GDC Rescinds Award For Atari Founder Nolan Bushnell After Criticisms of Sexually Inappropriate Behavior (polygon.com)

The organizers of the Game Developers Choice Awards announced today that they have rescinded the Pioneer Award for Atari founder Nolan Bushnell, and announced the award will not be given this year entirely. "The decision follows a day of outcry after GDC organizers announced that Bushnell, 74, had been tapped for the GDCA's lifetime achievement honor," reports Polygon. "News accounts and histories over the past several years have documented a history of workplace misconduct and sexist behavior toward women by Bushnell, during Atari's early days." From the report: In a statement this morning, GDC said its awards committee "made the decision not to give out a Pioneer Award for this year's event, following additional feedback from the community. They believe their picks should reflect the values of today's game industry and will dedicate this year's award to honor the pioneering and unheard voices of the past." The Pioneer Award is for "individuals who developed a breakthrough technology, game concept, or gameplay design at a crucial juncture in video game history," according to its official site. Nine have been conferred since 2008, none of them women. Bushnell founded Atari in 1972 and installed the first coin-operated video game, Pong, shortly thereafter. He presided over the company's rise to dominate the early generation of home console gaming before selling it off and founding what is today the Chuck E. Cheese line of restaurants. Bushnell issued a statement on Twitter: "I applaud the GDC for ensuring that their institution reflects what is right, specifically with regards to how people should be treated in the workplace. And if that means an award is the price I have to pay personally so the whole industry may be more aware and sensitive to these issues, I applaud that, too. If my personal actions or the actions of anyone who ever worked with me offended or caused pain to anyone at our companies, then I apologize without reservation."

Comments

moral character in good standing is required

[SchroedingersCat]

Anyone care to explain how personal indiscretions affect his achievements in developing "a breakthrough technology, game concept, or gameplay design at a crucial juncture in video game history"?

Re:moral character in good standing is required

[quantaman]

Anyone care to explain how personal indiscretions affect his achievements in developing "a breakthrough technology, game concept, or gameplay design at a crucial juncture in video game history"?

From the accounts in the article he was largely responsible for a workplace that was really hostile to women. Given his place in the industry, the games he chose to develop, how he chose to market those games, and the template he established for a successful gaming company, he likely had a real influence on gaming culture (which led a lot of men to software development).

If another man had developed "a breakthrough technology, game concept, or gameplay design at a crucial juncture in video game history" it's quite possible the modern computer industry would be much more gender-diverse. And that undercuts the very contribution for which he was to be celebrated.

Re:Prediction...

[Comrade Ogilvy]

Corollary: Organizations that can successfully recruit talented woman enjoy a tremendous competitive advantage, as they have twice the talent pool to recruit from for future positions.

Furthermore, what you suggest is not exactly new. It is just another shade of lipstick on top of the passe shades of lipstick on the same old pig. There is always a lame excuse why this is not quite the right time to do the right thing, that the old wrong thing is so superior because it is comfortable (to certain men).

There's a good argument to be made

[rsilvergun]

for moral absolutism. If we can't look back and say "That was wrong and they shouldn't have done it" then we don't really have a compelling argument against the behavior in question. If something morally wrong is acceptable in context than all you need to do to make it acceptable again is change the context. Regression becomes easy.

This isn't idle chit-chat either. There's a lot of folks who pine for the 'good 'ole days' when sexual harassment not only went unpunished but reporting it _was_ punished. When it wasn't considered abuse of power but a perk. They call themselves 'conservative' but I'd rather they were labeled 'regressive'. Either way they exist, and they're working to make a world like the 50s, 60s and 70s real again.

If you're a man its easy to look at these things and just think of them as awkward passes. You can do that because, well, you've probably got 40-60 lbs more muscle on you than the girl in question. There's interviews with women abused by Weinstein when they were terrified he was going to rape them. He wasn't, but not being mind readers they didn't know that, and, well, he most certainly _could_. Try to imagine you're alone with someone that has 50lbs more muscle than you and wants to have sex right now. This is a real concern for most women. It's also _incredibly_ uncomfortable to acknowledge.

If you want to get a better idea of what I'm banging on about read this. But my point is there's a real issue here and one that men (and a lot of women) don't want to confront. But confronting it is the right thing to do...

#CutThemAllOff

[Applehu Akbar]

At age 74, what chick did he hug forty years ago to deserve retroactive career extinction?

Re:Prediction...

[Z80a]

When someone can just point at you and tell you harassed/molested em and everyone will automatically believe, it's a quite dangerous person to hire, unless you're willing to record EVERYTHING that happens in your company, so you can show up the tapes.