Generally female, but perfectly fine with male. I just find female character design is better than male in mot games I've played.

I don't mind. These days I prefer playing as a female cause there aren't that many games that have female main characters.

Maybe the fact that Tomb Raider didn't have a male lead was the reason for its lower than expected sales. 

i prefer to look at the ass of the protagonist the entire game, so i prefer the protagonist is a goat

I honestly don't have a preference I am good with either.

I suppose it doesn't really that much matter to me. If there is an option, most of the time I will choose to play as the male character.

If at the time I'm feeling somewhat horny bored of playing as a guy, I'll choose the girl.

also, nice game tag

I think the reason for the lower than expected sales of Tomb Raider (2013) was unreasonably high expectations for what the sales were going to be.  The game sold well over 3 million in its first month.

Also, having a female lead in previous Tomb Raider games didn't stop it from becoming a mega-franchise and spawning 2 high-budget Hollywood movies.  Yes, Lara had a bigger bust back then and revealed more skin, but that didn't stop her from sliding into relative obscurity once the quality of her games went downhill in the PS2 era.

And what happens if a girl playing one of those actions games ¿?
People who play video games, all of them are immature, I played as Elena Fisher in Uncharted 3, and there are people who believe that I am a woman, (I hear them talk on chat), that bothers me, they can not understand that there guys who like to play with the female characters, and that's not because we're unmanly, is because we are perverts ..... Yes, Final Fantasy is a bad game, and I bought for one reason, girls ... sexy girls... ^^! (sorry for my poor english)

Well, in fighting games, I tend to go with the boobs, though, in some cases, characters lack them. My main fighting game characters tend to be female. Ruby Heart, in Marvel vs. Capcom 2, Taokaka in Blazblue, Lili in Tekken.

That said, I do not exclusively use female characters. In MvC2, I use Captain Commando, Megaman, Blackheart also, while recently picking up Cable, Spider-Man, and Doctor Doom.

In blazblue... I only use Tao...

For Tekken, it's split, because I also use Christie and Leo (both female) and Feng-Wei and Yoshimitsu.

Then, in the uncharted multiplayer, games, I use Chloe whenever possible or else Lasaravic.

And, to answer the question, I do prefer female protagonists. Makes the game look better.. lol.

It is irrelevant to me, but in RPG games where you are allowed to make a character and are encouraged to immerse yourself in a game universe I prefer to make an avatar that is similiar to me. I choose a male character just because I am male in real life, is simple as that. 

I really can't think of many games where a female character in place of a female or vice versa would really detract from or benefit the game experience. The new Tomb Raider would be just as good if Lara Croft was Larry Croft, and Deus Ex HR would still be a masterpiece if Adam Jensen was replaced with Adana Jensen. It is the gameplay of Tomb Raider that counts, and the awesome story/gameplay of Deux Ex HR that truly matters.

There may be some exceptions though ... Duke Nukem would be... different as a female. The gameplay would not change I guess, but it would have to be an over the top misandrist in place of the over the top misogynist that is Duke.

Another example would be ... maybe Silent Hill 3? Heather Mason was about to birth a demon ... a man can't really be pregnant with a child/demon/anything ... except for that awful Schwarzenegger movie.