It has been a long time since I last decided to voice some of my opinions on various trends I\u2019ve noticed in e-fedding. I have decided to keep quiet for a long time despite a growing list of significant problematic trends I\u2019ve noticed people tend to include in their work and in every case, it tends to frequently undermine the effectiveness of their work, or, take good\u00a0roleplays\u00a0and make them torturous to read. I frequently tell people that if you follow the suggestions I make in these\u00a0columns, that\u00a0I don\u2019t guarantee that you\u2019ll be more successful. It merely gives you\u00a0a better chance. Well, I\u2019ve chosen to change that phrasing a bit. Should one choose to continue moving towards problematic trends, I can guarantee that when you\u2019re\u00a0roleplaying\u00a0against some of the more consistent and higher quality\u00a0roleplayers, you\u2019re going to have limited\u00a0success.<\/p>\n
I realize e-fedding\u00a0is a game and that\u2019s perfectly fine. At the same time, these columns are to help you out and let you know what pisses me off. And just remember, if I want to throw myself out a tall building and into steel spikes while reading your\u00a0roleplay, I\u2019m going to be very critical. I\u2019m always very critical…but I\u2019ll be more critical. And when I want to bang my head off the wall and slip away into unconsciousness while reading your\u00a0roleplay, I tend to lose patience for these things.<\/p>\n
So with that said, let\u2019s let the list of stuff that makes me want to dive in front of speeding traffic\u00a0begin. But before I start, I will just note this. Each of the items I am mentioning, I do not intend to single anyone out. Every item on this list I have noticed at least two or more people do this in the last month and with all of the\u00a0roleplays\u00a0I have read since the start of the year, I\u2019d dare suggest each of these items appear weekly in the mass of\u00a0roleplays\u00a0I have to read.\u00a0Note why I call them trends.<\/p>\n
So…drumroll\u00a0please…..<\/p>\n
I know everything about you…I read your bio that you wrote in 2005.<\/strong><\/p>\n I don\u2019t want to count the amount of times that I\u2019ve read people\u2019s promos and you can immediately tell that the majority of their information they use is from their opponent\u2019s bio. Now, this I can forgive if you\u2019re new to the fed and you really don\u2019t know the people involved. It\u2019s always tough to come into a new fed and take on opponents that have been established in the fed. However, after the first few weeks, this method really shouldn\u2019t be used as the main focus of your promo. Nor should it be used to start off a promo or end it.\u00a0A random fact…sure.\u00a0But beyond that, the fact of the matter is that bios can be misleading. Sometimes they aren\u2019t always edited up to date and frequently, people change their characters slightly as time passes.<\/p>\n But there is another better reason….<\/p>\n See.\u00a0\u00a0A lot of people probably wonder what feds have shows to forward storylines. I state this because there are a lot of people who you would swear forget that they actually play characters that are on weekly television. USE THE SHOWS. That\u2019s what they are there for. Take a few recent shows, press CTRL+F and find your opponent\u2019s name and catch up on any storylines going on. If you\u2019re not sure, ask me. Ask someone else in the fed. Get a second opinion.\u00a0Anything that may help you out.<\/p>\n The problem is that when you spend seven milliseconds researching your opponent (aka go to their bio and then maybe read the last show), you make dumb mistakes. You mistake people in their\u00a0roleplays\u00a0for having larger (or smaller) roles in their lives. You mention allies that they are no longer involved with. You talk about things they did months ago and they\u2019ve taken a completely different route since then. Not only are you just wrong, but your character looks like an idiot and you discredit quite a bit of your promo. Take an extra two minutes and pull up the shows. All of them are linked on the archives page, or if I\u2019m taking my time with updating them, go to the feedback page and all of the links are there. They are also on the news page.<\/p>\n How do I write the best promo? I talk like a bunch of high school kids.<\/strong><\/p>\n This one pisses me off.\u00a0\u00a0A lot of people write gay jokes in their\u00a0roleplays\u00a0and kid around with their opponent in that way. Someone does something odd in their\u00a0roleplay\u00a0or on the show and an off-hand comment is an easy way to throw a joke out there and try and get under your opponent\u2019s skin.<\/p>\n But what pisses me off is when people write their entire promo and ALL they include are repeated gay jokes. You can\u2019t read two sentences without another one being thrown at you. This isn\u2019t clever. This isn\u2019t creative. It\u2019s lazy. It\u2019s pathetic. And honestly, if I want to get better delivery, I\u2019ll just walk to a high school and listen to some kids pick on someone during lunch.<\/p>\n Most of the time,\u00a0roleplays\u00a0like these just tell me all you know how to do is essentially revert back to high school and bash them on something that is based on nothingness. It tells me that you don\u2019t have time to actually write a thoughtful or effective promo and you\u2019re lazy.<\/p>\n And I\u2019ll give people another tip: I\u2019ve yet to read a good promo that hinges on making gay jokes.\u00a0EVER.\u00a0Six years I\u2019ve been judging\u00a0roleplays\u00a0and I\u2019ve never read a good promo that is primarily made of gay jokes. And yet, WEEKLY I see two or three people take this route.<\/p>\n Allow me to explain what a promo does (more on this will be expanded on later): A promo PROMOTES the match. How do gay jokes do that? To give another example, how does calling one of the female wrestlers a whore for the eighteenth consecutive week do that? And most of the time, it\u2019s not even a creative joke. It\u2019s the same crap I can hear from teenagers talking to their friends. And yet people keep going to it.<\/p>\n As I said, the off-hand\u00a0joke\u00a0because someone does something that you just go \u201cReally? Did I just read that?\u201d,\u00a0is forgivable and particularly if you\u2019re looking for a more comedic approach can be legitimate in your promo. But if you have several, I would step back and rethink things. If you have several paragraphs continuing to dwell on it, I would stop and go back to the drawing board.<\/p>\n Continuity, people!<\/strong><\/p>\n Something happens on a show. They are thrown off the roof of the building and eaten by crocodiles and all of it is caught on tape. Their tag partner writes a\u00a0roleplay\u00a0the next day and they are perfectly fine and in fact, are running a marathon. Anything you see wrong with this picture?<\/p>\n I\u2019ve taken an absolutely absurd situation, but while I don\u2019t expect people to have a hospital\u00a0roleplay\u00a0after getting beat down, but if you\u2019re in a storyline and you get injured on the show, maybe work out with anyone who may work with your character how you want your character to be portrayed.\u00a0The same with tag partners.\u00a0WORK TOGETHER. It doesn\u2019t take long. Even a brief reminder to their Inbox on the boards may be enough for them to go…hey…wait..I have an idea and it can help him out too.<\/p>\n A lot of people DON\u2019T have continuity. A lot of people will have themselves and their tag partner, for example, in different cities, but they\u2019re meeting together easily. At one point, I remember three people\u00a0roleplaying\u00a0for one match, had three different\u00a0roleplays\u00a0(with time included in each), all having their characters and their partners in three different cities all at the same time. This stuff just drives me nuts. It\u2019s an easy way to impress me. If you\u2019re on the same page with any of your allies or partners, you can help each other out more (as you\u2019ll all be working on each other\u2019s storylines and\u00a0backstorys) but you\u2019ll show teamwork and maybe come up with more ideas. Follow storylines and even just ask them what they are doing in\u00a0roleplays\u00a0if you\u2019re planning on using them or they\u2019re planning on using you.<\/p>\n You suck as a champion. The title sucks too. But I\u2019ll change that.<\/strong><\/p>\n This is perhaps the one thing that actually gets me to stop reading\u00a0roleplays. Let me just point something out to people who like to belittle champions by saying \u201cThey never deserved it. You\u2019re a crap champion. You suck. I\u2019m coming to save the belt and bring it back to greatness.\u201d<\/p>\n You cut that promo. You then walk into the match and beat the champion for the title. What do you prove?<\/p>\n I\u2019ll give you a bit to consider this question.<\/p>\n .<\/p>\n .<\/p>\n .<\/p>\n .<\/p>\n Have you thought about\u00a0it.<\/p>\n Well, in case you\u2019re still having difficulty with the question, I\u2019ll just give you the answer:<\/p>\n NOTHING!<\/span><\/p>\n You have proven nothing.<\/p>\n Why? Because you have just publically belittled the champion by stating he never deserved the title. He belittled the title. But more importantly, you beat\u00a0a nobody\u00a0for the title. So effectively, you\u2019ve given yourself a case to be called an undeserving champion (and technically, one that you argued in favour for). So when you win the title, you\u2019re actually just continuing the trend of being an undeserving champion. You beat someone who allegedly never\u00a0deserve\u00a0to hold the title in the first place for the piece of tin. Either way…you beat someone who never deserved it and thus you don\u2019t deserve it.<\/p>\n This drives me insane.<\/p>\n You don\u2019t have to be giving them all the respect in the world. You don\u2019t have to be in love with them to get around this. You just have to be more careful about burying your opponent. You can suggest that they have fallen from grace. You can suggest they aren\u2019t going as strong as they were. But NEVER bury your opponent by saying you don\u2019t deserve to be there, especially in a title match (I\u2019d say ever, personally). This is something I laugh at because I guarantee that at least 60% of the promos I read bury their opponent. So at the end, if they win, they beat a nothing in their eyes. If they lose, they were beaten by a nothing. Thus…it\u2019s\u00a0lose\/lose no matter what the result is.<\/p>\n As I said earlier, the\u00a0purpose of promos are\u00a0to promote the match. Promote the match. Promote yourself. Promote your opponent. You should be making your opponent look credible enough, especially if it\u2019s a title match, to help your own legacy out. You don\u2019t have to be buddy-buddy as I said or go fishing with them. Just don\u2019t bury them.<\/p>\n Gimmicks suck. Yours sucks especially.<\/strong><\/p>\n I\u2019m not even going to get into the fact that this often is based off of people\u2019s character development and then\u00a0is\u00a0just stupid to go after it.<\/p>\n But instead, I\u2019m going to just show you why every time I see people go off this argument, I laugh out loud. Some people criticize gimmicks in their\u00a0roleplays. That\u2019s fine….except there is a problem.<\/p>\n EVERYONE IN THIS FED HAS A GIMMICK. EVERYONE! INCLUDING THE PERSON SAYING THAT!<\/em><\/p>\n Because these people attack people\u2019s on-screen (and often off-screen) personas, they have suggested that a gimmick is how their opponent acts in the vaguest sense. But even if you don\u2019t accept that point, every time every character has a promo or is on the show, they are performing a gimmick. Even if it is that all they do is wrestle. That\u2019s a gimmick. Even if they are \u201cjust being themselves,\u201d that\u2019s a gimmick. Wrestling is an industry of gimmicks. Every wrestler has a gimmick. A gimmick isn\u2019t just T.R. Steele the Iron Worker from Pittsburgh or something over the top. It can be simple or subtle. So by attacking gimmicks, you\u2019re just looking like a complete moron.<\/p>\n But then there is the other part that often comes out of this….your gimmick sucks or your gimmick isn\u2019t creative. It\u2019s a copy.<\/p>\n Now…I have followed wrestling extensively. I consider myself a wrestling historian. I am going to make an argument right now. There has not been a new gimmick since the 1960s. There have always been bad\u00a0asses. There have always been American Heroes. There\u00a0have always been the flamboyant heel. There\u00a0have always been the grizzled veteran. And so on…Every gimmick we see today used in e-fedding\u00a0or in real wrestling, you can find a precursor to. So by stating something is uncreative, a lot of the time, I can just turn around and say the same to you. This is again a lazy form of attack and really just isn\u2019t effective. No one writes this intentionally to be hypocritical. They do this as a serious attack in their promos against their opponent. If it was hypocritical (note Josh Hudson\u2019s gimmick in the second half of 2008), then this promo can be effective at times. But rarely do I see people do this (and please don\u2019t start to do this just because I said it to get around it). So it comes off as just completely moronic and just falls flat as an attack because of the fact that you could drive a bus through the argument.<\/p>\n But…we\u2019re writing promos…not trying to win a debating contest.<\/p>\n So be it. I can accept that point. But, as I say that, there is another reason I hate this. Most of the time, I can take out the name of your opponent and apply it to ANYONE else in the fed. Even if there are specific references, they are usually very few and minor. They hardly are vicious verbal blows to your opponent. They are just \u201cHa!\u00a0So there!\u201d jabs that are just annoying but really serve nothing.\u00a0Do yourself a favour…take an extra ten minutes and do something a bit more directed to your opponent. I make no secret that I prefer promos that are directed to your opponent. If I can just take your opponents name and play fill in the blanks with your promo, I\u2019m probably not going to care for it.<\/p>\n All of these things are things I see consistently. I hope people at least shy away from these things. As always, there are exceptions, but they are rare and even more rarely well executed in that fashion.<\/p>\n People who have talked about me about judging will note that I like to say that I always would prefer to judge a close match between two individuals who have written one effective\u00a0roleplay\u00a0each than two people who have maxed out but written okay stuff. It\u2019s quality over quantity.<\/p>\n ALWAYS<\/span><\/p>\n …and all of the matters I have noted above have at some point in the last six months cost someone a big match. I always love to judge\u00a0roleplays\u00a0that are thoughtful, explore with the characters, promote matches\/storylines, but also avoid clich\u00e9s and being lazy. I then have to decide who is better. The problem is that when people fall into traps and get lazy, I often find myself judging who is worse, not who is better. And trust me, it\u2019s a lot more enjoyable for me to debate who is better than to figure out who screwed up more.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" It has been a long time since I last decided to voice some of my opinions on various trends I\u2019ve noticed in e-fedding. I have decided to keep quiet for a long time despite a growing list of significant problematic trends I\u2019ve noticed people tend to include in their work and in every case, it […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[2,3],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.supremecw.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/196"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.supremecw.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.supremecw.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.supremecw.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.supremecw.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=196"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.supremecw.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/196\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.supremecw.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=196"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.supremecw.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=196"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.supremecw.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=196"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}