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The organizers of the Game Developers Choice Awards announced today that they have rescinded the Pioneer Award for Atari founder Nolan Bushnell, and announced the award will not be given this year entirely.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

Re:Prediction...

[apoc.famine]

I'd argue that this is fixing it.

It's shitty for men, no doubt. But the goal is to get rid of witches, and a very public witch-hunt is one way to do that.

While some guys who just have shit humor, are socially inept, or have bad manners are going to get fucked over with all of this, a whole lot of the others who have been abusive are going to get spooked. And that's sort-of the point. A second point is that as the GP pointed out, not being able to be taken seriously about abuses at work still happens today. If there are some sacrificial lambs that ultimately allow workplace abuse to be taken seriously, that sucks, but it's better in the long run.

If you are a white male with any sort of power, this sucks because it's a very serious re-configuring of the power structure in the US. It's doubly painful if you've been abusing it.

But for everyone else? Going to make their lives better.

Thrashing and wailing about how equality makes you feel sad really makes you seem like a douchebag. Remember when you were 3 and had to learn how to share? Same thing here, except the stakes are far, far higher.