i usually look up who the best voice actor is and which has the best animations before i decide. i want the most authentic experience it doesn’t really matter whether the character is the same gender as myself
first playthrough i try to make myself. 2nd playthrough (if its good enough) i usually make a woman. there is times when the womans dialog seems way better than the mans dialog. like Mass Effect female shep just sounds for fitting a lot of the time.