[quote=@BrokenPromise]
Most character sheets actually have a spot where you define the sex of your character. It's a fairly important choice, but what does it mean to you? 

Do you feel there are many differences between male and female characters? Do you tend to favor one sex over the other, or only play one sex? Do you feel a roleplay needs to be balanced with its sexes? Are there certain rolls that you feel are better played by a certain sex?
[/quote]

Simplest decision:

Look at the current gender ratio (or predicted gender ratio) and try to get it close to 50/50 (unless the setting explains why there would be a lopsided ratio) either by recruiting more players or playing outside your element.

Similarily, age of character is sometimes played around with. [i]Somebody has to play the badassed grandma.[/i]

Other times, it's decided upon more by plot-demands (pairing your character off with someone else's) or if you've got a recently worked-on character you've got kicking-around in your head with nothing to do because their RP got canceled at teh last minute.

This thought-process even applies when RPing entire "squads" of characters. As an interesting ensamble-cast in their own right, they do have interesting stories within their own group, but such intra-player dialouge is kept to a minimum to encourage player interactions.

[quote=@Shoryu Magami]
I think the real problem with 'harem' stories is they're seldom ever believable, not only due to the imbalance in gender presence but also the unlikelihood of a single person - male or female - having so many admirers who hold genuine feelings for them -- as far as I'm concerned, this is just wish fulfilment escapism, regardless of which gender is the person who has the 'harem'.[/quote]
*sneezes*