No, this isn't one of *those* threads. This is more about identity and the player character than anything else. I am a male who plays plenty of female characters in RPGs, generally for aesthetic reasons (I can't stand how male blood elves look, for example.)
I came across a thread on Wowhead that brought up an interesting point and I wanted to see what others thought about it. The poster stated that there are basically two types of people who play RPGs.
Type A: You put yourself into your character. Your character is a reflection of you and you identify with your character. So if you play, say Dragon Age, you consider the actions of the Grey Warden to be your actions.
Type B: You control your character's actions, but the character himself (or herself) is his own character in his own universe. You do not identify with your character, you're just the puppetmaster. Again, with the Grey Warden, the things the Grey Warden does are his actions, not so much yours, even though you control him. You are like a director for a movie, you control what happens, but you're not in the story.
I am personally a Type B. I do not identify myself with any of my characters, not even my WoW characters or characters in open world games like Skyrim. I see them as their own characters, separate from me which is why they can be female, or evil, or whatever the hell I want.
I also feel, that if this is true, some games lend better towards Type A and some to Type B. Mass Effect, where you play Commander Shepard, is more of a Type B game. While you're given some leeway into customizing Shepard, he/she is still BioWare's character. Or perhaps Deus Ex HR where you are Adam Jensen and have very little customization (none aside from dialogue and augments.) Skyrim on the other hand is far more for the Type A's, where the character is entirely customizable to the player.
So, the poll asks, are you a Type A or a Type B? And do you think this theory is valid or not?
One more thing, I also don't think it's black and white either. I think someone who is a Type A, for example, might have some of the traits of a Type B and vice versa, so vote whatever feels the stronger for you.