Luke had never been any good at physical sports, but when it came to computer games, he was the best. He spent every available hour, sat in his bedroom, tirelessly thrashing his way past a thousand other gamers to win the top prize of whatever title he chose to crack.

However his parents didn’t understand or approve, telling him that he needed to “get out more”. To make matters worse, his older brother, who was annoyingly sociable and athletic, constantly bullied Luke for being so nerdy and overweight. However this only made Luke want to spend more time locked away in his bedroom playing games.

A new title called ‘Transmorph’ had recently come out, and it had created quite a buzz in the gaming community by promising to fulfil the greatest wish of whoever was the first to accumulate one million coins.

Of course, Luke couldn’t resist a challenge like that, so he dedicated every waking hour to the game. It was the strangest title that Luke had ever played. His avatar started off as a typically heroic and muscular figure, but as he progressed through the strange, otherworldly, maze-like levels of the game, his avatar slowly gained weight, lost height, and became quite nerdy looking.

Luke had been playing for seventeen straight hours, accumulating more and more coins, until finally he reached the unimaginable goal of one million.

“YES!” he shouted, flexing his arms victoriously.

Noticing that his voice sounded unusually deep, Luke’s attention was finally pulled away from the computer monitor. He turned his head from side to side in surprise, and realised that his once chubby short arms were now long, thick and solid. Luke found himself staring in astonishment at his huge flexed biceps, which now bulged out from his tight t-shirt like giant melons.

Luke jumped up from his gaming chair in shock, and quickly noticed that he had become a lot taller and slimmer, but his once baggy clothes were now stretched tight around his new muscular physique. He stumbled to his bedroom mirror and couldn’t believe that the athletic stud in the reflection was him!

Luke’s attention was suddenly caught by his computer again, which spontaneously played the sound of a victory horn. Luke moved closer to the monitor and saw that his avatar, which now looked exactly like he used to, was waving goodbye. Suddenly the screen went black and the monitor exploded. As it did so, a bolt of electricity hit Luke in the head and he fell backwards, unconscious.

When Luke opened his eyes, he realised that the game had transformed his mind. He understood everything now. All the time that his avatar had been becoming more like Luke, Luke had been becoming more like the avatar. However, he been too transfixed by the game to notice his body changing!

Luke pulled himself up and stood proudly in the middle of his bedroom. He WAS the avatar now – heroic, muscular, and powerful. He pulled off his tight t-shirt and jeans and took another look at himself in the mirror, smiling with silent confidence. Now he did believe what he saw – and he loved it!

Luke noticed that a medal had appeared on the smoking remains of his keyboard, and he proudly put it over his head, before exiting his bedroom and running down the stairs to the living room where his parents and brother were watching TV. Their mouths fell open, and their eyes widened with shock as Luke waved the medal in their faces and confidently flexed his new muscles in front of them.

“You said I’d never achieve anything by playing games, but look at me now!” he roared at them. “Look at what I’ve achieved! LOOK at who I’ve become!”

Despite feeling such pride over winning the game, Luke soon discovered that he enjoyed other kinds of games much more now, like physical sports and bodybuilding. Meanwhile Luke’s computer remained a burnt out box in his bedroom, until he finally threw it out and replaced it with weights and gym equipment.

Ironically, his parents liked this new confident and outgoing version of their son much more than they had before, and showered Luke with praise. Whereas, his ‘older’ brother, who was now actually physically younger and far scrawnier than Luke, became the second favourite son and was very jealous of Luke’s new athletic and social abilities at first. However, over time he learned to look up to him, and eventually saw Luke as an older brother and mentor. Luke enjoyed taking his ‘younger’ brother under his wing, and coaching him in the incredible physical and social skills that the game had blessed him with.

Luke had truly become a hero, not only to his brother, and parents, but to everyone he met. He realised now that the game had gifted him with such an incredible body and mind so that he could be an inspiration to others...and that is what the game had wanted all along.