Difference between revisions of "Talk:Denny Tsai"

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Denny used Warcraft III as his example for an outside influence. He was comparing a user profile in-game which displays your rankings and win-loss ratio to his self-portrait avatar. I felt he did a good job noting their similarities and significance such as the desire to appear impressive. No one wants to be thought of negatively but a person's flaws is what makes them human and realistic. These flaws can be displayed in a self-portrait as well as a combat record in a video game. Both are supposed to be accurate representations of you. Denny's avatar, like mine, has only a slight resemblance if anything which isn't saying much. The faces don't look realistic enough to have such few options. I feel the less detail a program has for modifying a face the more options it should have in other fields. For example the xbox live avatars look very cartooned but you can make a relatively accurate avatar by clothing choice and height/facial feature placement. I agreed with Denny on most if not all of his points about creating a self-portrait avatar. The program is extremely limited especially for minorities. These lack of options made creating an accurate representation difficult. I found it interesting that both me and Denny chose the same face for our fantasy avatar despite going in different directions. We both had video game based influences for some of our avatar choices which could have contributed to this coincidence.
 
Denny used Warcraft III as his example for an outside influence. He was comparing a user profile in-game which displays your rankings and win-loss ratio to his self-portrait avatar. I felt he did a good job noting their similarities and significance such as the desire to appear impressive. No one wants to be thought of negatively but a person's flaws is what makes them human and realistic. These flaws can be displayed in a self-portrait as well as a combat record in a video game. Both are supposed to be accurate representations of you. Denny's avatar, like mine, has only a slight resemblance if anything which isn't saying much. The faces don't look realistic enough to have such few options. I feel the less detail a program has for modifying a face the more options it should have in other fields. For example the xbox live avatars look very cartooned but you can make a relatively accurate avatar by clothing choice and height/facial feature placement. I agreed with Denny on most if not all of his points about creating a self-portrait avatar. The program is extremely limited especially for minorities. These lack of options made creating an accurate representation difficult. I found it interesting that both me and Denny chose the same face for our fantasy avatar despite going in different directions. We both had video game based influences for some of our avatar choices which could have contributed to this coincidence.
 
-L. Cobb
 
-L. Cobb
 
 
Denny did a great job outlining the difficulties he experienced while creating his avatar. As an Asian-American myself, I could definitely relate to Denny's sentiments on the Evolver software's limited ability to sculpt asian-looking faces. There were only 3 ancestor options that resembled asians, and out of the three, one of them was more hispanic than asian. I thought the professor was joking when he said that the software behaved like its creators (a bunch of white guys from silicon valley); I should have taken him more seriously. Because of the software's limited ability to only create avatars based on a permutation of pre-set images, Denny was spot-on when he claimed it was "virtually impossible" to create accurate depictions of the self. However, I believe the intention of the  avatar exercise was not only to create a self portrait that was representative of the self, but also to intentionally encounter difficulties in sculpting the avatar to make one realize how difficult it actually is to reproduce a portrait of the self. Suffice I to say, I realize now how unique faces are; no wonder I'm not good at remembering them. Not only was Denny's reflection accurate, but it was also entertaining. He incorporated Warcraft III as his outside influence; having played that myself previously, I can say from experience that most of what he depicts in his writing on the section is true. People do take their avatars very seriously in the gaming world; not only is it a personal representation, but it is also your reputation that you fiercely defend. All in all, this was an enjoyable read; thanks for sharing your experience with us Denny.
 
 
- Tim Shi
 

Revision as of 21:07, 15 November 2011

Denny described his process of creating his avatars in a profound and vivid manner. While creating his self-avatar, Denny described the process as tedious and relatively hard. This is due to the software, i.e. evolver.com, not having enough features to create a portrait that looks exactly like Denny. Some of the features that Denny said was hard to create were his face, hairstyle, and the clothing he wears on a day-to-day basis. Another issue that Denny pointed out with self-portrait avatar creation process was that while he was creating it he tried to spend more time on it because it is on a more personal level. His peers, close friends, etc. can identify him more easily, and if the self portrait avatar was critcized, it's almost like critcizng his identity in real life. I also liked the outside example he brought up with Warcraft 3, and how he tied that with creating his personal avatar. In Warcraft 3, everyone has a profile of their win-loss percentage. If their win-loss percentage isn't too good, then their self-identity might be lowered. I thought that was a very good point he brought up because creating your self-avatar and managing your personal profile on Warcraft 3 are both related to your identity in real life. Now, with his fantasy avatar, he also did a pretty good job in explaining how he created the portrait. He said it was less tedious to create and I also liked how he utilized his outside source with playing Halo. While creating his fantasy avatar, Denny tried to make a picture of him playing Halo. He tried to make his face based on the comments others gave him. Overweight, lives in moms basement, etc. Furthermore, I like how he utilized a zombie face because of less exposure to sunshine while sitting in the basement playing video games all day. One thing he could elaborate a little more on is at the end, he said he wished he had an XBOX controller in one hand and a mountain dew can in another. He could elaborate by saying, I wish the software had stuff like putting a mountain dew or soda can in your hand. But overall, I think he did a great job on this project. – Z. Butler

Denny used Warcraft III as his example for an outside influence. He was comparing a user profile in-game which displays your rankings and win-loss ratio to his self-portrait avatar. I felt he did a good job noting their similarities and significance such as the desire to appear impressive. No one wants to be thought of negatively but a person's flaws is what makes them human and realistic. These flaws can be displayed in a self-portrait as well as a combat record in a video game. Both are supposed to be accurate representations of you. Denny's avatar, like mine, has only a slight resemblance if anything which isn't saying much. The faces don't look realistic enough to have such few options. I feel the less detail a program has for modifying a face the more options it should have in other fields. For example the xbox live avatars look very cartooned but you can make a relatively accurate avatar by clothing choice and height/facial feature placement. I agreed with Denny on most if not all of his points about creating a self-portrait avatar. The program is extremely limited especially for minorities. These lack of options made creating an accurate representation difficult. I found it interesting that both me and Denny chose the same face for our fantasy avatar despite going in different directions. We both had video game based influences for some of our avatar choices which could have contributed to this coincidence. -L. Cobb