Avatars

Avatars are small graphics; placed in forums, blogs and Instant message programs to represent who you are as a person. It can be a representation of your likes, dislikes, fantasies or sometimes even a photograph of yourself. Avatars are simply used to embody you within a virtual community, since you can’t be there to do a face to face conversation.

People choose avatars to represent their personality. They choose cool avatars to show off how calm and composed their personality is or they may choose a funny avatar to show their humorous side. Animated avatars are sometimes seen with those who want to represent their fun-loving side. Some might choose images to show off their happy uplifting personality, while others would rather show their gloomy sad side.

If you’re looking for an avatar to use, you can find several options at avatar galleries throughout the internet. There are some that devote sections to myspace avatars and some to msn avatars. It just depends on what you’re looking for and what you want to use them for. Search engines are littered with free avatar sites to browse. They offer free avatar images from everything to photos of objects, to cartoon characters to abstract designs.

Avatars can be stationary graphics or 3-D images. You can choose free animated avatars or maybe you’d rather use a picture of your pet. Your possibilities are not limited. When using avatars for a forum or IM program, be sure to adhere to the size of graphic they allow you to use. A common size limit for forums is 100 x 100 pixels and IM avatars are usually 50 x 50 pixels. Each forum and IM program is different though, so be sure to check out their rules, not only for Avatar size, but also for appropriate graphics.

As far as the cost to obtain an Avatar, you won’t have to pay a penny for one. Finding a website that requires payment for them is rare, since there are hundreds and hundreds of sites that offer free avatars. Not to mention having the option of uploading a picture from your own collection. So why waste the money on buying one?

Avatars are an extension of who you are, so choose the best avatar you can find to show others the side of you that can’t be easily seen through your words. No matter what part of personality you want to show, you’ll find there are many avatars that fit your needs.