Multiplayer: Have you ever felt that your race has presented any challenges in your career path?
Standifer: No, I have not. The business — when I first started in Imagesoft — was such a tight knit group. I worked with males; of course, it was male-dominated. But I worked with a great group of people then. So I think that I have not seen any challenges because I work with great people that I learned a lot from.

Multiplayer: Do you feel that gender issues have been more of a challenge than race?
Standifer: I would say gender [has affected my career] more so than race. I think sometimes [people] aren’t sure if you really play games or if you really know what you’re doing. So I wouldn’t say race, I would say gender because you still run into those kinds of people that can be surprised or “What kind of games do you play?” Although I worked on racing titles, my favorite was always shooters. I like shooter games. I did play in the arcade growing up — didn’t think I’d end up in video games. But I really enjoyed it. But I’d definitely say gender because you get women who play. But you get more women who play puzzle games and different types of games, maybe not hardcore games like shooters.

Multiplayer: Have you had any instances where people thought you were a casual gamer and didn’t take you seriously until they got to talk to you more?
Standifer: I’ve had that years ago, at the larger E3s where people thought I was just hired just to work at the booth. I have had that experience before, yes.
Multiplayer: Was it an awkward situation? Was it like, “Oh you actually work here?”
Standifer: That’s exactly how it was. “Oh, you actually work for Sony; you weren’t actually hired to work here [at the booth].”

Multiplayer: Do you think diversity is important in the video games industry?
Standifer: I think diversity is very important in the video games industry, especially if games themselves are going to be diverse with different cultures and different characters. A lot of games are character-based and you don’t want things to be offensive. And there are cases where people are not necessarily trying to be offensive, but they’re pulling their ideas from their own knowledge and that does not necessarily mean it’s always correct. And so sometimes it’s good to have those second eyes or those other opinions or just someone to say, “Hey you may not realize it, but that could be offensive to this particular race or culture.”