No Avatar? But Whyyyyy?

So a few days ago on Twitter there was an intersting discussion, although it was in tweeterez so it is not fully fledged sentences or anything sensible like that. I am also not gona copy any of it here, presuming of course i could actually go back that far in twitter land and copy it out. So what am i on about eh ?

One of the Developers that i am friends with said he wasn't gonna put Avatars in his latest game, and for that matter Zombies. This drew a few comments from other Xblig friends that we connect with and from there it sort of blossomed, or mushroomed or just grew for a while. There were a few things said, and i will re-say them, but in a sort of chinese whispers sort of way.

1. No compelling design reason to use Avatars, so out they go!
2. I have seen too many Avatar games where the Avatar is just standing around on the screen
3. Avatars are being overused and there are too many Avatar games, not all of them are selling well
4. Avatars can be a crutch to weak gameplay, i wanna make my game great on it's own merit

I have to say these sentiments are a breath of fresh air. Ok so i am picky about who i follow, so maybe it is more a reflection on the kind of mates i have in twitter than what i actualy going on in the general Xblig developers heads. Now i am not saying that Avatars should be avoided or dismissed. I believe they should be used at all times, all times that they feel like they would be missing, or all times when they actually enhance gameplay or the experience of playing a game.

Lets see what Avatar games the next few months brings us eh!

Thanks go to all my twitter buddies who i would like to mention, even though i know i will miss some, sorry to those i miss.
@Drmistry
@Clingermangw
@The_Zman
@theBigDaddio
@H3games
@QuimbyRBG
@Tehgrumpydude

I am sure there were more in the discussion, sorry bout that. I am sure i will mention folks in a future post or three :D

G'night