Avatars

Avatar Contributions

An avatar refers to a 512x512 image visible in one's Steam Community page. Avatars have no effect on gameplay, and are intended to identify and differentiate players within the Steam Community. In-game, each player's avatar is visible next to his/her name on the scoreboard. If a player is killed, when the freeze frame of their killer appears, their avatar will be shown alongside their name. If the Avatar is the same picture as one of your Steam friends (which may happen often when playing with Bots) the "Buddy" Icon will be displayed next to it.

Valve have introduced a set of official Team Fortress 2-themed avatars. Officially there are nine sets, one for each class, each with three avatars. Each of the nine sets have three different styles - Original, RED ÜberCharged and BLU ÜberCharged. In the 'Contribute!' section of the Team Fortress 2 Blog, custom made avatars may be submitted to a site where it will be seen in a gallery along with other avatar contributions. Although there are no official guidelines on selecting an avatar, many servers will kick or even ban players with offensive/racist/pornographic avatars.