A Brief History Of Sex In Video Games

Sex in video games has a long and sordid history, and the good people over at VICE (link below) have just published an exhaustive look back from Atari and the early home computer days, all the way up until now. 

People usually cite the 1981 text game Softporn Adventure for the Apple II as being one of the first games that was actually about sex. Looking at the cover for the game is quite enough to make sex look like the dullest thing in the world. The women seem a bit sleepy. The waiter in the picture is wondering how long he can stay serving drinks in (?) the Jacuzzi without his balls shrivelling to the size of raisins.

Of course no history of sexy video games would be complete without mention of Leisure Suit Larry, still the most famous of them all.

Softporn Adventure is known as being the blueprint for the now infamous 1987 graphical adventure game Leisure Suit Larry In The Land Of The Lounge Lizards. A parser game where you type two-word instructions to the computer as to your next actions, Softporn Adventure swings between scatology (you can drown in sewage just by flushing a toilet) and rape jokes, the sort that a teenager might make: “She takes a pill… her nipples start to stand up! Wow!! She's breathing heavily… I hope she rapes me!!” Sure, bro.

It's a long piece, and I recommend checking the whole thing out over at VICE.

Via VICE