Brie Sheldon

We had a lovely chat with Brie Sheldon, a designer working at Daedalum Analog Productions and Thoughty.

QRM: Can you tell us a little bit about who you are and what you do in the games industry?

Brie: I am a tabletop game designer, editor, and journalist, primarily in indie games, but I've worked with more traditional games as well as some old-school games. I am a fluid nonbinary-masc, queer, polyamorous person, and I have both physical disabilities and mental health disorders. These things all inform my designs, including both my self-published work and my freelance work. I also edit work for various designers and do a fair amount of journalism, including pieces for Thoughty, my main site, and extensive interviews.

QRM: How long have you been involved in the game industry, and what projects have you worked on? What are you working on currently?

Brie: I've been working in tabletop games since around 2011, and I've worked on a pretty significant variety of projects, including the Smuggler's Guide to the Rim for the Firefly RPG at Margaret Weis productions, an assortment of indie games – Bubblegumshoe was one (which won a Gold Ennie) but I did more work for The Sound of Water (a World of Dew companion), and my own work of lonely games and Let Me Take a Selfie. Right now I'm working on a quiet drama, a slice-of-life game about shapeshifters in small towns, called Turn.

QRM: What inspired you to get started in the games industry?

Brie: I got angry because someone wouldn't respect me, and wouldn't design games that were respectful and inclusive, and caring towards people with trauma.

QRM: In what ways do you feel your experiences as a queer person manifest in the games you work on, and influence the work you do?

Brie: My queerness is a part of everything I do. It forms how I frame emotions like love and feelings like friendship, as well as how gender and identity work in the worlds I design. It also influences how I design sex and sexuality in games, and how my characters live and exist within that environment. My game-in-progress, Turn, is all about secrets and identity, and how having two sides to your life can be a challenge. It's no stranger to queerness.

QRM: Do you have a favourite queer character—in games or media more generally? If so, what is it about them that makes them your favourite?
Question asked by @kamienw.

Brie: Weirdly, both of my faves are ones that it's never openly stated they're queer, but the media makes it clear they are. Janet from The Good Place is "not a girl, not a person" – while she is an infinitely knowledgeable being, I like her as a nonbinary character, who maybe looks like a girl but isn't (something I experience, as an AFAB nonbinary-masc person who presents femme for safety a lot).

The other, Jake Peralta from Brooklyn 99, is never labeled as queer (even when another character recently came out), but has asked men out and called them hot on screen, and has a pretty queer vibe. Other characters on these shows – Eleanor on The Good Place who is casually bi, and Rosa on B99 who is now openly bi – are great faves of mine, too. I don't identify with a lot of queer characters because I often feel outside of the queer community myself, and I'm still trying to find my footing – I think that's why kind of masked queer characters fit with me the best.

QRM: Have you ever encountered roadblocks in trying to include queer characters in games? What do you think is preventing greater diversity within games?
Question asked by @dustinalex91.

Brie: I haven't encountered many roadblocks, but I also have had a fair amount of creative control and work with people selectively. I think I'd encounter more issues if I moved into video games (which is something I'm interested in doing) and if I worked with more traditional designers. Indie design is a little different.

I think the biggest issues are bigotry and laziness. If people aren't queer-haters, they're just too lazy to make an effort, do the research, and create good queer characters (and characters of color, disabled characters, etc.). It sits ill with me.

QRM: Why do you think it is important that queer audiences are able to see themselves represented in the games they play, and in the developers who make the games they see? What can we do to improve the industry for queer audiences and devs?

Brie: I grew up in a place without a lot of queerness. I knew like, one lesbian and her occasional girlfriends, and my cousin in Arizona who has HIV. Not exactly the greatest examples. As of now, I'm still fighting my way through the negative things I was taught and internalized growing up, and it took me most of my life to now to come out. I didn't come out as nonbinary until I was 28, even though I'd really known it since I was a toddler. I was afraid. I'm still not out to my family.

It took me being surrounded by queer people to feel like it was okay to call myself queer, to say I was attracted to people of other genders, and to own my gender. If you don't see who you are reflected in what you do, sometimes it can hurt, and it can reverse growth.

I think we need to hire more queer people. Just all over. For every role. I'll have a master's in leadership in May and I'll tell you what: the lack of queer leadership in major businesses is directly related to the toxic environments that we see every day. I also think that demonstrating that toxic behavior isn't welcome is a big part of it, so calling people out, firing repeat offenders who won't improve, supporting legal action when discrimination is happening – all of those are huge. And being more inclusive than just queerness – disabled queer people are left out constantly, and queer people of color struggle for space in games.

QRM: Have you ever mentored somebody in your role in games, or been mentored? If so, what made these experiences worthwhile for you?
Question asked by @pepelanova.

Brie: I don't think I've ever mentored anyone, but I have been mentored. Clark Valentine is a friend of mine, who is also a grand designer, and he mentored me on a project during a tumultuous time in my life. I couldn't finish the project, but he was still kind to me, and understanding. His wisdom was more than just "how to design a game" – it was "how to make it through things even when you don't succeed."

QRM: In what ways can non-queer folk increase and support queer diversity present within games, as well as in the industry more broadly? How can we all work to support intersectional approaches to diversity, and why is this important?

Brie: Do research. Pay people. Respect people. Everyone who works on games should research the subject of their work, and that includes people – if you're writing people, you should know about people and how diverse the world is. You should also be paying people for their work – fairly, equally, and with regard to their ability to make a living off that pay.

If you can't pay people, figure out how to compensate them – by which I mean, figure out how to get the money to pay them. And honestly, respect is key. Treat people like they matter, even if you hate them.

QRM: Is there a message that you would like to share with the queer game players, game studies researchers, and other interested folks who comprise the Queerly Represent Me community?

Brie: I'll say the same thing I tell myself every day:

Look at your life. Look at your choices.

Be better.

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You can find Brie on Thoughty, LinkedIn, Twitter (@briecs), Google+, and Mastadon.