I read somewhere (but can't find the source) that marriage is not restricted to male & female. So you can have any gender you want for that, of course a female and male is required to reproduce however. I also read in another thread that you can't pick the gender of the offspring, but you can name them.

So... after your first character, I suppose there is going to be a lot of 'luck of the draw', in what is available to take over.

Will be purely political for me. Marry for family and kingdom security, after that the wife/husband can do what they want.

I highly doubt I'd have a character marry a character of a player I didn't know, as for their corresponding sexes it wouldn't matter -- it's the characters marrying, not the players.

Personally, some of my characters will male and some will be female -- which will depend on the character.

If I end up spending most of the game in third person (based on beta testing) then I will go female, if I have to look at the character for hundred of hours of game play. minus well enjoy the view.

if I spend majority of time in first person then I will go with whichever ntc offers me a better start towards my goal regardless of gender.

I don't like playing male characters, mostly due to my nature. I tend to call people 'hun' a lot. And for some reason, people freak out when this comes from a male avatar. (Despite knowing the player is female). It's just an avatar though.

I plan to role play however, and I have little desire to play a male character, so this could be interesting ;)

I plan to play as a female character for my first life as I usually pick female characters. After that, I'm excited to see where the story takes me! be that in a male or female character! The opportunity to play a family line through generations is just awesome!

I'm still wondering many things about the marriage system and how others might approach it, but I hope to gain some great friendships out of in-game relationships! That's what this game is about!

I do think most marriages will be more about forging alliances and that the actual gender of the player wont matter if they stand to gain from the pairing. Those that plan to role play their characters might be more particular, although as a roleplayer myself it wouldn't bother me what gender the other player is.

I imagine Kings/Queens and Dukes/Duchess' will be inundated with marriage proposals.

It is my intention on starting my story as a male, and then I shall let the game dictate the direction I go. First born will be my heir, be it a he or a she. I want these decision taken out of my hands and want to play whatever challenge (in an RP sense) the system brings to me.

It's just a game mechanic mate, I don't think any outside emotion needs to come into it.

Being a RL female, I plan on playing females as the male mind is so foreign to me. If I were to have to play a male, I suspect that he would be rather effeminate.

I intend to start out as a female character, mostly becose my man wishes for a "traditionall" marriage ingame. Depending on how dedicated he is to the game and whatever path my next life takes me it is a 50/50 toss on what gender i'll play or possibly marry.

As a roleplayer I am only interested in the characters not the players and I adjust my speaking/writing to fit my current persona. Not that bothered about gender in real life either but that has nothing to do with my playing. My characters have a preference be it one or the other or both and will act accordingly.

To be honest as a count I will play whichever sex I need to for the political marriage I need for that generation.

I'll play whichever heir I like the most, male or female I'm not bothered.

Also if I marry another player it will be someone I know already and only to get the family buffs if we game alot together...

I don't think people should really be caring about what the gender is of their in-game spouse unless they are getting led on or something, or if the player's true gender is really that important to them. However, it's their personal story, and if that story requires an actual player gender, then maybe others would mind. In my mind, marriage in COE is to facilitate the production of a much needed heir, to build family ties, wealth, and renown. All of these things can be accomplished out of character or in character :-)

Honestly, I think players might not be able to always play the gender they want to play. If you think about it, you have a 50-50 chance of getting the gender you want in an heir. I've experienced that chance rate in The Sims A LOT. You want your Sim's heir to be a certain gender for the story you're creating, but keep getting the opposite...and pretty soon you have like 5 children of one gender. The difference is, with COE, you have 1) a much more limited window of opportunity to produce an heir and 2) a limited amount of "slots" for heirs, depending on your resources as you need to be able to provide for your children via an open household room/map/etc. I expect that myself and all players might have to sometimes suck it up and play the gender that was provided and not one that they really wanted to play.

With that being said, I would prefer to know the player I marry, and that usually means knowing their gender, along with personality, game-goals, etc. Does playing with any gender detract from my experience? No, not at all - there are plenty of great people I would love to have in my family <3