i might not have envied snakes ass, but i have thrown up after looking at a picture of cammy

Fifteen minutes spent reading articles about studies like this always improves my self-esteem greatly. I feel like a god damn genius not wasting my time producing bullshit studies riddles with holes so big a three year old could find them.

well, about the wrestling game, i disagree, since it is an accurate portrayal of how large (and fucking stupid) those characters look.

however, about the beach volleyball game / soul calibur / etc etc, i have to say that the portrayal of women is... lets go with "unrealistic". sure, its just an extension of our society's (our global society's in some cases) views on what is attractive. just like how disney gets a bunch of shit for their animated characters being like toothpicks, its no surprise that video games get the same treatment (i'm surprised its not worse, actually).

so i think the study does have a "point" in that the portrayal of people in video games is sometimes unrealistic and absurd. however, they didnt need a study to say that, and to me they should be focusing on these airbrush obsessed magazines that try to actually convince people that the fantastical proportions found in video games are actually a real thing. video games are fantasy. magazines pass themselves off as reality.

so, in conclusion, video games do fall victim to the same "social presets" of beauty in our society, but they are not nearly the worst offenders, and, in my opinion, are taking steps in the right direction.

I don't need video-games to help me feel shitty about my body, I have Television and Society for that.

I guess this is why most gamers prefer First Person Shooters?

Like movies? And TV shows? And...

@cainball

well the most recent evidence i can think of off the top of my head of the video game industry getting better about their portrayal of women is the reduction of lara croft's breasts. i mean, jesus they were huge. sure they are still big, but a step in the right direction.

plus you get a lot better clothed characters for the most part. for instance:

http://www.megagames.com/news/images/gow_anya.jpg
or
http://o.aolcdn.com/gd-media/galleries/61/alyx-vance-2.jpg

i havent played gow more than just a bit (PC gamer here, havent picked it up), but alyx vance would probably not be featured in a fashion magazine. plus, shes a central character, a very intelligent character, and is, in my opinion, one of the best portrayals of women in >any< media in the last few years. personally, i'd like to see an episode where people get to play as her, but im not sure that will happen.

also, chell from portal. i doubt she would be featured in any magazine with that full jump suit lol.

pictures like that can hurt my self-esteem because i already know i would have no chance at being with a girl like that. looking at anything that looks better then me can hurt my self-esteem.

NO SHIT?!

I'm glad we have these studies telling us things like "looking at people who are better looking then you can make you feel like you don't look as good as them =("

@pygmy

sure, theres nothing wrong with portraying more beautiful people than the player / viewer / reader in media. the problem arises when there is an overwhelming amount of portrayals of unrealistic beauty. then its just harmful. however, like i said, video games definitely arent the most guilty offenders.

I wouldn't mind being loosely related to her.

@MotoRobo:

As someone who gladly owns all three current-gen consoles, I have no shame whatsoever in saying go fuck yourself.

Asshole fanboy...

I don't want to sound like a shill, but the Vic Viper's multiplicative offensive capabilities have done more damage to my ego than any school project I've ever failed at.

This study sounds bunk to me. One of the pillars of psychological research is that your subjects shouldn't have a preconception about what you're testing if it has a chance of affecting their subjective results. They obviously knew what the researchers wanted them to say, and I'd be willing to bet that many of the subjects did just that.

Free link to the study here: [pdf].

They were playing Wrestlemania 2000 for N64, and "Extreme Heat Beach Volleyball" for PS2.

Considering that the volleyball game in question is actually called Summer Heat Beach Volleyball (unless he was playing the working alpha build of that 5-yr-old game, which did use Extreme in the title).

The research student who authored the study also made a math error in the published study. He probably reported the wrong average height for his sample, but the BMI numbers don't add up.

You just got learned

Love the pic. How about...yes...you are fat and flabby and you suck and you're going to die from heart disease...Nothing wrong with realizing you are gross and dying is there? So...instead of being a lazy bunt and sitting on your ass staring at these people, how about go out and exercise to try to be healthy? Body image is based on the healthy. I'm sorry...but that's the way it is. You've eaten and sat yourself into a pit of lard and shit. Sorry...you suck...pick up a barbell...WORK OUT OR PLAY A SPORT!!!! These people feel bad about themselves because they SHOULD. Otherwise if you're getting laid...who cares. Or if you can make it up the stairs without huffing and puffing. GOOD!....otherwise...goodnight, you need to sleep and eat and work out...simple as that. Stop whining and stop making excuses for McDonalds and any other fatty shit shop business out there.

Fuck man...FUCK I HATE PEOPLE.

Now if that chick in the pic could talk like camie OMG. Still it has more to do with the angle of the shot then she is posing sexy like camie or cos playing like her. Like I think a women with some skimpy outfit on gets me hot and bothered more then a naked women. It lets you think about what's coming and its fun taking off that stuff too.

Too much into, you just read it.

Yet again these faceless wonders decides to express their pointless opinion! Also, awesome picture.

I think it'd be less of an issue with guys, as it feels in many cases that the characters bodies are more obviously an exaggeration, especially as you get a lot of the super muscly bodies as well as a lot of the super geeky/skinny bodies, and even a lot of badass chubbys mixed into games.

I'd hate to be a girl though since all you would see are the hot model bodies. (apart from the sparse larger women characters that are very rarely taken seriously at all)

Playing DOA makes me wanna kill myself because those girls are hot and I'm super fugly.

WRYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY

*becomes an hero*

Jim, please... "Trying" assumes an attempt to reach a certain goal by going through some kind of logical procedure. By default, trolls have no capacity for logical thought. You give them too much credit.

@ Jim
Well the study was on videogames, not all forms of media, so of course the study's conclusion will be what effect videogame characters have on people's self image. Whether or not the study was conducted well is another point all together, but I don't see what is so bizzare and sarcasm worthy that the conclusions of a study on the effects of idealised human figures have on people's body images are that ... they makes people insecure.
Also, complaing that I'm a troll because I don't have an avatar is just stupid.

I don't have to worry about my self esteem since I actually have an idealized male form. Perhaps now, reading my comment, your self esteem has dropped. I apologize.

I always get disapointed with studies with videogames that focus on the negative aspects of human behavior. in school I wrote up a mock study that would evaluate levels of co-operation. Researchers should try and look at the positives things that videogames do instead of the negative.