Avvies, identity and change

[narfforc]

I don't have an Avvie, the reason is, that I'm older than old and don't understand the Science of Saruman's Tekromancy, I wouldn't know where to start.



P.S This message took me three hours to write.



.Full Stop......


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[Hakon]

I think the reason some people don't have an avatar is that they don't want to open up. I am not sure about this but I think that if you were to look at all the people on this site who do not have avatars, that they have told other people the least about their personal lives.

[Nienna]

I think a person's choice in picture can say a lot about them. I know that the pictures are mainly how I think about a person. I am a visual person and tend to see their avatar in my head. They can also tell about a person's personality and what interests them. I have a Klimt painting which says a lot about my aesthetic taste. Other people have pictures from movies they are fond of or funny things they have found.

Basically I think that since an avatar is a conscious choice that appeals to someone enough to make it a part of their online persona then it must say something about someone... even if it is only that they like cats.

[wilwarin538]

Interesting....I myself always stick to a theme, usually butterfly related, and blue, haha. I think that always seemed to reflect me, if anyone was to see a blue girl or a blue butterfly avatar they would connect that to me. I think there are lots of people who are similar in that sense, sticking to a certain theme and such.

I usually end up picturing people as their avatars, mainly when it's a person in it. Even though some people change theirs often (like Nogrod) I just kind of mix all of their previous ones in my head along with their current one. And the avatarless just stay a big question mark in my head, haha. Makes them very mysterious to me...

Some past ones of mine. The first one being my very first, and probably the one I kept the longest, the other being my previous one. I rather like my current one, I think it will stay a while.

[Feanor of the Peredhil]

I can remember only a few avatars I've had besides iSnape (which was chosen purely because it made me laugh): a photoshopped version of a charcoal sketch of a rose, a portrait of the Watchmen character Rorschach... Actually, that's all I can remember having. I'm sure I've had more, but none come easily to mind.

I have difficulty switching from avatar to avatar because I don't recognize 'myself' without the right combinations of text and image. Right now my Barrowdowns persona is a green square. If I changed it to red, it would throw me off.

I know there is one thing I bear in mind with all avatars: I like the backgrounds to blend seamlessly with the background of the forum, so I choose dark images, or manipulate them to become dark. I seem to remember once I may have had a galaxy, and I think for a time I had a fractal.

I've been thinking lately it's time for a change, but nothing has stood out for me. On a forum where people tend to retain your picture more quickly than your name (how many werewolf games have had people saying, "Wow, for a second I thought X said it, because Y has a very similar avvie"?), it's a conscious decision of how I care to be perceived.

I'm always fascinated by the images people choose to represent themselves. We (many of us, at least) live in a hyper-visual culture. The imagery we create tells a story about perhaps our passions, at the very least our aesthetic tendencies.

Nog: you are, in my head, an owl.

Wilwa is a blue butterfly.

The phantom is what he's always been, and The Barrow-Wight is a little green ghost.

Heren is fireworks, Kath is The X-Files. Greenie is green.

Some people can switch avatars all they want and I'll never notice. Other people I have come to identify by their pictures.

I wonder if that says more about my psychology or theirs.

[narfforc]

Originally Posted by Hakon

I think the reason some people don't have an avatar is that they don't want to open up. I am not sure about this but I think that if you were to look at all the people on this site who do not have avatars, that they have told other people the least about their personal lives.

No!

[Bêthberry]

Originally Posted by Hakon

I think the reason some people don't have an avatar is that they don't want to open up. I am not sure about this but I think that if you were to look at all the people on this site who do not have avatars, that they have told other people the least about their personal lives.

And then there are the proud iconoclasts. I think the Downs tends to have a rather high proportion of them.

[Morthoron]

Originally Posted by Bêthberry

And then there are the proud iconoclasts. I think the Downs tends to have a rather high proportion of them.

Yes, I am so iconoclastic that I have an avatar simply because not having an avatar is so passe among us image breakers.

[Bêthberry]

Originally Posted by Morthoron

Yes, I am so iconoclastic that I have an avatar simply because not having an avatar is so passe among us image breakers.

Thank you for the definition. I knew that someone would get it.

Originally Posted by Inziladun

For me, the avvies come in handy at WW, especially when you're looking for damning statements with which to frame innocents.

Interesting how often the use of avatars and WW is mentioned here. Clearly, WW has come to be a sub-section of the Downs, more than any other forum; possibly it could even be called an off shoot, with the games I think drawing in new members even more than Tolkien. So it doesn't come as a surprise that the avatars became part of the games, and symbolised the special theme of each game or repeated tendencies, etc.

Spoken as a Non-WWian, of course, so this is just an outsider's perspective.

[Lindale]

I've wanted to change my avatar since Erendis came up with hers which is also black and white. I'm too lazy though to change mine, or just color it, because I like it very much. (It's even my handy phone's wallpaper.)

I tend to pick beautiful female heads for all my avatars in all my forums, by the way. Or if not, then flowers, usually stargazers or red roses, though I haven't done that here. What does that say of me, yes we wondersss?

[Pitchwife]

Hmmm... interesting. Being comparably new here, I haven't had that much time to observe changes in avatars (though I've noticed some, of course), and I haven't yet felt the need to change my own (though I've pondered some alternatives). I think for me the avatar is part of the clothes we wear in this place, just like the names we choose, locations and signatures - different ways to express different aspects, facets of ourselves. And just like we may change our clothing styles or haircuts in real life over time, or dress differently for different occasions, it's perfectly ok to change your avvie if you feel like it (or go naked).
Generally, I identify people with their names rather than pictures - that, and what I've read of them. Some make more marked impressions than others, of course. Those with whom I've interacted more (whether in discussions or games), or who have a sort of charismatic presence, I've come to associate with their individual writing styles, humour, way of thinking etc much more than with their avvies. (Eg davem will always be unmistakably davem, whatever the little pic under his name; same for Form, Legate, yourself Nog, Boro, Might, to name just a few.)
That said, there are numerous exceptions to the rule.
I think it's different with people who have actual faces as their avatars - I associate those with their avvies much more than others. I think of Rune whenever I see a picture of Karl Marx (probably a symptom of Downs addiction) and vice versa. I know alatar doesn't really look like whoever his avvie is (I feel I should know the guy, but the name escapes me), I've seen his real pic on the photo page, and he sure has an unmistakable style, but that's the face he's stuck with in my mind. Form, to me, is Julius Caesar, whatever I've said above. Lalwende is Bilbo (it took me a while to adjust to her being female, despite her name!). Esty is Princess Fiona. Lommy is the Mucha (?) girl - and I was relieved when she changed back to it after her WW game. (She's also a penguin, and I think of her whenever I see penguins, but that's more a background idea.) etc pp.
(Now that makes me ponder - how do I actually feel about people thinking of me as a sheltie dog? Not too bad, but hmm... maybe it's time for a change after all?)
Side topic to this - how much is our psychological response to people conditioned by their avvies? Maybe one of the reasons I found it so hard to accept McCaber as the Seer in Mnemi's WW game was that his avvie doesn't exactly seem to invite trust and confidence; and Lalaith, that cute little rodent, as the last wolf was a small shock.
Which goes to show that it's much too easy to form a fixed image of somebody based on a tiny square of pixels. All the more reason to change every now and then, or go without one like narfforc and others, if you prefer that.
(By the way, Nog's parade of past avvies made me think - wouldn't it be nice to have a graveyard thread for discarded avatars, like the one that already exists for signatures? Or would that need too much server storage capacity?)

EDIT - PS: Now look what you've done! (And thanks to Mnemi for inspiring this)

[McCaber]

I mostly use avatars as an easy way of associating people with posts. I try not to let their choice of picture sway my view of the person, unless they obviously advocate something I enjoy or extremely dislike. Then I use them as a hint to try to know the person behind the picture.

But that's just me.

(Pitchwife, how can you not like the Witch Hunter? He's like teh coolest guy EV4R! What with the hat and the coat and the ...

Sorry, got carried away there for a second. )

[Inziladun]

Originally Posted by McCaber

I mostly use avatars as an easy way of associating people with posts. I try not to let their choice of picture sway my view of the person, unless they obviously advocate something I enjoy or extremely dislike. Then I use them as a hint to try to know the person behind the picture.

For me, the avvies come in handy at WW, especially when you're looking for damning statements with which to frame innocents.

[Pitchwife]

Sorry McCaber, I'm afraid I have to admit I have no idea who your Witch Hunter is (showing an appalling lack of education on my part, I know). I just meant he's dark and reddish (danger!) and doesn't exactly look like the kind of person I'd sit down to have a pint of ale with if I found him sitting by himself in a dark nook of the Prancing Pony. Should have remembered that all that is gold does not glitter...

[Eönwë]

Can I just say that I was quite taken aback when I was reading this thread and saw that both Fea's and Pitchwife's avatars had changed. It's always a little surprising when someone's avatar changes, especially one that the person has had for a long time.

[alatar]

Originally Posted by narfforc

I don't have an Avvie, the reason is, that I'm older than old and don't understand the Science of Saruman's Tekromancy, I wouldn't know where to start.

There is help out there, ya know. Heck, even I was able to create an animated one (though I can't use it).

Do you need someone to chew your food?

[narfforc]

Originally Posted by alatar

Do you need someone to chew your food?

That's Ageism, and I'm only young for an Half-orc.

[alatar]

Originally Posted by narfforc

That's Ageism, and I'm only young for an Half-orc.

You're not that old. If you'd like, me or another could help you upload an avatar; it'd be as simple as downloading a file (you'd have to right-click - something even Half-orcs can do), and then uploading it again via the 'Edit Avatar' tab. Why, you could even make it a contest, giving people a general idea about what you want, and then pick the avatar that you like.

If you're so inclined, that is...

And note that I can't change my avatar as I use it as a bookmark within threads to see where I last left off. If I changed it, I wouldn't be able to find me.

[Nogrod]

Originally Posted by alatar

And note that I can't change my avatar as I use it as a bookmark within threads to see where I last left off. If I changed it, I wouldn't be able to find me.

But of all possibilities it is Billy Idol?

[alatar]

Originally Posted by Nogrod

But of all possibilities it is Billy Idol?

I'm not exactly sure what you mean. And yes, Billy Idol, stylized in blue, is my avatar. Says a lot about me, if you know how to read it.

[Nogrod]

Originally Posted by alatar

Says a lot about me, if you know how to read it.

"Rebell Yell"? "White Wedding"?, "Dancing With Myself"? "Flesh For Fantasy"? "Cradle of Love"? "Eyes Without a Face"? ... His lifestyle, his education, his image as a sex-object / idol, motorcycles, punk, heavy-rock, disco,...? Now what to pic from there?

But yes, you indeed raise one more subject I think we haven't discussed a lot here - even if I think I pointed at this thing in my first post.

So how will others read what we use as our avvies? Is there any reason for you to believe that what you think your avvie tries to say or what you think of it conveys will be interpreted that same way by others as well?

[Mnemosyne]

As someone who spent a lot of time lurking I can say that I choose my avatar, sig, location, etc., with the fact that to some people this is my whole identity in mind.

My "default" avvie is homebrewed; a picture I took of Pauline Baynes' illustration of "The Last Ship," focusing on Firiel as she looks out. The somewhat blurriness of the lines attests to my less-than-competent photography skills. I wanted it for two reasons: 1). it reinforces my femininity (since not everyone will recognize my that my screenname is female), and 2). I really like the character, and the theme of loss, and even the slight questions that the story raises, which goes into my secondary identity as a fanfic writer. Also, it looks simply gorgeous on the Downs' skin.

The default sig is not only one of my most favorite quotes from LotR; it also has a deep personal meaning which does not detract from its general philosophical brilliance. I load a couple of links in there, too: to my livejournal and to my main fanfic opus, in a vain attempt to expose some of my work to the well-read Downers, who I still think would find it interesting if they read it [/shameless self-plug].

My default location just sounded randomly deep and cool; it's mostly intended to sound deep and cool although one could read into it a comment that setting refers not only to place but also to time. For a little while this summer it changed to "The Shire," which is wholly an inside joke.

The current one I have up is for the WW game that I recently ran; it's a pic that I found almost entirely by accident and is meant to represent my art deco Measse as she first appears to the village. The location and sig that match came from Bradbury's short story "Usher II" in which a man gets back on the people who burned his library by having robots simulate a fantastic setting right out of Poe, up to the gruesome deaths he gives them. I'll change them back to the default in a few weeks; I don't have the avatar file on this computer so it'll have to wait, plus I'm still not entirely done with the game itself.

Aside from that I don't have any plan on changing things around in the near future; I like the stability of a static avatar (I wholly approve of the way wilwarin changes hers, keeping a theme so it's still easy to see who she is). Depending on how the MEFAs run I may explode into a few weeks' short-lived arrogance, but we'll just wait and see on that.