agentcarr16: Why am I a hat?
I tend to think that a 'hat' makes one recognizable. First impression, making eye contact, noticing something different about the head you are looking at can trigger an emotion.
Think of famous hats, like Indiana Jones' fedora, Charlie Chaplin's Bowler hat, the militant Green Beret of the British Commandos or Red Beret of the Guardian Angels. There's the recognizable fireman's helmet, famous Deerstalker (used by hunters) made popular by Sherlock Holmes and of course, the dunce cap a common humiliating cap for the school cut-up.
The list goes on, but hats are symbolic and can represent many different types of characters and their traits.
agentcarr16: Hats are fun, but one can only wear the same hat for so long.
Seriously, though. I just got myself interested. What goes into maintaining avatars for however-many-people-populate-this-forum?
One can only wear the same hat for so long, but I see today that more and more people are multi-faceted and "wear many hats". Perhaps analyzing the collection of hats one has could be an interesting way to get a 'picture' of that person and their experience over time.
As far as avatars go, I'm pretty boring in that regard. I tend the use the same one a lot. Maybe not the same nickname (as all the good ones seem to go quickly).