I've always been interested as what genders people prefer to role-play in video games, so which do you intend to play and does the fact we've seen less game-play of the female character influence your decision.

For me personally when given the option I almost exclusively play male characters, I'm not sure why, I think its because I often like my character to relate to me in some way. Of all the hundreds of hours I put into Skyrim I never played a female character once, although I did experiment a little with male and female characters in Fallout 3. This time around I intend for my first and primary character to be male and I hope to experiment further down the line.

So which gender will you be playing as and why?

Male to start with and then female. I tend to play that order; first a male hero type that always tries to do the good thing, and then an evil female that's all about herself.

This time I want to start out as someone more or less like myself (female) but for some reason I don't usually do that. I mix it up.

I've switched between playing as both genders. My first character tends to be a guy as I can immerse more into the character, as I try and play it as myself.

However I'll try a female character later on just to see what happens.

Im a male and i plan on playing my first run through with a male, and a second one with a female. i do want my character to relate to me so my main account will be with a male, but i think itd be cool to play through with a female for the first time in any game really, except tomb raider.

I play female characters. I refuse to buy or play any game that forces me to play a male character.

I play male I refuse to play any game that forces me to be female

I play male.

Just because i can relate more to a male character as i tend to play as myself to a certain degree.

I'm a male, and always play as male if the option is there, but after hearing Courtenay Taylor's voice I think I will try a female on my 2nd playthrough.

I'm male and my first character will be female. I'll also end up creating a male character at some point, though most of my characters will be female. I prefer to play as opposite myself as possible.

I play female characters when given the chance (a game just having a male character doesn't turn me away, though). I like women, and I like Action Girl type characters in TV shows/movies (Xena, Buffy, River, Sydney Bristow, Nikita, Kira....). So I'll play one in a game when possible.

(Also, I don't "connect with" or "relate to" my characters. They're action figures that I'm pushing around on a very fancy game board. They're not representations of "me".)

Multiples of each gender. I'll be starting as male for my fist playthrough, trying out a Booji Boy build. Then, a build based off of Tank Girl.
I will probably also do another Clobberella, when I do my first unarmed build.
And a Matrim Cauthon lucky rogue melee build.

I used to play Male characters all the time but then later switched to Female, it's way more interesting and more badass. Generic Action Hero Male gets really boring due to how common it is in any other media, Movies, games etc.

It's a shame that Bethesda once again shows generic white dude in all of their media. Could've gone different race & gender each screenshots & videos, ah well.

I'm a male who mostly plays female characters.. but in every fallout/TES I have at least gone through the game at some point with a male character. Usually just because I want to play around with the beard/mustache options and see what certain armors look like on male characters. In past games there were sometimes huge differences in female/male armor textures/meshes. That difference has seemed to dwindle over the years.

I'm a male and I play both genders equally, depending on which of my creations make for a more interesting game.

Male all the time unless I find out there are some interesting differences in how quests or dialogue work out.

The only time I play female is in MMOs cause you can get lots of free stuff that way from the desperate lonely types.

It would be interesting to cross reference this poll with a poll about whether or not you prefer first or third person. I guess if you have to stare at an ass all day you might as well make it something worth looking at. I play first person exclusively so that isn't an issue with me.

will be playing as myself, so male as always.

Oddly, I've never gotten anything (or even been offered anything, or been "hit on") on an MMO while playing any of my female characters. Probably because it's assumed that female characters are being played by males, and that I don't try to "act" like I'm female.

Yea I used to play female characters all the time early 2000 in MMO,not anymore grown up don't have those tendancy anymore.

But the real reason is due to option of romance which made me feel wierd romancing as a female so started playing males exclusivly from now on,sure I might sometime switch to play females to see how it feels but switch back.

Agreed.

Eh, I'm 36. I've been playing RPGs for three decades now - I have played a lot of male characters by now. I'll often roll a female character just to mix it up or add a different flavor to things.

It's usually just whatever comes into my head now. With the background we know of, I think it'll be interesting trying a woman character for Fallout 4.

I personally like the protag to be as much like me as possible so I imagine the story to be about me and how I would react to the story and scenarios

Both genders. I'm sorry, but a ginger Nora in leather armor mowing down an army of Feral Ghouls in Lexington is too badass to pass up.

Oh, and a male Asian dude because...why not?

I'm still not sure what gender my first character will be, but I'm male and I'll play both genders. I usually find that I have an easier time roleplaying a female character, probably because it's easier for me to separate myself from the character. Something about it being the opposite gender better enables me to create a persona rather than the PC just being a bridge between me and the game so I can romp around in it, no rhyme or reason to my actions.

I also prefer to play black characters when I play male. They're just more badass. (I'm white) Again, this is also probably me trying to create a character individual from me.

This will be the first game where I will use Mod Organizer and create 2 characters, one of each gender, and switch back and forth on the first play-thru.

Are you planning to do similar things with the characters, similar questlines, or completely different?