Welcome to Gaia! ::

This reminds me of a guy recently in another forum here. He had a darker natural skin toned avatar, and he was trying to play the race card, saying Gaia were racist for banning him.

There really are those that do not think outside the box on here, it's completely beyond them that someone would choose to have an avatar that looks nothing like them.

Precisely. When I first joined I had the darkest skin tone available as my base and i'm white irl. The whole point of Gaia's avatar system is be as creative as possible and not necessarily making one that looks like your real self. I'm not really a grey dark elf, but a pasty skinned Aussie. I choose to be something else because it's fun.

Eh, I think it's sometimes the case- I do go out of my way to keep my avi's eyes and skintone similar to my own, and until recently my avi's hair was a pretty spot-on match to my hair IRL (I only changed it because Gaia doesn't have a color that matches my new beige shade). I also wear classic lolita in real life and my avatar's style is generally a reflection of that.

With that said, I generally assume I'm the exception rather than the rule, and I just don't understand why you'd judge someone based on their pixels. Yeah, I may have dark skin and eyes IRL but why would one ever assume I had two pairs of horns, a winged headband, a giant needle, and a pair of six-inch heel-less platforms? Obviously there's almost always an element of fantasy going on in Gaian avatars so it seems stupid as all heck to judge someone as a person solely for their avi (unless you're judging their avi-creating ability, haha).

Ah, yes, as I said I recognize that preference is the exception rather than the rule ^^ Due to the massive range of items available on Gaia I think most people take it as an opportunity to dress or look as they might not be able to look in real life- live out their fantasies, so to speak.

Oh, and yes, wouldn't try to say that judging avi-creating ability is any kind of objective thing X'D But it's the only really conceivable reason I can think of judging someone based on nothing more than their pixels. If I see an avi that doesn't appeal to my eye, I'll think, "Man, I really don't like the way that user paired those items," but.... that's about it. It doesn't affect the user's attitude or the content of their post, and I have plenty of friends who make avis that are pretty pants-crappingly offensive to my eye.

It is fantastic that we have a domain to flaunt our creative and artistic flair and dress and pamper our Gaian selves, but much like in real life, you will get people that will either form a negative opinion on how you look or judge you on what items you bear on your avatar.

In real life, i rarely wear colour. I like dark clothing and prefer to be unseen, on gaia i have the opportunity to experiment with styles, colours and clothing that I either cannot afford, do not dare to wear, or am not the right size to try and rock.

It's a shame that some people think they can 'get' your character from your online self rather than to the point you are trying to bring to discussion.

I Like topics like this; They make you think!

Uhm, well I'll be the first to admit that I do judge people. I really do. Sometimes my first impression of a person never changes. . . Unless I get to know them a bit more. It's not nice, but I do it anyway because it's just a reflex; Like kicking your doctor in the balls when he tests your reflex in your knee! It's just gonna happen!
I won't even lie to you, if I think a person's Avatar is done up poorly, I won't take what they have to say seriously. First impressions really are everything in my book, and I'm pretty sure I'm on someone's s**t list now for saying all of this. LOL! "Well! ******** you, Mr. "Sinistro"! [Ignores]"
We all judge. We ALL judge. Not all of us mean to, but we do. Like those people in Rally; we see them all as mindless Gangster-wannabes. Or people outside the GCD sees us all as pompous, fancy-pantsed, "pass the mother ******** tea and crumpets", "sticks up our arses" kind of people. We all judge. Doesn't make it right, but it's just part of our brain. We can't help but judge.
If I see more posting style than personality, I'm going to think you don't even have a personality. I'm just going to think you're up and about the forums just to show off your stupid posting style thing. If I see your Avatar has a Wild Things, or something like that equipped I'm going to think you're Poor. Or you're out to Troll.
In the end, what I think of you doesn't really matter unless you think it does, really.

And to answer the question (have I been victimized for how my Avatar looks): Not really. Sure, people make fun of my Avatar's skin colour, or they'll bring up the Faris B.S., but I don't call it being "victimized"; As I refuse to be a victim.

i will never be able to fully trust someone with anything like the following avatars:



(you know the people i mean..)