This time of the year is always a busy one for SCW, but the fact of the matter is that we all have times where real life gets us down or takes up all of our time and then we have to\u00a0roleplay\u00a0on top of that. But as in writing and the creative process, everyone goes through periods of writer\u2019s block and\u00a0have\u00a0no ideas or they have a string of weeks where they just don\u2019t feel like roleplaying and it becomes a chore. Sometimes you luck out and you have storyline that sparks something and you\u2019re right back in there. Sometimes you see it in a dream and poof, all is good again. Sometimes you watch a movie and recite the entire plot in fourteen seconds for a\u00a0roleplay\u00a0idea\u2026..<\/p>\n
Please avoid the last one for my sake.<\/p>\n
But all of us suffer through it,\u00a0myself\u00a0included. I\u2019ve been writing a show in some capacity every week, whether it\u2019s been as the main writer or as the ideas\/storyline taskmaster for eight years. I\u2019ve had bad weeks. I\u2019ve had months where I just don\u2019t feel anything. What I\u2019m talking about\u2026.<\/p>\n
BURNOUT!<\/p>\n
And no, not the Real Speed\u2019s finishing move.<\/p>\n
Burnout =\u00a0The\u00a0feeling of tiredness or\u00a0blahness\u00a0towards roleplaying; a prolonged lack of ideas; the turning of what was once a fun hobby into what feels like a chore and no foreseeable way out.<\/em><\/p>\n Now, a lot of people would sit here and tell you ways to fix it and that\u2019s that and then they\u2019d go, have a pint, and relax, hoping not to melt in the summer sun.<\/p>\n But I\u2019m far nicer than that. See, over eight years of running SCW, I have seen a LOT of people suffer through burnout. You\u2019re not alone and I guarantee on any\u00a0give\u00a0week, someone on the roster is suffering through it. There are ways to deal with it, but I think it\u2019s more important to realize the causes as often people just concede defeat and take time off without realizing it may just be a simpler fix, especially if they love the game or used to and just are going through a rough patch.<\/p>\n But first off, you need to realize something else. This is DIFFERENT from having a bad week. EVERYONE has them. This is usually something over several roleplaying periods where you just struggle to come up with anything or\u00a0your know\u00a0your quality is less and you just don\u2019t know what to do. This is also different from another problem that is based off consistency which may see someone have a great run for a few months before tapering off and being more average. That\u2019s also not burnout. More just suffering a great story and not being able to follow it up (another problem every\u00a0roleplayer\u00a0and writer goes through)<\/p>\n This is, as I\u2019ve mentioned, a prolonged struggle to find motivation or write a\u00a0roleplay\u00a0over several roleplaying periods.<\/p>\n So that said, what may some of the causes\u00a0be:<\/p>\n 1)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Overbooking yourself<\/strong><\/p>\n In general, this is probably the most common. Some people want to be booked for every roleplaying period or in some insane cases, every show. They want to have a bunch of matches. But often, this means, especially if you like to max out, three\u00a0roleplays\u00a0for every match. Twelve a month. That adds up and is a lot of time spent writing and a lot of time taken up in general. You may have a busy week and then don\u2019t get the sleep you need, the ideas don\u2019t come out, the execution is even worse and it all falls apart and you find yourself frustrated instead of enjoying the game.<\/p>\n 2)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Too many characters<\/strong><\/p>\n This is one a lot of people don\u2019t consider, but it can happen. Personally, I don\u2019t feel most\u00a0roleplayers\u00a0can handle more than two characters well and that\u2019s if they have the time. Some can do more, but that\u2019s their prerogative. Ultimately, I book all as I see fit because I can. But some people burn through a lot of ideas this way and this is exacerbated if you\u2019re foolish enough to run two characters that are very similar. You use ideas you could use for one character on the other, you burn through the ideas even faster and you start writing how your character wants to fight crime in hot pink spandex while you drool on the keyboard hoping something else will come. This leads to repetitiveness in both of your\u00a0roleplays\u00a0and very limited differentiation. This is one reason that I suggest people, if they are going to bring in a second character, they either have a specific plan, or they are different enough from their other character.<\/p>\n 3)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Feedback baiting<\/strong><\/p>\n I may tick off a few with this one, but I really think people don\u2019t realize how damaging this can be. I have seen, THIS YEAR ALONE, at least 10 people go from being great\u00a0roleplayers\u00a0to being average. These people are usually the people that ask me for feedback after EVERY match, without fail and\u00a0I\u00a0usually can time it and place bets in Vegas and make triple my money. That\u2019s how consistently they do it. Now, I should clarify:\u00a0I am always happy to give feedback.\u00a0BUT\u2026.what\u00a0are\u00a0you looking for? One match should not make or break what you do and a lot of people do that. Something doesn\u2019t pan out or their promo is a bit off. They had a weak promo for one week, for whatever reason (Didn\u2019t feel the match, the storyline or just didn\u2019t have much ammunition against their opponent). Their first chapter of their new story fell flat. Whatever the negative reason is, whatever criticism I provide, I usually notice that\u2019s the first thing that changes the following week. And then again the following match and so on and so forth.<\/p>\n This is why I always suggest\u00a0to write\u00a0for yourself. You have to remember, not everything is going to come easily and I\u2019ve written segments that when I came up with the idea, it seemed great and then when I went to write it, it didn\u2019t come out as I hoped or the segment just wasn\u2019t as good or a promo I wrote was shorter or what have you. It happens. Also, this is why I generally dislike giving feedback on one\u00a0roleplay\u00a0and prefer to give feedback over a larger number. People have a tendency to panic. Instead of going \u201cOkay, I had a weak instalment.\u00a0Got to bounce back\u201d or \u201cNo problem.\u00a0I knew starting it would be rough, but it will be worth it,\u201d they go \u201cOH SHIT! OH SHIT! He hated it! CHANGE EVERYTHING! ALERT! ALERT!\u201d and they panic and change everything or they mess with their story they had planned or whatever. They burn through more ideas and then when those work or don\u2019t work, they panic further. And then usually they get burnt out because they don\u2019t know what to do, instead of from the get go, staying the course, taking the criticism as just that, criticism. They are not rules that get you into heaven or hell. They are just my thoughts on it. You can take them or leave them. Sometimes it\u2019s also just something simple. Allow me to remind people of another basic fact about roleplaying: IT IS RELATIVE. If I take your work, no matter what I think of it and place it up against different\u00a0roleplays, my opinion will change to some extent. I will think someone did one thing better than you, while that same thing they did better, you may outdo someone else. It\u2019s not hard and fast where if you do A + B = WIN. Your opponent could have a great week or have a fantastic idea and they executed it well or they have a phenomenal promo while you had good work and it was just overshadowed. It doesn\u2019t mean it sucked. It just means it wasn\u2019t good enough for the win this week. Especially if you\u2019re in a competitive match or facing the top guys, this happens quite often. It\u2019s not a matter of one person doing bad work and another person doing great work. Often I find both\u00a0person\u2019s\u00a0roleplays\u00a0good and I have to make a decision on whose is better.<\/p>\n Anyway\u2026.rant over.<\/p>\n 4)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Losing a big match<\/strong><\/p>\n Nothing feels worse that pouring your heart out on a big match and coming up short. But it happens. That\u2019s the risk with a competitive aspect to a game. But some people get quite disheartened and have trouble rebounding.<\/p>\n But those are the three major reasons I find people get burnt out. I\u2019ve offered some ways to prevent it, but what happens if you are burnt out. There are remedies and sometimes you won\u2019t think of it.<\/p>\n A) Ask for a roleplaying period off.<\/strong><\/p>\n This is standard. And I\u2019m usually happy to give you a Breakdown\/Ammo period off, especially if you ask me before I say get a set of results up. If you know you\u2019re struggling or you have a busy couple of weeks or you just need a break, ask. I will provide it. The only way it\u2019s an issue is if you\u2019re already booked. If that, make sure you give me at least a week to find a replacement and make sure you get some response from me. Regardless, I know this is a game and that people need breaks. Sometimes I\u2019ll provide a break without you asking just because I want to prevent you from getting burnt out from my end as best as I can, but you\u2019re the best judge of it.<\/p>\n And another thought: If you really need some extended time off, I have no problem giving you a \u201cmonth\u201d off and trying to build a feud through segments, giving you a few weeks off without needing to worry about roleplaying, but you return to roleplaying the following pay per view. Anytime someone wants some extended time off, I usually ask if I can book you for the pay per view. Granted, I can\u2019t give this to everyone for obvious reasons, but if you really are burnt out, this is one way to give you a break without having to take yourself out of the game.<\/p>\n B) Make a secondary\/tertiary random low-card character.<\/strong><\/p>\n I know some people have made random characters essentially as jokes or with no desire to see them win. Just for fun. They give themselves a ten minute time limit and just come up with something. Many feds don\u2019t have \u201cjobber\u201d characters. I welcome them as long as that is the case and in some cases, these characters at least remind you why you loved the game in the first place and why you find it fun. There\u2019s less pressure. You can just do random things and not really care. If you get a win, great. If you don\u2019t, who cares? You\u2019re messing around. Granted, I\u2019d prefer a few more of the these character if I see them to be more serious and of varying styles as it\u2019s more variety for possible opponents, but there are value in these types of character as it allows even a break for other\u00a0roleplayers\u00a0with their serious characters. They know they can have some fun and let loose, or try a new idea without worry about taking a loss in a big match or even write a status quo\u00a0roleplay\u00a0(See below) to set things up for later. The importance of these characters though is that they are NOT meant to be serious. Otherwise, they just add to the burn out.<\/p>\n C) Write a status quo\u00a0roleplay<\/strong><\/p>\n I use \u201cStatus quo\u00a0roleplay\u201d to mean any\u00a0roleplay\u00a0that adds nothing new to your backstory, character development and largely just set things up. These types of\u00a0roleplays\u00a0a lot of people do without worrying about it. They usually are done if people don\u2019t want to no-show or they\u2019re low on ideas. But they have that advantage. They set up. They either allow you to get something up that you can still use for future\u00a0roleplays\u00a0and your backstory\/storylines when you\u2019re having a busy or tough week, or they don\u2019t put too much strain in terms of writing as they largely just are there to reiterate something done or to \u201cbuy time\u201d until you\u2019re able to come up with those ideas. Granted, this is not necessarily great if you\u2019re in a huge match, but it\u2019s still something and you never know. The best part about these is that if you do have a vague idea about what you want to do with the character, but are not sure of how to get there, you write this type of\u00a0roleplay\u00a0to set things up, to introduce a new character, to introduce a new change or to set something up so when you make that change or that new storyline moment, it\u2019s far more effective or powerful to the reader. They also tend to save ideas as you\u2019re really not adding much new, just reminding the reader what is important about your character in coming weeks. I personally tend to use this option when I\u00a0roleplay\u00a0and have a rough week or few ideas.<\/p>\n D)\u00a0 Take a Leave of Absence<\/strong><\/p>\n This is the worst-case scenario, but sometimes you need to recharge away from the fed. This does take you out of the game and sometimes, I can\u2019t work you back into storylines cleanly, leaving you in a bit of limbo when you are motivated to return. But it gives you some times where you\u2019re not worrying about roleplaying or even reading shows as often if you take an extended LOA, I just write you out of the storylines and the show. This also has the additional problem that you may have to work back up to where you were as the longer you take time off, you open up a door for someone else to step up.<\/p>\n These are just some remedies, but at the end of the day, burn out is something that really only you can determine. But there are a lot of ways to avoid it, but also to prevent\u00a0yourself\u00a0from taking yourself out of the game. There\u2019s nothing wrong with taking a break though, but sometimes it\u2019s just a matter of taking a couple of weeks instead of going on a full-on Leave of Absence. I\u2019ve had some people talk to me saying they need to take long periods of time off and then two weeks later, they miss it and want to come back. Think about it, but you\u2019re not alone. EVERYONE suffers from it at some point, no matter how good or how consistent they may be. Hopefully this helps some of you with it.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" This time of the year is always a busy one for SCW, but the fact of the matter is that we all have times where real life gets us down or takes up all of our time and then we have to\u00a0roleplay\u00a0on top of that. But as in writing and the creative process, everyone goes […]<\/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\/204"}],"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=204"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.supremecw.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/204\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.supremecw.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=204"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.supremecw.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=204"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.supremecw.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=204"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}