Disable/hide everyone's steam avatars

[Krieger91]

Is there any way to disable seeing everyone elses steam avatars in game's such as DOTA 2 and CSGO? I really don't feel a need to see and have hundreds of stupid pictures on my hdd. This really needs to be an option.

[Karne123]

there pictures don't get saved to your HDD.

doesn't disabling avatars in the Steam client disable them in games, as well?

if not, I don't find it an unreasonable request. some people may be sensitive to certain things and not want to see someone else's naughty/stupid avatar.

[Ailure]

Steam have a small cache of avatars, but the amount those take is fairly insignificant even on smaller harddrives.

If you see a NSFW style of avatar it's not allowed and is reportable.

[Krieger91]

Originally Posted by Karne123

there pictures don't get saved to your HDD.

doesn't disabling avatars in the Steam client disable them in games, as well?

if not, I don't find it an unreasonable request. some people may be sensitive to certain things and not want to see someone else's naughty/stupid avatar.

Where exactly is this option?

[Karne123]

Originally Posted by Krieger91

Where exactly is this option?

Friends -> Show Avatars. not sure if it totally disables ALL avatars, even in-games with people not on your freinds list, though.

If you see a NSFW style of avatar it's not allowed and is reportable.

thing is, some people don't want to see ANYTHING they find objectionable. even if you can report it, it doesn't make you "unsee" it. also, not everyone is offended by only "NSFW" things. some people might not like seeing spiders, or bikini chicks, or batman, or trollface. just because you don't find it objectionable, doesn't mean no one else does.

[MikeBlaszczak]

Originally Posted by Karne123

thing is, some people don't want to see ANYTHING they find objectionable. even if you can report it, it doesn't make you "unsee" it. also, not everyone is offended by only "NSFW" things. some people might not like seeing spiders, or bikini chicks, or batman, or trollface. just because you don't find it objectionable, doesn't mean no one else does.

How would someone solve this problem in general? Just keep their eyes shut?

[austinonline]

Originally Posted by MikeBlaszczak

How would someone solve this problem in general? Just keep their eyes shut?

lol +1 good sir.
You can't expect a company with a userbase of over 40 million to accurately find the line of everyone's personal decency. They have a report feature in place. If a person is so concerned about what they can't unsee, perhaps that person shouldn't be on the internet, a place where occasions like that are very frequent.

[Karne123]

Originally Posted by MikeBlaszczak

How would someone solve this problem in general? Just keep their eyes shut?

well, having a option in Steam would solve that. Steam avatars is the only thing that would have objectional content that someone can't avoid. Doesn't really bother me since I don't play games where I can see people's avatars.

lol +1 good sir.
You can't expect a company with a userbase of over 40 million to accurately find the line of everyone's personal decency. They have a report feature in place. If a person is so concerned about what they can't unsee, perhaps that person shouldn't be on the internet, a place where occasions like that are very frequent.

thing is, OP here isn't asking for Valve to police "40 million" Steam accounts, just for the option to disable other's avatars.

also, just because its the internet doesn't mean people can't avoid things. there is image/ad/flash-block, the ability to turn off images in the browser and bookmarks for a reason. I never see things I don't like because of those features. for instance, if I am browsing a forum where people can set custom avatars, I always shut images off in the brower or disable the avatars/sigs in the forum settings. then again, I rarely visit forums or generally "browse" the internets. too much junk on it. its like TV with stupid commercials.

[MikeBlaszczak]

Originally Posted by Karne123

well, having a option in Steam would solve that. Steam avatars is the only thing that would have objectional content that someone can't avoid. Doesn't really bother me since I don't play games where I can see people's avatars.

Just avatars? Not screenshots? Videos? Links? Text? Player names, themselves?

[diesel2k]

-1 for valve's sarcastic comments.
a simple "no, we aren't implementing such a feature" is fine enough.
I expect better customer service than this from valve.

[greenman42]

Originally Posted by diesel2k

-1 for valve's sarcastic comments.
a simple "no, we aren't implementing such a feature" is fine enough.
I expect better customer service than this from valve.

inb4 lock!

[MikeBlaszczak]

Originally Posted by diesel2k

-1 for valve's sarcastic comments.
a simple "no, we aren't implementing such a feature" is fine enough.
I expect better customer service than this from valve.

One part of providing good customer service is ascertaining exactly what the problem is. What I'm reading is that the problem is that "some people don't want to see ANYTHING they find objectionable". I don't see how the suggested option to hide avatars prevents that, as there are other objectionable things -- both within and outside the context of steam and the games -- which users might end up viewing.

Maybe my read of the problem is incorrect; that's why I'm continuing to ask questions. Maybe the problem really is something else entirely. What is it? There's nothing sarcastic about my questions. I'm asking them only to further understand the issue.

Identity for players in Steam is established by their player name and their avatar, together. Removing them from games completely doesn't make sense since it diminishes that sense of identity. While we might re-release each of our games with an update to implement such an option, it is a like a lot of work to do and leaves all the other games available on Steam with the same requirement. Until some substantial case is made for the benefit of the option that out-weighs its vast cost, I can't see any reason to implement it. For now, then, no; I don't expect us to implement any such option.

[towny]

Constant clearing of your temp folder might clear the avatar cache

[Flying Ace]

Originally Posted by MikeBlaszczak

Just avatars? Not screenshots? Videos? Links? Text? Player names, themselves?

let us not forget in-game sprays lol thankfully most games have an option for that

[FrostDust]

Originally Posted by MikeBlaszczak

Just avatars? Not screenshots? Videos? Links? Text? Player names, themselves?

I think there's a discernible difference between a textual and a graphic depiction of a subject or event. Furthermore, videos and screenshots on a Steam user's profile page, or links to the same posted in a game's chat, have to be explicitly activated by the user. Sprays are a similar instance of another user forcing you to observe an image, and it's been possible for a long while to opt-out of seeing those.

Also, there are more reasons than hard drive usage as to why you wouldn't want certain images in your cache. Although your users in New York may not need to worry about the legal ramifications of an inadvertent download of material that another user forces onto them, I doubt all of your users are covered within the same legal environment.