Really wish I'd gotten the name of the Enforcer who helped me out on the first day. I couldn't find the way to get up to BYOC and was misdirected three times. With tears of frustration in my eyes, I asked a passing Enforcer for help and, seeing how upset I was, he escorted me all the way up to the BYOC doors on the third floor.
You guys give a positive meaning to the geek term, "red shirts"!
Mystral721 on
"Little baby Cthulhu hopping through the forest, picking up the field mice and Sucking Out Their Souls"
My FIRST enforcer *blush* was a big guy wearing a kilt, knee socks and a beret and had thick rimmed glasses. Not only were you friendly but EXTREMELY helpful while the Enforcers were getting the 401 on our special guest passes.
I saw this guy. He helped out a ton at the console free-play area on Friday night. Indeed he was super nice, and kept the room running squeaky clean and organized.
I just watched our copy of the PAX09 DVD and he was in the first couple of scenes of the PAX Experience. I am TOTALLY looking for him at the next PAX!
That would be AaronC. He's a great guy, helicopter pilot, and leader of our security management team. I would show a very inappropriate picture of him, but this is probably not the best place
dyaballikl on
a.k.a. dya
"Riding a mongoose reminds me of having sex with a man, which is something I do frequently because I am gay!" -Gabe
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dyaballiklPAX Main Theatre House & Security Manager • PAX Community CartographerGold Coast QLD AustraliaRegistered Userregular
I wanted to thank the enforcers this weekend again. They really made everything run smoothly, and I'm assuming they were so good that none of them were killed horribly by various space monsters
Oh, and I hope the guys that got it enjoyed some of the British candy I handed off to LewieP'sMum.
YES! So awesome, they came around before the closing ceremony when we were blocking off the theater. Thanks!
dyaballikl on
a.k.a. dya
"Riding a mongoose reminds me of having sex with a man, which is something I do frequently because I am gay!" -Gabe
I cannot fully express my appreciation for the amazing work the Enforces provided to make PAX East such an astounding success. Their grace and humor made me smile so much that my face still aches. When it comes to organizing a mob while keeping a friendly atmosphere, you guys are the tops. Thanks!
Upon my arrival to Boston and the venue, I was eager to get my Media badge as soon as possible. I bumped into an Enforcer on the thursday I arrived who then actually stopped what he was doing, did a 180 and walked me to the Will Call area. He was in the midst of setting stuff up yet thought it important that some jaded hack needed his bright yellow media badge! This was but one of the many examples of when an Enforcer went beyond the call of duty. Well done to you all.
Thanks, Enforcers! I got lost once because I have the worst sense of direction in the world (that is my superpower) and one of you helped me find my way. Every single one I met was nice. You folks are swell!
Thank you all for the accolades to us enforcers. It really means a lot. And I will also jump in and give props to my fellow brethren. I would say that not only did they make it a great experience for the other attendees, but working with all of them made this an absolutely amazing con experience for me as well.
Llanowar on
"One bone broken for every twig snapped underfoot"
-Llanowar punishment for trespassing.
The stuff you guys have said are worth more to many of us than the free badge and all the stuff we get.
But we also couldn't have been as awesome without you guys being awesome. Whenever I had to squeeze the line, nobody ever gave me any crap for it. On Friday, when it turned out that the P.D. Winterbottom panel wasn't going on right this second, nobody got angry. When we had a super-long line for the Scott Kurtz panel Saturday, everyone seemed in good spirits. Messing around with the guys in the XPlay signing on Sunday, nobody begged and pleaded and whined with me when I said that the line was "Full full". We couldn't've maintained our nice outlook and happy attitudes if we had to deal with jerks every time we turned around!
I have a quick Enforcer related question: Did you guys force the whole theatre to empty out in between panels? I heard that that sometimes happened, but then I also heard about people camping in a particular theatre all day.
I think it would be a little better if the theatres were flushed out in between panels, and that this rule was made clear right at the beginning. You want to see both panels? Too bad, you need to prioritize what you want more, there are people waiting for a seat for hours. It kind of sucks, but seems more fair. That way, Enforcers could walk through the line with a clicker and say "Ok, everyone up to this point gets in, no matter what."
I ended up avoiding panel lineups like the plague out of a few horror stories I heard from people who waited in line for a particular panel and then didn't make it in and I couldn't stand the idea of waiting around for an hour or two (when I could be doing something else) only to NOT see the thing I wanted to see... I don't know if I'm being clear and I don't blame the Enforcers, just maybe somethign to consider for next time around
The majority (99.9%) of you all made enforcing super effective. I personally only had to deal with the sum total of a handful of dicks, and once I evoked Wheaton's Law usually his own group of friends would rein him in and explain that which is PAX.
Props to the cookie brigade, everyone who was cool to the needs of BYOC access policy, and to all of you who stood in line for either main theater balcony or Manticore theater (never had to crack a whip to any of you patient waiters).
Staxeon on
Invisible nap is the best nap of all time!
No man should have that kind of power.(Twitter)
There were some people trying to hire us for their own conventions/conferences, and also some very surprised people when I told them that this was about 60% of the enforcers' first PAX, and we had virtually no training. When people asked us how we could be so professional and work together so well without being paid or trained I would tell them that it was love; for what we do and for what PAX stands for.
Edit: Oh, and as an enforcer at PAX my favorite question(s) had to have been: "Who's Gabe and Tycho?" and "What's a penny-arcade?"
Coming from a PAX virgin, the Enforcers were awesome. Especially since the expo got a lot more attendees than expected, the Enforcers kept everything going as smooth as possible without being jerks. The only problem was when I was going to attend the Joystiq BBMT breakfast and the Enforcers had no idea what we were talking about until one of the people from Joystiq told them what was going on. After everything got cleared up, it was all good.
We're just as happy to be there as you guys are. We love what we do, and it shows in the quality of our work. Everyone, from Mike and Jerry all the way down to first year enforcers, is committed to making PAX the best show it can be for every attendee. We think we do a decent job.
Arco on
Like this, not like the gas station.
Organizer of the Post-PAX Party. You should come!
Satellite Theater for life!
Millions of thanks to the Enforcers this weekend--you guys were friendly, efficient, and incredibly helpful.
And while I'm sure it's been said before, it can't be said enough: you guys were the happiest group of con enforcers I've ever seen. Con staff in a bad mood can kill the whole experience, but you guys kept smiling and laughing even as you were swarmed with duties and running around like madmen. I can't thank you enough for that.
mei0023 on
XBL: s0ph14 | Currently playing: Bioshock 2 | On tap: Ocarina of Time
That would be AaronC. He's a great guy, helicopter pilot, and leader of our security management team. I would show a very inappropriate picture of him, but this is probably not the best place
Thanks for letting us know! If anyone knows him personally, please tell him he's got a fan in San Diego!!! And I'd and autographed pic of him in his Enforcer gear!!!!
A huge thank you to all the enforcers! As a man with a bad back, wearing a heavy costume, I was always able to find a chair with your help, before I found myself sprawled out on the floor. You are all great ladies, gentlemen and scholars!
Wanted to post in here again to relate my awesome tale. My wife has anxiety issues with large crowds and during the first hour or so of PAX I was really worried that we made a mistake and coming there for her mental health. I asked her about how she was holding up and she said to me something along the lines of "the enforcers are keeping this under control, I feel safe". This was a HUGE statement coming from her. I never would have thought that in a crowd of 10s of thousands she would ever say she felt safe. Thank to all the Enforcers, for the crowd management, the controller cleaning, the tech work and every other behind the scenes thing that we don't even know about that help make this event the best con in the world.
I had a great interaction with an enforcer that had ROCKIN' muttonchops, and a sweet red beret style hat. I happened to have the same facial hair set up, and on Sat., he actually came up to me and asked for my pic. I got one too, and now the pic is my FB profile pic :P Was a really nice guy, and just one example of how awesome they ALL were.
Peeekz on
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dyaballiklPAX Main Theatre House & Security Manager • PAX Community CartographerGold Coast QLD AustraliaRegistered Userregular
I would also like to extend a hearty FUCK YES to the Enforcer crowd. I regret that out of the fifty or so I talked to at any length I only remember a handful of names, but rest assured that you all went far beyond and above what was necessary for a dumb metal guitarist to feel right at home in this PACKED to the MAX (PAX'd?) crowd of like-minded nerdomancers and intellectualtarians.
Time to get personal. Once again, my name-memory is all janked up but if I talked to you ever at all anywhere, rest assured you are awesome. And no, I really don't know what I talked about to anybody, everything I've ever said in my life is crazy top-of-my-head non-sequitor bullshit nonsense - but I remember getting some of you to crack a smile or two so I'll take it!
-Aleks (Cheebus) is the man for adding MrMAG's MM Theme chiptune in the house mix before we played, completely blowing Stem's mind and I believe driving the crowd just a little bit nutso.
-Angel, you are far too much of an overworking dedicated sweetheart for your own good. Knowing that you and like HALF of the enforcers total were really looking forward to watching us play made my heart grow three sizes.
-Also, Angel's lovely ladyfriend who worked through some crazy Sumerian death-cold and didn't let it slow her down at all. Also I forgot your name and feel like a dick =( I remember where you live though, that's something! Right?
-Dee (Zeus) is the most infectiously cheerful and peppy person I have ever met - thank you so much for putting up with my lechery and vile sense of humor (and also for contributing to the bright-tastic mood in the enforcer suite). Feel free to throw some words at my number if you still have it!
-Heels is the fucking man for hooking me up with more guest badges than I'd ever need to compliment the Lime ones my band got. I know we didn't get to chat much, but you're a rad dude through and through.
And that's where my memory gets fuzzy. There was a cool skinny dude in glasses with some sweet facial scruff, a guy in a sweet hat, some nice water-loaning ladies backstage, the rad dude who filled me and MC Front full of libations and cheer in the suite (and helped me overcome my "insomnia headache and sensitivity to light" the next morning) and perhaps the biggest offense to my memory, the 8-foot tall slightly-stuttery glasses-toting sweetheart in charge of making sure the bandstuff went smoothly (sorry to the 1000%!!).
Oh, and the medic that fixed me up when I fell off the stage after our show (PLEASE tell me somebody has footage of that). You are the man and a half!
I'm sure I'm forgetting people. Point is: you guys are complete radical and anybody who says otherwise needs to go soak their head.
xoxo
Kirby
P.S. If any aforementioned hep cats want to pick up a conversation where we left off, feel free to PM or IM or call (well, PM me first if you don't have my number) or Facebook me, we'll do it live on and on til the breaka breaka dawn<3
Point is: you guys are complete radical and anybody who says otherwise needs to go soak their head.
Incredibly well said.
Many thanks to the cute Enforcer in the glasses and kilt that worked the late shift on the second floor corridor. I'm awful with names, but you made my job so easy this weekend.
I enforced just inside the main theatre front door on Saturday Night for VGO, Paul & Storm, and JoCo.
I want to echo how helpful attendees are for making enforcing that much easier. Not only that, but I made nice friends with the Fire Marshall during those few hours. He and other Hynes staff and security made many comments about how well behaved the crowd was, and how they were surprised at how little they had to do while there because everyone was behaving anyway.
At one point he offered to help if someone wasn't playing nice. "If anyone isn't moving for you, you come get me."
Of course, with you guys that was never a concern!
Thank you so much for your appreciation that us Enforcers have received during and after PAX. It really is us that should be thanking all of you Attendees for being some of the most awesome convention goers ever.
Without you, there would not be a need for us. Thank you for all the kind words and for your love of games, Penny-Arcade, and everything else that makes PAX Prime and PAX East so successful.
I have a quick Enforcer related question: Did you guys force the whole theatre to empty out in between panels? I heard that that sometimes happened, but then I also heard about people camping in a particular theatre all day.
Can't speak for other theatres, but I worked Naga, and we made sure no one got to camp. Enforcer rule was "flush the room, let the panel get situated, then let the new line in. Yes, we had a clicker, and yes, we had a "this many are guaranteed" sort of thing. We cut the guarantee thing short, in case people cut in line outside our notice. Can't let guarantees go bad, can we? We did let people wait in line after the cut-off, in case of people leaving, or the obvious "no one cut in line". We made sure they knew there was a chance they wouldn't get in though. I'd hate to leave people waiting for nothing.
I'm sure the other theatres had no trouble getting the same stuff accomplished. Camping was likely just a rumor. We had a great team this year, and you guys made it really easy to smile and be nice. I remember talking with an early line on Saturday morning, who commented to myself and another enforcer on how nice we were. All I could say was "well, you guys rock. You're single file, not blocking traffic, and not trying to kill each other." I think everyone was happy to be there. We all share the love of games, and red shirt or not, that's what we were at the end of the day. We were peers. Gamers enjoying the awesomeness of PAX.
There was an unspoken mutual respect between pretty much everyone, panelists included. While I was working on lines for the next panel and missing panels I wanted to see (though I still caught some great ones), I got to chat with devs and other VIPs from previous panels. There wasn't a feeling of "ugh, another fan wanting to yak my ear off". It was more like talking to another gamer. "Yeah, I love when games do this, that's why we did this." The City of Heroes devs in particular actually point blank asked me (and others, I saw) "What do YOU want to see in our game?" It was pretty incredible how, no matter what the badge said, everyone was pretty much equal.
Mad props to the enforcers who sang the "Mountain Town" song from the south park movie but changed the lyrics to be PAX related.
This was written by my friend and coworker. Those who caught his badge would know him as "T". He also wrote and sang "What Would Nathan Fillion Do?" Personally, I'm sure he'd kick an ass or two.
You can look for us again next year, because there's no way in hell I'm letting that awesome experience come only once. Thanks to all you guys (Enforcers and attendees) for making that an awesome time for me.
Quarian SpecTRe on
Your words are as empty as your future. I am the vanguard of your destruction. This exchange is over.
...It's a pity that most of the technology I had planned to bring back to the Flotilla has subsequently tried to kill us.
The Enforcers MADE the show for us. Thank you so much. There were multiple points where things could have gone very wrong for me, but the friendliness, helpfulness, and efficiency of the Enforcers fixed it for me.
They were uniformly nice and not-dicks, but I really want to point out two points where an Enforcer went out of her/his way and SAVED the weekend for me.
1) After waiting in line in the queue room for about 40 minutes for the Friday night concert, I step out to use the restroom, leaving my girlfriend in line with my stuff (I forgot about the restroom in the queue room itself, and I wasn't the only one). There is no one watching the queue room door when I leave. When I return 4 minutes later, a Hynes staff member is guarding the door, and will not let me back in. There are at least 3 other people standing there who did the same thing, and would not be let in because they were supposedly "over capacity" (note that the main theater wasn't even full when we finally got in there, so that was a blatant lie). I got into a heated discussion about the subject with the Hynes staffer, who claimed to be the supervisor when I asked for the supervisor, and who was backed up by a woman who wasn't doing anything but standing there, but refused to take me in to prove that my girlfriend was actually in line, saving my spot. There was some yelling from both sides.
An enforcer shows up, and in about 20 seconds flat defuses the altercation and takes me into the queue room. He listens patiently while I continue to yell about how angry I am. Then I apologized to him and thanked him. I'm glad that PAX and our money won't be returning to Hynes ever again, and I love the enforcers.
2) A little over an hour after the previous event, they finally let us out of the queue room for the concert. However, the guidance of the line breaks down after we are herded up an escalator (or maybe I was too dumb to see obvious directions) and me and my GF get lost on the 2nd floor. An Enforcer sees us and asks if she can help. She leads us up to the main theater and makes sure we get our place back in line, soothing our panic all the way there. She was the one in charge of making sure the other Enforcers eat, she said, so if you know who she is, give her a cookie.
There were a number of other instances where Enforcers made everything better, but these two really stuck out.
I cannot thank the Enforcers enough.
PS: Oh, and if you see an Enforcer named Charles, ask him about a Great Big Moose.
I do have to say the enforcers were great, and very helpful. Also, the enforcer with the green Mohawk has the most amusing dance moves ever.
pardimate on
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ProprietyPAX Pokemon League Leader!Registered Userregular
edited March 2010
The enforcers were absolutely amazing. I frequently get completely lost, and I learned that instead of wandering around hopelessly for an hour, I could find the nearest Enforcer and ask them for directions. Every single one of them was happy to help point me in the right direction. They were the friendliest, nicest, most patient people... I just cannot express how amazing they were.
Extra hearts for my favorite enforcer, Quicksnap, for being super awesome.
Propriety on
That guy with the ridiculously long scarf at PAX. Say Hi!
Love Pokemon? Going to PAX Prime/East/Aus/South? Challenge the PAX Pokemon League!!!
I want to give a huge shout out to Zerroth. We stopped to chat with him in the exhibit hall on Sunday next to the NAVIDIA Booth. One of the guys approached us with our WOW shirts on and gave us cards from the last two Blizzcons for a mount & a pet. The highlight of my husband's weekend.
I want to give a shout out to the utilikilt enforcer who made the Paul & Storm show even better. We chatting with him in the hallway while waiting for the concert & the Bill Amend Panel. He rocked the kilt & horns.
There was an enforcer helping to clear & set up the stage during Saturday's concert. We refereed to him as Dominic Monaghan or Merry. He would just break out into dance. He was instrumental in the huge wave during the lull after VGO.
I was amazed how every male enforcer was unique in what they were wearing along with their red shirt. By the end of the three days, most were sporting some funky hat.
On clearing theatres/panels: Nearly all of the time rooms were cleared, to my knowledge. I know aat least once they didn't. I'm pretty sure this was done on a case-by-case basis where they saw how many were in the room and how many were "waiting in line" (the doors were usually still open and people could just come in, so there wasn't any real line), and they publicly announced it during the previous panel ("We will NOT be clearing the room before the next panel!") I witnessed this only once, in the main theatre, when there was still a TON of seating.
An Enforcer sees us and asks if she can help. She leads us up to the main theater and makes sure we get our place back in line, soothing our panic all the way there. She was the one in charge of making sure the other Enforcers eat, she said, so if you know who she is, give her a cookie.
That's probably Morte, who is basically Mom (well, one of the Moms!) to the enforcers. Morte rocks.
Thank you Enforcers!! I can only imagine how hard your job was especially with all those lines and you all did a great job. Every enforcer I talked to was friendly and helpful. Thanks again!
Same thing thought it was really grade A. Got to know a couple of the guys, I live right outside of Boston and they convinced me to come out and be an Enforcer myself next year, cant wait but I got to ask, how do you apply again? Is it just up on their website near the date of Pax East '11?
The enforcers working the line before the Kurtz evening panel were superb and really made it a fun time, even though they eventually took away the recycling bin our friends were playing Munchkin on. Minus the usual few exceptions, they were helpful and really a class act.
That would be AaronC. He's a great guy, helicopter pilot, and leader of our security management team. I would show a very inappropriate picture of him, but this is probably not the best place
Awesome...Huge props to him, particularly at the closing ceremony, where he helped make a spot for those of us with disability passes on the fly so we would have the metal fencing between us and the ravenous hordes. I saw him a few times directing traffic and helping clear the halls too and, as someone in a wheelchair, I appreciated that a ton too, since it got rather tough to navigate at times when that wasn't happening.
gilby123 on
"Where would we be without the agitators of the
world attaching the electrodes of knowledge to the nipples
of ignorance?" - John Lithgow, 3rd Rock from the Sun
Also I'm not sure which enforcer I gave the huge "man" hug to while I was in my gears armor, but it was great, and my wife just couldn't stop laughing at how you stopped, asked me for a hug, and I was more that happy to oblige! Epic indeed.
Oh, another time, we held onto three seats at the keynote, and we found an enforcer willing to take us over to the door and he convinced the fire marshal guy there that there was room for three more. With our friends standing right there, and us pointing at them, then the marshall turned to three people next to him and waved them in instead.
Later, without any prompting, that same guy apparently got our friends in.
You know, while all the Enforcer love is much appreciated, I want to give a shout out in return to the show attendees and return this virtual applause.
You guys, pretty much across the board, were awesome. I was mostly up in the Console Free Play room, with a few detours to other positions here and there (concert line management, random info guy near the front entrance, and the Podcasting panel), and everyone I dealt with was really nice and very understanding of the systems we had in place to keep the chaos as controlled as possible.
So while we'll certainly accept the pats on the back, make sure you take a second to give one to yourself as well. We were able to have fun and be cool, because you guys were having fun and being cool.
Posts
You guys give a positive meaning to the geek term, "red shirts"!
http://www.logicalcreativity.com/jon/plush/01.html
me, make it easier for Lewie cos he doesn't have to look after me so much. I love you people!
For paintings in progress, check out canvas and paints
"The power of the weirdness compels me."
"One bone broken for every twig snapped underfoot"
-Llanowar punishment for trespassing.
But we also couldn't have been as awesome without you guys being awesome. Whenever I had to squeeze the line, nobody ever gave me any crap for it. On Friday, when it turned out that the P.D. Winterbottom panel wasn't going on right this second, nobody got angry. When we had a super-long line for the Scott Kurtz panel Saturday, everyone seemed in good spirits. Messing around with the guys in the XPlay signing on Sunday, nobody begged and pleaded and whined with me when I said that the line was "Full full". We couldn't've maintained our nice outlook and happy attitudes if we had to deal with jerks every time we turned around!
I have a quick Enforcer related question: Did you guys force the whole theatre to empty out in between panels? I heard that that sometimes happened, but then I also heard about people camping in a particular theatre all day.
I think it would be a little better if the theatres were flushed out in between panels, and that this rule was made clear right at the beginning. You want to see both panels? Too bad, you need to prioritize what you want more, there are people waiting for a seat for hours. It kind of sucks, but seems more fair. That way, Enforcers could walk through the line with a clicker and say "Ok, everyone up to this point gets in, no matter what."
I ended up avoiding panel lineups like the plague out of a few horror stories I heard from people who waited in line for a particular panel and then didn't make it in and I couldn't stand the idea of waiting around for an hour or two (when I could be doing something else) only to NOT see the thing I wanted to see... I don't know if I'm being clear and I don't blame the Enforcers, just maybe somethign to consider for next time around
PAX East Unboxing Parody
Props to the cookie brigade, everyone who was cool to the needs of BYOC access policy, and to all of you who stood in line for either main theater balcony or Manticore theater (never had to crack a whip to any of you patient waiters).
No man should have that kind of power.(Twitter)
Edit: Oh, and as an enforcer at PAX my favorite question(s) had to have been: "Who's Gabe and Tycho?" and "What's a penny-arcade?"
PAX East 2015: -Pass [X] -Hotel [X] -Time off[X]
twitter: acumen101 | fb: fb.com/acumen101
Steam: acumen101 | xbl/psn: caseBlaster101
Organizer of the Post-PAX Party. You should come!
Satellite Theater for life!
And while I'm sure it's been said before, it can't be said enough: you guys were the happiest group of con enforcers I've ever seen. Con staff in a bad mood can kill the whole experience, but you guys kept smiling and laughing even as you were swarmed with duties and running around like madmen. I can't thank you enough for that.
Thanks for letting us know! If anyone knows him personally, please tell him he's got a fan in San Diego!!! And I'd
Time to get personal. Once again, my name-memory is all janked up but if I talked to you ever at all anywhere, rest assured you are awesome. And no, I really don't know what I talked about to anybody, everything I've ever said in my life is crazy top-of-my-head non-sequitor bullshit nonsense - but I remember getting some of you to crack a smile or two so I'll take it!
-Aleks (Cheebus) is the man for adding MrMAG's MM Theme chiptune in the house mix before we played, completely blowing Stem's mind and I believe driving the crowd just a little bit nutso.
-Angel, you are far too much of an overworking dedicated sweetheart for your own good. Knowing that you and like HALF of the enforcers total were really looking forward to watching us play made my heart grow three sizes.
-Also, Angel's lovely ladyfriend who worked through some crazy Sumerian death-cold and didn't let it slow her down at all. Also I forgot your name and feel like a dick =( I remember where you live though, that's something! Right?
-Dee (Zeus) is the most infectiously cheerful and peppy person I have ever met - thank you so much for putting up with my lechery and vile sense of humor (and also for contributing to the bright-tastic mood in the enforcer suite). Feel free to throw some words at my number if you still have it!
-Heels is the fucking man for hooking me up with more guest badges than I'd ever need to compliment the Lime ones my band got. I know we didn't get to chat much, but you're a rad dude through and through.
And that's where my memory gets fuzzy. There was a cool skinny dude in glasses with some sweet facial scruff, a guy in a sweet hat, some nice water-loaning ladies backstage, the rad dude who filled me and MC Front full of libations and cheer in the suite (and helped me overcome my "insomnia headache and sensitivity to light" the next morning) and perhaps the biggest offense to my memory, the 8-foot tall slightly-stuttery glasses-toting sweetheart in charge of making sure the bandstuff went smoothly (sorry to the 1000%!!).
Oh, and the medic that fixed me up when I fell off the stage after our show (PLEASE tell me somebody has footage of that). You are the man and a half!
I'm sure I'm forgetting people. Point is: you guys are complete radical and anybody who says otherwise needs to go soak their head.
xoxo
Kirby
P.S. If any aforementioned hep cats want to pick up a conversation where we left off, feel free to PM or IM or call (well, PM me first if you don't have my number) or Facebook me, we'll do it live on and on til the breaka breaka dawn<3
metroidmetal.com
Incredibly well said.
Many thanks to the cute Enforcer in the glasses and kilt that worked the late shift on the second floor corridor. I'm awful with names, but you made my job so easy this weekend.
--
I enforced just inside the main theatre front door on Saturday Night for VGO, Paul & Storm, and JoCo.
I want to echo how helpful attendees are for making enforcing that much easier. Not only that, but I made nice friends with the Fire Marshall during those few hours. He and other Hynes staff and security made many comments about how well behaved the crowd was, and how they were surprised at how little they had to do while there because everyone was behaving anyway.
At one point he offered to help if someone wasn't playing nice. "If anyone isn't moving for you, you come get me."
Of course, with you guys that was never a concern!
Thank you so much for your appreciation that us Enforcers have received during and after PAX. It really is us that should be thanking all of you Attendees for being some of the most awesome convention goers ever.
Without you, there would not be a need for us. Thank you for all the kind words and for your love of games, Penny-Arcade, and everything else that makes PAX Prime and PAX East so successful.
Here's the future of PAX in Boston!
Cheers!
Vapok
Can't speak for other theatres, but I worked Naga, and we made sure no one got to camp. Enforcer rule was "flush the room, let the panel get situated, then let the new line in. Yes, we had a clicker, and yes, we had a "this many are guaranteed" sort of thing. We cut the guarantee thing short, in case people cut in line outside our notice. Can't let guarantees go bad, can we? We did let people wait in line after the cut-off, in case of people leaving, or the obvious "no one cut in line". We made sure they knew there was a chance they wouldn't get in though. I'd hate to leave people waiting for nothing.
I'm sure the other theatres had no trouble getting the same stuff accomplished. Camping was likely just a rumor. We had a great team this year, and you guys made it really easy to smile and be nice. I remember talking with an early line on Saturday morning, who commented to myself and another enforcer on how nice we were. All I could say was "well, you guys rock. You're single file, not blocking traffic, and not trying to kill each other." I think everyone was happy to be there. We all share the love of games, and red shirt or not, that's what we were at the end of the day. We were peers. Gamers enjoying the awesomeness of PAX.
There was an unspoken mutual respect between pretty much everyone, panelists included. While I was working on lines for the next panel and missing panels I wanted to see (though I still caught some great ones), I got to chat with devs and other VIPs from previous panels. There wasn't a feeling of "ugh, another fan wanting to yak my ear off". It was more like talking to another gamer. "Yeah, I love when games do this, that's why we did this." The City of Heroes devs in particular actually point blank asked me (and others, I saw) "What do YOU want to see in our game?" It was pretty incredible how, no matter what the badge said, everyone was pretty much equal.
This was written by my friend and coworker. Those who caught his badge would know him as "T". He also wrote and sang "What Would Nathan Fillion Do?" Personally, I'm sure he'd kick an ass or two.
You can look for us again next year, because there's no way in hell I'm letting that awesome experience come only once. Thanks to all you guys (Enforcers and attendees) for making that an awesome time for me.
...It's a pity that most of the technology I had planned to bring back to the Flotilla has subsequently tried to kill us.
They were uniformly nice and not-dicks, but I really want to point out two points where an Enforcer went out of her/his way and SAVED the weekend for me.
1) After waiting in line in the queue room for about 40 minutes for the Friday night concert, I step out to use the restroom, leaving my girlfriend in line with my stuff (I forgot about the restroom in the queue room itself, and I wasn't the only one). There is no one watching the queue room door when I leave. When I return 4 minutes later, a Hynes staff member is guarding the door, and will not let me back in. There are at least 3 other people standing there who did the same thing, and would not be let in because they were supposedly "over capacity" (note that the main theater wasn't even full when we finally got in there, so that was a blatant lie). I got into a heated discussion about the subject with the Hynes staffer, who claimed to be the supervisor when I asked for the supervisor, and who was backed up by a woman who wasn't doing anything but standing there, but refused to take me in to prove that my girlfriend was actually in line, saving my spot. There was some yelling from both sides.
An enforcer shows up, and in about 20 seconds flat defuses the altercation and takes me into the queue room. He listens patiently while I continue to yell about how angry I am. Then I apologized to him and thanked him. I'm glad that PAX and our money won't be returning to Hynes ever again, and I love the enforcers.
2) A little over an hour after the previous event, they finally let us out of the queue room for the concert. However, the guidance of the line breaks down after we are herded up an escalator (or maybe I was too dumb to see obvious directions) and me and my GF get lost on the 2nd floor. An Enforcer sees us and asks if she can help. She leads us up to the main theater and makes sure we get our place back in line, soothing our panic all the way there. She was the one in charge of making sure the other Enforcers eat, she said, so if you know who she is, give her a cookie.
There were a number of other instances where Enforcers made everything better, but these two really stuck out.
I cannot thank the Enforcers enough.
PS: Oh, and if you see an Enforcer named Charles, ask him about a Great Big Moose.
Extra hearts for my favorite enforcer, Quicksnap, for being super awesome.
Love Pokemon? Going to PAX Prime/East/Aus/South? Challenge the PAX Pokemon League!!!
I want to give a shout out to the utilikilt enforcer who made the Paul & Storm show even better. We chatting with him in the hallway while waiting for the concert & the Bill Amend Panel. He rocked the kilt & horns.
There was an enforcer helping to clear & set up the stage during Saturday's concert. We refereed to him as Dominic Monaghan or Merry. He would just break out into dance. He was instrumental in the huge wave during the lull after VGO.
I was amazed how every male enforcer was unique in what they were wearing along with their red shirt. By the end of the three days, most were sporting some funky hat.
That's probably Morte, who is basically Mom (well, one of the Moms!) to the enforcers. Morte rocks.
PAX East Unboxing Parody
Awesome...Huge props to him, particularly at the closing ceremony, where he helped make a spot for those of us with disability passes on the fly so we would have the metal fencing between us and the ravenous hordes. I saw him a few times directing traffic and helping clear the halls too and, as someone in a wheelchair, I appreciated that a ton too, since it got rather tough to navigate at times when that wasn't happening.
world attaching the electrodes of knowledge to the nipples
of ignorance?" - John Lithgow, 3rd Rock from the Sun
Later, without any prompting, that same guy apparently got our friends in.
You guys, pretty much across the board, were awesome. I was mostly up in the Console Free Play room, with a few detours to other positions here and there (concert line management, random info guy near the front entrance, and the Podcasting panel), and everyone I dealt with was really nice and very understanding of the systems we had in place to keep the chaos as controlled as possible.
So while we'll certainly accept the pats on the back, make sure you take a second to give one to yourself as well. We were able to have fun and be cool, because you guys were having fun and being cool.
--Ash