I've always been of the mindset "If it sounds fun to play, play it", so it really depends on what I'm in the mood for.
For tabletop D&D I'm always down for an interesting roleplay opportunity, so I usually don't give a damn about what's stat appropriate, but sometimes I just really want to try out a class/subclass I've never played before and then it could be more fun to play with a more optimized character build. But even then, the first time I ever played a barbarian I did it as a high elf... so I don't know lol.
When playing video games I pretty much always go for rogues for my first playthrough, and I usually don't have a specific character in mind. I want to try out the gameplay first and foremost, and then build a character's personality and backstory on top of that.
