6. Tomb Raider's "Naturalist Lara" Mod
Searching for an appropriate picture to use for this page, while in a public computer lab was most awkward. But, perseverance is its own reward. Lara Croft, for those of you who haven't spent your childhood in a cave and/or away from video games, is the kick-ass "Archaeologist" who goes into ruins ranging from ancient Incan caves, to Roman temples, to Egyptian crypts, giving toxic doses of hot lead to indigenous animals and the waves of buff male antagonists who wish to administer her some unhealthy disrespect. Little Lara soon became a sex symbol (even in the days of 64 bit games... wow), and a popular rumor began to surface that if a certain sequence of buttons was pressed, or actions performed, that players could play Lara in the buff, running around scooping up artifacts and killing animals in her birthday suit. In actuality, if you entered the code, Lara exploded and died. ... at least, for a while. Some... "intrepid" programmers entered a mod for the PC version that actually allowed players to play the game with a naked Lara. As imagined, critics, parents, and pundits jumped all over it, showering Eidos with complaints of smut peddling, and exposing their poor children to inappropriate content - although they apparently thought gunning down waves of enemies was wholesome family fun (hell, I loved shooting stuff). Did I mention that none of this was Eidos' fault? Excellent. Now, speaking of wildly inappropriate Mods...