Cut funds, support, put PAX diversity spaces in danger

When Cassie Walker approached the rooms dedicated to the Intersection at PAX East, on March 25, the writer and activist were told that they and two other contractors would either have to run the space by themselves, without Enforcer support, or they would have to lock the room up for the duration of the convention. Enforcers are convention staff who typically help with setup, teardown, room monitoring, check-ins, and other tasks to make sure that the programming runs smoothly. Walker was faced with the prospect of running a room full of games, exhibitors, and a lending library with less than half of the typical staff for the duration of the Boston-based gaming convention. 

Walker, alongside one other contractor (and later with help from the Demo Days Program Coordinator, Bluu Smith) decided that they couldn’t close the Intersection and allow the exhibitors, storytellers, players, and con attendees miss out on one of the only spaces in the convention dedicated to supporting marginalized people. For the next four days, they worked ten- to sixteen-hour shifts, pulling off what Smith told Rascal in an interview was a “small miracle,” and made sure the Intersection remained open for the entire convention, serving just under 3,000 attendees. 

On June 30, 2026, Cassie Walker took to bluesky to directly call out the fact that because of a lack of support from PAX at large and ReedPop’s desire to save money, it would be unlikely that the PAX Intersection and PAX Together Initiative (PTI) would be available at PAX West — at least in the form that it previously existed. They described their experience at PAX East, which took place in Boston from March 26-29, and garnered a lot of attention from her complaints, especially after people began to email the PAX team. 

In an email to Rascal, Walker clarified what happened: “The ReedPop staff member in charge of Enforcers removed all assigned Enforcers from The PAX Intersection space. The email was sent to my boss, a different ReedPop employee, [two] days before show open.” This decision allegedly forced two disabled contractors to take over the entire space for the duration of the event, including setup, teardown, and monitoring during the convention. “And we did,” Walker said, “but it was a lot and meant that we as people with disabilities were working 10 - 16 hour days and doing heavy lifting with no help.” Additionally, the contractors believe the lack of Enforcers created a security risk as well as a health risk. “We were not provided safety information for the show until after issues arose because we were in this weird nebulous zone where we are a ReedPop show feature, so we didn't have the options exhibitors get. ReedPop refused to staff The Intersection, so we also didn't have access to the options that Enforcers have,” Walker said.

“When we got to the room [on Tuesday] we were given the option to not do the room at all,” Walker said on a streamed Roundtable interview, describing what happened when they realized that all the enforcers they had been expecting to help had been reassigned away from the Intersection. Either Walker would have to do it with one other contractor, or they would have “to just shut [the Intersection] down and lock the doors.”

PAX describes the Intersection as “the hub for the various branches of PAX’s diversity initiative” that supported women and people of color as well as queer, disabled, and neurodivergent people.  There has typically been a room located within each convention where the Intersection would be based, and the space hosted “a variety of nonprofits and community groups focused on elevating underrepresented groups’ experiences and addressing stigmas in gaming culture.” PTI was more of a programming initiative, hosting and celebrating diverse gamers throughout the convention, including programs, a games library, “panels, exhibitors, hosted games, [and] developers,” according to the PAX website. 

“The Intersection as a space means having a hub of activity and respite for people of marginalized identities,” Walker said. “It means that people who would have no point of entry to getting involved with PAX and gaming have that platform and those opportunities… The Intersection is people like me, getting the chance and support to attend PAX as a PTI Fellow through The Fellowship Program.” Walker has said on their Bluesky account that they would not have been able to attend PAX otherwise. 

Not having enforcers is a danger to both staff and attendees because of the sheer amount of specific work required to develop and run a safe, intentional space within the larger convention. Beyond aiding in the setup and teardown, Enforcers are there to support the space during PAX’s various events. Walker estimates that their needs for PAX East requires between four and seven Enforcers, while a smaller convention like PAX Unplugged manageable with three to five Enforcers while working alongside two or three contractors. 

The Enforcer schedule is not controlled by the Intersection and lies within the purview of Manager Enforcers. Contractors had, for the past three PAX shows in 2025, trained specific Enforcers and Manager Enforcers with the goal of having them take over more of the show. Walker explained that ReedPop was trying to cut costs by reducing the amount of time contractors spent on the Intersection, and wanted to appoint a specific team of Enforcers for the space. Contractors can negotiate their rate with ReedPop, but Enforcers are largely hired at the minimum wage for wherever the PAX event takes place. 

Walker said in an interview that they redirected a lot of focus from improving the space onto training Enforcers and managers, preparing for this turnover. After 2025's PAX Unplugged, Walker said that they didn’t feel comfortable with Enforcers taking over completely but was confident in the current training pace. Walker’s boss at ReedPop — who is in charge of the Intersection space, among others — confirmed with them that PAX East would be another training convention. However, Walker said on the Roundtable stream that when they arrived with another contractor on Tuesday, they learned that ReedPop would pull the promised Enforcers from the space undermining 18 months of training and making it more difficult to assess the space’s weak points.  

Smith said in an email that “despite us requesting many, many times to meet with our contractor’s boss to talk about the programs, improvements with it, etc. we've been given the run around for months.” 

After Walker took to social media in late June, they were invited to talk with the PAX showrunner, Sean Gonzalez. Walker said that they were able to outline to Gonzalez not only what went wrong, but the ways in which the contractors who run and maintain the space were harmed from the lack of enforcers. Walker said in their conversation to Rascal that Gonzalez apologized and maintained that the Intersection was an important and even vital part of PAX. The goal of the Intersection was never to relegate the acceptance and inclusion of marginalized identities to a single room, but to expand the ideals of the Intersection outwards, to all of PAX.  Despite this, according to Walker, Gonzalez said that “they don't currently have any plans for what they are doing at West nor Unplugged but said they were trying to figure it out.”

What remains unclear is how this happened in the first place. The events that led up to Enforcers — which had historically always been assigned to the space — have not been made public. Rascal has reached out to PAX and Gonzales asking for both an explanation of the events that occurred and to confirm the specifics of the latter’s conversation with Walker. 

From Walker’s point of view, the future of the Intersection remains in jeopardy. The work it takes to build an intentional community to serve a multi-day convention takes months of planning. PAX West is now less than sixty days away, andWalker said they are now running up against deadlines for Unplugged in December. 

“If people stop pushing or advocating for the important parts of the space, the diverse, intentional, robust space and programs we know will become just another space run by predominantly white organizations — or go back to an unstaffed room with pride flags and bean bags,” said Walker.