Some simple rules to follow while you stay in Combat Zone Wrestling E-Fed
-The Complete Basics Of Learning To E-Wrestle- Roleplay -- In short to play the role of a professional wrestler. Not to be confused with "RPG". Role-play: The historic and traditional method of developing your eWrestling character by use of descriptive words, trash talk, or scenery in the form of a story or promo. The main objective of role-playing for an eFed is to develop your "persona" or to match wits with your opponents. Role-playing is judged by such a large plethora of criteria that there is no single way to be successful. However, the following guidelines should aide anyone in developing their Role-playing skills.
1.In-Ring (Promo): This is by far the most popular way to deliver a role-play. Quite simply, you place your eWrestler inside a wrestling ring during a house event or show and basically "trash talk" your opponent. This can easily be compared to the 20-minute segments on WWE RAW or Smackdown. Stone Cold, HHH, Vince McMahon all use this as a means to "psyche" out their opponent. It's a great way to use ring psychology in "REAL LIFE" however, in eWrestling it's quite different. In Ring role-plays can be very boring for a veteran eWrestler. Most eFed Presidents that are experienced do not enjoy them. 2.Interview: Simply, this is where you have your eWrestler act out a pre-match interview and you'll use an "official" federation interviewer to ask your eWrestler questions about the match at hand. Not much more simple than that. Most rookies use these all the time, however most experienced eWrestler only use these for event segments. In other words, they send them in to the prez to use on the event results. 3.Character Development: Seasoned Veterans live by this method. It can open your creativity to an addictive level. You can do anything, go anywhere and have your eWrestler in any situation that tells the story of what your character is all about. The strange but beautiful thing about these is they usually have nothing to do with the match. They only serve to develop the wrestler as a realistic being. There may be some mention of the match, however not much. RULES OF THE GAME: 1. SPELLING AND PUNCTUATION. Make sure you spell all of the words you use right. Go back and double check if needed, but just try to catch the spelling errors and typos as you write. Make sure you leave spaces between words, so DON'T write like these examples... Bad Examples.
In The first example, the main problem was someone who is obviously illiterate wrote it. No capital letters, no spaces, it was pathetic. That person would NEVER win a match, unless they were against someone that died and was unable to roleplay. In the second, it was good except for two things. They spelled "Your" wrong, it should've been "You're" in that use of it. And at the end, there was no period. It's still possible to win like that... But you better have some good stuff in there if you spell your words wrong frequently. 2. DON'T MAKE YOUR WRESTLER SOUND LIKE A CHILD: If your wrestler sounds like a 13 year old, he'll have as much of a chance of winning as a 13 year old. Watch the WWF or WCW sometime, the wrestlers don't swear and if they do, it's edited out. Also, how many 25 year old wrestlers say "pussy" or "dick?" Not too many. Bad Examples. "Hey shitface pussy breath!" That just sounded stupid. It, quite frankly, sucked. Grown ups don't talk like that, so your wrestlers shouldn't either. If it was up to me, I'd probably kick someone like that out of the fed for being a moron. 3. DON'T TALK LIKE A SMART ASS: . If you watch the WWF or WCW, have you EVER heard them say "jobber" or "JTTS?" or even "push" In all my years, I have never heard that come from a wrestler, announcer, or commentators mouth. Bad Examples:
He insulted someone by calling him or her a "jobber," a word that wrestlers shouldn't know and have no business saying. I don't do that, some others do, but I wouldn't recommend it. It's not as important as that spelling thing or sounding like a kid thing, but it could make your roleplays sound better. 4. WRITE IN PARAGRAPHS. Don't jumble everything together in one big 5K paragraph. It's a little bit harder to read and doesn't look very good. Write in multiple paragraphs, it will definitely help you out. Bad Examples: Bad Roleplayer Man: Blah blah blah blah blah blah. Blah blah blah blah Blah blah blah blah blah blah. Blah blah blah blah blah blah. Blah blah blah blah blah blah. Blah blah blah blah blah blah. Blah blah blah blah blah blah. Blah blah blah blah blah blah. Blah blah blah blah blah blah. Blah blah blah blah blah blah. Blah blah blah blah blah blah. Blah blah blah blah blah blah. Blah blah blah blah blah blah. Blah blah blah blah blah blah. Blah blah blah blah blah blah. Blah blah blah blah blah blah. Blah blah blah blah blah blah. Blah blah blah blah blah blah. Blah blah blah blah blah blah. Blah blah blah blah blah blah. Blah blah blah blah blah blah. Blah blah blah blah blah blah. Blah blah blah blah blah blah. Blah blah blah blah blah blah. Blah blah blah blah blah blah. Blah blah blah blah blah blah. Blah blah blah blah blah blah. Blah blah blah blah blah blah. Blah blah blah blah blah blah. Blah blah blah blah blah blah. Blah blah blah blah blah blah. Blah blah blah blah blah blah. Blah blah blah blah blah blah. Blah blah blah blah blah blah. Blah blah blah blah blah blah. Blah blah blah blah blah blah. Blah blah blah blah blah blah. Blah blah blah blah blah blah. Blah blah blah blah blah blah. Blah blah blah blah blah blah. Blah blah blah blah blah blah. Blah blah blah blah blah blah. Blah blah blah blah blah blah. Blah blah blah blah blah blah. Blah blah blah blah blah blah. Blah blah blah blah blah blah. Blah blah blah blah blah blah. Blah blah blah blah blah blah. Everything was jumbled together and it was all crammed. It's easier to read if you write in paragraphs and it looks much better. 5. DON'T PUSH THE LENGTH OF THE ROLE PLAY: Don't feel like you need to write an 11K roleplay every time. It will get boring for you and the reader and it will be obvious that you were just trying to get it to be really long. Just make your roleplays interesting and make sure they have quality, that's more important. But don't write 1K flashes either, because those are about 3 sentences and you can't get anything good done in three sentences. The average flash is about 3-5K with good quality. Don't make 11K or 1K flashes that are boring or pointless, it's just a waste of time. If you write the flash and it ends up to be 11K in the end, then it's okay because you weren't just trying to make it really long. 6. BE DESCRIPTIVE: Describe what your wrestler is wearing, how he is acting, what he is doing. Be very descriptive so the reader can picture it in their head. Good Examples: ["Idolizer" Trace Michaels sits back on a black chair, reclining. He's wearing all green and red today. Some of the clothes he's featuring are a green t-shirt that says "Moo Krew" on it, green sweat pants with a red bandanna tied loosely around the left knee, and a red bandanna on his head, covering his long blonde hair. He looks towards the camera, stares at it for a second, then begins speaking.] I told what he was wearing, where he was, and what he was looking at. So the reader knows that he's sitting in a chair and can picture it in their head. You don't have to be THAT descriptive, but at least give the reader an idea of what's going on. 7. DON'T BEG TO WIN: This has nothing to do with role-playing, but... Don't e-mail the President of the fed begging to win a match because it would really help you out and you need a win. It just gets the President mad at they will, most likely, job you in that match just because you asked to win. Instead of spending your time begging, write a good role-play, you'll be more likely to win that way. Bad Examples: "Please let me win, it could really help my wrestler out and give him the push I need." That's just obvious that your begging and it means the same as "Please let me win! I don't want to lose!" It's just pointless and will get you absolutely nowhere. 8.DON'T USE ENDLESS PAUSING: Don't use a ton of ..........ing just to make your RP longer. Bad Examples: I......................am................. ..........coming............................. .................for......................... you. Five words that took up two lines and looked really stupid. I always use
3 periods when indicating a pause. That's how Hollywood script writers do
it...and so do I.
So you want to be a heel? Everybody needs a hero to save them at one time or another. Bette Midler asks melodically "Did you ever know that you're my hero?" Do you know what my answer is, Bette? Bite me! Go make more "B" movies and entertain the fags, oh great queen of the homos! You are the poor man's, Barbra Streisand! That, my lucky douche bags, is your first tip on being an effective heel. The following column was written by a RoughKut.com visitor. It is a very in-depth look into the heel "persona". It will show the Greenest of the Greenhorns step by step how to develop his character and it's a great read for even the most seasoned veterans. ~Kut Being a “heel”by Dustin The term “heel” is used by wrestling insiders to define “bad guy”. Being a heel in wrestling is something that is a fine art and must be performed correctly to get the proper reaction from the fans in attendance. Some think it’s easy, others disagree. However you want to think about it, you have to work at being bad in order to be perceived as “not good”. The Decision to Go Bad There comes a point in everyone’s wrestling career when they are either asked to or choose to be a heel. This decision comes from many reasons but the most important one should be to better develop your chosen character. Anyone can come up with a couple of insults. School bullies can demean someone’s character. Internet wimps who think they’re cooler than you can rip off someone else’s material. Can you overcome their low efforts to be something worse? As with any decision in your life (or your character’s life), there needs to be a reason for being bad. No one is just bad because they want to have something to do. Even mass murderers have reasons for their killing sprees and burglars have reasons for committing their crimes. Only the truly insane have no good reason for anything and that is a character type that has been done. Be original. Don’t try to play insane. No one I know, save one man, has ever been able to effectively pull it off. Perhaps your best friend passed you up by going into singles competition just when you thought you had a great shot at the tag team titles. Maybe a certain someone keeps nailing you in the ring (inadvertent or not) and you’re getting fed up with it. How about an angst towards management for constantly looking past your talents to newbies and guys who can’t pull their weight in a match. Maybe you just want to show the world that you are one bad ass dude. (I do not recommend this approach as there are FAR too many people out there using this idea and even adopting it for real life. It’s almost sad, really.) Whatever your reason for going bad, make sure it is a good one. Make sure there is also an “out” in case you want to turn back to the good, too. Having no way out can diminish your efforts if you ever switch sides because it wouldn’t have involved a transition. People (wrestling fans) don’t like abrupt, unexplained changes. The Ways of the Past/Ways of the Present In the past, it was simple enough to garner heat by simply attacking the fans. Not physically, but rather, with words. Insulting the local sports teams (the New York Yankees can’t play fair, so they want to BUY the World Series), attacking the regional stereotype (how many Virginians here tonight are related?), or simply picking out a popular local hero or two (Derrick Jeter couldn’t hit the broadside of a barn with an elephant). These techniques are still used today, but are often coupled with some other deeper techniques for a more modern approach. Some intricate ways of being a heel without saying a word. For example, grabbing the leg of your target while he is involved in another match, costing him the win. How about cold-cocking him with a steel chair in the back while he’s preparing to go out for his match? Maybe you simply grab his valet and drag her away from ringside, especially if she’s well-liked. Using combinations of these are great ways to get the crowd to give you heat. While heroes need to be faced with overwhelming opposition, you need to be part of that opposition in order to succeed as a heel. Bret Hart was a great heel in the past by using his heritage (being Canadian) against the American audiences. While the Canadian-American angst angle has been beat to death, perhaps using some more recent angst (American-French is a good one) might be a better path. Tools that one needs to be a heel are basic: You MUST be of quick wit (On the internet, this isn’t AS vital, but it helps DRASTICALLY). You MUST be willing to put over your “target” face (if the fans think that you are beaten and you come back for more, or against a new “target” face, then they’ll continue to hate you due to annoyance). You should be willing to cheat (Very few heels win cleanly and there are reasons for that. Being hated comes easier when you are willing to take the low road to get wins). Those three things can basically make or break a heel. Now, you may be wondering why someone should be willing to put over their opponent. Heels without faces are useless. Faces are hard to build and they need help. If you aren’t willing to help, you’re just a dick, not a heel. As much as you think it isn’t, wrestling is a team effort. Types of Federations and Being a Heel There There are basically two types of e-Feds: angle and roleplay. In the angle based feds, it is up to the handlers to come up with the way things turn out, how the match will go and how things will basically turn out in their overall angle. Roleplay based feds use forums or email to take submissions of “interviews” in order to be judged for determining the winner and loser of a match. We’ll start with the angle fed, as it is the closest thing to being actual wrestling. In an angle federation, you have the opportunity to work side-by-side with your “face” in order to see that everyone’s goals are met in the angle. Establishing WHY you two are fighting is imperative. Perhaps the face wronged you. Perhaps he simply took your place in an important match. Maybe you don’t like him because of an ethnic or racial reason. That is for the both of you to decide. The angle should swing mainly towards good points for the heel. Some would argue that this is the wrong way to go, but think about it. If the two wrestlers meet for 5 matches and the heel only loses the last one, who comes out better? The heel. He will have successfully (as long as cheating and antagonizing the crowd is involved) gathered a decent amount of heat, while still putting over the face in the end. The face benefits from “overcoming adversity”, but the heel gets a record of 4-1. Matches shouldn’t be one-sided. That just bores people. The face should end up losing by seconds, inches or by being overwhelmed by sheer numbers of opponents. People want to cheer for a hero. The easiest way to get them to cheer is to be as anti-hero as you can be. We cheer for Harry Potter, not because he’s a great wizard, but because we want to see him get one over on his relatives and those trying to hold him down. He’s a hero. Villains, in this case, are anyone opposed to Harry achieving his goals. For those not familiar with the series, its basically anyone who isn’t a friend. Moving on to the roleplaying type. Roleplaying federations are not as easy to be a heel in as they are in angle federations. To gain the same sort of heat in a roleplaying scenario, you have to HEAVILY hit the verbal skills to insult, antagonize and manipulate the feelings of others. If you aren’t naturally good at this, it can be HARD. Interrupting matches is the only other way to really put across your intentions. If you’re a heel and you interrupt someone’s match, you anger those involved and get a bit of heat. There isn’t much else to work with here, but that may be a bit one-sided since I am not a big fan of the roleplaying style of eFedding. Those without top notch skills are often left by the wayside struggling to get some recognition amongst 15 year olds with nothing to do but write during the day. The Big Problem The biggest problem I’ve encountered in all my years of eFedding are the constant need of heels to take on the top guys right away. If you attempt this type of maneuver, you can throw out the idea of winning 4/5ths of the matches. Heels, just like anything else, are built on familiarity. Faces take years to create properly. Heels are the same way. While we may hate Johnny No-Name as soon as he enters the WWE, we are certainly not impressed when he tries to take on the reigning WWE Champion in his first few matches. Do we hate him? No, we just think he’s stupid. Effective heels will start at the bottom. Work with someone nearly as new as yourself and then you have a springboard for bigger and better things. Some wrestlers in the past didn’t have to go through the normal process of building up or waiting (Bill Goldberg and Brock Lesnar, for instance), but you shouldn’t think of yourself as special. Starting out with a couple of smaller names and getting them over should be first on your list. Establishing your techniques and ideas will allow you to move up to midcard for a while here and there to get more heat. Established faces will always help get heat, but as long as you are relatively new, try not to forget the newbies. They are your bread and butter. After establishing a long string of heated rivalries (nine or ten, I’d guess), then its time to start pestering the main event crew. To be in the main event, the fans have to know who you are and that is why you will want to build up the base for your future endeavors. Without nine or ten rivalries behind you, your heel vs. the Champion isn’t going to get the Champion over and get you very much heat. Research is the Key Researching your next event location for stereotypes, sports teams and local heroes is essential. While I have described ways to work with others to get yourself some heat, it is still important not to forget the basics. Remember the insult portion of this column? Well, if not, go back and read it again. It is necessary, unless your character doesn’t do that. Most cases, though, it is a nice way to get “cheap heat” for your match and, more importantly, a way to get the crowd to root for the face even more. Babyface for Dumbasses by Mitchell Jones (owner of WZWA) 5/2004I apologise in advance if I lose everyone at any stage of this write-up. It's harder than people think to conceivably tell people not only what a face is but how to be a good one, especially in today's wonderful world of wrestling where everything has changed since the good old days. But alas, I will give this my best show. What is a babyface? A babyface is the insider term for a good guy, the one who is cheered and loved by all the fans. In days of old, the standard babyface (or "face" for short) was the typical nice guy. He wouldn't cheat, swear, or argue. He would always play fair, shake hands after a match, and be the kind of guy that your Grandmother would love to take home with her and your Mother would love your little sister (or yourself, if any females are reading this) to date. Of course, times have changed thanks to ECW, WWF Attitude and the New World Order in WCW. Guys like The Sandman and Stone Cold Steve Austin would drink and swear obsessively in the ring, but were beloved by all. The NWO and DX would by nature be degenerates, but were lvoed because they were "cool". The Rock was an arrogant athlete who felt he was bigger than everyone around him, but his cocky demeanour, good looks, electrifying moves, and ability to cut amazing promos has made him THE most electryfying man in Sports Entertainment today. But either way, the babyface role remains the same - to be the guy that the fans love. How easy is it? An old school face in an old school environment is relatively easy to pull off. Just as a heel gains cheap heat through dissing the local football team or various members of the audience, the face adheres himself to them. A good example right now would be John Cena, wearing the shirt of the local football team (I presume Basketball, but forgive me as I'm not American so my sports team knowledge of the States is not the best). Fans tend to pop when they can relate to what they see. A face also takes the time to acknowledge the fans, slapping their hands and maybe giving his sunglasses to a young fan at ringside (ala Bret Hart). It's very simple to do. However, this isn't always a guarentee for success, as The Rock will tell you. For this reason, being a face isn't as easy as people think, especially in this day and age. For those who never got to see WWF in 1996, I'll set the scene. The Rock was known as Rocky Maivia, the young kid with a bright future who was always smiling and happy to be wrestling. He showed a lot of promise and was therefore pushed, pulling off an Intercontinental title reign. However, the fans didn't appreciate the WWF pushing this typical face kid down their throats, and he started being booed out of the building, to the point of receiving chants of "Die, Rocky, Die". That's how bad the backlash was. It wasn't until he turned heel and became The Rock that his real personality (turned up about 6 notches) started to come out, and people started noticing how good this guy really was. Two years later, he's one of the biggest stars in the industry, and a top babyface (as turned by the fans). Getting the right face balance is hard, because although in an e-fed you can simply write as though the fans automatically love you, I always tend to treat an e-fed like a real fed, and will never discount how fans may possibly treat you. Being a typical good guy can only get you so far. You have to have the right character that people can get into for you to be treated like a superstar. Otherwise, you may be turned heel by the fans, and that's not something that helps your confidence in any way. Ways to be a good face outside the ring As with any character, most of his or her development comes from outside of the ring, whether in promos, interviews or segments. Here are some tips of how to get the fans in your corner. - Fan Interaction: Simple, really. Get the crowd into your work. Even Stone Cold Steve Austin, the most cold-hearted son of a bitch in the WWF would get the crowd involved in his interviews ("If you want Stone Cold to ______, them gimme a hell yeah" to which the fans would scream "HELL YEAH"). The same goes for DX ("Suck It"), the New Age Outlaws (damn, I'm not typing all of that out, lol), and The Rock (a few too many, don't you think). Even Flair's oh-so-simple "Whoo" is echoes through arenas nationwide by the crowds. Tt works. The fans love to join in with cool catchphrases. It makes them feel like they are part of something special, and as long as it is a cool catchphrase (for a not-so-good one, look at Booker T's attempt in WCW - "Don't hate the player, hate the game"). - Interesting Character: The Undertaker started out as a heel. I can see why, if you look at it realistically. A dark, gloomy character who likes burying people. Not really hard to figure, really. Yet about two year later, he was heavily cheered, and in about 5 years time, he was the biggest start (thereabouts) in the company. 14 years on, his gimmick is still over. Why? Because it's a cool and unique gimmick, not to mention he is believeable as a big guy. Fans will get behind a guy who is believeable. Look at Brock Lesnar, Kane, and Goldberg. Sting is another dark and gloomy character, but he was major over, not just because of his name, but because he was enigmatic and people could never predict his next move (although it did help that he was the franchise of WCW, no offense Shane Douglas). Fans will also get behind convincing comedy gimmicks. Everyone berated Rico for being in the "gay" gimmick, but he has pulled it off fantastically. Everyone knocked Eugene Dinsmore, but now he's one of the most over gimmicks on RAW. As long as it's played out well, people will enjoy it. - Be Yourself +10: This is optional, and goes past what was said in the previous point, but this is another solid way of getting to the top. Jim Cornette said not lnog ago that the most successful gimmicks are those of people being themselves, with the volume turned right up. Stone Cold, The Rock, Triple H, Mick Foley, The Sandman, Raven, Goldberg, Hulk Hogan, the list goes on and on. These guys are all practically playing larger than life versions of themselves. So for a character you can use, maybe you should look at yourself. No one knows you like you do. Just turn the volume up about ten notches, and run with it. Whether you are an arrogant asshole or a porn star in the waiting, fans will get behind you and eventually embrace you. of course, this also works as a heel as well, but in terms of face characters, chances are you will be successful, because people love larger than life characters. Ways to be a good face inside the ring Just as effective in making your character work is what he does inside the ring. The psychology of a match can make or break your character's position in the eyes of the fans. Here are some tips you may want to take note of. - Play the Underdog: Proven fact in wrestling - fans love underdogs. Why? Because they have reason to get behind them, especially if there is a conceivable chance that they might be able to pull off the win. This is how Shawn Michaels pulled off most of his career. Being in a company where big men roamed, Michaels put his body on the line every single night against any big man thrown his way, and knocked them all down. Fans got behind him because what he lacked in size, he made up for in heart, determination and ability, and the announcers made sure that you knew it, which made it even more effective. The same can be said for Chris Benoit around about now on RAW. The challenge of Kane, Triple H and Shawn Michaels in daunting, but he is pulling it off despite his size because his heart, drive, and technical ability is out of this world. Of course, guys like Spike Dudley won't get anywhere because although he is an underdog, he is basically jobber fodder right now. Now if he was used like he was in ECW when he beat every single giant there, people would love this guy. But as it is, the fact remains - the underdog role works. - Play fair: As a heel, your objective is to win by any means necessary. With babyfaces, it doesn't work this way. Babyfaces are sportsmen. They play by the rules, and amaze people with their moveset, rather than their ability to pull tights or grab the ropes for leverage. Even in times of desperation, the faces stay on the good side of the referee, and can be used to get them over if they manage to overcome all of the cheating from the heel to win (ie. being the underdog - see what I mean?). It also builds sympathy if they lose too. So either way works. only under extreme circumstances should the face be allowed to snap, like Eddie Guerrero did at Judgement Day 2004 against John Bradshaw Leyfield. By this time, the fans will know that the face has to do something, and will be happy that he has finally taken matters into his own hands and won't stand for anything more. It raises the emotional bar and everyone is happy. - That one move: What do The Rock, Rikishi, Goldberg, John Cena, and Scotty 2 Hotty have in common? That one move that people love to see. In each respective case, we have The People's Elbow, The Stink Face, The Spear, The Five Knuckle Shuffle, and The Worm. The fans love these moves because even though only one of them is actually anything special in terms of effect on opponent (the Spear), they all get the crowd riled up and behind it. It's a great way for face heat, and sometimes it can even turn heel wrestlers face (like it pretty much did for Rhyno with the Gore, and the Dudleys with the 3D and the table spots). That one signiature move doesn't have to be your finisher, but simple a move that riles the people up, and draws them in. Tease it, have it reversed, do whatever with it. But when it's hit, make sure it means something. Impressive moveset: The one thing that turned Brock Lesnar face wasn't Paul Heyman. It wasn't his charisma (or lack thereof). It wasn't even his build. It was his strength. It was the fact that he was able to pick up 500lbs giants and F5 them with almost sheer ease. His power moves suited his body and his character, and people loved it. Chris Benoit is small, and a technical wiz, so obviously he's not going to be as powerful. But his wide array of suplexes are impressive, and his ability to turn almost any move into his signiture Crippler Crossface makes it a cool move because it's unpredictable, but almost always effective. Make your moveset fit your character, with one or two moves that catch peoples eyes as moves that are gonna impress people. Such moves include the Stone Cold Stunner, the Rock Bottom, and for sheer impact, the Jackhammer. People pop for moves as much as the wrestlers themselves, but they have to be the right mix to work. How to convey your babyface character into roleplays For the most part, both of the previous sections will help those in an "Angle" e-fed. But I'm going to guess that most of the readers of this will be in "Roleplay" e-feds, which are considerably harder (and since I've only been in this sort of e-fed for the past 2 and a half years, I know how difficult it can be) to do the above. However, at the same time, it's also a better way to develop your character away from the shows, which helps in the long run. Most people tend to use roleplays for Interviews. No problem. It's simple and effective for devloping your face persona. Describe the clothes you are wearing. Being a hardcore brawler and wearing a suit isn't going to work. Being a face, wear a slightly tattered local football jersey, for the cheap pop. Dress cool. Make people want to be just like you, no matter the clothing. Describe your attitude to the interviewer. In some cases, you'll just be a straight guy, the type who says "May the best man win". In others, you'll be the joke-cracking funny guy who teases the interviewer or does impressions to make himself look cool and puts over the fact that he is going to win. Others use witty catchphrases for people to chant along with. Either way, make sure you get people's attention, and stick to your character. Nothing is worse than confusing the reader. Another necessity is putting over your heel opponent. This is crucial. No one will get behind someone when it's going to be a squash. If he has attacked you, sell the injury. Sell how much pain he put you through. Make your opponent look strong. Just put over how much of a challenge he is. Just things like "Tonight is going to be my toughest challenge yet. This guy is one hell of a talent and looking past him would probably be my downfall. I'm just going to give it my best shot and give 110% as I always do" are good enough. It makes your win mean so much more (presuming you do win) if he looks like he is going to kick the crap out of you. Again, I can't emphasise the underdog role enough. And not only that, but making your opponent look like even more of a good heel makes people want to love you just to hate him. It works on all levels. And speaking of your opponent, bounce off of him. Use ideas to bounce off each other and build up a repetoire together. If he starts talking about something, bounce back with a comeback. If he for instance, disses the local sports team for doing poorly, come up with some good things they've done and put down his local sports team to get him back. The little things like that make people care about feuds. But not everyone does interviews. Some might go for workouts at the gym. Cool, use it. Show just how much your wrestler wants to win the match. Watch how he pushes himself to breaking point, to the point that people actually feel just how badly you need to win this match. Or maybe you're talking to friends or teammates. Or maybe you're out and about but can't get it all out of your head. Anything works. Seriously, there are many ways you can put yourself and your opponents over. Just make sure you don't do thigs like purposely injure people or beat up officials and cameramen or stuff like that. For one, it's overdone. Not to mention it's a very unface thing to do. For the divas out there Naturally, girls are going to have different characters out there, so for them it's going to be a little harder. Now, it's a little easier in Angle e-feds to seperate heel women from face women. The typical babyface is attractive, a good worker, athletic, and enjoys being in the limelight. The typical heel is usually either a psycho, way too prima donna, or a slut, to put it bluntly. But as a roleplayer, it's slightly harder to portray it correctly. You have to make sure as an attractive female that you don't overstep your arrogance. You also can't get bitchy, otherwise things may swing in the wrong direction for you. being in every guys business won't help either. The best ways to get over as a woman are to either play the typical strong-willed woman who is slightly tomboyish and wants to overcome the odds (UNDERDOG!!!!), or to always get one over on the guys. Do NOT play the sexism card unless you are in a dominantly female e-fed, because the majority of guys who read it will feel a state of masculine pride and may turn you heel (at least in my opinion, anyway). Do some research It was touched upon in the "Heels for dummies" column, but it's absolutely true. Research. Look at a number of WWE/F videos and notice how their biggest faces and heels get their heat. Pick up on at which moves the fans make noise, and conversely, get bored. Even though being yourself is good, adding a hint of one of your favorite workers is a great move too, because it's a proven commodity, and as they are in the professional business for real, their influence can help you tremendously. Also take a look at stereotypes (as suggested also). I know people go on about how stereotypes need to die in wrestling, but they haven't, and won't, so embrace it. If your fed is holding a show in Chicago, have your character big up the Bulls. If your character is mexican, have your heel character take shots at him, and then bounce back with stuff directed at him (without insulting the audience at the same time). And most of all... Have a laugh doing it. If it isn't fun, it isn't worth doing, so have fun, and go mad with those creative juices. It'll be worth it at the end. Thanks for reading, Professional Roleplay Guide The last roleplaying guide was written with beginners in mind. This essay is meant to help those who want to ascend to the second level of professional roleplay writing. The idea is that a roleplay is a form of short story and there are centuries old rules to follow when writing them. The very word "Flash" as some veterans may recall is another word for roleplay and it's orgins, I believe come from the official writing term "Flash Fiction". "Roleplaying" is no different from professional writing and it's time to learn the rules. Flash Fiction. (A basic roleplay) and short stories. Flash fiction is fiction characterized by its extreme brevity, as measured by its length in words. While there is no universally accepted exact word limit, generally a short story is considered to constitute flash fiction if it is less than 1,000–2,000 words long, and most flash-fiction pieces are between 250 and 1,000 words long. (By contrast, "traditional" short stories range from 2,000 words to upwards of 20,000, and are mainly between 3,000 and 10,000 words long; they are distinguished from longer forms, such as the novel and novella, primarily by the intent that they be read in a single sitting.) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flash_fiction Words Notice that the official writing means of measurement is words- Not "bytes" or pages or kilobytes or sentences or lines, but words. Words are the only fair method of judging how long or short a particular writing project is. From grade school to college all of your papers were likely judged by the word count and not anything else. Some essays may require a certain amount of pages, but the internet is our palate and not everyone's browser is the same height or width. In order to be the most fair and balanced, we must use words as our unit of measurement. Novella A novella is a narrative work of prose fiction longer than a short story but shorter than a novel. While there is some disagreement of what length defines a novella, the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America Nebula Awards for science fiction define the novella as having a word count between 17,500 and 40,000. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Novella Anything longer than this is considered a novel. Anything longer than a piece of flash fiction or novella have no place in eWrestling in my opinion. Roleplays are meant to be read in short sittings and judged by a person against many other roleplays and it's completely unfair to burden that person with a novel. There are rare cases when a particular judge may highly enjoy reading and have no problems with novella length roleplays. However, the average e-fed has anywhere from 10-20 members and if each player wrote a 30,000 word roleplay for an event you can easily see the hefty burden this creates. We also need to consider that while it's become popular to write about the personal lives of your eWrestler, this game is based on pro-wrestling. The idea is to emulate what you may see on TV in order to be realistic. You don't see an hour long speech in most cases. Point of view There are two major points of view in writing and roleplaying is no different. They just go by different names.
These are the most popular methods of delivering your roleplays. There is another "second" person point of view, however it's hard to manage because it gives the reader control over the story. Similar to "choose your path" stories. Narrative The narrative is commonly called "Descriptive Text" in roleplay writing. It's the sections of the roleplay where the characters stop talking and the "narrator" steps in to describe what's going on- or to change a scene. You may be doing a promo style roleplay and without narrative it would be hard for your readers to understand what's going on, what the character is wearing and what he's doing. There are numerous methods that people use such as using italic text, bolded test and even all capitol letters or different colored text to distinguish the narrative. Story Outline As with many writing formats, you need an outline or a blueprint.
This concludes the tutorial. You may or may not agree with these methods, but keep in mind tha theyt have been debated and taught for many years in professional wiring. They are accepted as the standard by experts in the subject. eWrestling Slump?Written by 'Barx' owner of 3W Wrestling. 5/2004We all know what it’s like, because we’ve all been there at one stage or another. Everything has its ups and downs, the seasons, the world financial markets, hell, life itself is a rollercoaster ride of highs and lows, and when you hit a low… it can be hard to get yourself out of it. Yes, I mean the dreaded creative slump. The staring blankly at the white Microsoft Word document, the little cursor seemingly mocking you with every blink. The frustration as you get through 4 sentences, only to say “Bah!” and delete the lot and start again. Like an insurmountable challenge in front of you, it makes you sit, unproductively, and shake your head in frustration until you either shut down the computer in disgust or go and search the web for more leisurely pastimes. The first thing I wanna say is that it’s nothing to be ashamed of. Shit, have a look at professional sportspeople. They get paid millions to go out and shoot hoops, run yards, toss pitches in front of millions of people every week. You, as an active efedder, have possibly 50 people who check your stuff out. And they don’t know your name or where you live, which is a bonus. If the sportspeople hit a rut, they have to deal with boos and “YOU SUCK”s and people spitting on them and the like. If you’re unlucky, at worst, you might have an angry fedhead emailing you, and the guy you were supposed to work the angle with giving you angry AIM conversations, so it could always be worse. That being said, that can help you while you’re IN the slump, up to your elbows in quicksand with nowhere to go, and no saving in sight… But what you really want to know is how to get OUT of it. So here are a few tips, hints, ideas and suggestions that may stir you into thinking. After all, the creative wall is just that - a wall. There is always a way around it or over it, you just need to hear some different suggestions or to look at it differently. 1) Changing your character will probably not help. Being a fedhead myself, I know how frustrating it can be when a handler doesn’t roleplay for a couple of weeks. They hit you up on AIM, and straight away you know what they’re going to say. “Oh, Gee… I’m kind of stuck with Killer Kraig Henderson… Do you mind if I pull him out? I got a new character I’m working on, and he’d be great for” - Blah Blah Blah. It kills storylines. It disrupts the whole fed, and, if they are a key player, it will bugger up other people’s workings as well. No. The problem isn’t your character. He doesn’t exist. The problem is you and your lack of ideas. If that sounds harsh then I’m sorry, but I have survived 4 years in this game with two characters, and I only ever created the second because I didn’t want anyone in the fed I was going to, to know it was me (a practical joke on my friends that backfired, cos they found out eventually, and we all had a good laugh cos I’d tricked them for about 6 weeks. No it wasn’t because they threw me out because I was an asshole and I tried to sneak back in where I wasn’t wanted, but, anyways, I digress.) The point is, that I never had any problems with my character because characters continually evolve. They grow and change. They get deeper, more intense, more meaningful and more insightful. You cannot start a new character every 3 months and expect to become a great roleplayer, that’s like raising a kid to the age of puberty, then killing him and starting again with a baby. You have to allow your character to grow and mature, and the best way to do this is to work through the rough patches with them. In short, don’t can your character just because you are having a blank spot. 2) Try to roleplay in a different style. Are you a trash talker? Are your roleplays full of insults, bad humour and catchy metaphors? Or are you someone who sits, talking to the irrepressible “camera” which seems to be an integral part of so many roleplays? Are you a thinker? Are your roleplays deep and insightful, showing us how your character feels? Or are your roleplays more “action based” almost like a script, where your characters are in situation, performing actions, talking with one another and basically just living life? Whatever your style is, I’ve seen hundreds. From sagas that carry over 3 months worth of roleplays, like a story, to roleplays that make no sense whatsoever, and in the end are found to be a drug trip, each roleplay is different. Being stuck in a rut means that maybe you’ve worn yourself into a groove using one style too much, too often. If you trashtalk, why don’t you do some roleplays giving us more of an insight to your character? Diary entries? Silent thoughts? A drunken conversation with the bathroom mirror? If you’re heavily insightful, why not try to use actions or situations in a roleplay? Thow something out completely different to your normal style. If you use a camera (for God knows what reason) then CAN IT. There is no magical wrestling channel on cable, that films 24/7 what you do, and what you say. This is not Big Brother. We, as wrestlers, are not reality TV stars. Lose the camera and you’ll be surprised how much freedom it gives you when you are not being “televised.” Who knows, it might give your character a completely new twist, if you are able to roleplay about their private moments. At worst, give it a go for a week or two, and see how it feels. You may have a complete turnaround. 3) Roleplay through someone else’s eyes Does your wrestler have a manager? A girlfriend? A bodyguard? A best friend? If you’re really stuck with your character, why not develop some of the others surrounding your wrestler? I’ve offered this to many people, and it has amazing results. All too often the manager is a leggy blonde with big jugs and a great can. That’s about as far as the depth goes. Try a roleplay through her eyes, and you will be forced to think about her a bit more. Her past. Where she grew up. How she met the wrestler. What their relationship is like. Some private moments that none of the rest of the world knows about. You’ll be surprised just how much depth it will give to your character, seeing them from another person’s point of view. It will open up a whole new chapter for you to explore, and should enable you to pull out of your slump. 4) Try a trilogy or a saga: Try an ongoing storyline with your wrestler. As a fedhead, when stories are done well, I hang on with baited breath for the next installment, particularly if left hanging at the end of each part. This will add to your skills, and it should see you rise up the ranks. It can be about whatever you like, your character’s past, future or present. A time in their life that was a major turning point for them. I know a lot of people nut out their character history without actually going through each stage, and seeing them properly. A roleplay series about these major events could shed new light on your character, and give you material to write about for weeks. Once you actually ‘Live” through them they become much clearer, and you can see how they impact your character and made them the way they are today. However don’t make it too long or boring, because a storyline that goes around in circles and goes nowhere makes for a dead read, and I usually skim them before having them pinned on the results. I personally feel that a roleplay all about an old fed doesn’t hold a lot of interest for me, because it was with a fed that doesn’t matter, with wrestlers nobody knows, and a major event that happened there will probably not interest anyone unless they were there, and know what you were talking about. However a major event in someone’s personal life could make for some great reading. It’s all about how you approach it. 5) Base your character on yourself. I think it is a lot easier to roleplay because my character is based heavily on me. I can see things the way he’d see them, simply because HE is, on some level, ME. It becomes easier to see how your character will react to situations and events if they are like you, because well, you know what you’d do. Much like when WWF turned to the Attitude era, it allowed the wrestlers to let more of their personalities shine through in their characters. It did wonders for the ratings, and lifted wrestling to a whole new level (Before it nosedived into the shit.) Try and bring a bit of yourself into your character. You’ll see the impact it will have. 6) If all else fails… Then you may need to break rule 1, and bring someone else in. I know it will suck, but it you have exhausted all options, and been down every road only to find a dead end, then maybe bringing a fresh face in is best. I do not recommend it, but it may be that you feel you have no option. However if you do bring in a new character, try to feel them out as thoroughly as possible. Because there’s nothing worse than someone who can’t sit still in a solid angle because they are “hitting the wall.” These are just my thoughts, but I’m sure everyone has a remedy to break a roleplay drought. Talk with some people. See what they say. Above all else, I hope these tips give you the spark of imagination you need. Happy roleplaying… now get back to work. cZw Rankings Combat Zone Wrestling E-Fed 2007-2008 |