Sexy Larry

Text by Jan Graber
Translation by Markus Gebauer

(Originally published in Games Magazine, Germany.)

The stud muffin is back again: in the game Magna Cum Laude, Larry Laffer gets all the girls again...digitally.

What’s on men’s minds? How to save the galaxy? How to become shiny, selfless heroes? Totally wrong. The most interesting thing for heterosexual men is the opposite sex. To be more precise, how to get laid. The sales of Leisure Suit Larry in the Land of the Lounge Lizards started rather slow when the game came out in 1987. This is because it was one of the first games explicitly about sex.

The story is as simple as its hero Larry Laffer himself: a loser in a polyester suit, baldy and the player has to help him to get his first sexual experience, whereby not only his own hand comes in handy. In the first month, Sierra Online only sold 4,000 copies of the game. But while the inventor of the game, Al Lowe, focused on other projects, the game eventually became a bestseller. The game’s unique humor helped it get word of mouth advertising. Every month it doubled in sales making it on top of the charts by the middle of 1988. Larry Laffer became that popular that a conservative Californian politican wanted to introduce the “Leisure Suit Larry Bill,” which should have prevented pornographic content in computer games. (Luckily) he failed.

The success of the constant loser demanded a sequel. In 1988 with LSL2: Leisure Suit Larry Goes Looking for Love (in Several Wrong Places) and one year later Leisure Suit Larry 3: Passionate Patti in Pursuit of the Pulsating Pectorals. After that inventor Al Lowe was fed up and swore there would not be a fourth Larry adventure. When he later changed his mind, he was true to his word; he called it Leisure Suit Larry 5: Passionate Patti Does a Little Undercover Work with no mention of the lost part 4.

Two other games followed before the end came in 1998 for both Larry and his creators. Not Lowe’s fault, rather Sierra Online having to cope with financial differences. Leisure Suit Larry 8: Lust in Space was never released and Al Lowe left the company after 16 years of work.

He was even more disappointed when Sierra decided to continue the series with Leisure Suit Larry: Magna Cum Laude in 2003 without him as part of the development team.

The inventor of Leisure Suit Larry, Al Lowe, explained in a 20 minute chat this week, why he’s disappointed by the new Larry game.

Week: Have you been furious when you heard that the new Larry game Magna Cum Laude is to be developed without you?

Al Lowe: I could barely believe it. I talked to the then president of Sierra about creating a new Larry game and he assured me that we would talk about the details via email. When I did not hear anything within a few months I feared the worst.

Week: How did you feel?

Al Lowe: The word “betrayal” comes to my mind. The first internal demos had rather bad feedback, so they asked me for support. “We need your input,” while hiring someone new. When I look at the result, I’m rather happy that I did not take part in it.

Week: Do you consider Magna Cum Laude to be fun anyhow?

Al Lowe: I did like parts of the script. But they should have fired whoever came up with the “funny” mini-games.

Week: On your website you say that the new Larry has not much in common with your original idea.

Al Lowe: The real Leisure Suit Larry character, Larry Laffer, is merely an extra in this new game. The gameplay has nothing to do with the old games. There is no narrator, no subtlety. The spirit of the game is not the same.

Week: Did you ever have the feeling that your own games were not funny?

Al Lowe: That’s exactly what I thought, just before each game was released. I grew tired of working on the game and to me the jokes felt old. But then, I would show the game to someone and they would laugh and I’d think, “They don’t know that I have no clue what the hell I’m doing.”

Week: Were you disappointed when the project LSL8: Lust in Space was cancelled?

Al Lowe: The new Sierra management discontinued a game title which was able to sell millions of copies without any marketing or advertising. I had proven that I could develop games which make a profit. They decided to use designers with no experience at all. With what result? Sierra closed down -- a company that once had a 28% market share, 1,200 employees, and a billion dollar market capitalization turned into nothing.

Week: What did you after that?

Al Lowe: I learned how not to play golf.

Week: How do you explain the success of the Larry games?

Al Lowe: Larry appeals to men because they can feel superior to him. And Larry appeals to women because each of them has dated such a dork.

Week: How much of you is part of Larry?

Al Lowe: Not much. I’m happily married for 36 years, with two wonderful children. I’m actually the Narrator of the games.

Week: Would you take part in the development of another Larry sequel?

© 1998 - 2008 by Al Lowe • All Rights Reserved • Last Update: May 20, 2008