Who is FEMSHEP?

The title of this blog is "What Would FEMSHEP Do?" and, if you are like my mother, or my sister, or my husband... you want to know who FEMSHEP is, and why you should care what she would do.

By this point, you should already know that I am a massive friggin nerd. Hand-in-hand with this nerdery is my absolute love of video games. My best friend has been like the cool big brother who makes me play all the greatest, nerdiest games, and since my best friend is awesome, I oblige him.

After being enamored with the Fallout series and the Elder Scrolls series, I was reluctant to try anything new. But as is the case with nearly everyone who has ever played this game, I gave into the pressure to start playing Mass Effect. I thought this game was way too nerdy, even for me. My initial perception of this futuristic space game was that it was going to be Star Trek with shooting, which is fine if you're into that sort of thing, but I was not. But I trudged on.

And then I started to get pretty good at it, and started to get into the story line. You have the option to play the main character, Commander Shepard, as either a male or a female. The female Shepard has been dubbed "FEMSHEP."

And let me tell you about her.

BioWare was intent on creating characters for the Mass Effect universe that were diverse, accomplished, and believable. They took great steps to flesh out even the smallest details of the character's identities, including their histories and relationships. FEMSHEP, being at the center of the action, had the most options for customization. The choices you made in-game impacted the consequences of your character through the three-game series.

Commander Shepard starts the game off as a second-in-command to a figure we come to know as Captain Anderson. You can choose her background up to that point, whether she was born on Earth, or whether she's spent her entire life in the space fleet. You can choose whether she is a military brat, or an orphan. You decide if she was a war hero, or if she slaughtered everyone in order to win a previous battle. You decide if she's great with guns, or better with her powers. Yes, in the year 2187, we all have powers.

As the game progresses, Commander Shepard proves herself to be a reliable, sturdy, no-bullshit commander of a varied and rigorously tasked crew. She takes no flack, at any point. Admirals regularly task her with objectives that no one else was able to complete. She unites races, defeats those who could not be defeated, comforts the sick and lonely, loves the unlovable, and is respected by everyone she comes across. She is, to put it lightly, a bad-ass.

I wish I had known about FEMSHEP before I became a Petty Officer. There were days when I did not feel at all bad ass. I did not feel worthy of being respected, and as a result, there were times when I wasn't taken seriously. If I had a role-model like Commander Shepard to serve as an example of the leader I wanted to be, I would have stood up straighter, not made apologies, and plowed ahead to get things done.

So when I say, "What Would FEMSHEP Do?", it is in this spirit. Now that I am aware of her existence, even as a fictional character, I can be inspired. I can stand up for people who can't speak up for themselves. I can try things out and defeat my fear. I can never say, "I wonder if I could have done it," because I would just go ahead and do it. I can be both kind and powerful. She actually serves as a wonderful role model for females, who are often told that we can't be smart, we can't be leaders, and we certainly cannot respected with power.

And now you know!