First off, by "avatar" I mean any kind of customizable visual representation of a person. This includes forums like this and videogames like WoW.
I, personally, judge people. I don't mean that I see somebody with an avatar that I dislike, so I dislike them or anything. I mean that it becomes my representation of how I visualize that person. Somebody who has an avatar of some female anime character, for example, will make me see that person as female, no matter what evidence points to the contrary(other than a flat denial). It's a subconscious kind of thing.
It took me quite a while to realize this. I'd been playing WoW on a private server(Excellent way to break the habit, by the way. I'm now WoW-free) and had a few female characters(I'm male). It dawned on me one day while talking to in-game friends that they had no idea I wasn't female. It was actually kind of startling, and I ended up never playing as those characters again.
So what about you guys. Do you judge by avatars? Are you judging me right now?
I, personally, judge people. I don't mean that I see somebody with an avatar that I dislike, so I dislike them or anything. I mean that it becomes my representation of how I visualize that person. Somebody who has an avatar of some female anime character, for example, will make me see that person as female, no matter what evidence points to the contrary(other than a flat denial). It's a subconscious kind of thing.
It took me quite a while to realize this. I'd been playing WoW on a private server(Excellent way to break the habit, by the way. I'm now WoW-free) and had a few female characters(I'm male). It dawned on me one day while talking to in-game friends that they had no idea I wasn't female. It was actually kind of startling, and I ended up never playing as those characters again.
So what about you guys. Do you judge by avatars? Are you judging me right now?