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Forums - Gaming Discussion - GDC rescinds Atari founder Nolan Bushnell’s Pioneer Award after #MeToo protests

Aeolus451 on 31 January 2018

He still deserves the award because of his accomplishments related to gaming. It's not an award for being the best male feminist back in the '70s.



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Flilix on 31 January 2018
vivster said:
Flilix said:
How is his private life relevant to this award?

It never said anything about his private life. It talks about stuff he did within a game developer company, which is basically everything the GDC is about.

I should have worded that better. What I was trying to say: stuff like this (whether it's at home or at work) is irrelevant to his accomplishments in the gaming industry.



JRPGfan on 31 January 2018
vivster said:
SpokenTruth said:

Yeah, because women no longer want to end workplace sexual harassment and abuse.

Which would be fine if they wouldn't also try to classify every single social interaction as sexual abuse.

"Oh no, he said hello to me while his t-shirt wasn't properly tucked in! What a pig!"

At some point its women abuseing men too.... feel like its unfair he had his award taken away for this.
Whoever this woman that #MeToo this, shes more of a abuser than he was.



vivster on 31 January 2018
Flilix said:
vivster said:

It never said anything about his private life. It talks about stuff he did within a game developer company, which is basically everything the GDC is about.

I should have worded that better. What I was trying to say: stuff like this (whether it's at home or at work) is irrelevant to his accomplishments in the gaming industry.

While I don't think any of those reported actions is reason to label him as a bad person, I do believe that if a person is a verifiable asshole, he should not be given any kind of public recognition.

Assholes deserve nothing but shame and social ousting.



If you demand respect or gratitude for your volunteer work, you're doing volunteering wrong.

vivster on 31 January 2018
JRPGfan said:
vivster said:

Which would be fine if they wouldn't also try to classify every single social interaction as sexual abuse.

"Oh no, he said hello to me while his t-shirt wasn't properly tucked in! What a pig!"

At some point its women abuseing men too.... feel like its unfair he had his award taken away for this.
Whoever this woman that #MeToo this, shes more of a abuser than he was.

Don't be ridiculous. Women can't abuse men. There are only 2 types of men. Sexual abusers and pussies.



If you demand respect or gratitude for your volunteer work, you're doing volunteering wrong.

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numberwang on 31 January 2018
spurgeonryan said:

 Pong, Atari’s first hit, had the code name “Darlene” after a “stacked” employee, according to Bushnell.

A new entry to video game history.



forest-spirit on 31 January 2018
Ka-pi96 said:
Would be perfectly understandable if he had raped somebody or something. But they used the names of hot girls as their early project names? So what?

Using names of hot girls as project names isn't that bad. However, it's a really shitty practice when those hot girls are employees.

 

OT:

Not sure if this was the right way to handle it. Surely they could've come up with a solution, which lets them both reward Bushnell for his work and give recognition to the women who fell victim to toxic working environments.



vivster on 31 January 2018
Ka-pi96 said:
vivster said:

While I don't think any of those reported actions is reason to label him as a bad person, I do believe that if a person is a verifiable asshole, he should not be given any kind of public recognition.

Assholes deserve nothing but shame and social ousting.

Didn't you make a thread before about how you got off a train because some black men got onto it? So what do you deserve then?

I said I got off the train, not that I kicked them off the train. How much less asshole can you get?



If you demand respect or gratitude for your volunteer work, you're doing volunteering wrong.

hunter_alien on 31 January 2018

What a shitty thing to do. He will remain one of the founding fathers anyways, in most gamers eyes.



Vote the Mayor for Mayor!

JRPGfan on 31 January 2018
SpokenTruth said:
That fact you guys are isolating a t-shirt or game code name tells me why this must continue.

NONE of you are asking if there was more. NONE of you are asking if any of the women were actually sexually harassed or abused.

You're just assuming it was t-shirts and codenames. If it were just that, then yes, this is blown much out of proportion. But if it were more, and none of us knows all the details, then we should be ashamed of ourselves for trivializing their trauma.

Have any of you read The Ultimate History of Video Games or read early interviews from him? He has openly admitted and bragged about sexually harassing his employees. I'm not saying he shouldn't be honored for his contributions to the industry but we now live in an era where you don't reward people for harming others.

Innocent until proven guilty? heard of it?
Your assume he is guilty of something that isnt even mention or implied.

Which is the wrong way to go about it, you always assume innocence until otherwise proven.
Plus if he had done something like that, why even bother mentioning the shirt? why the "small" stuff, the real story would then be what he had actually done.

In short, this #MeToo was over the top, its wrong they took away his award and brandished his name, for a wearing a joke shirt, and some project code names.