User blog comment:MEffect Fan/Is Mass Effect a "nerd" title?/@comment-730941-20100603051003

Not especially. I'm sure people play the game without getting involved in the more sci-fi elements of the plot - they treat it as merely a shooter (which it does reasonably well). It's certainly more mass market than something like KOTOR or even Dragon Age, which are full of complicated storylines and are far less action-oriented.

I think it sits uneasily on the divide between a niche sci-fi/RPG title ('nerdy') and a mainstream, mass-market shooter. It doesn't really appeal very strongly to either camp (especially in ME2), even though it markets itself as a combination of both.