It’s been a while since I managed to get onto my soapbox and talk about something that’s been irking me a bit. So let’s see what I can do….
Wait a moment…
*digs through random pile of crap behind him*
Hmmm….where is it?
*pulls out Shilo’s old mask*
Nope…
*throws the old message boards over his head*
Ah! There it is!
*grabs old soapbox, dusts it off and throws it down in front of him*
Now, with that out of my way, I’ve been wanting to discuss this for a while. I’ve wanted to let people know my thoughts on what has become almost standard in the game we call e-fedding. But I’ve always hesitated. Where is it really my place to do it? It’s harmless. It’s an extra. You don’t need to do it. You don’t have to do it. It really just is supplementary. But then it started to affect storylines. It started to be brought up in roleplays. It started to mean something. And after one of the latest storyline points here in SCW, the Regan Street injury and subsequent SCW World Championship and Women’s Championship announcements, I just found myself shaking my head. Yes, that’s right….TWITTER.
I am going to rant on Twitter.
Now let’s get a couple of things out of the way early. I realize some people are going to say, what the hell are you caring what we do on twitter. You can ignore me. Go for it. It really doesn’t affect much in terms of pure wins and losses, but it can become a hindrance and a problem and I’ll go into it.
I’ll also make clear a personal opinion of mine: I think the use of Twitter in e-fedding has hurt the game significantly.
There are plenty great things about it. It can be used to promote feds. It can be used for recruiting. It can be used to quickly update some of the big news in a given fed. It can allow immediate response to an event (I’ll get to this later) and it can allow further interaction between characters. All of those things, in and of themselves, are great. The problem is…I’d say only 5% of people do those things. And that’s if I don’t know math, I round up, and I think 5 is less than 3.
The majority of people have used it as a way to vicariously live through this character. They have full conversations. They update each other. I’ve seen people have DATES over twitter. I think people need to be reminded what Twitter itself is. It’s a format that allows someone to give a 140 character (or less) blurb, reaction, message about something. 140 characters. Let me stress that again.
140 Characters!!!!
Unfortunately, I see people writing the equivalent of full damn promos on Twitter. I’ve seen people have comments that span six or seven twitter posts just so they can rant about something.
Between these promo-like posts, between people using twitter as significant character development, between people seemingly ALWAYS being online on the damn thing, and between people knowing they aren’t judged on it, I think a lot of people have misused this wonderful invention. Allow me to explain some of my issues with these things in my usual whimsical (and cynical) fashion.
I LOVE YOU! YOU’RE MY SOULMATE! GOD I CAN’T WAIT TO SEE YOU NAKED! WHO CARES IF WE’RE IN THE SAME BED RIGHT NOW! I WANT TO TWEET INSTEAD!
Have you ever been out and you get annoyed when the individual you’re out with pulls out their cell phone to check a text message or to tweet or check their profile on some social website? I always laugh when I open up the SCW twitter and see people essentially detailing their entire date, or plans or what have you. Sharing some flirting is not what I’m getting to. But I’ve seen people write characters tweeting their flirting when one of those characters has established THEY ARE IN THE SAME GOD DAMNED ROOM!
This is just beyond stupid.
People have full character development pieces that they could use for roleplays happening NIGHTLY on Twitter. They are using twitter to essentially provide these pieces. And in the process, they are making people sick of them quickly. Why not just have a couple of messages with some flirting? That’s fair. But then I come up with another thought….Do people not swap phone numbers anymore?
Like seriously, the amount of personal crap I’ve seen broadcast on Twitter, I all of a sudden realized a number of the wrestlers on the roster (male and female) are a selfie-picture scandal waiting to happen. Some people broadcast some intimate details about their relationship with someone on twitter…and I’m talking something they’d share with their boyfriend or girlfriend (or wife/husband/mistress/flavour of the week)…and my reaction is…do they not have text messaging? This really is just a form of escapism and a little of it to me is not a problem. I think a lot of people however take it too far.
SOMEONE GOT A SHOT I WANTED! I LOVE/HATE THAT PERSON…WAIT A MINUTE…I KICKED THEIR DOG AND I JUST SAID IT’S A SHAME…
Go back to when Rachel Foxx was announced as the challenger for the World Championship. Look at how many people were so sympathetic to Regan Street. Look at how many people congratulated Rachel wholeheartedly. Look at how many people took their characters and through them out the window.
Seriously, as someone who reads virtually everyone’s roleplays, very few people actually acted like their characters should have acted AS THEY ESTABLISHED THEM. And this is an isolated incident. But I see it happen all the time. Everyone is friends with everyone. Everyone wants to sleep with everyone. The problem is that when you establish your character’s twitter is IN CHARACTER, you can’t all of a sudden break that just because you like someone.
Go back five years ago. Before Twitter was “a thing.” Immediate reaction was captured in character development posts on the “Owner’s Office” or on the Character Development Board. You’d have a couple paragraph long posts, with quick responses, either asking for a match, wanting to challenge for a title, wanting revenge, what have you. In one of the benefits of twitter, this has been removed in favour of moving it to that platform. However in the process ,I think a lot of people forgot to think like their characters. People will be civil to sworn enemies. They’ll all of a sudden go on a tirade. They’ll bash someone who technically is their ally. Are these OOC feelings coming? I don’t know. Are these just people thinking that’s the best and then not realizing…oops…Or is it people feeling they HAVE to respond because well, there’s a twitter account my character has? I think a lot of people need to think through some of their tweets. And this gets me to another related point.
HOLY CRAP YOU PEOPLE ARE SO DAMN UNLIKEABLE.
Half the time, after I read twitter after major events, I honestly would get the idea that 98% of the roster are horrible people. People that deserve to have garbage thrown on them at every show. So many people are just bitter and complain all the time. So many people bash and attack and insult. So many people belittle and only promote themselves. It’s one thing if they’re a massive arrogant heel. But so many faces just become downright unlikeable. I don’t want to cheer them. I want to see them get slaughtered in the ring and shut up. That’s not good. That’s not a good sign.
Again, to illustrate this point, go back to when Rachel Foxx was announced as the new challenger for the World Championship…go through some of the reactions. How many people just come off as the same. Most people react the same (immediately criticize, yell, scream, cry foul, demand title shot and then eventually come to terms. It’s like they’re mourning) And then pull up Katie Steward’s. I’m going to commend the handler. Her reaction to Rachel on twitter was arguably the most true to character tweet I read all day (a few people calmed down and remembered they’re playing a character far later in the evening). But read it. Katie Steward has been a “good guy” for only a couple of months. But she gave two logical tweets, that showed a tension with Rachel Foxx and in the process made me applaud the character. Well done. I wish more people would think things through on the platform.
And there’s a reason why I wish this…
It’s simple…
If it’s fair game for character development or promos, it should be for shows and the problem is that I do legitimately want to try and work in some things on twitter in to the shows. I want to use it more widely and give it a presence that embellishes feuds, rivalries, characters and the like. The problem is that there is often so much crap to just wade through. And often, it motivates me to come up with situations where people who are best friends, but really shouldn’t be because of given storylines, to put them in a situation that FORCES them to react. People use twitter too often to converse with other characters, often that they have no business conversing with. And on top of that, it muddies the waters only too much.
Take the CHBK/Trinity Street attack where the match with Simon Lyman for Rise to Greatness X was set up. Kennedy Street and Dawn Lohan were buddy-buddy with Regan Street, David Helms, Tommy Valentine, etc. on Twitter. After…not anymore. It’s not that I am critical of casual conversation and even an indifference amongst people (even if you hate that one creepy guy at work, you still probably say hi when you pass by him in the hallway). It’s more that people who are established good guys are dating bad guys and making it clear. Again, it comes down to what the twitter is used for. If you’re using it for character development and based on your character and you’re selling storylines, you have to realize the issue it creates. Especially since if I note one thing on twitter on the show and even make it a part of a storyline, just as notable, I may be forced to mention something else (especially if you’re opponent makes it a big deal).
And all of this comes down to some fundamental changes in the game. Twitter has most notably allowed feds to move away from those threads that involve people challenging for matches on the Character Development Board. Roleplays are now almost always for matches. There’s little character development outside of matches and shows because Twitter allows one to do that so well.
However…
It has also I think changed the game negatively. It waters down characters. It burns through ideas. It can even ruin characters, but it also can lead to problems between handlers (If they have a fight on twitter, and it becomes serious, should it then be explained in roleplays? On a show? Technically, it’s fair game…etc.). But I think it has led to a further problem.
A lot of people spend an obscene amount of time on Twitter. And I’m talking hours, possibly all 24 of them in a given day, tweeting. They’re responding to other characters. They’re having full conversations. They’re cutting promos. They’re establishing a new sexual relationship. They’re cultivating important business contacts. I don’t know. They are. Some people are seriously on there all the time. It’s great. They’re living vicariously through their character and having some fun. But there are some problems with it.
1) You can become burnt out about the character. You’re putting on a hat and trying to think like that character. If you have multiple characters, you’re jumping around. It can be fun, but it can also be tiring.
2) Think about how much time some people spend tweeting…and then consider what could happen if that time was spent writing a roleplay.
What would happen if two people who are exploring their new found relationship on twitter took time away and wrote some of that for a roleplay. What if people took that seven tweet post that was a promo about how they hate someone and turned it into part of a promo. What if people didn’t get into twitter wars daily and then essentially go through a promo battle in an hour and held those ideas for a promo war in a match.
When people have come to me with issues of burnout or a lack of ideas, sometimes it is what it is. But I do think that Twitter can have a role to play. I think that there are some people who burn through so many ideas, even just how they interact with people, or how they respond, they don’t know how to roleplay. Add that I honestly feel a lot of people don’t adequately vet their tweets, to make sure it’s true to their character or that, hey, if it comes up in a promo against me, I can deal with it. Or I can have some fun with it. I see it being a drain on people’s creative juices. As someone who spends time trying to get into character’s heads when I write a promo on a show or what not, I know how tiring that can be. I can only imagine what it can do over time. Add that in some cases, it can lead people to get disenchanted with a character…it can be a timesink in the worst way and worst of all…there’s no gain in terms of success or failure in terms of roleplays. It’s just garnish. It’s extra.
Twitter is a drain in many ways. People naturally like getting the last word. People expend a lot of time. People hurt their characters. But this is not to say this can’t change.
A lot of people may have an issue with me taking issue with something that I’ve noted is extra. And that’s fine. It’s a hobby, a game, and it is extra and feel free to ignore me. It’s more that as someone who does use Twitter to augment storylines, I am giving you a glimpse into some of my concerns. Add that people have used Twitter in their roleplays, it only goes further to the point that people use whatever they think can help them in a roleplay (the shows, the bio, previous posts, and now twitter).
So do I have any suggestions to perhaps make Twitter more beneficial?
1) Limit your time. For those who are on their regularly, I realize many may check it at work. But for those who do it when they’re home, see if you may be encouraged to spend that time to write a roleplay. Who knows? You may post earlier. We may have fewer requests for deadline extensions. We may have more promo wars and people who have tighter schedules may realize they have more free time.
2) Limit how many posts you make. Seriously. I will normally, if I become active on it with a character, I’ll only respond if I feel the character would have something great to say about it, or his words help. Otherwise, I often will make a couple of posts and return to just watching my feed or doing something else.
3) Realize that the limit is 140 Characters. Avoid cutting promos. Use those character well and you may find yourself saving ideas for later.
4) Think logically about what people ACTUALLY use twitter for. I’m not talking your characters or even businesses. I’m talking normal everyday people. Do they have full conversations? Do they read love poems? They often make some observations, have some casual meaningless conversations, or post randomness. You may find yourself saving ideas for roleplays.
This whole rant is more about me trying to take what I see is a big problem people don’t realize they have. I see promos wasted, characters hurt, and time that could be spent for roleplaying (or hell, even taking some time off! Something I think people forget about!) being spent on responding to fourteen million tweets or hoping people ask them pointless questions so they can have a fake shoot interview over twitter (Don’t get me started on that ridiculous trend).
Twitter should be fun. But it can also enhance. I think a lot of people are having fun…but they don’t realize that if they want twitter to be a big thing in e-fedding, they need to ensure that that second thing happens. To put it another way, I see other feds retweeting other people’s tweets to help promote storylines, feuds, shows and the like. How often have you see the SCW twitter account do the same?