Gaming GAF, do you judge others by their avatar?

I can't say that I do, no. I haven't noticed any trends of people with certain types of avatars acting a certain way, at least not yet. But I can understand why some posters would generalize like that.
 
Seep said:
Come at me bro's
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Not particularly, unless it's downright offensive or something. Mostly I pay attention to avatars and names so I remember certain posters.

However, I have felt like my random use of avatars has, until now, lessened the amount of a response I might get during a discussion.

As of now, I'm using a drawing of my likeness my friend DJ made.
 
mkenyon said:
It's not that I think any one way about that, it's just that as a heterosexual male that tends to care what others think of him, I don't get the ability to use an anime/loli/female avatar. It makes me cringe thinking of doing it myself, which leads me to the prejudice. At least, that's what I think may be the case after some introspection.

GAF has to be a vast majority of males right? So if a female is posting with a male avatar, I probably wouldn't even know it to begin with unless I got to know the person.

Again, I want to clarify, this is just first impression level prejudice. Not like "I think you are a piece of shit, and there must be something wrong with you". More like 'inability to understand, and empathetic (though probably misplaced) shame'.

That probably still sounds condescending, but trust me, I get that it's a personal hangup.
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You're reading into it way too much. Some people just like the art style and/or the character's personality and/or the game they are in. I use a Nei avatar on another message board I go to (an EDM related message board) and I'm a dude. I just really like the character and PS2 is my favorite game of all time. Plus I feel that I'd like to share my non-board-topic interest to the rest of the board... hence why I do an EDM-related avatar on GAF (Tiesto with Kim Jong Il) and a game-related avatar on tranceaddict.

Funny that I find the people with anime girl avs usually have the best taste in games on here... (and of course those with oldskool game avs)
 
No but it makes it easy to recognize the posters.
People who post a lot of tl:dr but their preferences are obvious, it's nice to sum up their posts so quickly instead of sifting through thinly veiled fanboyism.
 
All the time. I feel no shame for this either. As many have mentioned, having an avatar which is emblematic of a platform is useful context for that kind of discussion. People with avatars where the posts contradict my expectations will stick in my mind.

I occasionally scroll down a page and realise I've been looking at the avatars without reading any posts at all after the OP. I'm slightly ashamed of that I suppose!
 
Solstice said:
For example, if you go into a thread that's about some bad news about Sony/Nintendo/Microsoft, and you see a person defending them that has an avatar from one of the companies, do you dismiss what they're saying due to potential fanboyism?

I wish I could say that I didn't, but I find myself doing it from time to time. I just want to know if I'm the only one.
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Nope. I've never understood that. People like all kinds of things. Hell sometimes people just pick their icon cause it's cool looking. I judge people's posts by their content and not by something as superficial as an avatar.
 
Casanova said:
No.

If someone judges another person based on their avatar on a gaming forum, I would hate to see how judgmental they are in real-life scenarios.

Not the kind of person I would want to associate with.

I take the time to actually read their posts, because that's what you should be doing on an online forum.
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I don't know how you can equate meeting someone in person with reading their post online. In my case, when I see someone with a PS logo as their avatar commenting on how Nintendo will be in ruins, a Wii U logo commenting on how Microsoft is a terrible company, or an Xbox logo saying PS Vita is the worst thing ever, it makes me think a bit more beyond their comment.

If you look at an avatar and from there decide to not even read a post, then that is something entirely different.
 
It is really hard to avoid doing on GAF. If you have been reading long enough you do start to see obvious trends. And once you notice it, you can't unsee it.
 
Slate Soda said:
Wait...so when I post, do people really picture Wario about to throw up what he's about to say?



...What on earth?
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Sorry, but I agree.

That's the most annoying thing I can see on any avatar. If you don't have Photoshop, just download GIMP, delete the white background and save the image as a PNG with alpha transparency
 
I've been loving Dark Souls, posted in the OP they have (which is very helpful for the most part; great group of people there) and I was talking about how I thought it was a NES game trapped in a 360 game's body. So I said I really enjoyed it, which surprised me because I didn't really care for Demon's Souls. I was told that the reason I probably didn't like Demon's Souls was because I have a "Xbox 360 avatar" and that I was trying to "play it on my 360." What the guy didn't know is that it was the first game I picked up when I got my PS3 Slim last Summer.

Onion_Relish said:
Maybe its the xbox 360 avatar, or the fact that you couldn't play demons souls on your 360.
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There's a lot of people with avatars that have no "allegiance" or agenda for another company. I personally just like an avatar that is relevant, funny, or just unique, and I figured with the Nextbox coming along soon, I would get a Microsoft themed avatar. I personally distrust all three of the hardware giants, and I think they all have their faults and strengths. I do think some are more bumbling or out of touch than other, but I would never really trust or stay with a brand because of the name. I go with what I think is best at the time. That's why I like the Genesis more than the SNES, always will; why I like the N64 more than the Playstation; why I like the Xbox more than the PS2 or GC; or why I like the 360 more than my PS3 or Wii.

Don't be a stooge, because all they care about is your wallet. That's not a bad thing, but understand the relationship. They're not your friend, they're a business, and your the consumer.

EDIT: Also, the reason I posted this was because it happened very recently.
 
RoKKeR said:
Just changed my avatar for the hell of it. Feel like I should go bump the Red OT or something.

I use avatars for recognition only, though in the right context they can make somebody seem like an extreme fanboy.
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Like when you were a Junior Member with a Dead Space avatar defending Dead Space 3 in every thread?












=P I'm just kidding, because I usually agreed with you.
 
I try not to, mainly because I don't know the sources of a lot of them, but I've caught myself seeing a post in a more negative light if they have a particularly ugly avatar (like back in the day of the animated avatars, someone had the debating guy on Starship Troopers in various facial poses and it was really hard to look past it.) In most cases, though, no.

As for my own avatar, at least twice someone has PMed me asking if I'm Turkish, and I have to let them down. It just so happened that Kemal Ataturk had the best picture that captures "some guy in a hat."
 
Arkam said:
It is really hard to avoid doing on GAF. If you have been reading long enough you do start to see obvious trends. And once you notice it, you can't unsee it.
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But we can at least agree that having a Battle Royale avatar is in way a bad thing.
 
Supposedly having an avatar means your a fan boy of a game or platform, whatever happened to just liking games?

I read the posts, I don't care what your avatar is.

Also there are those who only like transparent backgrounds on avatars and think having a white or other colour is bad form. I have white just to spite you.
 
I have a somewhat similar question:

Do you take the comments by mods the same as the comments from a regular member?
 
Who gives a shit about avatars? If I'm gonna hate something it's the poster behind the avatar for having fucking shit opinions.
 
mkenyon said:
Considering I feel the opposite, I think it all begins to make sense.
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Yup, looking at your post history you are a big PC gamer. I tried playing some PC games back in the 90's when I got my first PC but quickly ran back to consoles (especially with all the issues of trying to get games to work, which was of course a lot more difficult back then). So I never developed the nostalgia for the classic PC franchises and can't relate to their style of game design (plus I prefer Japanese art direction, storylines, and the importance of music in their games, generally... and Japanese games don't usually come to PC).

sp3000 said:
Anyone anime/Final Fantasy/Hitler avatars should be banned from the forum
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Maybe you're better off sticking to some hardcore PC gaming forum then.
 
I'd be lying if I said I wasn't wary about accepting someone's opinions on a console exclusive game when their avatar is first party exclusive character on the same console. I try not to, but I do it sometimes.

Also, pony avatars. Nuff said.
 
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