1. A method comprising: receiving, over a network, data defining an avatar, wherein data defining the avatar is stored to a computer readable medium; creating, using at least one computing device, using the data defining the avatar, a sprite sheet comprising a plurality of sprites, wherein each sprite comprises a partial rendering of the respective avatar and at least one run-time parameter comprising a sprite attribute; receiving, over the network, a plurality of requests for the avatar from a plurality of user applications; and transmitting, over the network, the data defining the avatar and the sprite sheet to each of the requesting games, whereby each respective user application is enabled to display the sprites in the sprite sheet, and wherein the user application is further enabled to set the at least one run-time parameter associated with each of the sprites in the sprite sheet such that each respective sprite is thereby customized to the application.