When You Max Out the Body Sliders in Real Life

Ralf was at a loss. After an unexpected accident while playing one of those online games that somehow brought your in-game avatar into the real world, he found himself stuck with the character's body. Now he desperately needed help finding clothes that wouldn't make his new proportions quite so uncomfortable. Apparently, his avatar's most impressive attributes had become his biggest real-life problem.

Standing in front of the bathroom mirror, Ralf stared at his reflection and wondered, for the hundredth time, why he'd thought it was a good idea to max out nearly every body slider during character creation.

The white dress stretched to its limits against his new figure. In the game, it had looked like an elegant, almost mythical outfit, a fun aesthetic choice for a character with sky-high charisma and an impressive set of stats. In real life, however, physics was far less forgiving. The extra weight on his chest pulled his shoulders forward, while the off-the-shoulder neckline seemed determined to slip out of place whenever he moved.

"I wanted a charisma bonus, not a permanent backache," Ralf grumbled.

He tried pulling the dress up a little, only to discover that the adjustment made everything feel even tighter. Somehow, his character creator had included sliders for bust size, proportions, and overall appearance, but apparently no option for comfortable everyday movement.

And his old wardrobe was no help at all. His closet was full of medium-sized T-shirts and oversized hoodies that had once fit him perfectly. Now, the shirts stretched awkwardly across his new silhouette, while the hoodies hung in strange geometric shapes that made him look like a badly rendered game character.

Ralf needed to get to a department store. Soon. Either that, or find someone who actually knew something about proper support, fitting, and how to dress a body that seemed to have been designed by a fantasy artist with absolutely no understanding of practical clothing.

He glanced at himself in the mirror again.

"Next time," he muttered, "I'm leaving the body sliders at the default settings."

Then he paused.

There was, after all, still the question of whether the game had a reset button.

And if it did, whether clicking it would actually help.