What is the usual protagonist gender/role you default to, in the case of an unspecified one? (like in a poem or if a book does it intentionally for a while). Any speculations on why?

For me I usually tend to a male protagonist almost all the time. Could be that I've never really read many books with a female protagonist when I was young, so I guess it's kind of ingrained. Or that its easier to imagine 'myself' as a male since I am.

Depends on the story. For example, the Lone Wanderer to me was a woman, while the Courier was a man. Sole Survivor is leaning female, while the Last Dragonborn is split between being male and female in my headcanon. It's not about a "default" for me. It's what feels the most narratively/thematically appropriate.

"headcanon" good word, gunna have to steal it.

I don't recall any poem or book failing to indicate the gender of the protagonist. If I were to stumble upon such a work, I believe I would assume the character's gender to be the same as the author's.

I've become quite fond of female protagonists as of the last few years. For PC games as an example it's great that Steam has a tag system with "female protagonist" as an available option. I don't ignore or not play/watch content with male protagonists. If they are good stories and characters I am totally unbiased.

Sort of how i felt, i played a female courier but it didnt seem right, female Shepard in Mass Effect, and also because the part was wrote for a female character, but even before that was released it the part fitted a female role better.

I actually never imagine a gender.

Either or?

I've always imagined the Vault Dweller as male, the Chosen One of Arroyo as female, the Lone Wanderer as female and the Courier as male. Because of reasons, I dunno.

Exactly this My Female Shepard was twice the man my male shep was (hehehe). She was just so much more cool maybe because of the VA.

And I do tend to play males as nearly all my first times through a game, I run a better version of me (you know someone charming, who can hold there liquor, and is not an sarcastic ass.) But I am stingy so I really want to get everything out of a game so if I have the option I will do a female run.

More than character six though I find Race (as in fantasy or sci-fi/ not human) to be a lot harder to play in games. Almost always Human though Dragon age did such a good backround for there dwarves it was really easy to fall into the roll of one.

In the rare instances where the gender isn't named, I always imagine it as a male.

i have a few games where the lead is a female. non violent games, it doesn't matter which gender is the lead. and games like the fallouts, and the elder scrolls don't require brute strength. but i expect the lead to be male if brute strength with lots of blood bath is major part of the game.

A stick

same, if i am reading a novel and it has yet to name a characters gender (maybe they are cloaked, or the other characters can't see them in the dark) or something that clearly points to their gender such as a name, then i think of them as androgynous until such a time as their gender is clarified

Neither. I prefer my characters to be sentient machines, elementals, undead, etc.

Yeah, Mark Meer's voice work was really wooden and unexciting. Jennifer Hale's angry truck driver voice on the other hand...