Mark Meer Interview: Talking To The Voice Of Mass Effect's Commander Sheppard

Mass Effect is one of modern gaming's most appreciated universes. Often for these flagship franchises, they help to set the standard for all of gaming, for better or worse. As an industry leader, especially when it comes to story and narrative communication, I can imagine many look to the Mass Effect franchise for hints on how to further their own endeavors. However, for a medium that is constantly marrying itself to its big brother, the film industry, I wonder if gaming should be using film actors, instead of trying to craft our own talent that is synonymous with video games. In some ways we already have this with people like Nolan North and Troy Baker, but we also see countless projects that try to get big Hollywood names to boost their game's profitability. Mass Effect is a series that did this plenty. I asked Mark if he saw this as a problem. I tend to see actors as actors, period. I regularly do improv comedy, theatre, TV, and radio work in addition to voice work for games. While some actors might do more work in one medium or another, I tend to just think of them as fellow performers. Speaking personally, I was thrilled to get to work with the likes of Martin Sheen, Lance Henricksen, Keith David, Michael Hogan, and Seth Green on the Mass Effect Trilogy... and I was equally thrilled to work with voice acting legends like Jennifer Hale and Steve Blum. I understand the point. Many theater actors have moved to film and then back in their careers with out too much of an identity crisis. Even Mark himself isn't exclusive to video games. Far from it. A great deal of Mark's work is done in the improv. sector. If you spend even a few minutes with him, he will bring the technique with a cool, but clear enthusiasm. It lead me to wonder if it actually helps him to understand the responsibility of being Sheppard and the process of becoming that character. Improv does help one drop immediately into a character. And in my case, playing a character like Shepard over the course of several years certainly helps with the investment. Seeing how much the fans connect with the character and the game really drives home the responsibility...Hopefully any actor is doing more than just showing up to work, no matter what medium they're working in. As games rely more on actors performances to engage the audience emotionally, voice actors will become increasingly important. Performances in games are one of the things I see being pushed further in further in games at the moment. There seems to be a whole new kind of emphasis on virtual actors in games with The Walking Dead, Bioshock Infintie, the Last of Us all giving us incredibly stong performances in the space of a few months. and Beyond Two Souls ready to throw its hat into the foray. It beg that ever present question of the 'Citizen Kane' of gaming, but also how important a role voice actors will play in achieving that place. I think we're seeing more and more recognition for voice actors in games. Hopefully, that continues! Games just keep getting better and better - the narratives we're seeing presented to gamers keep getting richer and more compelling. So yes, I think we'll get there (if we haven't already). In the same vein, it is quite hard to see exactly how much voice actors will actually put into a character. Performances in games are fairly unique in that they are some of the most collaborative performances that an actor can undertake. In most case,s a performance is made up of so many more components when compared to something like a film performance. In games, there is of course the writing and then the performance of an actor, but then also the motion capture, often done by a completely different actor, as well as the final animation of the developers. When talking about the 'Citizen Kane' of gaming, there is the quesiton of what form that one incredible central performance will take. Will it come from one actor taking part in as much as the performance as possible or will it be as varied a collaboration as it is today. I ask Mark if the dynamic excites or troubles him. Video games are a highly collaborative artform, it's true. I happen to enjoy collaboration - not only in games, but also in improv and theatre. That said, I'd like to try a mo-cap performance one day - I'm a big fan of what actors like Andy Serkis have done in the past on projects like Lord of the Rings, King Kong, and now the Hobbit. It's a fascinating blend of performance and puppetry... sort of like mask work, but the mask is digital. And it's still a collaboration between the actor and the technology/technicians. Voice actors end up being key to gaming's progression. They don't have quite the public face as in a medium like film because so often they are hidden behind coding, binary and art design. However, as I alluded to earlier, they are important for the empathy that we can feel towards a games narrative. Even in something as simple as' Thomas Was Alone', Danny Wallace's voice over is key to our understanding of these quadrilaterals as entities. Gaming actor's role, as well as the talent on show, is on the rise. It isn't entirely clear what exact form their work will take in the coming decades but you can be sure it will be ever important. In time perhaps they will come out from behind all the 1s and 0s to help become the 'face' of our industry. In an industry that lacks the charisma and personality of other entertainment industries, perhaps actors will eventually take that crown. Almost by job description, actors understand emotions and charisma. A point illustrated by Mark, when closing our talk on "the Citizen Kane of gaming" when he said: By the way, I'm really looking forward to the official Citizen Kane game. Spoiler: Rosebud is a sled!