I think avatars have an evolution cycle. Take Gaia, Roliana, and Menewsha.

Gaia's avatars are like the apes; short, and weird.
Roliana's are the ape people; mega weird
Menewsha are the humans: GODLY!

Don't you think.

I agree with you, kinda. I think Menewsha does have the best avatars out of all three of those ^^

Don't forget SOlia with their long creepy arms XD

It would probably look very unprofessional of me if i gave my honest opinion on most avatar sites avatar's >.>; but its not my fault only a couple have decent looking avatars, that being here, solia, roliana (once some clothing is on them) and gaia...

Haha! I know what you mean.
I really like the avvies from here, Solia and Zantarni (if that's even still running, I haven't checked it out in ages). Gaia avatars are okay, they're in serious need of updating, but the amount of work such a huge project would take just makes that impossible.

The Roliana avatars are hideous! They have some nice clothing items, but those faces just make me wish my eyes could vomit.

I have to agree as well, not many avatar sites are as appealing as the ones have been mentioned. I'm not sure if anyone knows aureaonline, but that site had promise I especially like their avatars and the simplicity of the site. Only two people we're manning the site though and didn't had the time to keep it running.. And I wanted to apply as an artist there too *sigh*

After being on here for awhile, I was like - omg, my Gaia avi is so small ;-; But due to such a massive site, I don't think they're going to ever give their avi an overhaul.

I really like Mene's avatar system. One of the main reasons I left Subeta was that they changed up the hair system and I had to pay so much to color my hair... (I realize this was a feature before I joined, but still - I liked my Subeta avi's spectrum rainbow hair.) Anyway, I'm glad Mene allows us to pretty much change however we want our avi's to look. You're pretty much stuck with your Gaia avi unless you want to pay a lot to change your look or start a new account.

Rolaina.

I'm glad they're just pixel dolls, because they have a handicapped arm and weird feet that would support them if they had to walk on them.

Roliana has some weird looking faces, thank God they have ways to cover them.

Roliana haaate D: >

I was first kind of weired out by their avatars,
but they aren't that bad once you're used to it D:

In fact, I think I kind of dislike most avatar sites' avatars,
until I actually join and find cute clothes *u*
(I ususally try to go to the "rate the avatar above you"
thread, and see what some "good" outfits look like c: )

I do like Gaia's avatars - they're just so versatile. That's due to how many items they have, of course, but... I dunno. They just have that quality, to me. They can become anything.

Mene's avatars are great, too. I like our bases and color choices, and how we don't have to pay for new hair or eyes. >>

Roliana's are weird, yeah. Takes some getting used to...

The Gaia avis don't really bother me, but I see a lot of people complain about them. D: They were drawn so long ago that I'm pretty much used to them, I guess. XD I wish they were taller, but that's what other sites are for! :heart: Most bases for dressup game and pixel sites have at least something really off about them.

I like the Menewsha avis so far. :heart: It actually just occurred to me that I'm on Ernya, and when I went back to see what I'd done on there I realized that I don't like the look of their avis much at all. XD;; I think it's hard to please everyone.

Roliana never sent me a conformation email, so I've still got no clue what their avis are like up close. XD;; Has anyone been on Chiniba? They have cute avis, but half the time the quality of the pixeling for items doesn't really match the hair... I like the consistency I've seen on here the best. XD

I guess after being on Gaia so long and with a lot more ways to dress the avatars up, I'm just so used to seeing them and what I can do. But the avatar's there do need to have more changes, or at least a different variety of body bases then what's available already.

I like Menewesha's as a second, as they look more realistic over the others that I've seen. Although I've seen only a little of what is offered through clothing and whatnot, I do like how I can change the eyes, ears, body, hair, and gender with a click of a button and without having to pay for it through the gold system.

I think Menewsha's avatars are gross.. >.>;
I prefer solia's over these any day.. hell I even take gaia's over these..

I love my Solian pixels.
I don't think anything can beat them.
All the others are alright to me.
I don't have any that I truly hate.

It's funny, actually.
My reaction going from Gaia to Solia was, "OMG. They look like real people."

One site ive always thought had such beautiful avatar is Ernya.. is one of my favorites..and the people are nice too ... so thats a plus... yeah i agree its hard to find such nice avatars...

I wouldn't go THAT far as to call any of them apes (though I think the ones on ruffles are technically monkey-people of some sort on purpose), but I would agree that there is a vast variation of skill, style and general appeal between most sites. ^^;

That's the way it should be anyway :) Well, with regard to the style and general appeal anyway. I do find it both embarrassing and frustrating when sites pop up that have REALLY badly drawn bases/items and it's clear that their "artists" are severely lacking in skill. It embarrasses me to have the name of avatar sites in general slurred by these awful bases and items. It frustrates me when I see users on these other sites squeeing about how cute and awesome the things are when they're just dreadful then we get people criticizing ours which are much better =_=

I know a lot of that is down to people not being able to differentiate between what is actually bad and what they simply do not like because it's not to their personal taste, but it still frustrates me..

But well drawn bases that have different appeal is what it's all about. Not just well drawn from the perspective of being shaded properly and so on either. But properly proportioned and also there's the positioning to take into consideration. Some sites do quite well with the overall dimensions and appearance of their base, then spoil it (for me at least) by having it standing there facing straight forward and bolt upright like a stiff dead corpse. I'd say this is down to skill again though. The better sites have their base standing at a slight angle as this looks more natural, but that will be harder to draw whatever medium is used. So sites who's artists have less skill have bases that face straight forward and look like waxworks, simply because these are symmetrical and don't require tricky perspective. Consequently they end up looking flat most of the time because the artist often isn't very good at creating depth through shading either.

I suppose the main reason I get so irritated about very poor quality sites is that these sites still manage to get money out of people from donations. Why can't they come here and give it to us instead! lol. You're far less likely to be throwing your dollars down the drain by donating to us than you are by giving it to some fly-by-night site run by some school kid who's likely to run off with all the money once they have enough to buy something shiny for themselves...

It hurts me to see people being ripped off by these kids ._. and again, that does the name of avatar sites as a whole no good at all :(

I like gaia...but I HATE the hands of their male avatars. I hate their arms too...they just look so fat and silly. xD

Is there a divergence in the evolutionary tree of avatars when there are pixelated avatars and cell-shaded avatars?
I tend to imagine so. Because I don't think its fair too judge them the same way.
Of the various sites I've been on that have HAs (human avatars), the ones I prefer most are undoubtedly Subeta's. I think it is for several reasons
1. Subeta's base is nice and big. This is a big limiting factor I see on most other sites that stick with pixels. I realize this is exactly because, are, well, pixels, and its a pain in the ass to work on large canvases pixel by pixel. However I also see it as a crutch. On smaller canvases, with pixels, you can simply hide your lack of skill, because none is going to be able to tell at that size anyhow.
2. They're Cell-shaded, not pixelled. I already touched on this, but I am not a huge fan of pixellated avatars. This is mostly personal preference though. Namely because my eyes aren't so great, so trying to make out little pixelly details = no.
3. Subeta's layering system is more versatile than any other layering system I have seen on any other site so far. Then again, on most sites (Gaia, Menewsha) its more like "What layerings system?" Because, well, there isn't one. You don't get to choose which item stacks over which other item, its all preset for you. This causes a lack of customization, I don't care for it. Subeta has spoiled me.
4. Hair color and style choices. Menewsha is not the worst I have seen about this (not the best either). They do at least allow a fair variety of shades for you to choose from, so you can probably get a hair color pretty close to what you want. And it doesn't cost you an arm and a leg to change it, also nice.
However, Subeta again wins this category, because they have a system where you can pick whichever color you want for your hairstyle. Including how dark you'd like the shadows to be, and how light you'd like the highlights. They also allow you to add highlights to various parts of any hairstyle you choose, again in any color you like. Sure, it's not free, but earning the money needed to do your hair there is incredibly easy. And besides, the base colors that you can choose to have your hair in before specializing it are very reasonable, they are natural colors. Does not it cost you money to have neon blue hair in the real world? So to then, is it logical they charge for such a color.
4. Previewing what an article of clothing will look like with your current avatar. Something I think the members of Menewsha would appreciate. Currently you can at least preview an item on a base, which is a start, but its still not great when you can't compare it to what you are already wearing right now. Even worse when you don't know if its going to layer above or below something else you're already wearing.

But eh, I suppose pixel-based avatar systems have their limitations. Some things can't be helped when working with pixels.
...which is why I'd like to see more sites with cell-shaded HAs. :P

Hehe, I never thought of Roliana's avis like that before. Ape people. Hmph, at first I thought they looked weird but then I started to like them. I really like the avi's here, they are so darn cute.