GDC Reconsidering Bushnell Award After Backlash

Rolling Stone's "Glixel" reports that the Game Developer's Conference is reconsidering plans to honor Atari co-founder Nolan Bushnell with their Pioneer Award at the 2018 GDC Awards. This follows an outcry that's spawned a #NotNolan campaign, citing well-publicized stories of how the original Atari culture was a hotbed of drinking, drugs, hot tubs, and sexism (in other words, the 1970s). Concerns are being voiced that the timing of this award is especially inappropriate in light of the current focus on movements like #MeToo and #TimesUp, and a GDC spokesperson tells Glixel they are looking at the choice "more closely" in light of this.
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Re: GDC Reconsidering Bushnell Award After Backlash
Jan 31, 2018, 11:45
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Re: GDC Reconsidering Bushnell Award After Backlash Jan 31, 2018, 11:45
Jan 31, 2018, 11:45
 
I'm not trying to discredit the current movements for equality and respect, but there's a difference between behaving along social norms and actively trying to harm or oppress another person.

Living like it was the 70s in the 70s seems pretty normal. They didn't try to pretend like they were anything else. Sure it's an embarrassing part of our social history but that's not what's being recognized with this award. Or at least that wouldn't be what is being recognized if it wasn't being hunted.

If Bushnell is going to be denied recognition for starting Atari and the first video game boom then I think just about every other media award ever should be scrapped too. Virtually no classic rock star would be worthy by this metric.
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