By Chris Cosci

Over the past couple of years, Playboy has been approaching the average working woman to pose for the magazine. Readers (and I use that term loosely) have been treated to pictorials featuring the employees of Home Depot, Starbucks and Wal-Mart. It would appear that Playboy is running out of women to photograph.

But in the upcoming October issue, Playboy has found a possible solution that could lead to a new era of centerfolds and pinups. This issue will include an article on the latest batch of mature video games. Along with the article, game designers have provided pictures of their female characters, including "BloodRayne's" title heroine and "Darkwatch's" villainess Tara, wearing little or no clothing.

Coincidentally, BloodRayne is half vampire and Tara is full vampire. Vampires are typically known for their fear of crosses, vulnerability to sunlight and taste for blood. Apparently, they're also really hot. However, you can rest assured that Playboy is not dedicating itself to vampires. After all, there seems to be a significant shortage of vampires in the modeling industry.

The real issue is that these women are fictional characters. Instead of having real women pose for the magazine, Playboy will feature women designed by computer programmers. As if that weren't bizarre enough, the article will focus on humanizing these characters by creating brief bios that include such standard items as turn-ons and turn-offs. And you just know that one character's turn-on list will include "guys who play with a big joystick."

If this article is successful, does that mean that we will see more digitally created women in future issues? In some respects, this seems logical. After all, by using computers, Playboy won't have to worry about convincing models to take their clothes off. All they'll have to do is type in some commands and click a few buttons. They will be able to create computerized models that all have the perfect eye color, hair color and body proportions. Computer geeks can unite as we move one step closer to turning "Weird Science" into reality.

Still, it's hard to get over the concept that these women aren't real. Granted, thanks to plastic surgery, seeing something fake in Playboy is hardly revolutionary. However, the whole idea of the magazine used to be showing off the "girl next door." Now it's more like the "girl on your hard drive." For the record, that was strictly meant as a computer reference.

Some might see this pictorial as the ultimate fantasy for video game addicts. But it can also have some serious effects on both men and women. For men, Playboy has always promised the lure of attractive women. And if the actual women in the magazine were unobtainable, there was at least the hope of finding someone equally attractive in person. Now they're tempting men with the impossible. These women don't exist. It's as if Playboy is saying, "now we guarantee you'll never meet anyone like this."

For women, this just raises the bar to impossible levels. Magazines have always created this idealized image that many women strive to achieve. But computer-generated women will be flawless. No amount of make-up, diets or plastic surgery could help a woman achieve this unrealistic level of perfection.

Is there any hope left? Sure there is. If these ideal computer creations become the standard, it is likely to become tiring after awhile. Every issue will feature models with the same perfect bodies, flashing the same perfect... smiles. Soon, guys will desire something different. They'll want something real and natural that no computer could create. And in a strange way, we'll be right back where we started.