everywhere.

[unholytestament]

The protagonist is only ever referred to by their rank and family name. Since you are a representative of the Earth military, this works.

[Nerraw]

but all the game texts are the same for them both.

They're not. They've just recorded two voice lines for each line where needed.

[Dezerte]

They do refer to Shepard by their gender. Just the introduction itself makes several references:

[unholytestament]

They're not. They've just recorded two voice lines for each line where needed.

Even then, there aren't a lot of lines where they say he/him/she/her or they're referred to as a man or a woman, and most aliens just refer to them as a human.

[May90]

I've found out recently that in all three Mass Effect games the protagonist can be any sex, but all the game texts are the same for them both.
That would mean never referring to the player character to avoid calling it "him/her", "wo/man", "sister/brother", "bitch", etc. Could those who played these games explain how it was made to work?

It is wrong: there are gender references, although not very numerous. In fact, the very opening sequence features "he/she" reference to Shepard. The reason there are not many lines like this is that it is a big pain to essentially record lines twice, just because of a small difference in one word. It is like this in all other voiced RPGs I've played, as well.

And yes, like someone mentioned above, English is a pretty gender-neutral language, with most things referred to as "it" or "they", instead of "he/she". I'd imagine it would be much harder to record dialogues in, say, Spanish, where every word has a fixed gender and article before it, and where it wouldn't be just "a commander", it would be like "el comandante" or "la comandante", depending on the gender.

[Tackhisis]

Oh, I see. They have explicitly scripted some sex logic among with custom backstory.

In some languages, even "Shepard" is not gender-neutral, so English developers had a streak of luck here.

[Deleted]

Oh, I see. They have explicitly scripted some sex logic among with custom backstory.

In some languages, even "Shepard" is not gender-neutral, so English developers had a streak of luck here.

Of course it's not gender neutral She-pard! It's so obvious.

[Mellomania]

Oh, I see. They have explicitly scripted some sex logic among with custom backstory.

In some languages, even "Shepard" is not gender-neutral, so English developers had a streak of luck here.

That's the last name of the character, not first.

[zealo]

Voiced main character bioware games all refer to the main character by their family name, or some sort of title. DA2, Inquisition, and all Mass Effect games did this. You can likely expect much the same from Andromeda, and DA4 when that comes around.

[RoninaThorstone]

But what about if you identify as an owlkin who is sexually attracted to attack helicopters?

[May90]

Voiced main character bioware games all refer to the main character by their family name, or some sort of title. DA2, Inquisition, and all Mass Effect games did this. You can likely expect much the same from Andromeda, and DA4 when that comes around.

Honestly, I would prefer the character to just have a fixed gender and full name. Would make it so much easier and more natural! The Witcher games are great: you don't have any character customization, you are always Geralt of Rivia - and it leads to awesome, realistic dialogues.

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But what about if you identify as an owlkin who is sexually attracted to attack helicopters?

Yet another person who only reads the title.

[RoninaThorstone]

Yet another person who only reads the title.

this is MMO champ, shit posting happens :P

[Jester Joe]

It is wrong: there are gender references, although not very numerous. In fact, the very opening sequence features "he/she" reference to Shepard. The reason there are not many lines like this is that it is a big pain to essentially record lines twice, just because of a small difference in one word. It is like this in all other voiced RPGs I've played, as well.

I'm like, 99% sure there was a time I went into a bar area in number...2 maybe, and I was suppose to be pretending to sign up as a mercenary, and they asked if Shepard was suppose to be like a stripper or something. Maybe not exactly that, but there was definitely some form of gender joke, to which you can insult the guy back basically or something like that.

Vague as hell, but I'm sure someone probably knows what part I meant.

[May90]

I'm like, 99% sure there was a time I went into a bar area in number...2 maybe, and I was suppose to be pretending to sign up as a mercenary, and they asked if Shepard was suppose to be like a stripper or something. Maybe not exactly that, but there was definitely some form of gender joke, to which you can insult the guy back basically or something like that.

Vague as hell, but I'm sure someone probably knows what part I meant.

Yes, I remember that moment.
"Awww, aren't you sweet... Stripper quarters are in another room."
*Shepard, pulling out a gun*
"Show me yours, tough guy. I bet mine's bigger!"

There are quite a few moments like that, but yes, mostly the language is gender-neutral.

[Witchblade77]

Honestly, I would prefer the character to just have a fixed gender and full name. Would make it so much easier and more natural! The Witcher games are great: you don't have any character customization, you are always Geralt of Rivia - and it leads to awesome, realistic dialogues.

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Yet another person who only reads the title.

you can still have awesome dialogues even with gender selectable protagonists (even with last names and all - nicknames ARE a thing). I like being able to customize my protagonists, personally. the problem with Witcher for me is that because there IS a canon Geralt, I cannot play him in any other way, even if the game gives me options to play him differently - I just... I can't. because I know what he supposed to act like, what sort of person he is, whom he loves, etc. its not as bad with someone like Adam Jensen, since he doesn't have a ton of books preceding the game and canonizing his behavior, but even so - I like the larger freedom of play I can get with protagonist that is not in any way predetermined.

but yeah Mass Effect features quite a few differences that are gender based, with dialogue that adjusts accordingly.

[Jofe]

They do refer to Shepard by their gender. Just the introduction itself makes several references:

Not only this, but also I'm pretty sure there are other times where Shepard gets called by gender. Just that it isn't too frequent, most of the time is Shepard this and Shepard that.