Nolan Bushnell and the Game Dev Confrence

[Galactic Druid]

I read something earlier today that's been weighing on my mind, and I really would like to see what some other people think about it.

Every year, there's a Video Game Developer's Confrence that I can best describe as an E3 or PAX that's aimed at the creators of content, rather than the consumers of it like myself. Every year, they have an award ceremony that covers a variety of game design elements, such as new technology being utilized to use of audio and various other design awards.

One Award they do is called the Pioneer Award; which is awarded to "individuals who developed a breakthrough technology, game concept, or gameplay design at a crucial juncture in video game history", taken from their site. GDC is a relatively new thing, so a lot of people from gaming's earliest history are still being mentioned in their awards, including Nolan Bushnell.

Bushnell was the CEO for Atari, who're work and that of his company definitely shaped the face of gaming both at home and in arcades, which is why he was selected for the award. When he was, there was a vocal outcry from several members of the gaming community about Bushnell's professional conduct and his sexual misconduct, especially during the 70s. A few examples involve him trying to coax employees into the 'company hot tub' apparently used for board meetings, and naming development projects after female employees (the home version of Pong, for example, was project "Darlene") that Bushnell liked.

Ultimately, Bushnell has been stripped of the award after the outcry, and I'm still trying to figure out how I feel about it. On one side, I totally agree; his conduct in the workplace was horrifying and wildly inappropriate, 70s or not. On the other, the purpose of the award is to recognize people who have influenced the gaming industry, which he certainly has. The question at the end of the day is whether a person's negative traits or misconduct is enough to render their accomplishments unrewardable. Ultimately, I do agree with the GDC's decision to represent the values the industry wants to represent today in their awards ceremony, but if that was their intent from the beginning, how did Bushnell ever get nominated in the first place?

I'd like to see some opinions from my fellow Elliers; I love this community and I respect the opinions of the people here a lot more than the comments section of gaming sites where I first read about it. What do you guys think? Was the GDC right to pull Bushnell's award as people began to speak up? Should he have been nominated to begin with? Does a person's personal misconduct make them ineligible to be awarded for their accomplishments?

[Galactic Druid]

Shoot, I didn't realize I couldn't edit this post once I made it. I forgot to add citations or a link to the article I read.

https://www.polygon.com/2018/1/31/16955152/nolan-bushnell-gdc-pioneer-award-notnolan-metoo

This would be the article I got the majority of my information from, aside from a few others and a Google Search.

http://gamechoiceawards.com/categories.html

This is the official category description page of the GDC awards, that I took the quote of the pioneer award from.

[Callie Del Noire]

Conflicted Definitely comes up..his behavior was notorious and bad but he also did a lot to shape of things to come...

I guess it’s best to let the group decide if they should acknowledge his achievements or denounce his behavior. Which they did.

Reminds me about the kerfuffle about the short fiction award named after HP Lovecraft.

Was he racist? Absolutely. I also read he tried to change his outlook later in life...

So..conflicted... shouldn’t condone bad actions but we can ignore their contributions?  Damn.. not sure what to say..

[HannibalBarca]

Human beings are complex and individuals are collections of good and bad traits.  When the good outweighs the bad, that should be noted, as much as when the bad outweighs the good.  Abraham Lincoln suspended habeus corpus during the Civil War, but I don't think that overshadows his actions to bring the U.S. out of chaos.  Ty Cobb was an outstanding baseball player, but that sphere of his life doesn't negate his racism.  Even Benedict Arnold was a hero during the Battle of Saratoga, probably swinging that event to the Americans on his personal bravery and leadership, which led to the French joining the war on the colonial side, which led to eventual American victory...does that overshadow his eventual betrayal of his nation?  I believe that a thinking, rational person can separate the awful from the great in an individual, as well as be able to form an overarching opinion of the individual as well.

Bushnell did great things as a visionary in gaming, but is a fairly awful human being when it comes to treatment of women.  Recognizing him for his gaming achievements in no way condones or rectifies his nefarious actions in other areas...but giving him an award does to an extent.  After all, Benedict Arnold is recognized for his heroism at Saratoga, at the battle site--with a statue of a boot (he was wounded in the leg in the combat).  I think that's enough recognition for one of the most infamous traitors in history.  Bushnell being mentioned in history books as a pioneer is enough.  Giving him an award in the present, I think, is too much.

[Saria]

I figure if his contributions are really that important to gaming, then there's no rush to give him any awards. If he was instrumental in pioneering computer gaming that will be as true in 2118 as it is in 2018.

But the women he mistreated, they're still alive today. And some of them are even possibly still suffering from his actions. Even if they're not, we're in the middle of a society-wide upheaval about issues exactly like the ones Bushnell was infamous for.

To give him an award now would be a slap in the face to his victims, and all victims of that kind of behaviour.

This goes generally, too. If someone is all that important to history, they will still be just as important a hundred years from now as they are now. But if they were some kind of asshole, and the hurt they caused is still raw for one reason or another... then now is not the right time to be celebrating them. Yeah, sure, remembering and celebrating history matters, but the people actually living today matter more. So if the sins of Sir John A. Macdonald or Edward Cornwallis or whoever are still hurting people today, then yes, let's take down their statues and put them in storage. In another few generations, if the populations they hurt have healed enough and are ready to forgive, we can always put the statues back up - or make new ones.

The thing with history is that so long as you're preserving it, it will always there when you want to study it, or celebrate it. We need to start adulting about this; we need to stop thinking that if we don't celebrate it now, we never will. We need to straighten out our priorities. We have some shit to fix today, shit that is long overdue for fixing, and Bushnell's kind of behaviour is a glaring example of shit that needs fixin'. We need to start focusing on the fixing, and stop worrying about the celebrating until the fixing's done.

By all means record Bushnell's accomplishments, in as much detail as you can. I'd say record his failings, too. But giving him a medal? Now? Fuck no.

Maybe a generation or two from now, people will be ready to honour Bushnell even despite his behaviour. If not, then they can leave it for the next generation. One day, if his accomplishments really are that worthwhile, people will be ready to celebrate them.

But right now, we're obviously not in a place where we're ready to celebrate the man. So let's not. His achievements will still be there when the time comes that we are ready to celebrate him.



Incidentally, one of the "concerns" I've heard raised is that he's getting on in years, so if we don't celebrate him now, he may die before we do. Well so the fuck what? He's a multi-millionaire and people have been wanking him off as a visionary for decades. I think he'll survive the disappointment of not getting another award.