...

dont realy care as long as the game has a good story

I like roleplaying female characters more, especially in 3rd person view, as you have something more appealing to look at over the course of the 30+ hours you put into the game.

I usually play male, that way I can roleplay myself more.
Interactions with men when playing women characters can be a bit creepy somehow :P.

I'm interested to see where they take the character, having a female lead is definitely new for FF (aside from X-2). I think as long as they make her a respectable person and lay off the teenage girl cliche's, XIII will be just as good as it would be with a male lead.

I don't really care, as long as it never turns into a horrible FFX-2 style diva-fest

Does it really matter? I mean, the guys look like girls anyway =P

Female would be a good change.

Depends if they're hot. The girls I mean.

"Does it really matter? I mean, the guys look like girls anyway =P"

I don't care too much, but females can be nicer too look at I guess.

I usually roll female characters in MMOs, but I never try to pretend I'm a girl.

It don't matter to me, as long the character is likable.

It doesn't really matter to me

I don't really mind either

"dont realy care as long as the game has a good story
"

Depends on the story of the game, don't really care either way as long as I am not looking at  TnA just for the sake of marketing to young men even though I am guilty of buying games like that...

Don't mind either, but if given the choice I quite like using female characters. Not really sure why. I just like the ladies.

They should have pulled a Star Ocean 2 and let you choose.  It would make the game just a little bit less linear.

Female, since there hasn't been an FF with a single female lead. The closest was Terra in VI, but that game doesn't have a real central protagonist. I hope Lightning is actually the main protagonist and they don't go the XII / VI route and have no central focus - I much prefer the notion of the hero/heroine and his/her comrades.

Im hoping for the opposite.

I am a big fan of these so called "diva-fests"

Depends on the game, but if given the choice I'd pick female. My reasoning is if you're gonna be staring at your character for 10+ hours it might as well look good.

I don't care whether it's a male or female... story just better be there. Though I prefer to look at a female sprite when playing a game.

Metal gear would not be the same with a female, nor would it hurt having a male Tomb raider (as in Uncharted is a great game). So i guess i prefer males. But i always choose females in rpgs/mmo's and games where you have a choice.

well all the males in jrpg's look like females so it doesn't matter to me

I'm split. I kind of like male leads better, but if they can do a female as the lead well, then it doesn't really matter to me.

In games where you can customise appearance, I always pick the female character as there's always more customisation options for female characters, or at least better options.

"Metal gear would not be the same with a female, nor would it hurt having a male Tomb raider (as in Uncharted is a great game). So i guess i prefer males. But i always choose females in rpgs/mmo's and games where you have a choice."

Female, definitely. Lightning is fucking hawt.

It really does not make much of a difference for me as long as the character itself is developed correctly and fits in well with the story.

Doesn't matter as long as the character and story are enjoyable.

Its really bad, I know, but I don't buy games that the main character is a female. I don't know, I could just never get into them.

It really doesn't matter. Lightning looks awesome!

male. cooking and cleaning is borring in video games

did i mean what i said? maybe

Males.

I have the feeling they only choose female to attract more horny little teenagers (am serious).
Cuz the main character in FF13 is more badass than any FF character i've ever seen (she is even more imba than sephiroth, just check the trailers, jumping/flying around like superman at age 20), and its a girl....

A male doing all this would be more plausible to me.

"It really does not make much of a difference for me as long as the character itself is developed correctly and fits in well with the story.
"

doestn't really matter.

I would prefer a Male.

"dont realy care as long as the game has a good story
"

I think lightning would be a great main character, and afaik it would be the first time a FF game had a female lead.

But really as long as the main character in FFXIII is not quite as annoying and boring as Vaan I'll be happy...Good is he(she/it) freaking annoying..

I prefer female leads in any game. They feel more real and caring.
But if the lead is supposed to be evil then.. go ahead and make it male :3

"I prefer female leads in any game. They feel more real and caring.
But if the lead is supposed to be evil then.. go ahead and make it male :3
"

Doesn't matter to me. As long as 'I'm' not a dork through the whole game I could care less if the main character is male or female.

ReTarDedFisHy says that it depends on the style/genre of the game.
Action/Adventure - Guy
RPG - Guy
FPS - Guy
TPS - Guy
FPA - Guy
(insert any other genre) - Guy
Horror - Girl

Presenting a girl in a dark, horrible and lonely place, makes you feel more vulnerable.

All the males look like Females in FF anaway so I guess I have no option

to tell the truth a male character

I would perfer a girl because she would probally be smarter than a male lead.

I would certainly prefer to stare at the back of a pixelated female for vast quantities of hours than a dude.

The main characters all look like girls and have girls names... makes no difference really.

I dont really care though a guy would be nice.

Depends on the story i suppose, considering the vast majority of games have male protaganists it's refreshing to play ones with females as the lead.