sex sells

Sexual content has always been prominent in video games.
As early as 1981, games such as Softporn Adventure included adult scenes. In the game, the player is required to obtain certain items that will allow him to win the affections of a series of beautiful women. In 1987, Softporn Adventure inspired the Leisure Suit Larry series of adult oriented video games. This has continued to recent video games such as the San Andreas Grand Theft Auto with the hot coffee mod where a player is able to control a character having sexual intercourse.



Sexual content is prevalent in video games through its graphics. A huge contribution to this is the depiction of females in video games.
For example, in The Adventures of Bayou Billy (1989), the beginning of the video game shows a woman in a low cut, red dress. This woman has large, well rounded breasts. A man is holding her and has a knife placed at her throat. The player plays Billy whose mission is to save her.


Another example, is in Double Dragon (1985) where a woman, also depicted with large breasts and wearing a mini skirt, is walking down the street when a man hits her, knocking her down on the sidewalk. He then continues to throw her over his shoulder and carries her away. The goal of the game here is to fight your way through the stages of the game to rescue her.


There is the pattern of the male character rescuing the damsel in distress. The female has been reduced to a helpless woman. This is very sexist and also sexualises the female characters.

This means that, like television or film content, sex in video game sells. And because the demographic for most, if not all video games are straight male guys, there is even more reason to include sexual content.