The Silent Language

[Macabeak]

edit:
IRL comparison:

(Not blush, just a skin condition that no one can agree if it's rosacea or butterfly rash P= )

Well, my current certainly reflects the fact that I've grown up wishing I could march into a Tolkein battle (and I'm a pale white girl). I'm not exactly sure how much deeper you can get than that.

But anyway, my avatars tend to have earthy colors. That's true in real life, too, and people have been calling me an elf since middle school, so I guess that's where that comes in. As for the rest, though, I generally approach avatars as individual characters, so they reflect interests and the type of character I enjoy at that moment.

Here's a question for discussion if it hasn't already been mentioned - does it mean something when someone uses an avatar of the opposite gender? And beyond the obvious "I want to be a guy/girl".

[Lulu the Mainspring Lady]

Macabeak

Well, my current certainly reflects the fact that I've grown up wishing I could march into a Tolkein battle (and I'm a pale white girl). I'm not exactly sure how much deeper you can get than that.

Here's a question for discussion if it hasn't already been mentioned - does it mean something when someone uses an avatar of the opposite gender? And beyond the obvious "I want to be a guy/girl".

I consider myself rathermuch genderless/sexless in ways, and yet 'me' avatars are more likely to reflect my biological default, as it were. rofl Despite the fact that I'm happiest swanning about dressed as an 18th century gentleman IRL.

It's a strange dichotomy in me that I don't quite fully understand myself. As you'll see from my profile scatter, 90% of my characters I play are male (yes, most of them do have Gaia accounts), and in writing and in online presentation I am a million times more comfortable as a man.

I'm not sure yet whether that reflects something deeper, or the fact that I have to deal with far less cockfacery that way...

[Ridley Starsmore]

I gotta say, I know I look way different than my avvie. But on the same note, isn't that what the site is for?

[sometimesalways]

This is a very interesting topic. I hope I can come up with answer that makes sense.



This is me in real life, sort of. Add a few pounds and it's me. I'm not sure what happened with my avatar. Somewhere along I decided I need to be black and dude.

I think Sal represents something I don't have, confidence. He looks like a strong guy and he's take a few beatings but he manages to shrug them off. He wears items that aren't very popular or creep people out. When I am rping as Sal in towns rally insults are common but they never seem to phase him. I, myself, am a very insecure person. I second guess everything I do and say. I worry constantly about making people angry or annoyed. It's all very stressful.

As for our style, it really doesn't look too different. I like casual clothing for my days off. T-shirts, jeans and so forth. It works for Sal too. Some times I get the itch to dress up but it's rare and I usually take it out on Sal.

[Botan of Spirit World]

Lol, very different with how I dress my avie, my avie's tend to go more towards wearing all kinds of blues 3nodding

[Fox on Stilts]

I'm pretty laid back and casual IRL. I wear Chuck's, jeans, and tank tops. That has been my attire pretty much my whole life. I don't like t-shirts, they feel restricting to me. Only in the winter do I wear sweaters. Pretty boring I know.



Hell if the norm in society was to wear whatever the hell we wanted and no one would think twice about it, I would totally dress up as Fox here. Armor!!! I flipping love armor. Dark, evil armor. I should have been born in the medieval ages. Most all the avatars I make on here end up in some form of armor, unless there is a day I'm feeling frilly. And my outfits are always dark and menacing. I wonder if its because I'm such a nice person but there are times I want to be mean and hateful but just can't bring myself to be.

[little pixels]

♔

well, this will probably be long and littered with typos (i'm on the family computer- the keyboard is awful) but here goes.

i'd say my avatar does tell you a lot about me. going by my base alone- it does actually look like me. well, at a slight stretch. i have short dark hair and blue eyes, and very fair skin, so i guess in that aspect pix definitely represents me. her clothes and outfits are pretty much outlandish versions of things i'd wear in real life. that's why my outfits change in theme a tonne; i'm pretty fickle.

i see fashion as a way of expressing myself. i'm like a canvas, and my clothes are the paint or whatever. i like to wear unusual things because it makes me stand out and feel confident (despite being quite introverted) and that in turn makes me happy.
i like presenting myself as unusual or quirky. i'm actually probably at my most confident in lolita, or aristocrat (probably because, like momoko of kamikaze girls, i was born in the wrong era. sigh) and even when i'm not in frills and petticoats, i choose quirky clothes- things from charity shops, or small boutiquey kinds of places, i just love being a bit outlandish and atypical!

here's what irl me looks like (my hair's a teeny bit darker, but other than that yup.

that's actually very much like what i wore on saturday- except my jumper is brighter and my creepers are all magenta. cool.
compared to my current- i guess they're both very layered and matchy, which probably says a lot about me. (actually... it does. i hate my body and i try to hide it a lot with layers and jumpers. i don't think my avatar has ever been skimpily dressed...)

this is a really cool topic haha. i could go on and on about people's reactions to me wearing lolita and the frilly stuff, but this post is long enough and my hands are cramping.

[Zeetheus]

ITT: a lot of people on Gaia are girls though I'm no exception


^ Basically. Bought this kind of coat recently though, and I love it.

TBH I do have some stylistic things in common with my usual av, in that I wear lots of black/purple. Unlike my av though, I don't wear skirts/dresses, because I don't find them very practical. Also, never comfortable walking in heels. Even without those, I try to dress somewhat classy.

I suppose the main difference would be that I'm not a dark elf I don't have the money or time to go out looking for the specific style of clothes I like to wear. I'm terribly picky, so it's always a hassle. Gaia is blessed with a decent variety of everything, even if there isn't a ton of purple and most of it hardly matches.

In this case I guess my color choices says a bit more than my avatar does? Black and purple are very dark, almost 'evil' colors, and I'm a terribly bitter and antisocial person. Of course those kinds of traits are frowned upon, so at the very least I want people to take me seriously by appearing well-dressed.

[Waltzkrieg]

Hmmm.



You can pry my blazers and obnoxious ties from my cold dead hands.

Waltz is not me. Everything he has, he's gotten by unscrupulous means to satisfy his vanity and avarice, which is pretty much the opposite of me. He's violent, amoral and unhappy in love, so I can't say I'd want to be him, either. But he is an amalgamation of stuff I am interested in and like to draw/write about, and I guess there's a little of the author in every character somewhere. Maybe characters like him don't represent their creators directly, but they do represent their frustration with the world. I don't like for every fantasy to be a fantasy of a happier world, because I think the world is hellish in many ways... so maybe "entering" this fantasy world by means of a ruthless and chaotic character is a way for me to use a safe place try to make sense of real-world villains I encounter.

I do enjoy inhabiting unpleasant characters in fiction, mainly because it helps me understand why some people are motivated to do awful things. So I guess that probably has something to do with it.

[gozaimasu]

Wooh, so many interesting posts! o: Mine won't be, but here it is anyway...

I don't care what's in style, and I don't mind if I look stupid. I wear what I want, but am pretty poor, so it's never something extravagant. My avatar and I share all these things in common! :D
And that's about it. I love skirts and dresses and heels and the colour purple, but I never wear them because they just don't look right on me. Makeup is neat, but I don't wear that either. If I do, it's so neutral most people won't notice. Sometimes my avatar is holding a cigarette or booze - don't do that either. She's based more on character archetypes that intrigue me than the actual me myself person that I am! :D Not to mention, the "being colourful" thing is really important to me, and it limits what I can make more than you'd think. *shakes fist at influx of cream and black and white items*

I've never been one for making avatars that represent an idealized version of myself, because I don't want it to look like me, because I don't like me too much. So maybe I'm just trying to stay as far away from that as possible, and that's why my avatars look like rainbow puke. lol

Just 4 fun

Pfff.

[Bleeding Apocalypse]

About the closest thing to me IRL that I can get on this site. Shame there's no in between of blond and brown hair or hazel eyes or a skin tone in between this and the shade lighter.. I fell in love with the grunge in the '90s and it never steered me wrong. I may have tried punk, old school goth, nu-goth, nu-metal, and even cybergoth/industrial a while, but I'm most comfortable in this style. If it fits, I wear it. If it's comfortable, I wear it. It's pretty much that simple to me. I also IRL steampunk from time to time, but... it's such a big ordeal getting dressed that it's not worth it unless I'm going out.

There's... not too much of a difference in how my avatar dresses and how I often dress IRL from time to time. I first started out on this site dressing as I would IRL, and kept that theme going for a very long time. Jeans, sneakers, T-shirts in primarily black or earth tones. I still dress this way I'd say.. 90% of the time, but I can (and have) also decide to go to work like this and my boss would care less. In fact, I've come to work in more outrageous outfits and he doesn't mind so long as I do my work and do it well.



Even when dressing like this, though, I tend to keep to myself, not make eye contact, try to keep talking to strangers to a minimum. Basically, unless I'm engaged first, I will not try at all to engage others. I'm a shy person. Always have been. I may wear outrageous clothes and have colored hair and such, but it doesn't mean I want a lot of social interaction or am an outgoing sort of person. I don't go to bars, I don't go to parties, I don't go to clubs. My idea of a perfect day is sitting my a** at home and watching TV/playing video games/reading a book.

[Kitty Gnar-Gnar]

@w@ oh my god I woke up to a thread full of WONDERFUL LONG POSTS you guys are all awesome and great responses and I am going to try and reply to what I can before I have to go to class but I just want everyone to know THANK YOU THIS IS GREAT biggrin

[Diavolica]

The line between what I do for my avatar and who I am is a person is pretty rigid. I'd say her clothes reflect my style as a character designer but I'd bored of using my avatar as a fantasy self probably within a month of joining. But I think the lack of cuteness in my avatar and the intensity in my personality are a potent combination. xd



My personality is definitely what makes me intimidating. I both look and sound adorable in person. razz One might come to the conclusion that I design avatars in order to combat that but I think I'm just as capable of designing cute avatars as not.

... emotion_kirakira This topic made me realize that Gaia finally has some green eyes that aren't flat emerald green. Yay!

[Denham]

The way I dress IRL says...I haven't had money to buy new clothes other than t-shirts in three years and I'm too comfortable in jeans and a t-shirt to even try anymore. I used to wear vibrant, layered clothes but I has no moneys and I don't really have anyone I'm trying to impress (myself included) - heck, I don't even wear makeup or style my hair.
On Gaia, I feel like my personality comes out more. In that, I'm not a people person. I don't try to get attention and I'm uncomfortable dealing with people. Which is why I believe I am pursuing robotics as well. But on here I have the ability to not be a human, which I pretty much stick to all the time now. I also like that I can be pretty gender neutral on here, a lot of times I am mistaken for a male (here, not IRL) which is totally fine by me as I don't feel strongly akin to either gender. I've generally gotten along with men better, though, despite my efforts.

[Ridley Starsmore]

Also, it is amazing how many guy avvies are girls, and girl avvies are guys, no?

Just thought it was an interesting point to note. I'm actually kinda curious as to what the ratio is site wide.