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Avatars, along with GeekBadges, Microbadges, Patron's Badge, and UberGeekBadges are used to customize your Graphical User Representation on BoardGameGeek.

Many Internet forums allow the use of Avatars, which are small graphics representing the identities of the users. BoardGameGeek requires users to contribute content before allowing them to use Avatars. Contributed content earns GeekGold, which can be paid back to the site to purchase the right to upload a customized Avatar image. The Avatar image is displayed as part of the user's Graphical User Representation wherever the user has contibuted content on the site.

An Avatar costs 30 GeekGold. To purchase, click the drop-down menu at the top of the page (to the right of your username) and select Profile. Then in the area labelled User Profile for... click on the Buy Avatar link. Purchasing an Avatar gives you the right to upload an image of your choice to be used as your Avatar, but you must supply the image yourself. You could use your own artwork or photograph, hire an artist, or search the Internet for a suitable image.

Once you have purchased an Avatar, you may upload a new image as often as you like, at no cost. To upload an Avatar image, click the drop-down menu at the top of the page (to the right of your username) and select Profile. Then in the area labelled User Profile for... click on the Edit Avatar link. Supported image file formats include JPEG, PNG, and GIF (animated or still). The image file size must not exceed 100 kB.

Image dimensions are limited to a maximum of 64 x 64 pixels. Larger images (with width or height larger than 64 pixels) will be scaled down to fit this limit.

Smaller images (with both width and height smaller than 64 pixels) will be scaled up (possibly causing ugly pixelation or blurring); a workaround to prevent this happening is to add transparent margins to the left and right of the visible part, so that the complete image file is 64 pixels wide with the visible part centered between these margins. (Transparency is possible in PNG but not GIF or JPG files.) E.g. if you have a 50x50 image which you want undistorted as your avatar, then make a 64x50 PNG file with 7 transparent columns to the left of your original 50x50 image and 7 transparent pixels to the right.

A list of all user's Avatar images can be found here (link broken).

Stopping animated avatars

Some users find animated avatars distracting. Although the site has no way to stop animations, most browsers do.

Internet Explorer

Temporary fix:
  • Press [Esc] to stop animations on the current page
Permanent fix:
  • Open Internet Options from either the Control Panel (Start -> Settings -> Control Panel -> Internet Options), or from Internet Explorer (version 7: Tools -> Internet Options).
  • Click on the Advanced tab.
  • Scroll down to the Multimedia category.
  • Remove the check from the Play animations in webpages option.
  • Click the "OK" button.

Firefox

Temporary fix:
  • Press [Esc] to stop animations on the current page
    • Used to work, doesn't in current version.
Permanent fix:
  • Type about:config into the address bar and press [Enter]
  • Type animation in the "Search:" field.
  • Double-click on image.animation_mode
  • Set the value to one of the following:
    • none - stops animations
    • once - allows animations to run once
    • normal - default, allows animations
  • Click OK

Opera

Permanent fix:
  • Press [F12].
  • Remove the check from the "Enable GIF/SVG animation" option.
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