The Viral 'Mac Playmate' Porn Story Has a Happy Ending

The man who discovered Mac Playmate, a pornographic game from the ‘80s, on an old Mac SE never expected his find to become a viral sensation.

“I’d cracked up when I discovered Mac Playmate hidden in the fake America Online folder,” said Huxley Dunsany, also known as Reddit user wowbobwow. “And when I showed a few pals via Facebook message and saw their incredulous reactions, I thought I might get a few laughs and ‘WTF?!’ type comments if I submitted to Reddit, but I was completely amazed by how quickly it blew up.”

Blow up it did. The re-discovery of Mac Playmate sent Reddit, Imgur, and the internet at large into a tizzy. Who knew that posting an early view of how people used computers to get their rocks off before internet porn became a thing would resonate with so many people?

Dunsany has been restoring old computers for years, but never expected to find ‘80s-era porn on the Mac SE when he bought it.

“I’ve been collecting ‘retro computers’ and video game stuff since I was a kid, at first due to financial necessity (we were very poor and frequently homeless, so outdated / obsolete machines were all I could get) and now as a fun hobby to share with my young son,” he says, adding that he likes to share his finds online.

Internet fame can end badly, though. The teen behind the viral “Damn, Daniel” video had his Twitter account hacked, for example, and other figures have also been targeted because they became popular on a particular slice of the internet.

Dunsany says he’s had a better experience, with most people being decent.

“Honestly, the lack of super weird [or] creepy responses is one of the biggest mysteries of this whole thing for me!” he said. “Given the XXX nature of the photo album I was bracing myself for some real freaky stuff to come my way, but the vast majority of comments and feedback has been people sharing funny memories.”

Unfortunately, Imgur and Reddit haven’t pulled a Facebook and promised to split revenues with viral content creators, so Dunsany won’t see any cash out of his wave of viral fame. Still, the recognition for a quirky find is good enough, and he says watching the Imgur view counter rise (it’s at over 573,000 right now) was exciting. Dunsany says he hopes someone will buy the refurbished Mac SE, vintage smut and all.

In the meantime, he’s just enjoying the moment.

“If I have any advice at all to share, it would just be to have a good sense of humor and to avoid taking any weird or offensive comments personally,” Dunsany says. “Internet fame is probably the most fleeting of all fames, so enjoy it while it lasts!”