Experiment: We're Suckers for Virtual Bods

Giving "On the Internet, no one knows you're a dog" new meaning

Nothing's new about virtual reality. In fact, the way dynamically-generated graphics are progressing, fiction looks a lot prettier than the real world. Really, the true final frontier for VR is tweaking how the technology affects our perception.

According to a recently conducted experiment, men who viewed their virtual selves found their artificial identities more convincing. The exercise allowed the participants to see their own "bodies" when looking down. When placed in a software-generated shell of a girl, the adult male guinea pigs tended to "empathize" with the experiences of a young woman.

Perhaps the research will push game developers to integrate virtual bodies into the player character? A staple of contemporary gaming is that, when you look down, you only see the ground.

This "discovery" might be another case of research quantifying what we all know subconsciously. Anyone remember Trespasser? The player-protagonist was a buxom woman named Anne, and tattooed on her left breast was a heart that indicated health. It was pretty easy to identify yourself as a well-endowed woman, whenever you had to look down at your own cleavage to check your health.

Grown Men Swap Bodies With Virtual Girl - Trespasser image from The Armchair Empire