Custom avatars

[TosaInu]

Hello,

We'll continue sorting this out.

- I believe that custom avatars should follow an appropriate theme (exact criteria to be decided later) and that these thematic criteria should be mandatory.

- I believe that it should be encouraged that custom avatars should follow an appropriate theme, but that these criteria should be guidelines and custom avatars that would be otherwise acceptable should be allowed.

- I believe that there should be no theme requirements or guidance for custom avatars.

NB: this is not about the file or dimension size. Whether there will be a mandatory theme or not, inappropriate 18+, offensive etc avatars will never be allowed.

[Quietus]

Voted. :Bump: so others can see. ~:)

[Quid]

Strong tendency towards the first one. I think it would be more than inappropriate to have a Bart Simpson avatar because it just woudn't feel right.

Just my two-pence.

Quid

[Drisos]

I cannot see the results so far, is that normal? ~:confused:

[Mouzafphaerre]

I cannot see the results so far, is that normal? ~:confused:
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Yes.
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[LittleGrizzly]

Im for a guideline theme, the total war games being the guideline

[IliaDN]

Guideline as far as I Understood.

[King Edward]

Im all for Theamed Avatars, this is Totalwar.org after all

[Navaros]

i say no theme. having a theme defeats the entire purpose of Custom avatars. it's not very custom if you have to limit it to just one exact theme. it almost makes more sense to just stick with the current system of having no custom avatars rather than to do that

that said, i certainly don't wanna see this site have a whole bunch of avatars of a Bart Simpson cartoon displaying his bare butt in every one's face, as is the case on other forums where custom avatars are allowed

i think an acceptable medium is to have no theme, but make sure all the custom avatars have a mature connotation to them

[King Henry V]

Im for a guideline theme, the total war games being the guideline
I second that. How do you get custom avatars anyway?

[TosaInu]

The poll ended and we have a draw. Do we enter a new round of voting about this, will we extract a conclusion out of these results, will we throw a dice or is staff going to cut a decision?

[ichi]

I suggest that you make the decision, including your best advisors if you wish

ichi :bow:

[Shambles]

Well i didnt vote but would ahve been mandatory theme.

[The Wizard]

The poll ended and we have a draw. Do we enter a new round of voting about this, will we extract a conclusion out of these results, will we throw a dice or is staff going to cut a decision?

I'd say our most distinguished staff, which has proven itself to be capable of choosing the right thing before.



~Wiz

[Uesugi Kenshin]

I would say the mods get to choose and if there is still no decision they could pm a few long-members to try break the tie.

[Epistolary Richard]

Having mandatory criteria requires a staff member to take time out to vet each avatar (either before or shortly after they're uploaded) and communicate with the user so I think it should be a staff decision as to whether they have someone who is prepared to take this task on.

[Pindar]

How many patrons were actually aware of this poll? I wasn't.

Polls suggest wanting opinions. I suggest, another poll: with an announcement in other forums to generate more awareness/participation. When casting a net, a larger cast has the more promise.

[Uesugi Kenshin]

Well people should also check the watchtower for rule changes or if say the signature rules are going to be enforced more strictly. So it is really their fault if they cannot take a few seconds to check.

[Epistolary Richard]

I think generally speaking polls on significant policy decisions should be more widely advertised, presumably through an announcement. In this particular case, the initial question about custom avatars did receive cross-forum advertising (which is why I ended up visiting the Watchtower in the first place) and - as there are several more decisions to be made on the topic and the majority of people want them as quickly as possible - I'd prefer the staff just to make a quick decision on this and then we can move forwards.

[SpencerH]

Well people should also check the watchtower for rule changes or if say the signature rules are going to be enforced more strictly. So it is really their fault if they cannot take a few seconds to check.

LOL You posted that while a Hitchhikers remake is at the movie theatres!

[SpencerH]

I understand the desire to maintain a certain style at this forum. That said, the current crop of avatars are boring. Custom avatars will change the feel of the forums, but that will happen anyway when Spartan is released. Allow custom avatars of any type (non-moving) but set up some suggested guidelines as to content and reserve the right to restrict avatars (which you already plan to do).

In fact, you could set up a forum to decide the fate of avatars that were borderline.

NB: my avatar is my family coat of arms so I assume it'll pass muster ~:)

[Uesugi Kenshin]

Yeah, but it is true if people want to have a say in the Org's policies they need to check in at the Watchtower, otherwise they miss things and it is nobody's fault but theirs.

[Navaros]

Well people should also check the watchtower for rule changes or if say the signature rules are going to be enforced more strictly. So it is really their fault if they cannot take a few seconds to check.


yes, you are correct in that it is their fault

however, despite the fact that it is their fault for not checking Watchtower, the simple fact of that matter is that most people will not check the Watchtower

therefore, if threads such as this are not advertised on all forums, the participation will indeed be very low

it reminds me back in the old days when i used to post on the boards for my favorite RTS game. i would post everything on the main "General Discussion" board. mainly the threads that i would make would be discussing in-depth strategy and tactics. the mods would often move those threads to the "Strategy Boards" - and i hated that vehemently because most people, especially the really good players, only ever read and posted on the main board. so by taking my thread off the main board, the intended audience that i wrote the thread for, never saw it. when i talked to the mods about cursing my threads by moving them to the "Abyss that no one ever sees" aka "Strategy Boards", they told me: "it's not our fault if the members here don't go to the strategy boards". well sure...true, it's not their fault. however, knowing that people will not go there, does it not make more sense to accomodate the original poster by leaving his strategy thread on the main board where the people he wants to talk with will be able to see and discuss his ideas?

my point of that example, is that sometimes human nature makes people not conduct themselves in an ideal way.

by the same token as the example above; here on the Org since people will not participate in Watchtower in large numbers, is it not better to forgive them and accomodate their laziness/ignorance/indifference/whatnot by bringing major policy discussions like custom avatars to them?

then on the other hand, there is an argument to be made that it is the highest quality members who already post in Watchtower. therefore perhaps it is better to limit decisions to feedback based exclusively on their opinions. ~D

[Kaiser of Arabia]

No custom avatars please, unless they're made by a mod staff or somthing (like Duke John's avatar). I coudlnt vote but hey, thats my 2 cents

[Epistolary Richard]

by the same token as the example above; here on the Org since people will not participate in Watchtower in large numbers, is it not better to forgive them and accomodate their laziness/ignorance/indifference/whatnot by bringing major policy discussions like custom avatars to them?

I agree that where a forum's administration is completely detached from the desires of its community, that forum will inevitably wither. However, in this case the potential of custom avatars did receive cross-forum advertising. This specific poll didn't because it is just a small step towards advising on policy - it's a relatively technical, albeit significant in its way, question.

I would expect that the priority for the majority of users is to have custom avatars introduced as soon as possible and are happy to leave the technicalities of specific policy consultation with those few of us who take an interest in the minutiae.

Kaiser of Arabia
As far as I'm aware Tosa has already settled the decision to work towards allowing custom avatars - as viewing them or not would be the individual decision of each poster. These polls are intended to work towards what policy should be in place around them.

It's a matter of choice now Epistolary Richard. I've been experimenting a bit, and one simply gets another toggle in view options (where the toggles for displaying avatars, signatures and pictures are). Toggle URL avatars and normal avatars on, and you'll see both images (there's a size limitation now to prevent huge pictures, but we'll have to find out which limits we'll use). Turn one or both off if you like that.

[TosaInu]

Hello,

As suggested by a few, the staff voted to break the tie: it will be mandatory.

The previous public polls ask for one fixed dimension, allowing both photo's and drawings and pictures of 10 kb or less. We yet have to decide about more details for the theme. Suggestions?

[Shambles]

Historical themes from the total war seriese,
few choices of back ground colour,
And a lil border around them

[Epistolary Richard]

Collated comments from members from other Watchtower threads on the topic:

I think that it would be good if custom avatars followed a similar style to the portraits already used...

I dunno, I just think its good that way, give the boards a unique feel.

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I agree with having a Theme, a Theme is important it symbolizes that which represents the community and its Role or Goal, in this Case, a Community about Total War series of Games, and the big package that comes with it (History, Friendship, Modding etc).

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I think photos should be fine. I would just prefer to avoid random pcitures of stuff. Such as random pictures of flowers, guns, shirts or other inanimate objects.

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I agree. It's great to see personalised avatars, but it's even greater if they all can remain in the same TW 'spirit' as before. I refer to Barocca's, Myrddraal's, ichi's and Uesugi Kenshin's new avatars as very good examples of how it should be.


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I claim a rommel avatar

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Hmm, if we're going with the TW thing, I'd like to know if I'd be able to use an avatar depicting something from the times of Napoleon? It even looks like RTW, since the character depicted is a member of one of Napoleon's Guard regiments and is wearing a Phrygian-style helmet. And besides, there is NTW to consider...

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I think it would be nice if avatars represented figures with at least some relation to the theme of the board. Not necessarily a strict one, so things like Rommel or Napoleonic era figures would be fine, but perhaps not a bunch of flowers!

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At first, I was thinking uniformity is antipathetic to custom, but I do like that TW 'theme'. Not necessarily limited to STW, MTW or RTW, but extended to other theaters as well (i.e. Kaiser's 'Rommel' etc.). So I second TL and others on this.


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Also the TW Theme of the avitars Although keeping within the feeling of the web page, Will inevitably restrict the Design options Available to avit makers,
But, The tw theme is Good

and Some leway in design options of avitars,
(i.e Must have a frame "as posted above")


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I supposed I'd like avatars to be, well, avatars – representative of the poster in some fashion, and at least to some extent relevant to the board, i.e. something at least loosely to do with history and/or warfare. It's a pretty wide topic.

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Talking theme, I'd prefer protraits - not necessarily connected with war (look at the MTW princesses for example)

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If everyone agrees to the TW 'theme' then IMO it doesn't have to be historical or military in nature, rather cultural. Statues, shields, headdress, cartouche, vases, bookcover, buildings, tanks, paintings, it can be anything.


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Personally, I'd like to see the avatars retain some amount of 'Orgness', relating in history to some way, a pretty wide swath, methinks. And avoiding cartoonishness would be nice too.

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Furthermore, a certain theme should be kept, i. e. TW theme.

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think custom avatars would be good but with a TW theme (maybe people could put their username under the portrait, that sorta stuff) or with a portrait theme, and again patrons could attach their username or other suitable info.


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Human or fantastic humanlike characters (Tolkien, StarTrek etc.) should they be. Ie, "not a tank but a guy in front of a tank".

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No animated gifs.

That's my personal opinion, but I think that they make things seem to flashy, too sugar-coated. Even if the gif is clever, or entertaining, you can only stand that "stick-figure-attacking-the-wall" gif so many times.

I guess what it boils down to is that animated gifs could allow for a lot of abuse and cheapen the forum. If they are allowed and widely used, I might turn off the avatars. But then I lose out on the other good avatars some people may have.


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I agree completely - animated gifs are extremely annoying.

[The Wizard]

I'd agree with the border thing -- once I find out how to add that in Photoshop. ~;)



~Wiz

[Kaiser of Arabia]

adding borders isn't very fun, and my GIMPshop's not working right ~:(

[Uesugi Kenshin]

I think having a fairly loose theme nis good, something that represenbts the poster, is appropriate (not vulgar), not an object and is preferably somewhat TW themed or history/war themed in general.

Also my current avatar is not the same size as what was decided right? Would one of the mods or org members be willi9ng to help those of us without photoshop make avatars?

[Epistolary Richard]

As far as I'm aware, nothing has been decided on the avatar sized. Only that it would be fixed.

[TosaInu]

That's right, it's only decided by poll that it should be one size only. That can create the problem of distorted images (a picture of 25*36 pixels forced to be displayed with 50*50 pixels doesn't look that great).

It would be possible to decide on a theme, size, etc and host the images on this server. Have a few people to do a little check on the images to see whether they comply with the theme, resize if necessary and then making them available.

Adding a border is pretty easy and even a solid black/silver/blue/red line/.. around the avatar works.

[Uesugi Kenshin]

I know adding a border and all that is easy, but I don't have a program to edit images with other than paint. Paint does not work for this. Are there any free programs that I could get? If not then I would need to find someone willing to help out, and so would anyone who does not have photoshop or another image editor.

[TosaInu]

Hello Uesugi Kenshin,

I think Kraellin will know a few, a search on Tucows.com usually returns some working tools as well. I'm sure there will be someone here, who'll provide assistance too.

[therother]

I guess you could try GIMP for Windows (http://gimp-win.sourceforge.net/), which is distributed under the GNU General Public Licence.

[SpencerH]

I'm against borders. They're unnecessary complications.

[TosaInu]

I'm against borders. They're unnecessary complications.

There's a wide variety in skins, depending on the avatar, part of it can blend in with one skin or the other. Adding a border around an avatar, ensures that the avatar will always be displayed correctly on whatever skin.

Adding a border can also automatically be done in HTML for each skin.

[tibilicus]

My first note on custom Avatars, Neither prefrence. I dont really care about custom avatars i like the ones avalible. Anyway Fourms with fixed avatars genrely look more tidy. Well my opinion dosn't really matter anymore as the polls closed. Ohwell.~:(

[TosaInu]

My first note on custom Avatars, Neither prefrence. I dont really care about custom avatars i like the ones avalible. Anyway Fourms with fixed avatars genrely look more tidy. Well my opinion dosn't really matter anymore as the polls closed. Ohwell.~:(

1. The custom avatar doesn't replace the current set we have.
2. The initial idea was to have it totally custom, but now the custom add-on is going towards more themed and fixed.

No need to worry too much here.

[Epistolary Richard]

It may be a good idea to start a new thread to brainstorm ideas for themes for the custom avatars as posters may find the preceding posts relating to the poll confusing.

My own opinion on a mandatory theme requirement would be that the avatar must include:
- An image of a human or human-like figure.

I'd prefer them to be Total War or warfare related but it's not so important that I would deny someone a portrait of Pepys or Shakespeare or the like if that's what they really wanted.

I think putting the border in automatically is a good idea.

[SwordsMaster]

yep, agree with Epistolary Richard about the border, and also would suggest making them a static image and keep them all restricted in shape. It adds to uniformity and prevents the page from looking messy.

[SpencerH]

There's no point in calling em 'custom avatars' if all you do is to essentially expand the number to choose from (by making the rules too restrictive).

EDIT: That doesnt mean that I think that there shouldnt be size regulations and TosaInu has already established the border requirement. ~;)

[Epistolary Richard]

I hear your point, but being allowed to upload your own images (even within certain mandatory limits) is a lot different from only being able to pick from a restricted gallery (even one as huge as this one).

It also means you can have an avatar which is just your own.

[Arrowhead]

How do you get them again? Frankly, I don't mind if it has a border or not.

[Uesugi Kenshin]

Right now they are on special request and maybe two people who are not moderators have them. I have one and I believe Ichi has one, I think there are a bunch of people who may have gotten their old custom avatars back, but I can't name any specific names.

[Just A Girl]

Bump As well.

I beleve this is the most relivant topic In regards to the new topic posted by Tosainu,

:2thumbsup:

Dont say im not helpfull...

[Divinus Arma]

Hmmm. I dont remember seeing this.


MANDATORY.


I like seeing "familar faces" here. Letting members put any type of random avatar they wanted would ruin the atmosphere.

[Strike For The South]

Im for custom avatars. I want my flag

[Vladimir]

I'd be nice if they added some avatars of different races.

[IrishMike]

I like what strike said. Have flags and banners/symbols for an option.

[Just A Girl]

I'd be nice if they added some avatars of different races.


I think we already have a few diferent races in the avatars.
we have japanese In the STW avits.
europeans and asians in the MTW avits.
and a whole buncgh in the roman avits.

do you mean you would like to see some darker skined avitars?

perosnally I dont know where these people could come from, as i havent seen any in any of the TW games. So they may not be A part of the TW theme,
However i was watching the Robin hood prince of theifs film a few years back,
And there was a dark skinned person in that helping old robin,
So according to that piece of fiction Its plauasble to add darker skinned people.

:smile:
persoanlly my self I wouldnt care if there were dark skined people about in any of the TW games,
and they should obvioulsy be an acceptable adition to any avitars that may be created.
Anything els could be deemed as racism.

:bow:

[Vladimir]

Nubian spearmen perhaps?

Saint Morris was the "first Knight" and he was about as black as they come.

[Drisos]

lol - poll closed with 12 votes for two options:laugh4:

what will it be? ~:)

[TosaInu]

It's one of the old polls about custom avatars. The decision is mandatory theme (it was a draw after being open for days/weeks and staff was asked to break the tie).

[Uesugi Kenshin]

So will custom avatars now be available for all people? What exactly is the theme?

Can I get my guinea pig one fixed to a more layout friendly version?

[TosaInu]

Discussion continues https://forums.totalwar.org/vb/showthread.php?t=59476