Do you judge people on their avatars?

Just wondering how important is avatar is in things like games and (yes even Unity discussion boards).

<---- As you can see I drew a silly frog in Windows Paint. Does this reflect badly on me for example?

On the other hand what about if your avatar is highly polished and professional. Can it be over done?

For people who don't have avatars. Please create one, even if its just in Windows Paint! And then you can explain your thought processes here.

 

I hope people don't think I am a very fancy person with an amazing mustache who always wears a top hat.

 

What's an avatar?

(I'm at work, so I can't do this now, but I've been meaning to add one. Thanks for reminding me!)

 

Well i am happy to not look like my silly drawing avatar ^^

 

I don't think it matters

 

People probably associate the avatar with the person. There is likely some reason a person chose that particular avatar. Something about it connected with them in some way. Mine should illustrate that I greatly enjoy playing D3. Originally my avatar was a photo of me wearing a tank top flexing. I am into extreme fitness training so again it still represented me just a different aspect. I thought this avatar fit the forums better.

 

I don't bother remembering people who can't be bothered to make an avatar.

Mean or not, it's the simple truth.

 

It is true that people here who do not have an avatar at least my initial impression is they are either "new" or random drifters who are not seriously in the community.

 

For me it helps to quickly identify who's posting. What they write however, is way more important to me.

 

<-- That's deep thinking going on in Whippetland. I wish I was that smart.

 

People are primed by your avatar and by your gender, even if they are unaware of it. In fact usually we are unaware of the full extend of this. Priming can trigger certain stereotypes and schema categorization from smaller things like "hardcore gamer" to bigger things like "American" or "woman". This starts to shape the way people interact with each other.

In fact some people have already mentioned some examples:

There are probably hundreds of different stereotype schemas that could be primed/triggered by your avatar alone.

Most people deny this affect them. Most psychology experiments confirm that it does.

 

I pay attention to peoples' content, not their avatars. If a tiny little picture is how you judge somebody, you got issues.

 

But you wouldn't actually know this. That is why we have the field of psychology and perform experiments (instead of relying on introspection).

 

I judge everybody on everything.

 

So long as it's not blatantly offensive in some way I usually don't even notice peoples avatars. Just like Dameon I tend to pay attention to the content instead.

As for my own choice of avatar, I try to make it relate to the forum/game/whatever in some way but also represent me in a very personal way. Both my name and avatar on these forums belong to my favorite character I've ever played in a game, an Asura that I played for roughly 3,000 hours in Guild Wars 2.

 

If we get into how it affects you on a subconscious level, we'll be debating for years, even without unsupported claims of what "most" psychology experiments confirm. Sure, everything you see and hear is processed on a subconscious level, but it doesn't necessarily follow that you're judging people based on avatars at a subconscious level.

I'd be very surprised to see any experiments testing the hypothesis that forum avatars induce bias. Similar experiments may suggest this, but without specific experiments focusing on the effect you suggest, you're shooting blind.

 

I think that when you guys say that you don't judge people based on their avatar, I think what you really mean is you try not to judge.

It's inevitable. It's how your brain is wired.

On a side note, I must admit that I was at one point tempted to use a pic of my lady so that I would get more help.

 

I hope people don't think I'm a girl from Innsmouth. I'm not a girl.

 

There is no doubt that what people write is also taken into account. Of course that matters and is most important. The OP didn't ask if we judge people based on the avatar OR on what they write. They asked solely about the avatar. I used to think avatars were a stupid thing that only young children would use. But through time having other adults ask things such as "so why don't you like the site?" etc and I answer "I do. Why would you think I do not?" ... well you never added a profile pic / avatar / board icon! So... I know that yes... people do notice these things. I don't know how much it matters as to what you use but choosing to participate in having an avatar or not that people do notice. And I think people do pay attention to what the avatar is even if they say they don't. Many people even comment on other people's avatars good or bad.

For the OP my impression is they are a fun loving perhaps kind of silly person. Possibly an artist. Others might think they like cartoons and aliens.

 

If people think you are a girl they will tend to form a 'provisional hypothesis' and treat you differently.

Many avatars (but not all) identify the gender of the person. Others also identify their race and or age. Your's @Dameon_ does a reasonable job of all three. So does @GarBenjamin. If they aren't you, and our provisional hypothesis is broken, we will take this into consideration when forming a new one. Age race and gender are highly privileged social categories in information processing.

Of course avatars often identify much more than that. Even no avatar conveys workable information as has already been outlined.

You don't actually need a specific experiment on avatars to apply this knowledge.

If anyone is interested in the field of implicit categorisations especially related to race, gender and so on feel free to take a free Implicit Association Test (and contribute to research!) via Harvard University:
https://implicit.harvard.edu/implicit/takeatest.html

I could link my course notes for Social Psychology but who wants to read that. I'm already too much of a bore for this thread!

Edit* I'll probably leave it at that.

 

Impressive. I've been on since beta and only clocked 2000 hours (mostly asura and mostly wvw).

 

That time was accumulated in about 9 months. Mainly due to being a micro-managing guild leader of a 350 member guild. I really miss GW2, I burned myself out on it and haven't played it in close to a year now.

----------------

Here's an example of how my mind works when it comes to avatars (no offense intended toward those whos avatars I'm using as an example.)

Not_Sure's avatar I wouldn't have given a second glance because it doesn't stand out as anything to me. Even upon close inspection for a long period of time I can't figure out what it is. Is it a duck with a one man band riding on its back? Is it a squirrel running with a steak in each hand with a duck behind it that swallowed a womans leg and got it caught in her throat? I don't know, and my mind would normally not put any thought into it.

orb's avatar would get a double-take from me because it's bizarre. Why in the world is that girl eating that other girls necklace? Is that a necklace or is it her really weird looking tongue? Is she vomiting jewels?

GarBenjamin I wouldn't have given a second glance at nor even noticed what was on the shirt. I would have just subconsciously seen a guy with his hands on his hips.

And Whippets....I just want to give you a hug. I love dogs. Especially quizzical looking ones. Lol. But I wouldn't have really given it any thought if it weren't the topic of the thread.

And of course if there's no avatar I tend to think "newbie" unless I see the post count is way up there. (Edit: If the post count is way up there I probably subconsciously think "lazy.")

Those thoughts wouldn't reflect on how I feel about the person though, unless of course one of the images had been offensive to me, and that would lean me toward not liking the person behind the avatar in the neutral way I usually afford people on the internet.

 

I wonder what people think of me, based on my avatar

 

That you like French cartoons, or something?

 

I am definitely not a shark that is terrible at dancing.

 

Co-founder of Unity: http://forum.unity3d.com/members/joachim_ante.3/

--Eric

 

Exactly! Do they participate here in the community? Lol

 

I actually assumed you were two girls. Plus an octopus.

On subject, I'm sure I'm as influenced by someone's avatar selection (or lack of) just as much as I am their username, their grammar, and the content and number of their posts. To me it's always a huge deal when I "rebrand myself" on a forum by choosing a new avatar. And I despise when a forum makes me select from an existing pool of images.

 

All of this talk about Avatars has me thinking I will update mine tonight. I don't have many pics of myself other than workout progress photos. Lol But I will come up with something if only a screenshot of my D3 monk.

 

I think everyone actually looks like their Avatar's, no matter what it is, that's what I think they are, it's weird, I know.

 

For Halloween, everyone should post a picture of themselves as their avatar.

@GarBenjamin I guess that means you just put a picture of yourself as yourself.

 

I'll sort something out this week that is me without necessarily being me. After all it is the Internet. I don't think it is a big deal anyway as most people probably just see it, form an initial opinion and move on. But it can be a fun 10 minutes coming up with something.

 

I dont even know wtf my avatar is suppose to be.

 

If I ever attend Unite I will dress up as my avatar and grow a mustache.

 

I take avatars very srsly.

 

+1 - The new forum chops off my logo and I haven't even fixed it. More important things to worry about than my avatar.

 

How on earth are you keeping that beer in the glass?

 

Maybe by living in Australia?

 

I learned not to care what people think of me when I was playing for the NY Mets back in the 80's.

100% true.

 

METS!!!!

 

I can 100% confirm that Aurore is actually Daenerys Stormborn of the House Targaryen, the First of Her Name, the Unburnt, Queen of Meereen, Queen of the Andals and the Rhoynar and the First Men, Khaleesi of the Great Grass Sea, Breaker of Chains, and Mother of Dragons.

 

Mother of dragons is way more appropriate than swayze's back

 

That's cheating. You cosplay so you could look like anyone you wanted

That was stallone

 

I look like a node graph? How sweet...

 

If it makes anyone feel better, I'm a bald, bearded ginger. Not kidding.

 

Are you trying to passively tell us you're a hot chick with a pet dragon?

 

Untreated hemorrhoids and too much sriracha sauce.

 

Thank god that's not the case, lol

 

i think mine represents a quiet detachment. Beauty and intellect with a certain degree of apathy. I'm a naturally judgemental person

When i see people without an avatar of any sort, my mind immediately thinks that they're new. Or that they're a boring person, or not very invested in this community. Choosing a face is a very simple and early rite of passage. I think avatars should be mandatory personally. give a selection of premade ones

 

I don't judge based on avatar, but I tend to associate the person with their avatar instead of username to the point where I wont recognize them for a while if they change it.

In my eyes, there is no Asvarduil, Aurore or Orb, only Cat Space Marine, Mother of Dragons and Two Girls One Octopus.