Watch it for the plot - a saying and meme that's been around for years now. And if you go further back into the depths of time, you might have also heard the tongue-in-cheek joke that people read Playboy for the articles and not the rampant nudity. But it turns out it's true.
For context, I've just started playing Mafia 3 and Playboy magazines from the 1960s are one of the collectibles that you can gobble up as Lincoln Clay. In my completely innocent need to tick of map icons (I swear), I decided to collect them all.
Upon collecting my first one, however, I was surprised that you could not just oogle breasts - as was the case in Mafia 2 - but flick through some of the articles and interviews as well. And not just that - they're actually good.
See, most of us haven't actually read a Playboy magazine, what with the advent of the internet and everything, where you can get your smutty little hands on everything you need for free in a few clicks. But, if you leaf through Hugh Heffner's print publication, you'll find it chock full of interesting feature stories and interviews with top celebrities.
These articles cover a huge range of contemporary individuals and issues. There are interviews with the likes of famous writer Truman Capote, movie director Stanley Kubrick on 2001 and sci-fi cryogenics, Beatles George and Ringo, and much more.
There has become something engaging and compulsive about trying to hunt down all of the Playboy magazine collectibles in Mafia 3. Oh, just boobs again, I think every time I come across one of the in-game magazines that doesn't feature a snippet of actual journalism.
In fact, I'm now dedicated to travelling across New Bordeaux's world, from deepest bayou to the tallest skyscraper, to find Playboys. What will I get out of it? Maybe an achievement; maybe just the satisfaction of reading some good articles from a time long before mine.
As I guide Lincoln Clay around the narrow streets of the French Ward or humid swamps of Mafia 3's world, my eyes are now glued to the mini map to look for those telltale blue icons that indicate a collectable is nearby. Upon spotting one, I quickly open the full map and hover over the icon to see if it's just another one of those pesky Hot Rod magazines (who cares about those?). When I spot a genuine Playboy, all bets are off; I'm heading directly there and nothing can stop me, even if I'm in the middle of a story mission.
Yes, dear reader, this does sound like a deranged man out for lewd photos of women from the 1960s. But it turns out that the meme was true: you really should read Playboy for the articles. I promise.