Profile Picture (question/suggestion)

[TheLadyOfTheRings.9148]

Hi everyone!

I was thinking how cool it would be if we could use our own character(s) as our profile picture. Something similar to what we see in a dialogue: https://i.imgur.com/ZA6JdP8.jpg

What do you think? I'm curious to read your opinions on this, for example, why this should or shouldn't be implemented.

[Randulf.7614]

It was suggested before and the answer was no. I forget why though

[TheLadyOfTheRings.9148]

@Randulf.7614 said:It was suggested before and the answer was no. I forget why though

Oh :( Thanks, I'll try and find that post. Do you remember in what category it was suggested and discussed?

[Inculpatus cedo.9234]

There's this:

https://en-forum.guildwars2.com/discussion/comment/273750/#Comment_273750

and this:

https://en-forum.guildwars2.com/discussion/comment/114704/#Comment_114704

and here is the definitive answer:

https://en-forum.guildwars2.com/discussion/comment/171963/#Comment_171963

About Custom In-Game Images as Avatars: The technology does not exist to take snapshots of your in-game characters and port them into avatars. And given the decision that must be made by any company as far as priorities, I believe that the best use of our dev team's time is in creating game content that can be enjoyed by players. Remember, I'm "the forum person" for ArenaNet, and yet I'm saying this! Don't get me wrong. I'd love to have this spiffy new toy and that amazing new element to enhance the forum experience. But as a player, and with eyes on the main thing we do here at ArenaNet, I want -- I think we all want -- game content most of all.

[Randulf.7614]

And with that “forum person” gone and less focus on forums and communication, the idea is put to rest pretty much permanently.

[Danikat.8537]

It would be cool and really helpful to me because I tend to remember people by their avatar so when two people have the same one it confusess me, but it would also be a lot of work to do. There's two ways I can think of for doing it: either build something into the game to let you take a 'headshot' of your character and set it as your profile picture, or add it to the forum rules that you can only upload your own picture if it's your character.

The first option is expensive up front: it takes staff time to develop and test the system, and it would impact on the development of other things since it would have to be people who know how to create new systems for the game and they then can't use that time to work on another new system. But once it's up and running it would take relatively little time to maintain.

The second option is cheaper in the short-term because it doesn't need any developers working on it, but it's got a higher on-going cost because forum admins would have to police it: removing pictures which are not of player characters (remember there's no way for the computer to know if that .jpg you uploaded is your character, someone else's character or something else entirely) and probably supporting people who can't get it to work. (And again that's time they can't spend on other things.)

I don't know how much either would cost exactly, but there is a cost to it, and Anet would have to balance that against the benefit to players in letting us use our own avatar to decide if it's worth doing. Apparently so far they've decided it's not worth it.

[SexyMofo.8923]

The technology doesn’t exist excuse.