For the entire Mass Effect series I was playing as a male and a female character. I was always intrigued how the developers will come up with ways to interact with either gender. I have to say that FemShep was much more rounded experience than I thought it would. For Destiny though, a 10 year stint, I am going to play it as a Male Warlock.

A good third of my friends who are gamers are women. Out of those, only a couple ever bother to tell the people in-game with them that they are women. Usually, if anything they say that they are guys, because they have gotten tired of people either being childish or treating them differently because of their gender. We often form our own guild/clan in games that we are all playing. This allows us to "set the tone" in terms of not treating anyone any differently based on things such as gender, but also ensures that enough of us are around that no one gets "ganged up on". Of course there are other reasons for us all being in the same group, but starting our own guild allows us to ensure that we can be the ones to set the tone and make sure that only people who can "handle" it are allowed to stick around. You don't get that so much if you all join another group. Of course we all know each other in real life. Everyone in our group tends to either be a friend from work, a friend living in a different area, or family. With a few additions of friends of those people who have joined in. As to people playing a character of opposite gender, go for it. I know that I play characters of both genders depending on the game and/or what I am going for in that particular character. If things continue as I believe they will, my character in Destiny will most likely be a woman. These are games, part of the point is to explorer a different "world", gather different experiences and do things from a perspective that you don't get in your real life. Any idea that the gender of the person on the other side of the screen only matters if you are looking for a date/real world interaction. As long as the person is playing the game well/adds to the experience/makes a good friend/clanmate than it doesn't matter what they are physically like in the real world. Hey, one of my friends from work is over 50 and in a wheelchair. He happens to be a professor with a PhD and three masters degrees, one of the smartest people I have ever met and a great guy to be around. Gaming is his hobby (as it is mine) and he is rather good at it. In any given game that we are playing, his physical body and what it can or can't do has no bearing on his character or how well he plays. Given that this is true, I can't imagine gender being any more important. In short, people really need to stop making a big deal about female gamers. They exist, and most of us probably know a few. They are people just the same as anyone else so treating them differently does nothing to help anyone. Give everyone you meet in a game the same basic respect that you expect, be mindful that you are dealing with real people and most of all, have fun. If you can do that, it doesn't really matter who is behind the other screen, things will probably work out just fine.

I am a male but I will be playing as a female because they naturally have smaller bodies then males and can move faster

Why not both?

It don't mean to blow any minds here, but I am male and will be playing as a... ...male.

i'm a female, and i will play as a female titan :)

It depends on if the choice of sex affects the story in anyway. For example you could only romance Garrus from ME if you were a female character.

honestly, I'm a guy, will be playing as female... I'm not a sexist or what (of course not, how I can see my self in fps), I just feel more getting into story, if I'm a female character

I'm female and I think I will be playing as a female character.

let me see...umm i'll be picking....female....coz umm i'm female and we kick ass :)

Robot

I am a big bear of a man and I'll be playing a big bear of a man because that's the hottest kind of man! And when I'm done slaying I'll eat a roasted turkey leg and wash it down with a tankard of ale!

I hate how people post 3 option polls where the middle choice is going to be the obvious winner, and the two others are going to be wildly underrepresented. It makes it look like a dick.