Honestly what is your go to in a videogame create your own character regardless of your gender

Most of the games I play without a character creator have male protagonists, so I guess I generally wind up making more female protagonists when I can to balance it out.

At this point, me as a cisgender male playing as a female in games has become my new normal over the past 10 years. The female voice performances impress me more than their male counterparts. Character creation has become less about looking at some digital T&A and more about customizing a female version of myself as if I were nonbinary/felt insecure about being a male. And I find myself being going more and more down the path of misandry with every virtue signalling motherfucker with a savior complex that I run into when it comes to discussions about gender and sexuality.

it really depends on the game. as a female gamer i'm never really cared much about representation vs alot of other ppl when it comes to having a female character in a game , i'm perfectly content playing a dude. that said i usually play a female when given the option even moreso in a rpg with romance options. thats not to say there aren't exceptions tho , if the female character customization options look bad enough i'm still more likely to play a guy so it really depends on the game , also if the voice acting doesn't feel like it fits i might also like in the case of AC:valhalla last yr the female VA just seemed too gruff for me that it made more sense to play male eivor. off the top of my head games i would have played female but switched to male otherwise include SR3 where the clothes just didn't do it for me n the male clothes i liked better and skyrim where while i could make a half decent female it just wasn't lining up how i liked at the time ( probably cause of how grimy the skin texture was?) so i just played a man loving dude who looked sorta like he had a weird dracula-esque vibe going.

but yeah either way lean female being female but not against going male.

I mostly play male, because simplistically, that is what I am. However, if the in game protagonist is female, I of course go with that.

But I have played as female once or twice. In fact my GB avatar is what I put together for the first Dark Souls, thinking of a lady I had met. She became one of my most favorite made up characters in a videogame of all time, and really became an expert with the Halberd. Indeed, was my weapon of choice through the whole game.

I was mostly making male characters, as I tried to make a more idealized version of my self for the most part. But as I have gotten more comfortable in my own body and all the flaws it has, I have begun creating more female characters. One of the many reasons why is the fact that you usually have more fun clothing options. The only thing male characters usually have going for them are rad coats, which is an esthetic I like. But come on, dresses and skirts beat that any day of the week, and you usually also have the option to use some cool coats.

But then again, all the useless armor options for female characters in more or less every game with armor does sour that a bit. Maybe just make armor that would actually be useful for both sides?

I lean towards making female characters, because dressing up a pretty lady is more interesting than making my dude look like a dude, but i do go back and forth depending on the game, apparently the female voice acting is better than the male in AC: Odyssey so i'd go female, but i want to be a viking dude in Valhalla because i'm not as fond of female vikings, no offense to any female vikings out there.
In Guild Wars i went male, female, male, female, but the female avatars in Black Desert Online look so good i went entirely female, i can make a pretty good interpretation of myself in Tony Hawk's Underground so whenever i replay that i just make myself, honourable mention to female Warden in For Honor who is dope as hell.
I haven't played too many games where you can create a character recently.

Whatever the default is

Well depends on each genre, for Sim racing, Simcade and Arcade-style racing games, I personally choose male human characters by having them wearing their racing gear which consists of race car driver suit, shoes, helmet and racing gloves.

I've played a lot of games with character creators, and so far I can only think of one that had an outright non-binary option: Starbound. Technically No Man's Sky could count as having a non-binary character creator, seeing as I'm running around as a sentient ball of light.

If non-binary were an option more frequently, that's what I'd go for. As it stands, I usually pick female - as Jaqen_Hghar said there are usually better customisation options for female characters.

I'll tend to go with female just because it's so much more uncommon to have female protagonists in other games. Generally speaking the times when I would pick a male instead are when I'm aware beforehand that there's a significant element of romance options in a game, however hokey they may be.

Female, every time.

Female, usually customized to be a person of color and played gay. It started when I was a teen and I wanted to stare at lady butts and maybe make them touch other lady butts, but the motivation sort of de-sexualized over time as I got older and realized that I don’t really get along with white straight men like myself. I think it’s become habit with me, but it does make more complex ideas in the story of the games, even if it’s only superficially. Also a lot of female protagonist voice actors turn in much better performances, FemShep, Kassandra and Eivor being some larger examples. You never hear Jennifer Hale phone it in.

I try to mix it up to at least have some variety. When it comes to character creation I also don't really do self-inserts if I can avoid is as I feel I'd make the dullest character imaginable. It's also a lot more fun to go back your old saves and see something random.

I think....the more I felt not necessarily in the beginning like I was non-binary, but was relating less and less to the gender I started out as - being male - the more I realised there was a reason I was choosing female characters in my last 35+ years of gaming, given the choice. At any rate, I think gaming has helped me be more comfortable with the idea that I'm not a stereotype of my gender and don't have to be, nor do I feel the need to label it.

FemShep has a better voice actor than BroShep. Kassandra has a better voice actor than Alexios.

That completely standard opinion aside, I kind of go with what I'm feeling at the time. A lot of it has to do with aesthetics. Sometimes this means what the character looks like; sometimes this means the whole "vibe" of the character. I like my male Chiss bounty hunter in The Old Republic; he looks cool. I think my female cyborg Imperial agent also looks cool. I've played countless characters that are gruff men. Ladies can be gruff, too! More options is always a good thing.

I don't really care. A character creator is just an obstacle between me and the game.

Mostly I make a male protagonist that looks like a decent enough facsimile (I haven't typed this word in a long time and was really impressed with myself to get it right on the first go, so!) of me, though Monster Factory turned me on to trying to make some pretty cursed creations if the game's creation engine is robust enough or, more often, I don't expect to want to take the character model that seriously. I always hated my Destiny character, for example, but that was sort of the point of him.

I will do a female character if I hear the performance is notably better than the male counterpart, though the last time this happened (CP2077) I felt the morbid curiosity bug and played a male so I could fully soak in the rot.

I make myself if I can, so Male. And if it's something like Mass effect I will do a second play through with a female character. Sometimes it depends on the voice acting too, like outriders the male voice is incredible but the female voice is really flat so even with my second playthrough I will stick to the male and just maybe change the appearance.

I put mix I guess

My go-to for cosmetic character choices is to hit "done" immediately and then start the game with the default selection. If I have to choose a name and one isn't filled in for me, I type "a" and hit done.

Honestly. I'm not being flippant. I also skip most cutscenes.

As a white, cis male, that's the last role I want to play in my video games. So, I always pick/make females. I can't think of a game where being the male is better than the female. FemShep > MaleShep, Cassandra > Alexios

I tend to create women and involve my daughters in the creation process (choosing which hair, face, skin tone, name, etc.) Like most things, this is a due to a multitude of factors. Partially I have really liked female voice actor performances in the past (FemShep!), I also want my daughters to see themselves in what I spend my time doing, and I want them to feel some investment so they might be more likely to try the game if they enjoy watching me play.

On a related note, I've been playing a lot of Control recently and Courtney Hope does an excellent job in that role. Shout outs to Remedy for capturing her beauty without oversexualizing the character (there could be some bad outfits/skins out there for her, but what I've seen is great).

I'm an East Asian female, and I generally try to make my characters look like East Asian females as much as possible. I don't want the face to look like mine, though.

I always pick female. I know so people use character creators to basically re-create themselves. I’m sort of the opposite where I create people who aren’t like me. There’s probably a better name for this, but essentially I want to roleplay, but as somebody who is not myself.

Therefore, I always pick female whenever I have the chance as a starting off point.

As a girl I usually make a dude, cause if I'm gonna be staring at someone for hours on end I might as well make someone who is cute (to me) and then make him wear booty shorts and such. Depending on romance options though I might pick a girl, or if it isn't true full customization (like where you pick a male or female predesigned avatar) because often the girl design is cuter or less generic.

FWIW there was a topic sort of like this about gender and avatars titled "Why do you play as the opposite gender?" That was posted seven years ago but bumped 6 months ago. Similar thoughts in there.

For me, if it's a game that's more action than story and hence the avatar is just an avatar (like, say, Monster Hunter or Dark Souls), then I will generally make an old guy. I've always liked the idea of playing an old dude who may have been one of the best back in the day, yet is now sort of washed up but capable of moments of brilliance. It's my favorite head canon for a generic avatar character.

But yeah, like most people I agree that Jennifer Hale delivered a more compelling performance than Mark Meer in Mass Effect. So in that sense it just depends. But I don't think there are really a lot of games that fully voice all dialogue in a big story with more than one actor, right? There are all sorts of games that will allow you to pick from several voices, but in those cases it's usually just different-sounding shouts and grunts.

Also, at least for me gameplay implications will always override aesthetics or vocal performance. If characters play differently I'll go with the one I like best; whether they're male or female or an alien or whatever makes no difference next to how the gameplay shifts.

Well i'm a dude, so I make male characters.

Well, I'm a dude so I make female characters.

See it works both ways.

I'm a cis-white male that support LGBT+ as an allie; I most often make a female character in every game where I can make a good character. Actually, the more sliders, switches and choices I have; the greater the likelihood I will make a female character. If the tools for character creation are bad, that is when I am more likely to make a male character.

Its funny how most people say female and female seems to do the better voice acting...yet males dominate in the pitch meetings for easy to sell main characters since they think people wont wanna play say tomb raider lara or Aloy in Forbidden west or last of us ellie, atleast those from what i heard were hard to pitch properly. Truth is, most of the marketing research these companies make seems skewed to favor their hot takes from decades ago. Like how movie execs emails came out in the past discussing that people wont wanna go see anything other than mostly straight cis males of one ethnicity, then stuff like black panther and other movies proved them wrong. Tangent and not related I know just my usual rants. XD.

I'm some white guy and I default to a cool lady with short hair but also have been known to randomize until I get something cool and also will play a male character from time to time.

I will make me, bald and pasty and fat, if they’ll let me, just like real life. Then I can pretend that *I* am the hero, not some muscular handsome lad or pretty lass.

I have this go-to character I like to create named Kira Doomfist. She's a large, muscular, imposing barbarian looking lady with big hair-metal hair, usually bright red but she has been known to dye it on occasion. If the game lets me make someone like that, I usually go with that. But I've made all kinds of characters over the years.

I'm a bald white guy with glasses in real life. Get mistaken for other people all the time.

Depends on the game and the mood of the game.

For ME I went female for paragon runs, male for the opposite. lol cant remember what its called.

More often than not though I play as a female. Although the last game I played with a character creator I chose male because it was a “serious” toned action adventure game with medievil style sword fighting in it and it made more sesnse to play male given the game background and setting.

I mix it up to try to make something at least a little different from my past characters each time, where possible. I'm not super strict about it but I like to have some variety in there. I'd estimate I probably go about 60-70% female (probably to balance out the heavier weight of male protags in pre-set games, as other people noted).

What is weird is while 'seemingly' only a slight advantage, most character creator actually allow MORE option for female presenting characters. More hairstyles typically, more color of clothing choices, and often more body scale variety. And while some might say "Oh, yeah, it like one or two more choices...so who cares", we all know the math behind Permutations and Combinations shows that the more choice you have expand variety hugely.

That why above 'seemingly' only a slight advantage to have more choices, it actually does matter. Choosing the outward appearance of characters that give a few more slider and choices per slider is noticeable.