Glory of Rome for me.

Washington - America.
Though that was a randomized pick from a quick game.

Alexander in the demo, Ramesses in the full game.

I guess I should have been more specific. 
 
Let it be known the the poll is for who you played for this full game as.

" Washington - America. Though that was a randomized pick from a quick game. "

I went for Japan first. Bushido seemed super amazing. I was not dissapointed.

Hiawatha as a random pick.

Played as DJ Wu Zetian.

Japan.
 
Bushido is too awesome, I felt underpowered when I went for the cultural victory with Ramesses.

England, naturally.

I was India my first go around, but it was a random selection. My first time choosing, I went with Washington.

 Augustus Caesar because it's the tutorial.

I picked random and got Ramesses.

Darius and the Nebuchadnezzar II. I really like those ancient middle-eastern civilizations, not sure why. Might be because of the architecture.

Greece

Honorable victory as Japan for pretty much the same reason everyone else listed: Bushido is one HELLUVAN ability.

Japan because I knew that there power was very over powered and that my first game would involve a lot of combat as it is the simplest way to play that game and that my first time out I would need to fall back on it to advance. I have grown to like Ceaser, and the Arab guy though. I'm making it a point to always try a new leader every game I play now, but so many of them have some really useless fucking powers.

Japan, units not being affected by lost health is priceless. And samurias are cool too.

My preferred path is to have a bitchin' navy before anyone, explore everything first and control the coasts through blockades & bombardments
 
...so England.

Japan, and now I'm having a hard time picking anyone else. Bushido is a pretty crazy bonus in combat.

 Hiawatha

" Glory of Rome for me. "

America, Ryan Davis likes to talk a lot of yang about USA

Japan, Bushido is OP. Even if I'm not going for military victory, it really helps to be able to defend with only a few strong units so I can keep low maintenance costs.

Japan, I was going for a military victory and Bushido was too good to pass up.

Egypt naturally.
As soon as I saw that phat 20% bonus to Wonder building it was love at first sight.

Elizabeth! I played on an archipelago map, and because of the great naval bonuses, I was able to easily win. 

I started with England but never actually finished because i realised at about 500AD that chieftain was far too easy for me.
 
I finished my 1st game with Japan though - Samurai are just insane.

Not much love for Nebuchadnezzar II. DIDN"T ALL OF YOU BUY THE DLC?! GAWW!

Washington (Randomized)
Ramesses (Chosen)

Big fan of Catherine, but like everyone else is saying Bushido is great, I just love the bonus for production, and the extra horses and iron.

" Japan, and now I'm having a hard time picking anyone else. Bushido is a pretty crazy bonus in combat. "

napoleon.

Harun Ar-Rashid.

The Iroquois because payback is a bitch.

Ramses, but I ended up with a science victory in the end. Always love amassing world wonders, though.
  
I picked archipelago map type and hilariously started off on a tiny island with just myself and Ghandi. As soon as I saw him there I said "oh no" and started amassing an army. Took him out as soon as possible so I was all by myself. Switched immediately over to culture/economy/science focus (all at once). The coastal nature of the map meant amassing gold wasn't too difficult. Built up an empire spanning several island chains before all the remaining civs ganged up on the war-mongering England. While they were all distracted, I ended up building the space shuttle beneath their noses. 
 
I love maps where I'm dominating so much that I basically command the outcome of civilizations. For example, one civ was fighting England and had one of their powerful cities captured. I came in with warships and a single infantry unit and wrestled control of the place. Instead of giving it back to the other nation, I ended up gifting it to Germany because their nation was so woefully underpowered. Of course, that ignited tensions between Germany and original owners of that city, who ended up taking it back by force. It kept everyone preoccupied with nations besides me.
 
I did the same thing with another of England's cities I had captured. By that point, I had too many cities of my own to bother taking them, and gifting them to the other civs was a good way of making them fast and long-term allies.

Japan, I live here so it seemed appropriate.  Unfortunately, military is always my least favourite win condition, so i went for cultural.  Kinda ignores all of Japan's perks, but oh well, it worked fine anyway.

" @MightyMayorMike said:

" Japan, and now I'm having a hard time picking anyone else. Bushido is a pretty crazy bonus in combat. "

Agreed. Although, I will occasionally choose the Germans. Bismark is nice, but it would be nice to see the debut of Germany's true best son. "

" Washington - America. Though that was a randomized pick from a quick game. "

Japan like most of you. I didn't wanna get overpowered in my first playthrough.

Japan- the unit buff was like OMG OP.

I played as Napoleon, of course. If I could have played as the incas, I would have chose them instead.