This coming off the 'type 1 type 2' bs from Oblivion but I've noticed this as I am currently playing both Fallout 4 and Skyrim Aniversary edition on and off.
In Fallout 4 I have a female character, because it doesn't really affect the game, I don't care about the companions beyond perks they give and mostly play it to create the ultimate settlements/skyscraper fortresses.
In Skyrim, no matter what race I pick, Dunmer, Redguard, Breton (though fuck being a High Elf) my character is always male, since I enjoy the story and quests and even the Harthfire marriage and kids aspect of it.
I started applying this to older games with player created characters, was ALWAYS a Male Shep in ME, ALWAYS Male in Fallout NV and 3, was always male in Dragon Age EXCEPT DA inquisition but that also dropped massively in writing quality.
Maybe I'm over thinking it, but I'm wondering if subconsciously this 'type 1/2' bs is also indicating how shit the writing and world building is since as players, the more invested we are in the world, the more we want to create a character like us in the game to play as including gender, just at peak performance lol.
I value representation in media, so I always strive to make sure that the rarest character archetype in 2025 - the competent and masculine heterosexual white male - is strongly represented in all my games regardless of quality.
I also want to see my own lived experiences reflected back at me on the screen constantly, so I seek out media that exclusively depicts my carefully curated personal reality (which features organic racial homogeneity as well as virtually no feminists, Marxists, or lgbtq).
Representation matters.