Seriousness Do avatar images influence your impression of personality? - Page 23

badgoodDeb · 12-08-2009, 06:40 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by mvisconte

69th Level Magical Female Wood Elf, BTW. Hubba hubba.

So it that her, in your avatar at this very moment? (since avatars can change so fast......)

mvisconte · 12-08-2009, 06:44 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by badgoodDeb

So it that her, in your avatar at this very moment? (since avatars can change so fast......)

No, that's my strict compliance after being told that I needed an Avatar. That's one of the main screen shots from the new movie "Avatar". Heh. The view from my vantage point of my Wood Elf would make me blush.

WT Sharpe · 12-08-2009, 06:45 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ea

It never really survived that first derailment and I still feel bad about it

The fun wasn't very funny to me.

However, I don't think I could have done more than I did - thus why I stopped taking it seriously myself, even though I would have liked to discuss the subject further. I hope that people will remember to respect the seriousness tag when someone else uses it another time - however funny the subject might appear to themselves. There's always the possibility to start a silly 'sister-thread'.

I'm sorry to be among the many who have disappointed your expectations, and yes, the thread did appear under the "Seriously Thoughtful" banner, but in my defense (and it is a feeble defense), just how long can one stay serious on such a topic? We are talking about avatars, after all: robots, dogs, spaced-out cats, etc.

But to make amends, and hopefully cheer you up a bit in the process, I'll take this opportunity to turn at least momentarily to a more serious mode and post a somewhat thoughtful related question to this thread:

Do your avatar images influence your personality?

I think this is an interesting question because I've noticed that since I adopted Marvin (original flavor), I find that in many of my posts, I seem to be channeling that paranoid android. (And just look what's happened to poor Pshrink's posts since he started using that whacked-out Santa avatar!)

kindlekitten · 12-08-2009, 08:14 PM

is he getting creepy?

mvisconte · 12-08-2009, 08:56 PM

Four Word Post, now?

kindlekitten · 12-08-2009, 09:42 PM

no, not really

kennyc · 12-08-2009, 09:53 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by kindlekitten

is he getting creepy?

what do you mean GETTING?

kindlekitten · 12-08-2009, 10:14 PM

in line with the creepy avvy!

catsittingstill · 12-08-2009, 11:23 PM

Yes, other people's avatars and usernames do somewhat influence my impression of them, but if they post much, their posts can override any first impression I may have gotten.

For my part, my avatars tend to depend on what interests me at the time I make the avatar. Then I tend not to change them because I'm too lazy :-)

But when I'm picking an avatar I do think about how it comes across. I don't use pictures of people who aren't me because that just doesn't feel right to me, for example. But I'll cheerfully use a picture of something that's obviously not me if I feel like it at the time. I try to pick pictures that look friendly and harmless, hoping that if I say something that *could* be taken badly, people will look at my avatar and figure I didn't mean it that way.

My mobileread avatar is technically a beanie baby elephant, but I think of it as a mimmoth. A mimmoth is a kind of vermin that occasionally shows up in the web comic _Girl Genius_--a miniature mammoth. They're a bit like mice, cats hunt them, people try to exterminate them and so on. Someone saw me wearing a Girl Genius badge holder at a science fiction convention and gave me a magenta beanie baby elephant, explaining that it was a mimmoth. And since I couldn't leave it at the hotel, as it would get into the walls and breed, and I couldn't break its verminous little neck and drop it in the wastebasket, since it would be a biohazard, I had to take it home.

But doing the responsible thing had its price; it turns out that mimmoths reproduce by credit card fraud. They get your credit card number and go on the internet and order more of themselves. That's how I ended up with the grey mimmoth. (Really, Ea, I'm not being silly--I'm explaining about my avatar. I can't help it that mimmoths are silly.) I have a orange-and-black one too. It showed up in my birthday presents last year. I'm not sure how it got there. I have questioned it closely but it just trumpets and tramples its little feet. The other two mimmoths staunchly maintain their innocence, but that's what mimmoths *would* do.

So anyway, when it came time to pick a picture for my avatar I didn't feel comfortable using one of *me* with strangers but I'm perfectly willing to expose a mimmoth. This one is named Ramp, which is Dutch for "disaster." Or so I'm told. You have to kind of growl the R to get the proper sound.

My username dates back to a very old Usenet (I think it was) group called alt.callahans which was very loosely based on Callahan's Crosstime Saloon (a book by Spider Robinson). I always liked the name Cat Dancing (until I read the book lo these many years later and discovered that she was killed--not even for transgressing against the double standard of sexual behavior but for having wrongly been thought to have transgressed against the double standard--double grrrr!) but didn't want to use that name myself so I thought, well, when I'm reading newsgroups I'm not dancing anyway, am I, I'm sitting still.

And I kind of liked the name so I've stuck with it. It has enough of a history to "feel" like its mine.

pshrynk · 12-09-2009, 12:25 PM

Time for another Bad Santa...

kindlekitten · 12-09-2009, 12:58 PM

*wince*

WT Sharpe · 12-09-2009, 01:06 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by pshrynk

Time for another Bad Santa...

Vengeance from the grave!

kindlekitten · 12-09-2009, 01:33 PM

ok, time to get into the holiday spirit I suppose

WT Sharpe · 12-09-2009, 01:35 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by kindlekitten

ok, time to get into the holiday spirit I suppose

Sweet!

(Please tell us that's actually you!)

dsvick · 12-09-2009, 01:45 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by kindlekitten

ok, time to get into the holiday spirit I suppose

ohh my... wow....

I'm ever so glad you're in the spirit now kindle!! Now how do I get you and your spirit under my tree?

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12-08-2009, 08:14 PM	#334
kindlekitten Professional Adventuress Posts: 13,368 Karma: 50260224 Join Date: Sep 2009 Location: The Olympic Peninsula on the OTHER Washington! (the big green clean one on the west coast!) Device: Kindle, the original! Times Two! and gifting an International Kindle	is he getting creepy?

12-08-2009, 08:56 PM	#335
mvisconte pHilosopher kIng Posts: 208 Karma: 429751 Join Date: Jul 2009 Location: An imperfect world Device: Laptop, laptop, desktop, phone (HTC, HTC, Asus, Asus, LG rah!)	Four Word Post, now?

12-08-2009, 09:42 PM	#336
kindlekitten Professional Adventuress Posts: 13,368 Karma: 50260224 Join Date: Sep 2009 Location: The Olympic Peninsula on the OTHER Washington! (the big green clean one on the west coast!) Device: Kindle, the original! Times Two! and gifting an International Kindle	no, not really

12-08-2009, 10:14 PM	#338
kindlekitten Professional Adventuress Posts: 13,368 Karma: 50260224 Join Date: Sep 2009 Location: The Olympic Peninsula on the OTHER Washington! (the big green clean one on the west coast!) Device: Kindle, the original! Times Two! and gifting an International Kindle	in line with the creepy avvy!

12-08-2009, 11:23 PM	#339
catsittingstill Guru Posts: 643 Karma: 551634 Join Date: Dec 2007 Device: Kindle 1.0.8, iPod Touch, Kindle Keyboard	Yes, other people's avatars and usernames do somewhat influence my impression of them, but if they post much, their posts can override any first impression I may have gotten. For my part, my avatars tend to depend on what interests me at the time I make the avatar. Then I tend not to change them because I'm too lazy :-) But when I'm picking an avatar I do think about how it comes across. I don't use pictures of people who aren't me because that just doesn't feel right to me, for example. But I'll cheerfully use a picture of something that's obviously not me if I feel like it at the time. I try to pick pictures that look friendly and harmless, hoping that if I say something that could be taken badly, people will look at my avatar and figure I didn't mean it that way. My mobileread avatar is technically a beanie baby elephant, but I think of it as a mimmoth. A mimmoth is a kind of vermin that occasionally shows up in the web comic _Girl Genius_--a miniature mammoth. They're a bit like mice, cats hunt them, people try to exterminate them and so on. Someone saw me wearing a Girl Genius badge holder at a science fiction convention and gave me a magenta beanie baby elephant, explaining that it was a mimmoth. And since I couldn't leave it at the hotel, as it would get into the walls and breed, and I couldn't break its verminous little neck and drop it in the wastebasket, since it would be a biohazard, I had to take it home. But doing the responsible thing had its price; it turns out that mimmoths reproduce by credit card fraud. They get your credit card number and go on the internet and order more of themselves. That's how I ended up with the grey mimmoth. (Really, Ea, I'm not being silly--I'm explaining about my avatar. I can't help it that mimmoths are silly.) I have a orange-and-black one too. It showed up in my birthday presents last year. I'm not sure how it got there. I have questioned it closely but it just trumpets and tramples its little feet. The other two mimmoths staunchly maintain their innocence, but that's what mimmoths would do. So anyway, when it came time to pick a picture for my avatar I didn't feel comfortable using one of me with strangers but I'm perfectly willing to expose a mimmoth. This one is named Ramp, which is Dutch for "disaster." Or so I'm told. You have to kind of growl the R to get the proper sound. My username dates back to a very old Usenet (I think it was) group called alt.callahans which was very loosely based on Callahan's Crosstime Saloon (a book by Spider Robinson). I always liked the name Cat Dancing (until I read the book lo these many years later and discovered that she was killed--not even for transgressing against the double standard of sexual behavior but for having wrongly been thought to have transgressed against the double standard--double grrrr!) but didn't want to use that name myself so I thought, well, when I'm reading newsgroups I'm not dancing anyway, am I, I'm sitting still. And I kind of liked the name so I've stuck with it. It has enough of a history to "feel" like its mine.

12-09-2009, 12:25 PM	#340
pshrynk Beepbeep n beebeep, yeah! Posts: 11,726 Karma: 8255450 Join Date: Apr 2008 Location: La Crosse, Wisconsin, aka America's IceBox Device: iThingie, KmkII, I miss Zelda!	Time for another Bad Santa...

12-09-2009, 12:58 PM	#341
kindlekitten Professional Adventuress Posts: 13,368 Karma: 50260224 Join Date: Sep 2009 Location: The Olympic Peninsula on the OTHER Washington! (the big green clean one on the west coast!) Device: Kindle, the original! Times Two! and gifting an International Kindle	wince

12-09-2009, 01:33 PM	#343
kindlekitten Professional Adventuress Posts: 13,368 Karma: 50260224 Join Date: Sep 2009 Location: The Olympic Peninsula on the OTHER Washington! (the big green clean one on the west coast!) Device: Kindle, the original! Times Two! and gifting an International Kindle	ok, time to get into the holiday spirit I suppose