That Avatar is not Mii!
(Update: I’ve added a revised Avatar that my wife helped me with, still not completely satisfied, but the beanie does cover up the horrible hair. Of course, I have horrible hair in real life, so I don’t know why I’d complain about that.)
I have to rant a little bit about the new Live Avatars. I got NXE a week early, and meant to talk about them at that time, but I was just too upset. I will let you know, however, that I’ve let my mostly exaggerated anger die down over the last couple weeks. I appreciate the option to express myself through a little animated action figure on Live and understand that my options for manipulating its appearance will increase. I just don’t like the way they look.
And on top of not liking the way they look–I can’t create myself, and that makes me sad. Compare these two images:
One of these digital representations of Travis looks a lot like me. It would make someone that knows me laugh and say, “Yes, you do look that stupid.” The other one looks like a rat that somehow got into a (insert geographically relevant clothing store) advertisement. And somehow the Mii, the one that looks less realistic, is more true to life than the fancy Xbox Live rip-off. Is Microsoft trying too hard?
I’m sure someone can explain how that works. How a caricature is often a better representation than a realistic rendering, but I’m wondering why Microsoft, while copying everything else that Nintendo did, couldn’t just steal the ability to create “Travis” as well. After all, when someone looks at my 360 avatar now, they just ask, “What did you do to your Mii?”
(Unfortunately, the Mii shown is not my actual Mii. The one stored on my Wii is even more accurate, but I couldn’t recreate it exactly using the Flash Mii creator.)
I’m in the opposite situation–my avatar is much more representative of me than my Mii.
Reply to CorvusThat’s good to hear! I think that will probably end up being the case with most people, but I really think Microsoft should be considering my particular facial structure and expressions when they design these things.
Does this mean that my appearance is just naturally more suited to cartoon?
Reply to Travis MegillI’m not sure. The irony is that with my handlebar moustache and long pointy goatee, I’m much more cartoony in real life than either my avatar or my Mii. It’s just that the avatar gets a bit closer.
Reply to CorvusI was pretty nonplussed at first by the Avatar selections: it encouraged me to start from one that looked like me, and I went through screen after screen without finding a match. And then, when I gave up and picked one to customize, I was extremely nonplussed by the beard selections.
Once I got over that, though, I rather liked it: my avatar doesn’t look like me (so I agree with your main point), but the braid around the head, the monocle, the single dangly earring, and the heart tattoo on my cheek all add up to a look I approve of.
Reply to David CarltonI really like your avatar, David! I may try to do that with mine as well, just make something I like. I did revise mine tonight with the help of my wife, though, and was pleased to see they added a beanie-type hat since that’s what I typically wear once it’s cold. I’ll add my revised Avatar to the post.
Reply to Travis Megill