How often do you pick the opposite gender for a create-a-character?

[mαrkαsscoρ]

I think there's a few facets to this but I want to look at two, one where you create a character that's fully customizable, and the other where it's just choosing your gender and the male/female character have a set design for the most part. Another angle I thought of is choosing which pre-established character to play as but I think I want to focus on the blank character side of it.
Also this is just as it applies to your first/main playthrough of a game. Obviously you can go wild in subsequent playthroughs.

Full customizable character: I haven't played much of these types of games, but when I do, it's always male for me. If the point of it is to be a self insert then sure, I try to make it as similar to me as I can while taking whatever creative liberties that come to mind, which generally isn't much. Although if there is a "canon" look to this character then I'd generally go for that instead. A few of the games I've played that have a custom character are Pikmin 4, Xenoblade X, Tony Hawk's Underground, and Phantasy Star Online. Might be more but these are off the top of my head.

Choose your gender: This one actually depends on the design of the male/female characters. I've definitely gone female if I find the design more appealing than the male's. Pokemon games are the main ones I think of w/ a set design for the genders, and it's been about half and half for which gender I picked. I would say the same about modern Fire Emblem but those tend to have a romance element so that leads me to pick male.

 

[Ashley the Witch]

For me, I always pick female, I'm male in real life. But for some reason, I always pick female if it's an option. Don't know why. But it's probably a good thing I do, especially in the Pokémon games. There's a lot more options for clothing in the Pokémon games for female usually.

 

[LegendOfMeesh]

I always pick female, have never really strayed from that

 

[Dizzi]

Uhh it depends what kimda mood im in...

 

[Jinjo]

I take turns playing both as female and male.

 

[TheGreatCthulhu]

Not gonna lie, females get absolutely banger outfits.

Style matters.

 

[Killjoy262]

It depends on what I feel like playing during the playthrough.

 

[Azure Sage]

It depends on the character I want to play as. I don't play as myself, I play as ocs. I usually default to Azure, and if I can't make him, I go for someone else, but sometimes I have other ocs in mind that I want for a specific game, like how I used Tshering as my main file in MHRise. It's a case by case basis.

For games that are just "pick a gender" without any customization at all, I usually pick the male and name him Azure anyway. Sometimes I'll switch back and forth between multiple runs though, if that's a thing.

 

[twilitfalchion]

I rarely find enough customizable options I like for males in full-on character creators to make it feel like a proper self-insert, so I usually opt for a female character designed however I like most like I do in MonHun or FF14.

If it comes down to two heavily pre-set designs like in FE, then I usually go male since romance is an eventual thing in those games.

 

[Mikey the Moblin]

usually female
or if it's elden ring, "body type B" (I kid you not)

 

[Mima_sama]

For complete customization, I usually try to make Mima Touhou, so I generally go with female.
As for other games with minor customization, I usually just go with whatever character design I like the most-- for instance, In Dragon Quest Builders 2, I just really disliked the overall design of the female character and decided to play through as the male one instead.

 

[Vanessa28]

It depends on the character. I don't care about gender as long as the character appeals to me.

 

[Bowsette Plus-Ultra]

Almost exclusively. For whatever reason I shifted into playing female characters at some point after Mass Effect 3. If I can create a character who choose who to play then I almost exclusively choose the female option.

 

[Ashley the Witch]

Almost exclusively. For whatever reason I shifted into playing female characters at some point after Mass Effect 3. If I can create a character who choose who to play then I almost exclusively choose the female option.

For some reason, I always felt like you would.