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

LivingMetal on 31 January 2018
captain carot said:
LivingMetal said:
He an asshole just for not recognizing Ralph Baer as the Father of Video Games.

Well, Ralph Baer also wasn't. He's the father of home consoles as it seems. Not video games.

Back to topic:

Thing is, you could possibly argue that sexual harassment was the norm in the 70's. And it pretty much was, even if half of humanity didn't look at it that way.

At the same time you actually can argue that someone who has been talking that openly about stuff that in fact is sexual harasment shouldn't get an award or that such an award should be rescinded.

Maybe men should be victims here more often, might change the point of view massively.

"Ralph H. Baer, the man widely acknowledged as the 'father of home video games'"...

https://www.npr.org/sections/alltechconsidered/2014/12/08/369405270/inventor-ralph-baer-the-father-of-video-games-dies-at-92

Eh, close enough.



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Medisti on 31 January 2018
OTBWY said:
SpokenTruth said:

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

People get sick of hashtag movements pretty quick. Besides, there is a line between what you say they want and wacky radical feminist ideas. The Aziz Ansari story should be the canary in the coalmine.

Not to mention when things like this overreach, like in the situation, they begin to lose support very quickly. The man didn't assault anyone, and this was in the late 70s, when that kind of behavior was hilariously normal.



HomokHarcos on 31 January 2018
vivster said:
Flilix said:

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.

Like the Chris Benoit treatment?



JRPGfan on 31 January 2018
KLAMarine said:
SpokenTruth said:

Let's go back to my first post.

 

Notice something in bold, italics and underlined?

No, we don't know.  But all the early posts were claiming he didn't do anything wrong.   The only claims I'm making are those that are already known within the industry and that he himself has bragged about (at least those that won't land him in prison).  But considering it's known within the industry that he is a known sexual harasser I find it amazing the first thing people jump on is saying he did nothing wrong or the MeToo movement is going too far.  

What's more likely the truth?  He did nothing because we on the forums just say he did nothing? Or he did something because he admits it and many others in the industry over the decades have also stated it?

So what has he admitted? Wearing a suggestive shirt and naming projects after women?

He "admitted" to holding a board meeting inside a hot tub (big one) and they invited women from work.
So they showed up in bikinis and got to be in on the board meeting (with the guys in swimtrunks).

(this is from the Neogaf thread)

Afaik thats the "worst" of it.



Leadified on 31 January 2018

What happened to the thread title?

Also I don't think the VB article really covers how crazy things were at Atari, the Playboy interview is much better for context.
NSFW obviously: http://www.playboy.com/articles/sex-drugs--video-games



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NightDragon83 on 31 January 2018

At this point, if Hugh Hefner were still alive the #MeToo movement would probably be going after him too lol.



On 2/24/13, MB1025 said:
You know I was always wondering why no one ever used the dollar sign for $ony, but then I realized they have no money so it would be pointless.

KLAMarine on 31 January 2018
JRPGfan said:
KLAMarine said:

So what has he admitted? Wearing a suggestive shirt and naming projects after women?

He "admitted" to holding a board meeting inside a hot tub (big one) and they invited women from work.
So they showed up in bikinis and got to be in on the board meeting (with the guys in swimtrunks).

(this is from the Neogaf thread)

Afaik thats the "worst" of it.

That doesn't sound too bad.

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.

Okay, what more was there?

SpokenTruth said:

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.

So what was this sexual harassment?



jrRodney on 31 January 2018

Wow so many users are more upset that he doesn’t get an award than that the committee that does the awards chose to rescind it for what “They” felt was inappropriate conduct. Try being upset with GDC instead of misdirecting your anger at women who claim to be victimized by inappropriate behavior. Just sad to see so many people who echo the sentiment that #metoo is the problem and not inappropriate conduct. Regardless of how you feel about the award it should be a moment of reflection when you can read page after page of users who are sick of people complaining about inappropriate sexual conduct but seem to fail to condemn inappropriate sexual conduct. No one should be subjected to inappropriate sexual conduct. If you can’t agree with that statement “You” are just part of the problem.



thismeintiel on 31 January 2018

This me too shit needs to end. It's just become an easy way for women to cash in on their 15 mins of fame. We've had too many seemingly innocent people caught up in it. Like Dustin Hoffman, who was accused of giving a woman attention that she first enjoyed, as well as making off color jokes while she was around. She asked him to stop and he did. OH MEH LERD, CALL THE COPS!! We have James Franco who was dating a woman who wanted to have sex with him later, just not at that time, he basically said "Oh, come on" and she went down on him, admitting later she could have said no if she wanted to. Another woman agreed to be naked in one of his films, but afterwards didn't like it, or so she says. OH MEH LERD, SEXUAL ASSAULT!! We have Aziz Ansari who's crime is he couldn't read a woman's mind,but when she finally said no, he stopped and called her a cab. He even apologized for it later. OH MEH LERD, RAPE!! Now, we have Bushnell whose worst crimes seem to be having a hot tub meeting, that women voluntarily showed up for, and he wore a "I love to fuck" shirt. OH MEH LERD, KILL HIM!! Of course, in the Bushnell case, these were people who had grown up during the sexual revolution, where sexuality was openly expressed.

As Rol said, many women want it both ways. They want to be claim they are powerful, liberated, and independent. But, then when they feel quilt about their own actions, or look at things through the SJW fog, want to claim they have no control of their actions and have no agency of their own.



 

KLXVER on 31 January 2018

"The Game Developers Choice Awards Advisory Committee, which votes on the Special Awards winners for each show, has made the decision not to give out a Pioneer Award for this year’s event following additional feedback from the community."


What community are they talking about? I highly doubt its the gaming community.