Hello, My Name Is Cliff

OXM: Are you a douchebag?

CB: I’m a giant douchebag.

OXM: Seriously — you drive a flashy car, you use styling products…a lot of gamers don’t comb their hair, let alone style it, and they don’t drive a fast car. So they look at you and go, “Oh, what a douchebag.” Do you really think you’re a douchebag?

CB: I think I’m okay. My whole goal is to look like someone who is loud and out there. And then what I’m hoping is that people will say, “Have you met that guy?” And hopefully people will go, “Yeah, he’s actually a nice guy.”

OXM: Well, very few people get to meet you and say, “Hey, Cliff’s cool.”

CB: My goal any time I’m at a signing or if someone comes up to me, is to shake their hand and look them in the eye and say, “Thank you so much.” I mean, this is the reason I have a job. You need to be thankful and appreciative of your customers, as much as they call you a fag on the internet. Because they’re still talking, man. I’d rather have that attention than not have anybody talking at all, because it means you’re relevant.

OXM: You’ve said in the past that you want to make game design look cool — to not be the old stereotype of some sweaty nerd coding in his parents’ basement. But now we have game developers as the “new rock stars,” and more than anybody, you’ve helped cultivate that. But it seems like we’re trading one stereotype for another. Is it fair to trade the nerd for the rock star?

CB: I think it’s an accessible rock star. Going to GDC in particular, I’m hanging out on the show floor, going to the Independent Games Festival, getting demos from guys. And you don’t see that a lot in other entertainment; you can’t go to a conference and say: “Hey, what’s up, Peter Jackson? Check out my short film on the show floor!” Or go to a music conference and see U2 hanging out right there next to this garage band. I’ve had friends who work in Los Angeles tell me: “You’re too accessible. You need layers and people.” But I don’t really care: it’s a manageable thing. I think if you get too unapproachable, it’s easy to get out of with things. Fourteen-year-old guys who I started working with in the mod community are now successful developers at BioWare. I think it’s a karma thing: you get what you give.

OXM: Do you ever have any stalkers, people who try to track you down in real life?

CB: No, everybody’s cool in public. I’ve gotten crazy-ass voice mail. Once you hear that voice of someone saying “You suck smoke grenades! You’re gay! Aaaaah!” you go, “Oh my god, this is some serious sh*t. I should set this as my ringtone.” This is going to sound weird, but the thing I can’t get used to is the little gamer fame. In public, you get recognized every once in a while. It’s cool, it’s not like you can’t go to the supermarket or anything, but at gaming conferences it’s non-stop. At Comic-Con, people come up and want to get a photo, and you put your arm around them…and they’re shaking. That’s the weird one; it’s surreal. You’re like: “Dude! Calm down.” And you realize you’re in a position to make this person comfortable and to be absolutely as nice as possible. Because if this person likes your work, they’re going to remember this forever and tell all their friends about it. But if you’re a dick, that’s going to travel everywhere.

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