Just a thought on Avatars... PP2 already alluded to this

can i make mine naked?

Interesting thought. I recall playing Halo PC online once and a guy kept TKing me because, in his words, he insisted "I was a nigger". He claimed with the name Bubba, I had to be. Apparently this matters to some losers out there, so you might have a point that this will matter. Fortunately XBL have some level of control unlike Halo PC.

Only if they come up with a multiplayer Avatar based fighting game. That way there can be race riots.

I see some problems. You women prepare to get all kinds of sexually explicit messages now. Also, I have noticed a lot of racism online, especially with kids. People can't get along in the real world, so it stands to reason they won't get along online either.

I see lots of spammers for everyone more now.

As everyone on my friends list knows already, I am not the least bit happy about the avatars. I never wanted people to know right off that I was female. I expect to receive more abuse now - especially since my avatar looks like a combination middle age catholic school girl / stripper. I will be working on changing my outfit as soon as I get home today. I would have been fine with avatars if the shadow figure was an option...or inanimate objects, or animals. I am guilty of judging people by their avatars as well. I thumbed through my friends and thought "hey, he is kinda cute" - How silly is THAT? It's an AVATAR! I don't want MY avatar's appearance to effect how people treat me or view me. That's too much like real life. Part of the appeal of online gaming is the ability to remain semi-anonymous. At least for me. My .02

Racism and sexism or both wrong...no matter how hard a person try's to avoid it, there will be some ass hats out there that is ignorant. People are going to get called whatever no matter what they have as their avatar. Just turn you system settings to be able to hear from friends only. And if we are lucky the ass hats will start to feed on each other.

I didn't make my avatar look anything like me. Instead, I made it look like Cpt. Picard from Star Trek: TNG. Now everyone will know I'm a Trek nerd, though, and I'm sure I'll catch hell over that; especially from the Star Wars people. Oh well, bring it on, hairballs. @ Bas: I have to admit when I saw your avatar I thought the same thing. The cute part, I mean, not the school girl/stripper part.

I would hope the group we have here I would not think I would anything of it to me I could care less male /female/ white/ black I don't care friends are friends because of who they are and how they treat pepole in a game not just by what they look like but I will have to assume that there are alot of timmie's who will thow slurs like it is going out of style I always like Xbox live because I am a fat old guy and pepole can not judge me for what I look like but How I act and play I Learned long ago if a preson is and ass they are not because their color shape or size after all there are so many reasons why to hate pepole with out even bringing that into play I do feel bad for the women because I can see that one being bad

Other than a few more random friend requests and messages I don't expect my situation to change much...I don't play with the wider XBL community very often so I'm fairly shielded from the BS.

It probably won't change anything for me...my gamertag puts me out there for the asshats anyways, lol. :D

I was giving Bas a hard time on Live about it, but I really do see her point. This may attract a lot more unwarranted attention. Patty also brought up that she went to the trouble of changing her gamertag so it was gender-neutral, then she winds up making an avatar that gives away her sex.

I don't get it? Who says you have to make your avatar the same gender as you? If you're female make a male avatar and forget about it or, make the avatar and not use the pic and use something else for your profile pic, set your profile to freinds only and voila...no asshats!

I think that as a group (2o2p), we are less likely to care about what race, gender or size we are. In some ways it is nice to complete the picture for some of the people we play with. That said, small minded individuals will latch on to anything to vent their ignorance and stupidity.

One of my buddies, who is of the lesbian persuasion, was so fed up with the choices for female clothing that she used the dude and gave him long hair. Swear it looks just like her! The avatar concept is cute... but you are right, how the heck can they provide enough options to please all of us? Forget the gender issue - can I just get a decent pair of damn shoes! Or change the color of my gloves!