User:Julzhernandez03/sandbox

GX3: Everyone Games
In April 2014, just a few months before GaymerX's second annual appearance, organizers explained through Twitter that due to multiple issues including budgeting concerns, GaymerX2 (the "2" was added onto the name to symbolize that this was the second time the event was running) "will be the last for the foreseeable future".

A Kickstarter page for the convention's third event in 2015, now titled GX3: Everyone Games, was created on August 2014 with a goal of $80, 000. In 24 days the Kickstarter raised $97, 917 - close to $8000 more than the intended goal. Many developers have donated to the page, including major company Blizzard Entertainment, most known for the Diablo, Starcraft and Warcraft games, who donated $10, 000. The event's Kickstarter page confirmed that guests Ellen McLain (voice of computer GLaDOS from the game Portal), John Patrick Lowrie (voice of Sniper from Team Fortress 2), and Zach Weinersmith (author and illustrator of webcomic Saturday Morning Breakfast Cereal) will be reappearing.

Westboro Baptist Church
Controversial group Westboro Baptist Church pushed GaymerX into mainstream media when they announced plans to protest at the convention. A couple of Tweets have been posted on the group's Twitter page in August 2012 by member Rebekah Phelps-Roper, who is the niece of Fred Phelps, the late founder of Westboro. One Tweet stated that GaymerX, which was called GaymerCon at the time, was a "fag-focused gaming convention". The Tweets also included links to a video published by the group, fashioned in the style of a news report, condemning the convention and explaining why the event was worth picketing, saying that "fag filth is being intentionally called out and crammed down our throats" and that "there's about as much need for a fag-specific gaming convention as there is a fag-specific fashion week, or a fags-only interior designer showcase". The video has since been deleted, but has been re-uploaded on multiple websites. Nearly a year later, on July 2013 and just a few weeks before the convention's debut, the group took to Twitter again to re-announce that they going to picket the event. GaymerCon organizers responded to Westboro by hiring security to ensure the safety of themselves and the convention's attendees.

Westboro ended up not appearing at the convention.

Name Changes
The event was first called GaymerCon, but the name was changed to GaymerX. On December 24, 2012, Matt Conn, cofounder and the convention's creative director, made the announcement on YouTube and went on to clarify that trademark issues were the reasons behind the change. Conn explained that the name GaymerCon looked and sounded too close to Gam3rCon, another gaming convention run by people he did not name. He and the other organizers have been trying to negotiate a licensing deal, but ultimately they decided that the deal itself would cost too much and the funds would be better off spent on the actual convention so the name was ultimately changed to avoid further disputes.

After two successful conventions, the name has been shortened from GaymerX to GX3 for the fall or winter of 2015 when the event runs for its third time. "Gaymer", a term usually used to describe a gay person who plays video games, could be seen as exclusive only to people who identify as homosexual. GaymerX claimed to be a place where anyone from the LGBTQ community and even others who felt like they were in the minority (more specifically women and people of colour, two other groups who are not represented fairly in video games ) could feel safe and included. The convention organizers became aware of this, and went on to explain on their Kickstarter page that even though they will still be known as GaymerX, the name will be abbreviated and more commonly known as GX so the event can represent "everyone who feels like they've been left out of mainstream gamer culture".