Dani Lalonders, an Associate Narrative Designer at Cliffhanger Gamers who is working on Marvel’s Black Panther, admitted to discriminating against white people while developing her game ValiDate.
During a presentation for the Game Devs of Color Expo 2021 that was recently highlighted by LibsofTikTok, Lalonders said, “ValiDate has a team of all people of color. We have no white people on our team. I did that because I wanted to create a safe environment. And I know the best way for the environment to be safe is to be around people who are just like me.”
“And I’m not saying that white people in the industry are creating unsafe environments. I’m not saying that. That is not what I’m saying,” she said. “I’m saying sometimes it is hard to work with white people because they think that something may be okay, but it was really a microaggression, and no one wants to deal with that while you’re trying to make a game that they love.”