Atari's founder won't receive a major industry award

[+Tarzilla]

I found the comments on the Atari Museum Facebook page from former female Atari Employees very enlightening: https://www.facebook.com/groups/105586892805903/

 

I would just link it, but I can't figure out how to link directly to a reply to another post.

 

[[snip]]

 

Loni Reeder So.... let’s take a step back and look at the overall situation:

 

It started with a 38 year old disgruntled ‘uber feminist’ woman/game designer from Massachusetts running for Congress who had a less than stellar experience in the predominantly male-dominated video game space, resulting in what came to be known as ‘GamerGate.’

 

Using the ‘MeToo’ movement and a moment in time for which she had no firsthand knowledge............

 

And with zero complaints lodged against Nolan or complaints about the work culture by employees working at Atari during that time...........

 

And based on archival newspaper and magazine interviews with Nolan and others chatting about a work environment, time and culture that existed 40 years ago.........

 

A work environment everyone - men and women - happily worked in TOGETHER... and partied in TOGETHER (or didn’t party in - there was no pressure and no judgement).... an environment that has resulted in decades-long friendships, marriages, ‘little Atarians,’ business partnerships and frequent reunions......... providing us with amazing memories, and for most of us, spending the rest of our work careers attempting to replicate the MAGIC of the Camelot that we were lucky enough to work at.

 

By arming herself with a topical movement and being personally disgruntled and ‘offended’ by an environment existing 40 years ago which she played no part in - an environment she had ZERO first hand knowledge of.......... and ‘intimating’ those of us who worked with or around Nolan, Al (Alcorn), the Gene’s (Lipkin and Landrum), Joe (Keenan), Steve (Bristow) and the rest of ‘Mahogany Row’ had been sexually assaulted, abused and disrespected by (in her estimation) abominations to the male species.......

 

Yes, based on her political aspirations, personal assumptions and libelous accusations against a man where no complaints have been raised or filed - she made a big, unfounded noise against Nolan - and the ‘Pioneer Award’ honor was withdrawn.

 

Atari was a large corporation with many facilities... but I worked in Corporate Headquarters, interfaced with every department in the company as a part of Communications, Security and Facilities groups....... and in being ‘adopted’ by the Coin-op and Industrial Design groups, I also spent a great deal of time in the Engineering (‘hot tub’) building, which would be the two locations where most of the fun and craziness occurred.

 

From my vantage point and having a first-person perspective of this time and the Atari environment, what has been done to Nolan is falsely mischaracterizing him for a lifestyle that did no harm or wrong to anyone.

 

Nolan created a company environment which opened the doors to many women into a field where they were never included before: HI TECH. Nolan never discriminated on any level and gave everyone a chance to prove on their own merits that they could be a part of Atari. From soldering boards to building arcade cabinets, drawing schematics and artwork to working on the assembly line.

 

For me personally, Nolan was the final word in my being hired at Atari - my first full-time job after college... he continued his belief in me years later, when we cofounded uWink in Los Angeles where I became an ‘equally compensated’ Vice President.

 

Nolan never profiled a person by their gender as to whether or not they were a fit for the job. He based his decision on the person’s skill, ability and passion for the job - because of that belief, we always rose to the occasion! We were a bonded teamship... AND A FAMILY.

 

Atari also saw a woman - the amazing Carol Shaw - go on to fame!

 

For me, and I’m sure for other women who will weigh in....... while this ‘feminazi congresswoman wanna-be’ may believe she is doing ‘Atari womankind’ a favor, in reality, she has done us a disservice by creating victims where there were none.

 

Personally, I am extremely angered by her words and conduct in this matter... not just for Nolan, but for the women of Atari - all of us!

 

We ALL were, and remain to this day extremely strong and intelligent women...... and there isn’t any ‘man’ who would dare take advantage of us (not if they intended to procreate in the future!).

 

My other anger is the callous and unnecessary hurt I’m sure this matter has inflicted on Nancy and their kids and grandkids.

 

Finally... by not doing their due diligence before terminating the honor, the GDC did a disservice to Nolan, to my fellow Atarians - and to the truth.

 

Nolan was extremely gracious in this matter via his tweet… Hopefully the GDC will right this misstep on their part at some point in the future.

 

 

I sure hope the GDC people involved in the decision to drop the award read this first hand account, if not it should be blasted over a loud speaker at the next GDC to remind them how knee-jerk reactionary their decision was.

[Skippy B. Coyote]

I sure hope the GDC people involved in the decision to drop the award read this first hand account, if not it should be blasted over a loud speaker at the next GDC to remind them how knee-jerk reactionary their decision was.

 

I sure do too. What really kills me about this whole situation is that the GDC and the media don't seem to be paying the slightest bit of attention to the statements of the women who actually worked at Atari headquarters at the time. When all of the women who actually worked with Nolan Bushnell during that era say that everyone was happy and no one felt uncomfortable that tells me that that this is nothing but a witch hunt by a vocal minority with a personal bias against men in the game industry. Don't get me wrong, many of those women have good reason for their bias due to their past mistreatment at the hands of male employers, but Nolan Bushnell isn't the guy they're looking for.

[+Stephen]

I sure do too. What really kills me about this whole situation is that the GDC and the media don't seem to be paying the slightest bit of attention to the statements of the women who actually worked at Atari headquarters at the time. When all of the women who actually worked with Nolan Bushnell during that era say that everyone was happy and no one felt uncomfortable that tells me that that this is nothing but a witch hunt by a vocal minority with a personal bias against men in the game industry. Don't get me wrong, many of those women have good reason for their bias due to their past mistreatment at the hands of male employers, but Nolan Bushnell isn't the guy they're looking for.

Don't let facts get in the way of a brewing shit storm!

[Tanooki]

Damn wongo, wow just wow. I agree, that woman's story needs to be very vocal, very loud, and all over the place as far as gaming goes now and sustainably so. Second to the gaming, but first to what's right, that story needs to be made consistent FRONT PAGE NEWS in her wannabe congressional district. Those people have a right, no a requirement and necessity to know what kind of a piece of subhuman crap that woman is and how she's trying to ruin peoples lives for stuff that wasn't even a wrong in the first place for political gain. For her mouth she needs her campaign and her credibility entirely destroyed, even if it meant another democrat getting the job instead of her, she needs to be fired by her voters now as garbage like that doesn't belong in congress.

[Inky]

From what I understand, a certain co-author of a certain huge Atari book was contacted by Kotaku about this, and he gave them contact information for some of the women that worked for Atari around then. There should be a follow up very soon.

[Laner]

From what I understand, a certain co-author of a certain huge Atari book was contacted by Kotaku about this, and he gave them contact information for some of the women that worked for Atari around then. There should be a follow up very soon.

 

I have absolutely no faith that they will put any more effort into the follow-up than they did with the original piece.

[Trinity]

[Inky]

 

I have absolutely no faith that they will put any more effort into the follow-up than they did with the original piece.

Be fair, Kotaku didn't break the story...

[zzip]

I found the comments on the Atari Museum Facebook page from former female Atari Employees very enlightening: https://www.facebook.com/groups/105586892805903/

 

I would just link it, but I can't figure out how to link directly to a reply to another post.

 

[[snip]]

 

Loni Reeder

[/size]

[/size]

So.... let’s take a step back and look at the overall situation:

 

It started with a 38 year old disgruntled ‘uber feminist’ woman/game designer from Massachusetts running for Congress who had a less than stellar experience in the predominantly male-dominated video game space, resulting in what came to be known as ‘GamerGate.’

I am glad she is calling out Brianna Wu personally. More people need to know who Wu is and not blindly accept her victim claims. For the record though- Wu did not cause Gamergate, but she exploited it for personal gain. Just like she is attempting to exploit the Nolan Bushnell situation.

Edited February 2, 2018 by zzip

[zzip]

From what I understand, a certain co-author of a certain huge Atari book was contacted by Kotaku about this, and he gave them contact information for some of the women that worked for Atari around then. There should be a follow up very soon.

Why do I get the feeling they are looking for victims and will only report on it if they find any?

Edited February 2, 2018 by zzip

[zzip]

I kind of wonder if that's why he was able to be so classy in his statement on the situation- I mean, if he puts no value in the award, he's not gonna care if he wins it or not. He's probably fine with being, y'know, successful at business and all.

It's more than just a stupid award though. His reputation is being lumped in with #metoo, and he should care about that.

[Bakasama]

I am glad she is calling out Brianna Wu personally. More people need to know who Wu is and not blindly accept her victim claims. For the record though- Wu did not cause Gamergate, but she exploited it for personal gain. Just like she is attempting to exploit the Nolan Bushnell situation.

Brianna Wu, the lolcow? Just google her name and lolcow and you'll find some interesting results.

[Laner]

Be fair, Kotaku didn't break the story...

 

My bad. Regardless, I still have no faith in Kotaku (or any media, for that matter) to report things fairly, especially around this particular subject

Edited February 2, 2018 by Laner

[Duke75]

I sure hope the GDC people involved in the decision to drop the award read this first hand account, if not it should be blasted over a loud speaker at the next GDC to remind them how knee-jerk reactionary their decision was.

 

The problem is that even if they're confronted with these kinds of accounts, witch hunters will just adopt the perspective that the women have "internalized the patriarchal oppression" or something along those lines to dismiss them. Can't let anything get in the way of a good 2 minute hate

[+Stephen]

Brianna Wu, the lolcow? Just google her name and lolcow and you'll find some interesting results.

Ah - it all makes sense now. A mentally ill person. Now I certainly won't listen to anything HE has to say.

[Bakasama]

Yeah, Wu is many things, the terms that do apply to this topic are "failed game developer", "fraud", and "pathological liar". I just don't understand how Wu managed to screw over Bushnell given he made Revolution 60, an utter failure of a game.

 

You can also check Wu's wikipedia article for a laugh or two.

Edited February 2, 2018 by Bakasama

[toptenmaterial]

I gotta ask, having been living out in Eastern Europe for almost 5 years now...are things really that insane back home in the US?? I'm seriously scared to go back. There's no way I would want to live in a place where society has really gone that far out insane.

Sauron, the key is avoiding social media, I'm convinced of it! Even trying to have a dialog with people of your political leans turns into a flame thread shit fest.

 

It's important to realize that moral panic is nothing new, it's just that it has the potential to be more in your face since everyone has a supercomputer in their pocket. In the good old days we were only worried about blacks and Mexicans turning our virtuous women into ladies of the night through the devil weed. Then the comic book delinquency craze, and a million other things. Intolerance seems to happen often wherever people congregate.

[Laner]

Blacks and Mexicans turning our virtuous women into ladies of the night through the devil weed.

 

That's the name of my White Zombie cover band.

[zzip]

Sauron, the key is avoiding social media, I'm convinced of it! Even trying to have a dialog with people of your political leans turns into a flame thread shit fest.

 

It's important to realize that moral panic is nothing new, it's just that it has the potential to be more in your face since everyone has a supercomputer in their pocket. In the good old days we were only worried about blacks and Mexicans turning our virtuous women into ladies of the night through the devil weed. Then the comic book delinquency craze, and a million other things. Intolerance seems to happen often wherever people congregate.

Moral panics are nothing new, but they used to subside into a period of sanity. Now social media gives us constant back-to-back moral panics

[Bryan]

I've seen the effort to turn everyone against each other for a long time. People who are happy and content pay less attention to politicians than people who are angry and freaked out (and will have a stress heart attack at 30) so it's an effective strategy. Now we've got a generation of people who think their 1st world problems are the worst mankind has ever faced. People who sexually assault need to be beaten but turning the sexes against each other is really dangerous to our future as a civilization. If every guy who once pressured a girl for something is disqualified, then we have practically no one left.

 

(and we might as well start executing rock stars en masse.)

[enoofu]

So are they mainly blaming him for creating the Game Industry with mostly men involved???

 

Every engineering/programming course i took in college I doubt i seen more then two women in class

[Laner]

 

(and we might as well start executing rock stars en masse.)

 

Indeed. I'd bet just about any semi-famous musician's exploits would make Bushnell look like a saint in comparison. I wonder why they've been largely ignored*?

 

 

 

 

*(so far)

[toptenmaterial]

I am glad she is calling out Brianna Wu personally. More people need to know who Wu is and not blindly accept her victim claims. For the record though- Wu did not cause Gamergate, but she exploited it for personal gain. Just like she is attempting to exploit the Nolan Bushnell situation.

If what the lolcow entries say are true (most sources are other threads), she seems to be exploiting the societal tension in the country today. I know that she is in the primaries in Mass for the house (national) with the slogan "She took on the alt right, and won.". That I did verify. That smacks of sensationalism; she seems to be riding the anti-Trump wave.

 

I'm not endorsing any party nor am I expressing a political opinion. I could care less how AAers vote.

[Bakasama]

Brianna Wu VS. Moon Rocks

 

The article speaks for itself. I can't say anything about that because it's so out there.

[toptenmaterial]

Brianna Wu VS. Moon Rocks

 

The article speaks for itself. I can't say anything about that because it's so out there.

Yeah, that is pretty silly. To correct the Washington Times however, I don't think a moon rock somehow hitting earth (forget about how) would do jack shit, even if it somehow made it through the atmosphere. In order for stuff like that to hurt us on a major scale it would have to be going really, really, really fast.