After a lot of discussion over the past few months or so, and praying and thinking about it for a long time, I have decided that we are changing our avatar system. Again. It has been in flux since the inception of Holy Worlds, and I think I am finally settling on the final version. This will apply to both the Sci-Fi and Fantasy forums.

There will be no uploading of avatars any more. We will go back to the gallery.

However, we will make it easy for people to get their own avatars into the gallery. We will set up folders in the Holy Worlds Development Folder in Google Docs for people to freely upload avatars for the two forums into (if you need help for getting access to that, let me know). We will assign Marcher Lords to monitor these folders so that they will see new avatars almost immediately. They will then upload them into the appropriate gallery if they fit with the criteria.

The criteria are simple.

1) All avatars should glorify God. If something would be inappropriate to post in the forums, it is inappropriate to post graphically as an avatar.

2) No humanoid forms. Period. That means no android robots, no knights in armor, no men, no girls, no elves, no dwarves, no nothing. The only part of a human that you are permitted to include in an avatar is a human hand or a human eye.

3) No animations or clip art (meaning flat, cartoony art).

4) Avatars must fit within an abstract, medieval essence, maintaining a low key profile in the site. They should not be distracting.

5) No promotions of other sites, unless approved specifically by me.

6) Avatars should be in png, jpg, or gif format.

Final say goes to me, if there is disagreement among the Marcher Lords about whether an avatar fits these criteria. All currently uploaded avatars will be removed, reviewed, and where appropriate, uploaded to the gallery.

No one is in trouble, we are just trying to make this as simple and as headache free for everyone (without banning avatars entirely).

O-kay....

Is there a way we could lock down specific avatars for use only by specific people?

I mean, I really hate it when I'm scanning down a page and there are three people with the same avatar. (or with no avatar--avatars distinguish different posters for me when I'm skimming)

And if I have to come up with a new avatar (because mine was a drawing of Luthien Tinuviel...) then due to my interest in having an online presence, I really want to make sure my avatar is not going to be used by someone else on the site. (I am not going to be changing my online-presence avatar, but I will make my HW avatar similar in color scheme/text to my main one so that people can find me easier)

I understand why you're putting this rule into place, but it's slightly annoying right now because I put a lot of work into creating a consistent online presence with my avatar & username.

I will be working on that, definitely. I do hope it will work out.

I understand the frustration, and empathize, but this is what we have to do to make this work within the standards we want for this forum.


If you cannot find your old avatar, and it fits these criteria, it might have gotten lost in the move, so please notify me and get it uploaded into the google docs folder. My apologies if that happens.

You will probably need to go back and edit your avatar settings anyways, since I also redid the organization.

I should probably start looking at announcements more often. But I'm glad I read this now. I like how it's "big" or "small". Easy to find things in (awesome avatars in both areas, BTW, to those who created them).

OK, I've set a temporary one for me until I can get around to designing another one. Thanks Seer for doing my other one, it was great!

Does this mean the avatar makers will be in less demand, or more?

eruheran

Can we submit avatars to the gallery even if we have no plans to use them?

I've got Melody's question too. About only certain people being able to use a certain avatar. Because, especially with the custom ones, they're very specific to a certain person. If it's based of an essence map for one users character, it's a little odd to see it used by someone else. Maybe if we could just tag them so people know that they're used by someone else?

I think avatar makers ought to be more in demand, not less.

Yes, you can submit avatars to the gallery whether you are planning to use them yourself or not.

Hmm... a list of who is using a particular avatar in the gallery might do the trick. Good idea!

Could we actually lock the avatars? Or would we discourage use. Also ones like the one Eruheran has now, the ones like lights and shields etc., in my opinion, should not be 'tagged'.

Locking them is looking to be a bit too involved and difficult.

Oh. And if you took them out of the gallery they would disappear from the people's names. Gotcha. What about putting a little tag on it that says 'Used' or something?

That is what I am thinking about doing now.

Great! Thanks, sir Emeth! It would get confusing if multiple people had the same avatar. Eruheran already gets Neil of Erk and Seer confused, and they don't even resemble each other.

That's because they have the same first name. I still get them mixed up all the time.

So they do. And they have a similar personality, kind of.

I have no idea how to even start to make an avatar! Some people are so clever in so many areas it astounds me!!!

There are lots of people willing to make avatars for you Elanor. White Raven makes wonderful Avatars, and so does Seer. If they don't want to make one or become overloaded I can work one out for you. And I think Elanhil is available to do some avatars... or is he only doing HWSF now?... Anyway, you have lots of people who would be willing to talk with you about an avatar design.

Yikeees! I hope my avy will be ok. Airianna made it, and it I think it ties into my story really well.

*Edit to add*... never mind... I just noticed it was gone

Which one was it?

it was the super cool avy with the wolves and the stag head. The same picture can be seen here http://valleyofdragons.blogspot.com/

Your avatar is still there 6strings, it is in the gallery. You just have to choose your avatar from the HW gallery.

That one is fine, it must have gotten missed in the transfer. Sorry about that. Could you upload it to the submissions folder? I really like that avatar too.

Whew! Ok it's back lol Airianna did such an awesome job on it too. Glad to have it back.

It should be there now... I think. That is where i found it, right? lol I'm so confused.

No problem. It is fixed now. Haha.

It is a super cool avatar isn't it? It doesn't really fit my username, but it ties into my story really nice ...and it's super cool.

And you are a serious flatterer 6strings. I'm glad you like it so much, and it does tie into your story perfectly, which is why I wanted to do it.

lol I am, I know. But I speak the truth. The avy is awesome

Thanks.

I am going to tag this on to the end of Jay's announcement for everyone's future reference. If you are in any way unable to upload your avatar into the Holy Worlds Folder in Google Documents, or you are short on time, please feel more than free to PM either myself or Vanya Katerina Jaynin (also known as Katie) with your avatar attached to it. We can then take care of that for you right away.