Author Archives: Mattie Brice

About Mattie Brice

Mattie Brice is a game critic, designer, social justice activist, and student at San Francisco State University. She focuses her writing on diversity initiatives in the video game community, often bringing in the perspective of marginalized voices like transgender and multi-racial women to publications like Paste, Kotaku, The Border House, and Pop Matters. Mattie also consults and speaks at gaming related conferences like the Game Developers Conference and IndieCade. Her studies have led her to explore narrative design and plans to push the borders of how we think of the medium. Tweets at @xMattieBrice.

B-Side #1 – Depression Quest

Posted on March 4, 2013 by Mattie Brice

Mattie Brice is starting up a video series on free indie games over up at her site Alternate Ending and will be also be featured here at The Border House. Games Discussed: Depression Quest; dys4ia Notes: This post discusses depression, … Continue reading →

Posted in Indie Games | Tagged , , , | 7 Comments

Decolonize Me

Posted on February 11, 2013 by Mattie Brice

“Why do you act so white?” Her name was Shanti. I will always remember the exact look on her face, how her head floated in my vision surrounded by the artifacts of a high school classroom. It was the 10th … Continue reading →

Posted in General Gaming | Tagged , , , , , | 33 Comments

You Want To Make a Boyfriend – You Just Don’t Know it Yet

Posted on November 19, 2012 by Mattie Brice

There is an app taking the world by storm. It’s hot in Japan, it’s free, it’s Boyfriend Maker. Indeed, this is an unusual game to talk about on The Border House, because it does play up and exploit heteronormative stereotypes … Continue reading →

Posted in Mobile Games | Tagged , , | 19 Comments

Postpartum: Mainichi – How Personal Experience Became a Game

Posted on November 12, 2012 by Mattie Brice

This will be a design article on my game Mainichi, aiming to be insight to my thought process during its creation and serve as a guide for others to make games. To get the most out of this, download Mainichi … Continue reading →

Posted in General Gaming, Indie Games | Tagged , , , | 11 Comments

Pay Up – You are What You’re Worth

Posted on August 21, 2012 by Mattie Brice

I’ve come to enjoy the scene of fog rolling down the hills. Where I’m from, fog is ephemeral; it rises from the dewy grass in the morning and floats off by noon. Walking to the market here feels like I’m … Continue reading →

Posted in General Gaming | Tagged , , , | 64 Comments

The Type of Woman I Want Others to See: Why I Wore Heels to PAX East

Posted on April 13, 2012 by Mattie Brice

It was probably 40 degrees American and windy. Being from South Florida, I tend to lose track of how different the temperature feels after I get goosebumps on my knees. I spent my first night in Boston clinging to the … Continue reading →

Posted in General Gaming, Off-Topic, Social Media, Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , , | 16 Comments

Valuing the Feminine: Why I Love Vanille

Posted on February 27, 2012 by Mattie Brice

Let me come out with it now: my favorite Final Fantasy characters tend to be the classic cheerful and energetic archetype, like Aeris, Selphie, and Vanille. It’s usually because I bring a lot of myself into games, and want to … Continue reading →

Posted in Console Games | Tagged , , , | 74 Comments

Doing it Right – Playstation: The Official Magazine Handles Transphobic Hate Speech

Posted on February 15, 2012 by Mattie Brice

(Trigger Warning- Transphobic slurs) There are a lot of nay-sayers to social justice activism, even jaded, pessimistic gamers within the cause who feel big companies who profit off of the discrimination of minorities will never change. It’s easy to see … Continue reading →

Posted in General Gaming, Social Media | Tagged , , , , | 16 Comments

The Border House Podcast – Episode 6: Safe Spaces

Posted on February 15, 2012 by Mattie Brice

  At long last, the latest episode of The Border House Podcast! We’re changing up the format to be a monthly release and hopefully tackle more serious and current topics to make each especially worth it. Anna and Kim join … Continue reading →

Posted in General Gaming, Podcast, Site News | Tagged , , , | 3 Comments

An Escape of One’s Own

Posted on December 30, 2011 by Mattie Brice

(Trigger warning for the recounting of sensitive transgender-related experiences) Around the turn into the 20th Century, there were many questions about women. One of them was “Why aren’t there many women writers?” The typical answers ranged from men’s predisposition to … Continue reading →

Posted in General Gaming | Tagged , , , | 5 Comments