In a sneaky way, the study in question plays into the problem by acknowledging that there is a problem. Forget the days of blissful ignorance; we're here to tell you that you should be worried about the way you think about your body! But what I'd like to know is, was there a similar study with questions about whether or not game characters were considered attractive to begin with?

There is a huge assumption here, that hypertrophy-muscled males and pubescent-fantasy females are considered attractive. If there is, in fact, a disconnection between the way gamers feel about their bodies and what they control on-screen, you wouldn't know it by taking a random sample of game box art. Is it possible that gamers wouldn't accept any other type of hero/heroine, especially one that looked like themselves?

Let's also take into account the virtual world of Second Life. While not strictly a game, necessarily, one of its particular strengths is its allowance of its residents to shape and mold their bodies into any form they desire. What you'll find when you enter SL and stay for a length of time, is that the human imagination, once let loose to play with no limits on its creative powers, will devise every conceivable type of physiognomy known and unknown to Man. The people you'llencounter run the gamut from everyday, ordinary-looking person you might see on the street, to hypermuscular Adonis wearing nothing but chains and a smile, to Playboy model with beachball-sized breasts and vapid expression, to the much more outré: non-human avatars of all sorts. Anthropomorphic animals, robots, mythological creatures, geometric shapes, patterns of energy, and just about anything you can imagine.

What does this tell us about our perception of our own bodies? Mostly that, if given the chance, no matter what we may look like, we will change our appearance to something else.

See, it really doesn't matter what any of these studies or surveys say, many human beings are simply predisposed to feelings of inadequacy. Whether it's about their bodies, their minds, their income, their love lives, their families, whatever, there is no aspect of human endeavor that is free from some kind of stress. The curious thing is that we invent entertainment in order to distract ourselves from the mundanity of existence, yet we populate it with all of our insecurities and fears, as well as our hopes and dreams. Sure, there is a case to be made for the concept of catharsis, but even in what you'd like to think of as pure escapism, harsh reality frequently intrudes.

So, what's the solution? If you're a developer, consider characters with a broader range of appeal. Since video games don't really conform to reality anyway, why not have an obese protagonist? Or one operating from a wheelchair? Or pretty much anyone you'd see walking down the street? Base your female characters on people you know, rather than cobbled-together cut-and-pasted elements from the latest Penthouse pet. Or, perhaps better yet: start your character off as the average person (whatever that is), and over the course of the game, show the progression from Joe Sixpack to Joe Got a Sixpack, and try to give gamers a little nudge in the direction of self-improvement by giving them something they can grow along with. MMOs typically offer some sort of character customization, and this is a good start. I'd like to see this option in more games.

If you're a player, though this may sound harsh, either do something about your own feelings of inadequacy, or just ignore it. Really, either works just as well. But just keep in mind that to look like your favorite video game character usually means taking time away from playing that character. And most of all, remember that looking heroic and being heroic are two different things. Which is more important to you?