Interesting thought on avatars

[Sgt Floyd]

I happened to get involved in a conversation on another site and we began discussing what avatars say about the person using them and the perception that others have.

Some people mentioned that tough looking avatars can make people feel intimidated by the person using them and nice friendly avatars make thee user seem like a nice friendly person.

It got me wondering how users here view avatars. Are they just a picture by a post or can certain facial expressions, characters, what have you make you see the user one way, even though that probably isnt the case?

I also don't mean imagining who you are talking to is their avatar (which I tend to do since I need to relate the person to a face)

 

[Yuna Leonhart]

I personally never thought that users want to try to come across imitadting or nice with their avatars. What I thought was that they use them to show who or what they love or admire or they simply think a certain pic looks hilarious. At leas that's the way I see it.

 

[Hubert]

I personally never thought that users want to try to come across imitadting or nice with their avatars. What I thought was that they use them to show who or what they love or admire or they simply think a certain pic looks hilarious. At leas that's the way I see it.

I don't think we do want to try to come across with a certain attitude or image. I think we just pick something we like for our avatars. But what we're talking about is that even though we're not trying to get a point across, we often do that without knowing it.

 

[Sgt Floyd]

Right, I don't think anyone would intentionally use an avatar to express an attitude. Seems kinda silly if they did.

 

[bandit]

Like anything else, I think we what we choose for our avatars does say something about us, though. Whether you choose a picture you love or that you find funny, there's a little bit in all of us in what we choose.

For example....For me, this is the perfect avatar for several reasons. The abridged version is that I love Fraggle Rock, Red and have a penchant for medieval adventure stories. Its silly and fun and it reminds me of the good old days when my friends pegged me with 'Red' as my moniker.

Soooooo, if I'm gonna take a trip down memory lane, I'm gonna do it RIGHT!

Having said all of that, I never intentionally thought "I'm going to project THIS to others." Its really more about ME and what I like.
I think that's what most people do.

But I think you're onto one thing....People might make some assumptions about how people are based on their avatars and actually....They may not always be entirely wrong.
It does say something about what catches our eye or interest.

 

[Vincent L]

I agree with you. Like now, I see bandit as "enthusiastic", hubert as fat (no offense, but that's what your avatar makes me feel), and Sgt Floyd as bored.
I wonder if people see me as young, cute, enthusiastic and excited?

p.s. Did you just change your avatar, Sgt Floyd? I had trouble identifying you.

 

[Hubert]

You see me as fat? Hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha hahahahaha!!!!!!!!

Since you asked Vincent, I do see you as very enthusiastic and excited.

One another thing I wanted to say: when a character in your avatar is expressing a certain emotion, sometimes to me it seems that you also are. For example, Sarge's current one looks a bit bored, so as long as she has that one, I'll feel like the whole time behind the computer screen she's really bored. Same with the facepalm-ish one Newsie had previously, everytime I saw that, I thought that she was facepalming or had a really bad headache.

 

[Sgt Floyd]

Actually, he's confused and not sure what to make of his female clone sitting on his bed. (I'm not making this up)

And yes, I changed it...two days ago I think. I couldn't have Danny in only his ghost form But I change my avatar a lot. Just look for my bright orange sig

 

[Teheheman]

Ok, I gotta ask then, what do you guys think of when you see MY avatar? Just seein if what you think is pretty much how I am or not

Daniel

 

[bandit]

Hrmmm....
When I see your avatar, the first thing that comes to mind is how much it looks like a military patch. o.o It's kind of funny because it looks like something from the military but it reads 'love everybody' so.... what usually ends up happening is I sit here wondering what its from...an album cover? A logo?