Do avatars influence your opinion?

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is it Melkor?

Lately I've committed to living that way. But it hasn't worked too well on a few occasions (Sweeny's eyes, for example, see above.)

Z

Yours, SilverProteus, is so . . . so appropriate. It captures how I feel much of the time, either observing or being observed.

Z

I'm sorry, are you talking to me or tantopat?

Uh . . . kind of both.

Z

I'm actually not half as interesting as my avatar... I do 3d art for fun, so this was sort of how I felt being in the world of NTs, but the title of the pic is 'Life on Venus, the first half-second'...

I find it ironic that a Zen mistriss (Buddhism) is represented by Ganesh, the Hindu god... but that's fine. I find humor in the strangest places...

It's fun to imagine the voice of Dana Carvey (as SNL's Church Lady) asking the same thing: "Well, let's see now. Who could that be? Could it be...SATAN?! !!"

I meant it's not a picture of any character that Tolkien himself created. It is however a fictional character someone else created (someone clearly influenced and inspired by Tolkien) many years later--first appearing in 1988, though not in a book per se.

Here's another hint: Its creator was someone named Richard (although someone else did the actual artwork I borrowed). He's often called "British", despite being an American citizen.

There are so many Tolkien rip-offs... and I've read so few of them. I don't know about the others, but I give up!

Tolkien was so influential to so many, that even some very original creators/designers can't help but borrow heavily from him. Sure there are many blatant rip-offs, but there's a lot of good quality material out there too. This goes beyond mere novels. The entire genre of computer role-playing games owes much of its existence and success to people like Tolkien and Dungeons & Dragons creator Gary Gygax--who himself put a lot of Tolkien elements into D&D.

The Richard person I mentioned (the one who created the character my avatar depicts) is considered a true visionary and innovator--a legend in his particular medium and not just another Tolkien wannabee hack.

BTW zee, I really like your own avatar (Disney's Ariel right?). The use of lighting and shadow in that image is fantastic. Makes the observer feel like they're also underwater.

Cool concept and title, I mean HOT concept and title.

Z

It took me a while, but your avatar is from Richard Garriott's 1988 Ultima V: Warriors of Destiny, one of the three Shadowlords.

Z

Thanks! Yes, it is Ariel.

Nine daring fantastic tales to tale! That would be nice.

I find yours calming and companionable, like I'm there and I've been invited to look at something with you(Have I read that somewhere?, feels like deja vu for some reason).



What do you think of my new one?

I've been thinking of using this one:
it's an avatar I've been using at other boards.

Or the larger differently edited version:


Or this one:

Or maybe I should go back to the owl I was using...

Whaduya think?

Last edited by mikebw on 14 Mar 2008, 11:13 pm, edited 1 time in total.

Well done Z! You're exactly right. This picture wasn't taken from the original game but rather cropped from some conceptual art for Lazarus--the fan-made Ultima 5 remake using the Dungeon Siege engine. Despite being an all-amateur production with almost no development budget (and without actual permission of the copyright holder), its quality was on-par with many of the best professionally-made, multi-million dollar budget games I've played in recent years. It totally blew away Ultima 9, that's for sure.

For those not familiar with the Ultima series, the main character (and primary one that the player controls) was known as "The Avatar". He/she got that title at the end of Ultima 4: Quest of the Avatar by becoming a heroic role-model of high moral values--one who embodied near-perfection in 8 virtues: Honesty, Compassion, Valor, Justice, Sacrifice, Honor, Spirituality & Humility. These virtues in-turn derive from 3 noble principles: Truth, Love & Courage.

In the follow-up game Ultima 5: Warriors of Destiny, The Avatar returned to the fictional realm of Britannia only to find it corrupted by 3 evil entities known as the Shadowlords--representing the anti-Principles of Falsehood, Hatred & Cowardice. To make matters worse, the true king of the land (Lord British, the alter-ego of Ultima creator Richard Garriott) had been abducted by the Shadowlords, and his throne usurped by his regent Blackthorn (now a pawn of the Shadowlords). Under Blackthorn's tyrannical reign, the 8 virtues had been perverted into a Code of Ethics--laws enforcing so-called virtuous behavior which must be obeyed under threat of severe punishment.

All in all, Ultima 5 is considered by many the best-written game in the series--limited only by the relatively primitive graphics, sound & gaming features available in computers from 20 years ago. With the Lazarus remake (released for free a couple years ago and only requiring a copy of Dungeon Siege to play), the game's full potential was finally realized in a breathtaking 3D enviroment.

While my own personality tries not to emulate that of the Shadowlords, I like the irony of having an avatar which represents the antithesis of "The Avatar". Some might say it's a clever play on words.

BTW. One of the clues I'd given before was the word "Origin" as in Origin Systems Inc.--Richard Garriott's former software company and the original publisher of Ultima, Wing Commander and many other great games (until acquired by Electronic Arts and thereafter ruined. R.I.P. Origin)

I like it, its ethereal.

Z

I have your clues (1988 was particularly helpful), and Google, and Wikipedia to thank.

Z