Editing Nolan Bushnell (section)

== Accolades ==
Bushnell is considered to be the "father of electronic gaming" due to his contributions in establishing the arcade game market and creation of Atari.<ref>{{cite web | url = http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/theymadeamerica/whomade/bushnell_hi.html | title = Who Made America? Nolan Bushnell | publisher = [[PBS]] | access-date = January 31, 2018 }}</ref><ref>{{cite web | url = https://www.theguardian.com/technology/gamesblog/2009/mar/18/nolan-bushnell-interview-atari | title = Meet Nolan Bushnell, the man who created the videogames industry | first = Steve | last= Boxer | date = March 18, 2009 | access-date = January 31, 2018 | work = [[The Guardian]] }}</ref> There had been debate between whether Bushnell or [[Ralph H. Baer]], who is credited with creating the first home video game console, should be considered the father of video games, which had led to some bad blood between the two inventors. However, the industry recognized that Baer should be considered the father of home video gaming, while Bushnell is credited with innovating the arcade game.<ref>{{cite web | url = https://www.gamedeveloper.com/business/the-history-of-i-pong-i-avoid-missing-game-to-start-industry | title = The History Of Pong: Avoid Missing Game to Start Industry | first1 = Mat | last1 = Barton | first2= Bill | last2 = Loguidice | website = [[Gamasutra]] | date = January 9, 2009 | access-date= December 8, 2014 }}</ref><ref>{{cite book | title = Atari Inc.: Business Is Fun | first1 = Curt | last1 = Vendel | first2 = Marty | last2 = Goldberg | publisher = Syzygy Press | year = 2012 | isbn = 978-0985597405 | pages = [https://archive.org/details/atariincbusiness0000gold/page/26 26] | url-access = registration | url = https://archive.org/details/atariincbusiness0000gold/page/26 }}</ref>

At the [[British Academy Video Games Awards]] on March 10, 2009, the [[British Academy of Film and Television Arts]] awarded the Academy Fellowship to Bushnell in recognition of his outstanding achievement as a founding father of the video games industry.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.bafta.org/press/video-games-fellow-nolan-bushnell,45,SNS.html|title=Pong Pioneer Nolan Bushnell to Receive the Academy Fellowship|date=January 29, 2009}}</ref>

===Planned biographical film===
Since 2008, there has been interest to a [[biographical film]] about Bushnell's life. While Bushnell had been approached by others to make such a film and turned these offers down, he accepted an offer made by [[Paramount Pictures]] in June 2008 with a script by Craig Sherman and Brian Hecker, with [[Leonardo DiCaprio]] envisioned to star as Bushnell.<ref>{{cite magazine | url = https://www.wired.com/2008/06/leo-dicaprio-at/ | title = DiCaprio to Play Nolan Bushnell in Atari | first = Hugh | last = Hart | date = June 9, 2018 | access-date = May 26, 2018 | magazine = [[Wired (magazine)|Wired]] }}</ref><ref>{{cite web | url = https://variety.com/2008/digital/features/leonardo-dicaprio-to-play-with-atari-1117987072/ | title = Leonardo DiCaprio to play with 'Atari' | first =  Tatiana | last= Siegel | date = June 8, 2008 | access-date = May 26, 2018 | work = [[Variety (magazine)|Variety]] }}</ref> While news of the film was quiet over the next ten years, in March 2018, film financing company Vision Tree was working to start an [[initial coin offering]] for [[cryptocurrency]] to raise up to {{USD|40 million}} for the film, which was set to be produced by DiCaprio's studio [[Appian Way Productions]], Vision Tree, and Avery Productions.<ref>{{cite web |url= https://variety.com/2018/digital/news/atari-movie-token-sale-1202732406/ |title= Atari Movie Makers Plan to Raise $40 Million via Bushnell Token Sale |first= Janko |last= Roettgers |date= March 21, 2018 |access-date= May 27, 2018 |work= [[Variety (magazine)|Variety]] }}</ref>

===GDC Pioneer Award controversy===
In January 2018, the Advisory Committee of the [[Game Developers Choice Awards]] announced that Bushnell would receive the Pioneer Award at the March ceremony at the [[Game Developers Conference]] (GDC), crediting his role at Atari.<ref name="GDC2018">{{cite web| url = https://www.gamasutra.com/view/news/313891/Nolan_Bushnell_Tim_Schafer_and_Rami_Ismail_to_be_honored_at_the_2018_GDC_Awards.php | archive-url = https://archive.today/20180130210607/https://www.gamasutra.com/view/news/313891/Nolan_Bushnell_Tim_Schafer_and_Rami_Ismail_to_be_honored_at_the_2018_GDC_Awards.php | url-status = dead | archive-date = January 30, 2018 | title = Nolan Bushnell, Tim Schafer, and Rami Ismail to be honored at the 2018 GDC Awards! | date = January 30, 2018 | access-date = January 30, 2018 | work = [[Gamasutra]] }}</ref> That day, several people through social media, including [[Brianna Wu]], claimed Bushnell fostered a toxic work environment at Atari for women that became the foundation for the then-future video game industry, based on several documented interviews and accounts of Atari at the time of the 1970s and 1980s; a notable example was of Bushnell holding board meetings in a [[hot tub]] and invited female secretaries to join them. Wu and others asserted that while Bushnell had done much for the industry, recognizing him with this type of award during the ongoing [[Me Too movement|#MeToo movement]] was sending the wrong message.<ref name="glixel pioneer"/><ref name="kotaku female atari"/> Wu stated, "Nolan Bushnell deserves to be honored, but this is not the right time for it. It's easy to draw a line between the culture he created at Atari and the structural sexism women in tech face today."<ref name="vb gdc"/> The [[hashtag]] "#NotNolan" was shared by those with similar complaints about the GDC's choice.<ref name="kotaku female atari">{{Cite web | url = https://kotaku.com/sex-pong-and-pioneers-what-atari-was-really-like-ac-1822930057 | title = Sex, Pong, And Pioneers: What Atari Was Really Like, According To Women Who Were There | first = Cecilia | last = D'Anastasio | date = February 12, 2018 | access-date = February 12, 2018 | work = [[Kotaku]] }}</ref>

The following day, the Advisory Committee reconsidered the selection of Bushnell for the award<ref name="glixel pioneer">{{cite web | url = https://www.rollingstone.com/glixel/news/nolan-bushnell-metoo-gdc-award-w516148 | title = GDC Re-Examines Award for Atari Founder After Outcry Over Past Conduct | first = Stefanie | last = Fogel | date = January 30, 2018 | access-date = January 31, 2018 | work = [[Glixel]] | archive-date = June 20, 2018 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20180620153436/https://www.rollingstone.com/glixel/news/nolan-bushnell-metoo-gdc-award-w516148 | url-status = dead }}</ref> and announced the Pioneer Award would not be awarded, and instead it would be used that year to "honor the pioneering and unheard voices of the past".<ref>{{cite web | url = http://www.usgamer.net/articles/gdc-pioneer-award-not-nolan-bushnell-atari-founder | title = GDC Announces It Will Not Award Atari Founder Nolan Bushnell After Controversy | first = Matt | last = Kim | date = January 31, 2018 | access-date = January 31, 2018 | work = [[US Gamer]] | archive-date = March 28, 2019 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20190328214906/https://www.usgamer.net/articles/gdc-pioneer-award-not-nolan-bushnell-atari-founder | url-status = dead }}</ref> GDC further stated that they believed their selections "should reflect the values of today's game industry".<ref name="kotaku female atari"/> Bushnell released a statement agreeing with the committee's decision:<ref name="Crecente">{{cite web | url = https://www.rollingstone.com/glixel/news/gdc-rescinds-atari-founders-pioneer-award-amidst-outcry-w516156 | title = Game Developers Conference Rescinds Atari Founder's Award Nom Amid Outcry | first = Brian | last = Crecente | date = January 31, 2018 | access-date = January 31, 2018 | work = [[Glixel]] | archive-date = January 31, 2018 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20180131220328/https://www.rollingstone.com/glixel/news/gdc-rescinds-atari-founders-pioneer-award-amidst-outcry-w516156 | url-status = dead }}</ref>

{{cquote|I applaud the GDC for ensuring that their institution reflects what is right, specifically with regards to how people should be treated in the workplace. And if that means an award is the price I have to pay personally so the whole industry may be more aware and sensitive to these issues, I applaud that, too. If my personal actions or the actions of anyone who ever worked with me offended or caused pain to anyone at our companies, then I apologize without reservation.|author=@NolanBushnell|source=Twitter, January 31, 2018<ref>{{cite tweet|user=NolanBushnell|number=958770585433120768|date=31 January 2018|title=A statement from me|link=https://twitter.com/NolanBushnell/status/958770585433120768}}</ref><ref name="Crecente"/> }}

In a later statement to ''[[Kotaku]]'', Bushnell cautioned that "exploring these kinds of issues through a finite, 40-year-old prism [does not offer] a productive reflection of our company", and referred to feedback from his former employees.<ref name="kotaku female atari"/> ''Kotaku'' spoke to a dozen female former Atari employees, some whom had already spoken out on social media. All who agreed that while the company's 1970s and 1980s workplace was influenced by the broader [[Sexual revolution|Sexual Revolution]], the allegations made against Bushnell were exaggerated or false, and that the culture was one that they all freely participated in.<ref name="vb gdc">{{cite web | url = https://venturebeat.com/2018/02/02/the-deanbeat-with-bushnell-award-history-became-herstory/ | title = The DeanBeat: With Bushnell award, history became herstory | first = Dean | last = Takahashi | date = February 2, 2018 | access-date = February 2, 2018 | work = [[Venture Beat]] }}</ref><ref name="kotaku female atari"/> Some of the more notable female employees of Atari spoke further of the situation at the company and Bushnell during the 1970s:
* Elaine Shirley, who worked at Atari during the Bushnell years, said, "Those were the times. He [Nolan Bushnell] hit on women and they hit on him. If the #MeToo movement was active when Atari was alive, I think half our company would be charged. To my knowledge, no one ever did anything they did not want to do."<ref>{{cite web | url = http://www.replaymag.com/proposed-bushnell-award-creates-metoo-firestorm/ | title = Proposed Bushnell Award Creates #MeToo Firestorm | first=  Casey | last = Minter | date = January 31, 2018 | access-date = February 1, 2018 | work = Replay Magazine }}</ref> 
* Loni Reeder, who was responsible for communications, security, and facilities at Atari and later cofounded uWink with Bushnell, stated, "I was treated fairly and paid well. I have fellow Atari women friends who also know Nolan. None of us were offended by him."<ref>{{cite web | url = http://www.lemonde.fr/pixels/article/2018/02/01/metoo-le-fondateur-d-atari-approuve-l-annulation-de-sa-recompense_5250551_4408996.html | title = #MeToo: The founder of Atari "approves" the cancellation of his reward | first = William | last= Audureau | date = February 1, 2018 | access-date = February 2, 2018 | work  =[[Le Monde]]}}</ref><ref>{{cite web | url = https://twitter.com/lonireeder/status/958922473101078529 | title = Loni Reeder – "I worked there" | first = Loni | last = Reeder | publisher = [[Twitter]] | date = January 31, 2018 | access-date = February 2, 2018 }}</ref> Reeder further stated of the workplace at Atari, "I take great offense of people coming in today and saying we were oppressed...We had a united and cohesive environment. That was what the ’70s were about. It wasn't like we all got together to have an orgy."<ref name="vb bushnell gdc controversy"/>
* Carol Kantor, the first games user researcher and who led an all-female games user research team at Atari,<ref>{{Cite book|title=The Wiley handbook of human computer interaction set|others=Norman, Kent L.|isbn=9781118976005|edition= First |location=Hoboken, NJ|oclc=1004376487|last1 = Norman|first1 = Kent L.|last2 = Kirakowski|first2 = Jurek|year = 2018}}</ref> said, "I know there are people out there who are accused and really were guilty of sexual harassment. But not Nolan. It wasn't in his character. I certainly stand up for the Nolan that I knew. He certainly didn't hold his power over people."<ref name="vb bushnell gdc controversy">{{cite web | url = https://venturebeat.com/2018/03/09/the-deanbeat-ataris-groundbreaking-women-speak-across-the-decades/ | title = The DeanBeat: Atari's groundbreaking women speak across the decades | first=  Dean | last=  Takahasi | date = March 9, 2018 | access-date = September 25, 2019 | work = [[Venture Beat]] }}</ref>
The women interviewed by ''Kotaku'' generally considered the attack and decision related to Bushnell's award as unfair, and expressed anger at those that had raised the issue with the committee.<ref name="kotaku female atari"/> Some stated that those who accused Bushnell of sexism did not take into consideration the culture of the time, and there was a clear and distinct difference between the sexualized occurrences at Atari in the 1970s, and the real harassment and threats faced by women in the current #MeToo movement.<ref name="vb bushnell gdc controversy"/>

The situation has led to discussion of how the Atari workplace may have influenced the current video game industry.<ref name="kotaku female atari"/> In an [[editorial]], [[Dean Takahashi]] suggested the current environment within the video game industry was more heavily influenced by Nintendo, Sony, and Microsoft, which took drastically different approaches to workplace culture.<ref name="vb gdc" />