SWF State of the Union 2006

[chirs3 0]

We usually do this once a year, figured why not now?

 

ISSUE ONE: NEW BOOKING FORMULA?

 

Something CC has been kicking around for a while, and we want your feedback on.

 

Step One: We return the shows to their "themes" - Storm is Hardcore (not all matches, just generally Hardcore themed), Lockdown is Cruiser, Smarkdown is Technical.

 

Step Two: We divide the roster into three groups, based roughly on division.

 

Step Three: We book as follows:

 

Storm: The people in the Hardcore division get priority booking. The people in the Cruiser division fill out the rest of the card. The people in the International division get the show off.

 

Lockdown: The people in the Cruiser division get priority booking. The people in the International division round out the rest of the card. The people in the Hardcore division get the night off.

 

Smarkdown: The people in the International Division get priority booking. The people in the Hardcore division fill out the rest of the card. The people in the Cruiser Division get the night off.

 

Obviously, any matches you need to occur for angles can happen. This is more for the floaters we have - we bookers often find ourself booking matches "just because" (see the two openers at Battleground) - this would hopefully give shows more focus.

 

Pros:

 

---> This will give CC a clear idea of who to book and give priority to, so we hopefully won't go four shows without booking Skull.

 

---> This will set up a regular title defense schedule - Hardcore Champ defends on Storm, Cruiser Champ defends on Lockdown, International Champ defends on Smarkdown. One defense per cycle. This way, we don't burn through contenders super fast.

 

---> Everyone is on a 2-show schedule, so everyone gets on show off per cycle, guarenteed.

 

Cons

 

---> Our roster might not be big enough to make this work for any reasonable length of time.

 

---> Getting everyone into the division they want might be tricky.

 

---> Getting everyone into a schedule they can work might be tricky.

 

---> This does nothing for the World Title and Tag Title divisions.

 

So, let's hear your thoughts. Is this a good idea? Bad idea? What would you change about it? Should we give it a trial run?

 

 

ISSUE TWO: THE USUAL

 

Every now and then, we hit a slump. It happens. And considering From the Fire is always one of the year's best PPV's, and this year's was no exception, it's understandable that we'd be a little pooped. But noshows are up, and morale and interest seems to be down. What can we do to fix this?

 

1. Should we lower word limits?

 

It's no secret that I've been kicking up word limits (compare when I started to now) - if this is turning you guys off, please, say something, and I'll gladly drop them back down.

 

2. For anyone not having fun - why the hell aren't you? What can we do to make this fun again?

 

We've got the 2006 World Tour coming up, which means lots of strange locales and match opportunities. Hopefully that'll spur a little creativity.

 

ISSUE THREE: d00d, u r such a n00b

 

We needs us some fresh meat. Sooner would be better than later. X-Net fell through, partially because SWF CC is lazy (present company included), and partially because X-Net wasn't all that great to us anyway.

 

So what else can we try?

 

Everyone - discuss!

Edited April 18, 2006 by chirs3

[Bruce Blank 0]

Are there enough people to fill the actual Hardcore division? are there enough people to make it viable to give about a 3rd of the federation a show off on a regular basis?

 

I assume that if guys say they'd like to do all three shows generally then that'd be cool?

 

And how many people fall into more than 1 division? 75% of the federation are cruisers after all and only a select few have clearn groupings (Blank isn't very technical and definitly not a Cruiser - he may have eaten a Cruiser at one time but that's as close as he gets)

 

I like the "theme" shows - that's a good idea and the fact that there'd usually be a title match on each show, I'm all for giving each show a different flavor again instead of them all being the same basic show.

 

Are you having fun? *heh* match writing and working the feud with IL - yes very much so.

 

Beyond that? I'd say that's a mixed bag o' nuts there - I don't want to go into the hows, whys and whatevers here because that just leads down a road I'm not going to go down at again here, which is why I've decided to only post in a very limited scope in the actual fed forums. Now if someone wants more detailed feedback (on the creative team natch) then I'm but a PM away.

 

Getting new guys - that's a tricky one especially with being so different than most feds who use promos/role plays, erm... golden cod pieces for all newcomers who stay beyond 2 shows?

[chirs3 0]

That's something I hadn't considered, actually - putting people in more than one Division. We had a preliminary "just to illustrate the point" breakdown of divisions, and it was about 8 Hardcore, 8 Cruiser, 7 Technical, give or take.

 

Putting people in multiple classes would make things a bit easier.

 

And yes, if you wanted all three shows, you could do that too. Like I said, this is for the people without solid plans, who just kind of drift from show to show - I always feel like such a jerk when I end up leaving someone unbooked for three shows in a row, while Akira defends on every one - ideally, this new booking formula would balance everyone's schedule out.

 

And if you've got golden cod pieces to spare, then fork 'em over, 'cause I'm not giving away mine! You'll have to pry 'em from my cold, dead fingers!

 

[Bruce Blank 0]

From your cold dead... what?

[chirs3 0]

Fingers.

 

Yeah, that's right. Two roads diverge in a wood, and I took the road less travelled by.

Edited April 18, 2006 by chirs3

[Toxxic 0]

The proposed schedule: I can see this working, BUT it's kinda limiting in some ways. For example, Jimmy The Doom is not a technical wrestler - he's a comedy brawler, really. But he's challenging for the International Title at Battleground, where it is held by Dub-Cee, the most cruiserweighty cruiserweight since Andrea Montgomery. So whoever wins, you're going to have a definitely not-technico champion defending on the technical show, and do we really want all technicals fighting for the title? Sometimes the mix, such as technical Hawke vs cruiserweight WC, is what makes a title match interesting.

 

Obviously for the Cruiserweight Title things are a little different because you can ONLY have Cruisers, but at the same time JJ Johnson's AJPW style is VERY different from WC's (again used because he's the most obvious flip-floppy cruiserweight). And the Hardcore Title? Sure, Bruce was a hardcore brawler and Amy's a brawler, but the second-longest reign of all time went to that man WC. What about Judge's anti-hardcore reign? I know I really enjoyed writing Toxxic in Hardcore because he didn't use classic hardcore weapons, he brought out weird shit like waterpistols and stuff, but he's definitely not a Hardcore wrestler so under this system probably wouldn't go near the title.

 

At the same time, I can see the logic if you are going to use it more as a fallback for wrestlers without their own agenda rather than limiting people in angles.

 

 

The fed being fun: I was struggling for a while with Amy due to the fact that I deliberately made her very unpolished - she's a sloppy brawler and not much more, which doesn't give me that much scope to work with. However that's my doing, not yours, and now she's firmly in the Hardcore division that's less of a limitation. The word limits are generally fine, i haven't noticed a massive increase, but then when I'm on I tend to write a lot anyway. Sure, we're having the usual semi-flamewars on the board, but if it isn't Drea and Blank it'd be me and Frisco, or Spike and WC/Johnny, or whoever narks Muzz when he's in a bad mood, or whoever and whoever and whoever. It happens.

 

 

Newbs: I'm stumped. I think the most recent DEFINITE n00b we have is Michael Cross (still not quite convinced about Grendel, but we'll see) and that's just poor, because before him it was... who? Given that Coyote and Avery are as close to being certainly Pete and Sydney Sky as they reasonably can be I think it's probably Akira. And that's going back TIME.

 

How did everyone discover the fed themselves? Maybe that's the way forward. I noticed it through Dace Night's signature on these boards (i'd seen it before in sigs, but his photoshopped picture of the Trinity made me go "what's that?" and then I learned about the fed). Let's find out how everyone else found out, then maybe see if we can get more people the same way?

[Bruce Blank 0]

Newbs: I'm stumped. I think the most recent DEFINITE n00b we have is Michael Cross (still not quite convinced about Grendel, but we'll see) and that's just poor, because before him it was... who? Given that Coyote and Avery are as close to being certainly Pete and Sydney Sky as they reasonably can be I think it's probably Akira. And that's going back TIME.

I think you're right about TRUE new guys Cross, Akira before him and well the n00b before him that's still around today is probably

 

well me I think

 

and I joined like 8 months ago is that right? 3 regular NEW writers in 8 months or so?

 

Side note: I was actually introduced to the fed by the guy who writes Va'aiga in a fed we were in together,

[King Cucaracha 0]

1. Should we lower word limits?

 

NOOOOOOOOOOOO!

 

That's all I've got, except that I liked when the shows had distinction, but trying to split the rosters around the distinctions would be impossible for the reasons Toxxic listed and for the amount of people who will need shows off.

[Guest The Satanic Angel]

Word limits, meh. Question. With a 5k word limit, is a quality 3k word match judged on the same level as a quality 5k match? Does the 5k match get more points for writing more? In other words, is there a penalty for writing less than the limit?

 

I like the idea of revolving shows. I think it gives people a chance to be spotlighted. Like Raw and Smackdown, there's certain people that are the star of the show. I don't think there should be a hard line as far as who is on what shows. Just spotlight a cruiser storyline on the cruiser show, spotlight the Hardcore title and contenders on that show, and the IC contenders on this show.

 

Am I having fun? Meh. I'm involved in a couple storylines, but one is just moving so slow.. I know I wanted it that way, but damn. I don't think there's anything anybody can do about my not having fun, as it is a fault of my own (I'm an attention whore and I'm not getting any. Piss. Moan.) and thus I need to fix it (I should take lessons from Sydney. Cheap shot!).

 

So there.

[Mr. S£im Citrus 0]

Agree with Sarah's comments about comparative word limits... At the risk of too lengthy a sidebar, I had the most unbearable time my first year or so writing high word limit matches (and was *particularly* bad at writing PPV matches) because I'm the kind of writer that extra words simply do not help. For anything longer than six thousand words, I usually end up two thousand words or more of filler that actually detracts from the quality of my match. PPV was even worse, because at the time I joined, it seemed like everybody was writing 10K-12K matches on PPV, and I would try to "compete" with that... and fail miserably. I didn't hit my stride as a writer until I resolved not to try and force it; now I just use however many words it takes to get my point across (which usually isn't very many at all), and after that, I'm done. I don't think that I've had more than two matches in the last four months that even got as close as 90% of the posted word limit, but I've been much happier about my writing since I've decided to not even try to reach it, and I think more successful, too.

 

[/sidebar]

 

With respect to recruiting, I don't think that I can help any, as all the people that I hang out with and/or know online are around my age or older, and while some of them like wrestling, none of them have time to write about it.

[The Amazing Rando 0]

Cons

 

---> This does nothing for the World Title and Tag Title divisions.

 

 

I know neither division is very large currently, but these are two of the divisions you'd expect to at least be mentioned or done something with every show, even if it's just a promo (or two) or something. Regardless of any other bickering around here, it is the most important belt, and should be treated as such. It would be almost 'hindering' to keep the world title under any sort of confinement, because if you are good enough and have worked hard enough to actually get your hands on the belt, then it seems to me you have the ability to run with it.

 

Now, I don't think this means that the people in storyline with the title have to appear EVERY SINGLE SHOW, as everybody could use a show off now and again, but if we are going for that 'real fed' feel (barring some of the sillier match stipulations) you don't want the most important championship in the fed to just fall into the background. Yeah, I know it happens in real feds too every now and again, but hey...we're better than them anyway.

[HollywoodSpikeJenkins 0]

More cowbell.

[Hank Kingsley 0]

Some matches just don't need to be obnoxiously long.

 

Sidenote, I remember Grand Slam picking a 3.5k ICTV title defense I wrote over a 5k (limit) match Ejiro wrote. I don't remember if it was actually better or not, but that was awfully surprising.

[chirs3 0]

Let's find out how everyone else found out, then maybe see if we can get more people the same way?

 

I don't really remember how I found the fed. I think I just sort of blindly wandered in to the old IGNWF boards.

 

Still, if anyone's got that old SWF sig-banner that was all the rage around here, I'll gladly stick it back in my sig here and on other boards.

Edited April 18, 2006 by chirs3

[Golgo 13 0]

 

Win.

[Guest The Satanic Angel]

Let's find out how everyone else found out, then maybe see if we can get more people the same way?

 

I was lured in by LDP. Not sure how he came in.

 

If that SWF sig-banner comes available, I'll troll some other boards.

[Smartly Pretty 0]

I don't want revolving shows. And only because it makes me setting the title defense record harder.

 

Also, I like the roster at it's current size. Over at another e-fed, I'm the Matt Myers, and their roster is huge to a point where it's annoying. I'd say, maybe 5 more people is all I'd want. Card's would get giant, and shows would go up even later.

[Toxxic 0]

But if it comes to that we could even restart the JL. Quite apart from that, if we had a larger roster and the shows were divided it'd make booking easier, as you'd have a clearer idea of who should be booked and who wouldn't need to.

 

Besides, it might get us more tag teams. Lord knows that'd be a plan.

 

What do people think about one person being able to write a tag team? So say, me being able to write as TKO for tag matches, maybe using TORU as my main character and KOJI used for singles matches to build to a specific tag match? Bruce could do the same with the Blank Brothers, and I dunno, people could introduce a partner, or train up a manager or something...

[The Ill One 0]

I like the general idea of splitting up the cards into proportions like that. There could be a thread where each wrestler gets to apply in what places of the card they want. Then that would bring a pretty fair balance and "cross-overs" would be known. Plus each card having that general booking philosophy but nothing too strict would let all of this work.

 

I am stumped when it comes to getting new writers.

[The Amazing Rando 0]

But if it comes to that we could even restart the JL. Quite apart from that, if we had a larger roster and the shows were divided it'd make booking easier, as you'd have a clearer idea of who should be booked and who wouldn't need to.

 

Besides, it might get us more tag teams. Lord knows that'd be a plan.

 

What do people think about one person being able to write a tag team? So say, me being able to write as TKO for tag matches, maybe using TORU as my main character and KOJI used for singles matches to build to a specific tag match? Bruce could do the same with the Blank Brothers, and I dunno, people could introduce a partner, or train up a manager or something...

 

 

I've always been in favor of that, so long as one writer didn't have to write both a tag and singles match on a show. Talk about burn out...yeesh..

[Toxxic 0]

But if you only controlled a maximum of two, then you'd never have to. I think this should be just for tag purposes though, not to get people into controlling more than one wrestler in singles competition. I mean, if I was controlling both of TKO and then decided I'd have enough of tagging I wouldn't break the team up and then keep writing with, say, TORU as heel and KOJI as face. I'd just send KOJI back to Japan and write with TORU until I was ready to go back to the tag division again.

[The Amazing Rando 0]

Yeah, I don't know what I was thinking. But yes, I am and always have been in favor of that. I even have a dormant tag partner sitting around

[Toxxic 0]

For the record, you can't write as more than one persona of Alan Clark at once.

 

And if you bring back the Wayward Sons, I will be forced to rename you the Boy Scouts again, and kill you all.

[Longdogger_Pete 0]

I joined when I saw an article about e-feds on the IGN Wrestling site. Two feds were plugged in the article, and I applied for them both.

 

Interestingly, the other fed (BWFE, Best Wrestling Federation Ever. It wasn't.) shut down two days later when its co-owners suddenly flamed the hell out of each other, then dropped off the face of the earth.

[The Amazing Rando 0]

Actually... Bloodshed was not my character originally. Way back in my old RP fed days, I was a huge roadblock of a guy known as The Black Diamond, who came to team with Bloodshed. Due to the original duos penchant for writing really bizarre promos involving mental homes, medication, and other such things -- we were known as The Psychos...though I wouldn't be using that name now.

 

After that fed kinda died and I lost touch with the guy behind Bloodshed (who happend to be named Alan Clark) I took Bloodshed as my own and kept him as close to what he used to be as possible, just making him a little darker.

[Guest The Satanic Angel]

I'd be willing to write tag matches by myself.. it'd be great if you could also alternate between the two when wrestling singles matches.. just to get some variety with your own characters.

[JHawk 0]

As far as recruiting goes, my brother is on the way in before too long here (which is why those "mystery" promos with Jay Hawke have been around on occasion), but most of the people I know who might be interested in this "wouldn't have the time" to do more than RP feds despite being able to do a 6000-word promo in no time flat.

[jesse_ewiak 0]

As far as finding the fed goes, I found TSM, then I found the board, then I found the SWF section, then I lurked for a while, joined, and sucked. :-)

[Angel_Grace_Blue 0]

Well, how often is half of that 6k a song by Evanescene? Besides, 6k of talking about yourself, your dead girlfriend, the time your parents got drunk and threw acid on you when you were 15, and 6k of semi-decent psychology with semi-decent flow is different.

 

I AM TEH GREETESTS!

 

MUNCH! MUNCH!

 

Oh noez, Kad Culls, yur sexays!

 

MUNCH! MUNCH!

 

 

 

 

 

I'll actually answer this thing later.

[Bruce Blank 0]

What do people think about one person being able to write a tag team? So say, me being able to write as TKO for tag matches, maybe using TORU as my main character and KOJI used for singles matches to build to a specific tag match? Bruce could do the same with the Blank Brothers, and I dunno, people could introduce a partner, or train up a manager or something...

*Thumbs up*