Mostly I choose gender based on how good they look. If males look brutish and carrot-y (no offense to Carrot Ironfounderdsson) or soldier-like, I choose female. If women look like drawn by Rob Liefeld, I choose men.

Though I do have a preference to a ginger short-haired woman (elf if fantasy) if I can't decide on what I want to make.

I'm not attracted to masculine characters. You want me to care what a dude looks like? You're barking up the wrong tree. And if I wanted to look at myself, I'd look in a mirror

My avatar is not me... If I'm going to watch a character for a couple dozen hours, it's going to be someone I find attractive. Hell, if I'm going to spend more than 5 minutes on a character creation screen, it's going to be a woman, because it's hard to get invested in a male character for me

I always thought it was weird to model a game avatar after myself. I always roll the “random character” button (shout-out Monster Factory) when it’s available, keeps things simple.

It's simple. I didn't yet realise I wasn't a man.

I was once handed a princess to use as a playable character in my first text-based chat roleplaying game with 3-5 other people of girls and boys.
It quickly grew on me and I started using girls more often as my playing character from then on.

I won't deny that looking at them could be generally nicer, but I believe it's not the main reason. At least when it comes to text roleplaying, I like to (try) think and behave like a lady in games, to roleplay in their world of view. It's neat in its own way and I love the immersion when it hits me!

I like girls. I like how they look, I like the way they sound, I LOVE their fashion options. It isn't really any deeper than that. That said, I'll usually always play a male character in a Souls title, because [insert valid reason for inconsistency here.]

EDIT: I guess if I had to further expand on this, I'd say that female characters give me a way to explore options I don't have as a tall, bearded, broad, 'built' man. I've always loved cuteness, hyperfeminine fashion, "girly stuff", and so in addition to just really, really liking girls, video games allow me to explore the cute, feminine avenues I can't in the real world.

Also, as another commenter stated, I'd also just rather look at a girl's ass than a guy's for the entirety of a playthrough lmao

I've rarely considered it beyond functionality. I'll play a female in a fighting game if I like how the character plays. If the choice is purely aesthetic, I generally just choose whatever the default is. In Dark Souls III, I played a female because I thought I could make a beautiful character (and I think I did)

A lot of video games are steeped in hegemonic masculinity, and I find that portrayal of men somewhere between mildly and extremely uncomfortable. Women are sometimes characterized a little differently in those games, because the generic woman's power fantasy is not coming off like a massive bag of dicks with insecurity around the size of their pecker.

The other reason is that Toadette just doesn't get enough love.

I choose female characters because their hitboxes are smaller, or if the hitboxes are not smaller they will not match the hitbox and throw off any tracking. Smaller models means they might not be seen around corners by having part of the model sticking out.

Because men in games are usually rough tough emotionless bricks. Designed to be "badass". Playing Cyberpunk as a woman felt kinda freeing and different. Since then I've been doing it more and honestly it just feels fresh. It's also easier to feel like I'm playing someone else. Women also usually have more interesting customization options imo.

(gonna answer this question in the past before i came out)

because i was in the closet and it was euphoric to try out new personalities online without letting anyone else know (looking in your direction WoW)

I like being pretty, and men in games usually aren't (at least to the same degree). Why choose to look worse than i could?

I played Mass Effect as female Shepard because i heard the voice acting was better. Generally for RPGs I play as “myself” though.

I don't always play female characters, but I can think of a few reasons:

• With rare exceptions I just prefer how the female characters look, be it prettier or cuter, they usually have way better character customization than the male counterparts.
• Female clothing and equipment in games also just look more stylish and flamboyant, especially in Japanese ones.
• And honestly I just like playing as someone different from me, if I can't choose to be an alien or whatever, then the next best thing is a woman.

First did it in Kotor because the female PC had much more fun conversation choices with Bastilla(namely she'd be a catty bitch towards you and it was hilarious.)

Then in Elder Scrolls Oblivion because if you wanted to look good, all of the best looking clothing and armor was for CBBE body.

Mass Effect 1-3 because the female PC had better lines and better inflection on the sarcastic lines.

World of Warcraft as a blood elf because when I tried it for shits n giggles I made 25 gold in the first hour of play from people just throwing gold and items at me for no reason.

Easier to character create someone who you have more specific preferences over. Can't really get as invested in how aesthetically pleasing my generic human bloke is, but I play more male non-human races.

I don't know if that makes sense, but to me it depends on how "canon" they look.

Usually the games that give you the m/f character choice will put more effort in one version of the character over the other, with the "non canon" one looking like they were forced to put them in there.

"Canon" version are also often featured in official arts and commercials.

Examples of who I picked in games following this line of reasoning:

Male Robin - FE Awakening, Female Corrin - FE Fates, Male Byleth - FE 3 houses, Female Shez - FE 3 hopes, Aether - Genshin, Stelle - Honkai star rail, Kassandra - AC Odissey

But again, this is very much a "how I feel on the spot" thing, no hard preferences in general.

It's been a progression:

First I didn't care, just made male characters because I'm male, put about zero thought in it.

Then someone told me "If I'm going to spend hundreds of hours staring at an avatar's butt, I'd rather it be something I like". I still made male characters, because I wasn't staring at their butt.

I got into healing roles over time, and most healers tended to be female, so I picked female characters.

Then I saw how male players would fawn around female characters... and I found it funny to make the most fragile looking female character, with some awesome DPS power, so people would try to PvP duel me and get pummeled into the ground.

Finally, I stopped caring at all. My Overwatch "main" was Mercy, with Torb and Moira as close seconds... but the most fun I've ever had, was being a hamster (Hammond).

Sometimes the ladies are just cooler, you know? I tend to just go with whatever I'm feeling on the day, and if the woman has a good voice lines or an interesting mechanic or whatever else then I guess I'm being a woman today

Because female characters typically have better creation options, like hairstyles and outfits. I like to create and play characters that I find aestheticlly pleasing, as a straight guy that means mostly female characters. I do occasionally try to make an idealized version of myself though.

It depends on the game, character etc. I mean I suppose it adds to the escapism slightly?

I play all sorts of different games though, some where you're not given the choice (Life Is Strange for example) and I don't feel like it's that big a deal

Especially when playing 3rd person games, I find that I enjoy looking at a woman more than at a man in. Also mostly I think the character customization is better.

I prefer playing characters as little like me as possible. If there's a non-human option, I will always take it. The further from human available. Weird alien race? That's my jam.

If I have to be a human, I'll often play a female character because it's the furthest from 'me' I can get within those constraints. I'll also usually play a character of a race I am not, for this same reason.

I saw some Avatar gameplay recently. There was a portion of aerial flight where you can enjoy the view of a naked ass in hi-def. I'm guessing they chose to play a female Pandorian for the same reason most players choose a female character in video games, (naked) male asses are a niche market for gameplay purposes.

If the game has a good enough character creator I'll play a male. But most games and especially most Western games with character creators don't allow me to make a male character I'd actually want to look like or at.