So if I wanted to have the player answer a question to determine their gender, would it work to have a create gender: “” and then after the question use *set gender Male?
You can get as creative as you’d like with it, rather than just saying “Pick male or female” 
Some games ask whether you bow or curtsey, to decide whether you’re male or female. Here’s what I have:
In startup.txt:
*create gender "female"
In the part where the player is determining their character:
You settle in among the rest of the students...
*fake_choice
#Who are all male, of course! There's only so much a girl should learn outside of managing a house, where her proper duties lie. Rome's empire was built through its well-ordered society.
*set gender "male"
#Some of whom, like me, are girls. Rome has built a great empire because her people can excel through merit, not on the basis of their sex—provided they stay within their social class.
It doesn’t have to have set gender “female” since that’s the default, but startup.txt could have had, instead:
*create gender ""
or, say:
*create male true
…and if the player chooses to be female, just do:
*set male false
Ok, this is super helpful, thanks! Would it work the same with a name that they would enter into a text box?