GDC retracts award for Atari founder amid online outcry
Yesterday, organizers for the upcoming Game Developers Conference announced the lineup for the 18th Annual Game Developers Choice Awards, and topping that list were honors for a trio of men who helped build gaming as we know it: Vlambeer co-founder Rami Ismail (Ambassador Award), Double Fine founder Tim Schafer (Lifetime Achievement), and Atari founder Nolan Bushnell (Pioneer Award). But an outcry followed for the latter, and the hashtag #NotNolan surfaced anecdotes of sexual misconduct and harassment that Bushnell had encouraged in Atari's offices during its heydey in the 70s -- stories that he'd actually given in interviews. A day later, GDC officially retracted its award to Bushnell. pic.twitter.com/ma5txGiIx7 — Official_GDC (@Official_GDC) January 31, 2018 Unlike E3's pure games showcase, GDC is more of an event by and for the industry, where devs gather to teach each other and celebrate accomplishments. The decision to award Bushnell seemed in especially poor...