Avatars are important, and they shouldn't be microscopic thumbnails

Cirno Strongest·Sep 17, 2013·103 votes·7,611 views

My understanding is that you aim to build a better community with this and I think avatars are the one thing that the forums have lacked (now added on by a third party) that having implemented here would be nice. Due to the size of the league community, a sea of names makes it hard to recognize people however giving summoners the ability to set their own distinctive avatar makes it much easier for their fellow summoners to identify them even if they post less frequently (they need to be decently sized too).

98 Comments

Not AwfulSep 17, 201334 votes

[deleted]

HayabusaZeroSep 17, 20137 votes

I have to agree with this. Maybe an alternative form of avatars, like champion portraits, totally controlled by Riot is the best choice in this case. One example of this happens in LoLKing, where they give you predetermine choices to pick your avatar.

PendragonSep 17, 201337 votes

The primary philosophy that drove this decision is that we think the contribution is more important than the contributor. For us that meant we wanted the identity (name and icon) to play backseat to the post.

There are probably some experiments we can run to shift the balance a little bit and we'll just have to weigh those against other options.

Edit: We have no intention of allowing custom avatars

We'd love to see/explore ways to allow people to express themselves on this platform and elsewhere in the League of Legends ecosystem but I think however we do that we'll want the expression to be consistent no matter where you are.

That means that we probably wouldn't want you to have one avatar here and a different summoner icon in PVP.net

Prince RoyalSep 17, 201334 votes

You want the community to be excited and active but you have no interest in us being recognized as individuals? Also please don't smile when you give bad news. It's a big face slap.

PendragonSep 17, 201322 votes

I could see how you could see what I said that way, but I really meant was that the content should stand on it's own and be more prominent than the person posting it.

The contributor matters a ton in a big picture sense, because without contributors we would have no contributions - but we're talking about the visual hierarchy of elements on the page.

We think that the most important thing for the reader/browser to see is the content of the post, and we think that the content in the visual sense is MORE important than the post itself.

That means that we probably wouldn't want you to have one avatar here and a different summoner icon in PVP.net

I didn't mean to slap anyone in the face with the smile, I didn't see it necessarily as bad news versus just news. My bad

Sorry if there was confusion. Smiley erased

LunarkhSep 18, 20139 votes

As far as things are concerned, just using summoner Icons allows older players to be unique on the forums, but limits newer players in the big picture. So why not use something such as headshots of champions and/or their skins that the players own? It allows them to be a bit unique to their own tastes, adds some diversity, and lets summoners show their favorites of the League?

Edit: Allowing summoner icons should still be an option, I do love my Spirit Guard Udyr icons. :D

Red RyuSep 18, 20138 votes

Imo, letting people use their league avatars is a good start. If you go this way with it and wanna keep it going, make more useable on the league client so people can personalize more.

I agree with no custom ones, but if that is the case I think RIOT should work on more avatars to be useable at least.

It's a middle ground that works for everyone as best as people can.

Cirno StrongestSep 17, 20134 votes

Could you please elaborate as to why we won't see custom avatars ever? The community's primary concern seems to be a moderation issue however FEK (the fan addon for the forums) hasn't had issues with people repeatedly abusing it to post inappropriate pictures, and as I stated earlier, it has a much smaller team behind it than anything Riot could throw at the problem.

PendragonSep 17, 201311 votes

I wouldn't say ever. It's just not something that's planned right now.

Posted above -

We'd love to see/explore ways to allow people to express themselves on this platform and elsewhere in the League of Legends ecosystem but I think however we do that we'll want the expression to be consistent no matter where you are.

That means that we probably wouldn't want you to have one avatar here and a different summoner icon in PVP.net

Moderation is one issue but not the only one. One thing I'd love to hear though is - besides avatars, are there OTHER forms of self-expression/customization that you think would be awesome? Particularly examples that you haven't seen before.

SkyhawkeSep 17, 20138 votes

Maybe customize the shade of the background of your post--nothing gaudy but it would give you a little bit of customization without offering potential to abuse. It's not really a sexy option, but it's something.

You could give us a little more customization on our profile pages--we could have stats on which subforums we post in most and such. We could leave a profile message (that would be abuseable, I suppose) or we could have really cool titles, ancient myths style (I am Skyhawke, Reviewer of a thousand champion concepts and slayer of worlds) if we reach certain goals or awards in the community.

I dunno.. just some ideas.

YiserySep 17, 20132 votes

What about two avatars? One for the summoner and a custom one, maybe on the right side of the nick or something.

I'm actually okay with at least the summoner icon which is already an improvement over the forum "avatars", but something more individual could work.

Solari EclipseSep 17, 201315 votes

There is a border around each post in the forums currently. Perhaps supplying various borders types to choose from and post within. Seems like Pokemon had a version of this for their menus.

Something else may be an artistic corner. Fit a psuedo thumbnail, a diagonal cutaway on a post revealing the previous champ they played. Maybe do this on the page of topics before you go into a specific thread, on the topic itself. If I can edit posts here, I might attach a screen edit in a bit.

I think it'd be cool to include the previous champ/skin we played. Either on the thread by the OP or on post. And maybe just champ, if you can see a reason showing others what skins you have in community/forums is toxic.

http://imgur.com/u5EsRqt

KiteAzureSep 18, 20133 votes

I just don't believe in this philosophy that consistency is another issue because I'm sure that many of this community of the forums don't care about consistency and want to express themselves with their own avatar. If this is a community based game, then why not listen to us?

One thing I'm willing to put in the suggestion box is picture janitors that approve uploads of avatars before being reveled to the public. This way is used by many sites as the boorus and will stop pornography/disturbing pictures from even being seen to the public. Although this is a huge job for a lot of rioters seeing that many people use the forums, I'm sure that 400+ rioters can do this job almost up to date.

Another thing is to use skin pictures like the rioters on the forums today unless exclusivity is a problem. If not, then can we be at least compensated with this form of expression?

BrightNooblarSep 19, 20131 votes

I'd like to see more than ten posts a page on the regular forum. I've not explored this new thing much yet, but it doesn't currently seem to suffer from that choke on posts displayed.

Big Bang BobJan 18, 20151 votes

He's right. We must be more ambitious than simple avatars (not that they wouldn't be awesome). How about backgrounds for posts you make that also carry on into the games loading screen? It could be champs or custom stuff. How about titles for yourself as well?

Big Bang Bob That Awesome Guy

KeldraSep 17, 20133 votes

I would say there's also a smaller percentage of the people in the forums using that addon than the total percentage of the playerbase that actually use the forums, though. And I would just really, really rather not see penises everywhere in avatar pictures. :/

Cirno StrongestSep 17, 20132 votes

A significant chunk of the highly active forum posters use it. I don't know the number, but there's over 2k people with FEK accounts if I recall. If you then take into account that you don't need a FEK account to use the addon, many more are using it than you may think. While there have been users setting their avatars to various inappropriate images, in many of these cases said users have then proceeded to post porn on the forums. The worst abuse case happened before Worre implemented any sort of account verification so it was possible to make an account for any user on the forums and give them an avatar without their knowledge. Because of the lack of accountability some trolls did take advantage of it. Any system implemented by Riot wouldn't allow for that however so that sort of blatant spam would be a non-issue.

ActualDoctorSep 17, 20134 votes

Does that mean the Rioters will (as you have it set up now) no longer have their own personal icons?

Blaine TogSep 18, 20133 votes

Even so, it's vitally important to be able to easily identify individual posters. Otherwise, conversation threads can become extremely difficult to follow. This isn't a matter of people feeling special: it's facilitating coherent discussion. I can respond to one person much more easily than I can attempt to respond to a faceless group of people.

lynxznetSep 18, 20133 votes

What is this.. an avatar for ants?

DarkerNectronSep 18, 20131 votes

How about making icons for every skin. A quick crop job on the original art should do. That way, players who unlock a certain skin, can use that icon in the forums.

Also, please increase the size of the icon by 20-50 percent.

SirKnightEselusSep 19, 20131 votes

Why are there so many downvotes?

TenchuOct 7, 20131 votes

I wasn't entirely motivated to use the original forums because I felt like another microbe in the mass of an endless army. Managing avatar use wouldn't be that hard. Either make a system to manage them, or make the punishments harsh and unforgiving. Its a feature that I'm sure not only I would like to have, but its kind of a big deal. This is a deal-breaker for me. I'm 5,000+ games in an I will not be using this new site if personalized avatars aren't a feature.

On the same subject, its a lot easier to have respect for another person if you can read out features that define them if you can get a glimpse of who they are as a person. Having profiles much akin to facebook would allow us to portray personal information that we believe is core to use and our status as a member of the community. If you have ever stopped to think about why this community is so negative towards each other with wild abandon than it is because we lack features as a community to humanize each other without having to make an outside personal connection.

The MechEFeb 18, 20141 votes

Could you at least give us champion summoner icons then? The icons we have to select from don't really connect well. It's like why would I want a picture of a minion as my summoner icon when I play Garen all day long. I want a Garen icon darn it! Something that represents me. Not a minion...

OreninJul 24, 20141 votes

I think this is difficult because letting users set their own personal avatars gives freedom to users to set inappropriate avatars. I think giving users a larger variety of avatars - or summoner icons as that's what they appear to be currently - including maybe champion portraits like in-game would be a nice step in this direction.

Just like letting us type whatever we want gives us freedom to say innappropriate things. But that isn't a problem, just like letting users set avatars isn't a problem.

VacusSep 17, 201313 votes

I think it's fine to not allow users to set custom avatars. It would be abused. Constantly.

But I also agree that they need to be bigger and more noticeable.

PendragonSep 17, 201311 votes

We'll explore some options to make the summoner icons a bit more visible!

Sp1n KuroSep 18, 20133 votes

People worrying about abusal seem to forget that there's way to force an avatar to be approved before being used.

Like how pretty much every forum ever works.

AbiwonKenabiSep 17, 20136 votes

Certainly the Reds need their icons to be back...I think someone already mentioned this in another thread, and a Red agreed.

I know I can always spot out Iron Stylus, Morello, etc just by glancing at their icon. It'd be nice to have that back, and not microscopic either >.-

Cirno StrongestSep 17, 20135 votes

So because something can be abused we shouldn't have it? People can make inappropriate names, and they do, but when we see them we report them to Riot. We have the ability to post pictures and people have posted inappropriate pictures, but Riot does monitor for that stuff. Through an addon we can get custom avatars for the forums and yes, there has been abuse, however the very small team working on that has still managed to successfully moderate them. If such a limited team can do it then why can't Riot's much larger team do it?

ploki122Sep 17, 20133 votes

Except that an offensive name is rude at most... I'm not startled if I see a guy called BigZitOnADick, convert that into an image, and it's not offensive and requires moderation.

Cirno StrongestSep 17, 20132 votes

But the name "BigZitOnADick" is offensive and should be changed. While you may see it as rude, others may see it as offensive. As it is now, you can already post offensive images, and it happens. You don't see it too often unless the moderators are asleep however.

ploki122Sep 19, 20132 votes

I agree with both points, I'm simply saying that the offensive name is not as bad as the picture, and thus it can slip up longer before being a total nuisance. Having someone named BigZitOnADick for 72 hours is ok imo, having a shroomed labia major showing for24h is painfully stupid. Thus, letting everyone upload their own image will make it so there are even more abuse...

It's sad, but you have to moderate for the trash tier of the community.

Also, the Rioters already chimed in that they liked having unique icons be a unique trait of rioters so they're easier to spot. It isn't as valued on the new Reddit-sylted comunity, but I believe that someone harboring a swain parrot would simply create a mess...

Sir FrosthavenSep 22, 20134 votes

I know you guys are probably going to laugh at me, but I do not believe that allowing fully customization avatars in any way is a good idea for companies in general for numerous reasons.

Tie the avatars to the user's game account, have a preset list of avatars to choose from, etc would be fine, but full on custom avatars is a pretty dangerous thing for a company to have to be responsible for.

The MechEFeb 18, 20141 votes

Why? So many forum sites do this. I don't see the problem.

SlumlordThanatosFeb 18, 20141 votes

Yeah. I'm curious as to why you, of all people, would have this to say.

Sir FrosthavenFeb 18, 20141 votes

The honest answer? They won't be properly moderated and the result would just be them getting disabled anyways.

Kira OnimeSep 17, 20133 votes

Wouldn't hurt to add a pool of 30-40 default avatars. Choice is so limited right now.

DustyElLionSep 17, 20133 votes

I'd say look at Battlelog. There you have total control over your avatar (its even a decent size) and yet you don't see much abuse because there's a report avatar button.

The argument about offensive avatars is a null issues because it is extremely easy for Riot to enforce there policy. It's already been demonstrated you can do this on Youtube, Battlelog, Facebook, and any number of public sites so why can't it be done here?

SavageMinnowSep 18, 20133 votes

Simply put, I'm not moving to a new forum unless it has avatars. I have FEK and most of the posters I give a damn about also have it. I'm not starting all over again with no avatars. If that means waiting for a FEK-like addon to be created for this, that's fine; but I don't like Riot's stance on avatars, at all.

BadministratorSep 17, 20132 votes

I like this idea but I can see why it's scary. I don't want to open up the community page and see a bunch of disgusting nonsense avatars.

That said, Riot needs to put out even more summoner icons. I basically still only have the defaults and I'm not trying to rep any teams. I wasn't around for the freljord stuff so I'm stuck with this green hand. It's the worst.

innervationSep 17, 20132 votes

Agree that they should be bigger, but I think that the decent sized pool of unique, prefab summoner icons are enough choices. This will be especially true if Riot keep adding new ones to buy/earn like they have been (holidays, LCS, worlds, season rewards, etc).

KinkshamedSep 17, 20132 votes

How about instead of custom icons, there's preset icons with two options, 1. Use whatever your summoner icon is. it's just linked to your summoner profile. 2. A gallery of other preset icons outside from pvp.net to choose from. They can be champions, items, whatever. An icon for every champion would be great. Also, custom icons are abuse-able, but why are you guys acting like it'll become a zoo? With enough moderators, someone with a bad icon can be noticed and punished. There's no report option here as I noticed yet, but there should be penalties for inappropriate forum behavior that ban/suspend you from the forums. Anyway, a lot of forum communities I've seen have had a majority of sensible users using appropriate custom icons. If there's a penalty, most will try to keep their avatar clean.

EskimofoSep 17, 20132 votes

my avatar is unique D: i approve of increasing the avatar size

WezzSep 18, 20132 votes

We could just ask frosthaven to add it in

Cirno StrongestSep 18, 20132 votes

That's a possibility but it would be better if Riot did it.

Lunar LightningSep 17, 20131 votes

i agree

THØT PÄTRØL Oct 6, 20131 votes

What about just giving us the option of customizing icons from pre-input templates as some games do for guilds and so on when they dont want to allow uploads. Give us multiple backgrounds and images from league related content and let us piece something together that would let us show off our own creativity a little.

Have a Background - Border - Colors - And center picture option and let us go to town making cool icons for ourselves to display on our ranked teams or just profiles. This would solve the problem with bad images being uploaded and still feed our creativity and let us display our own individual tastes.

What do you guys think?