How to Role Play

The XHCWF Official EW Role-Play Guide v. 07.2006

Role-Play:

In short to play the role of a professional wrestler. Not to be confused with "RPG".

Role-play:

The historical 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.

Rp Guide Lesson #1

~TYPES OF ROLEPLAYING~

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. CHARACETER 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 are 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.

"youre dead!ill bete you in the ring!big dammy!"

"Your dead, I'll beat you in the ring on monday"

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 role-play. In the second, it was good except for three things. They spelled "Your" wrong, it should've been "You're" in that use of it, Monday should have been capitalized, 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:

"I'm going to kick your ass, you jobber!"

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.

9. TARGET MISTAKES:

If you see your opponent write something that isn't correct (such as calling you a shrimp when you're taller than him), expose that and focus on it. Your opponent can't reply back to a mistake he made, giving you a free edge over him. Keep the angle: If your arm is broken in a match or previous RP, don't come out lifting weights or doing jumping jacks. Instead, be in the hospital or being driven home...something that follows the context of what happens to your wrestler. React to situations, don't just pretend they never happened. Be funny: Who doesn't appreciate a good laugh in a RP? Clean jokes are the best ones...if you have to resort to racism and sexual preferences, you're as low as every other e-wrestler out there. Remember, there are people behind those e-wrestlers and they may be offended by something you say. The goal you should try to maintain is to make your opponent, the Prez, and anyone else who reads the RP laugh without being offended in any way. If you can pull that off, you're doing a good job.

10. ASK FOR ADVICE OR CRITICISM

They are your peers, they will help you become a better RPer. If you lose a match, review what you wrote compare it to what your opponent wrote...perhaps you'll learn what they did do that you didn't, and can use that to your advantage the next match.

**And again, remember, remember to revise your writing. Spelling and grammar are fairly important in RPs...if every other word is misspelled, you will get made fun of by your opponents. Also, a lot of the time you'll contradict yourself...say one thing, then go against what you said later on. Always check to make sure you don't do that...otherwise, your opponent may capitalize on your mistake. Likewise, if you see your opponent contradict himself, tell the world he did it and let him feel like an idiot.

**One more simple thing to keep in mind: You are not, nor will you ever be the greatest RPer in the history of e-wrestling. Nobody ever will be, simply because e-wrestling is too big. Nobody could ever compare every e-wrestler ever to each other. With that in mind, drop any idea that you'll ever be the best. There are so many gigantic egos in e-wrestling that it has become the prime problem with the game. If you believe you're the greatest thing ever, you'll find yourself losing a lot, leaving feds because you lost, and just drifting about without ever becoming a well known super star anywhere. Your best bet is to keep your opinions to yourself. When you get a couple of wrestling matches, Read RP guide lesson 2.


RP Guide Lesson #2

Ok you've put a few matches under your belt, but still aren't a serious contender for any real glory. How can you improve your RP skills?

Our first RP guide was set up for the beginning basics. Here, we'll try and get you to focus in on particulars...what should be said and what shouldn't be on the way to becoming a better RPer.

~Do's~

1. Analogies:

Compare your opponent to a salad tong, a rhinocerous, a piece of paper, ANYTHING original. If you can point out how they're a lot like some random object, what are they supposed to say back to you? "No I'm not"? If you can make sense out of something that shouldn't, you're doing fantastic.

2. Common Logic:

If you beat Wrestler X and your opponent lost to him, don't hesitate to point out to them that you did something they couldn't. Every single flaw your enemy has is a major weakness, take advantage of all of them as much as possible.

3. Be a Face:

There are a LOT more heels than there are faces in e-wrestling. It's SO much easier to try and piss everyone off...a real challenge would be trying NOT to piss everyone off. It takes a lot more skill, and shows through...
The Big Picture: More on this later.

4. Get under their skin:

Try and make the handler really hate some of the things you say. Don't offend him or make him hate you...just focus on saying things that would upset him. When a person gets angry, they'll type without thinking...and then they'll be open for a mistake.

~Don't's~

1. Catch Phrases:

This isn't the WWF or WCW...it's widely felt that e-wrestlers could easily pull off a better interview than any real wrestler out there. A catch phrase or two will do fine...trying to say the same things over and over again just looks monotonous (and it is).

2. Say Stupid Stuff:

We don't think this can be emphasized enough. Promising that you'll "Kick someone's ass", repeating yourself too much for no reason, dumb slogans and obvious moronic threats are just a waste of time. Don't even bother. When fed heads see "I'll kick your ass" written in a RP, they just have one more reason to make you lose.

3. Be racist, anti-semetic, etc.:

This was mentioned in Lesson 1, but can't be stressed enough: Calling someone a name just because you think is an insult can not only REALLY hurt a person's feelings, but it makes your e-wrestler look like garbage anyway. To some extent, you could compare this to a real fed: When's the last time you saw someone making fun of Farooq for being black?

One of the best ways and most popular forms of RPing is called storylining. In this style of RP, your RP starts where your last RP left off. In this way, you essentially make one very long RP...these storylines can help to keep focus on a particular subject while having all kinds of plot twists (and lots of fun). It's a lot harder for your opponent to counter these, too. The only way they can really say anything back is by writing a storyline of their own. Just make sure you keep your opponent as the focus of your storyline...

At this point, I want to point out a simple reminder: Championship Belts are not the entire world. If you try hard enough, you'll be rewarded with a title reign sooner or later. If you get a title shot of any sort and lose, use it as a stepping stool. No one can make fun of you for losing a title shot...at least you got it in the first place. Don't waste your time arguing with the Prez of the fed either: You'll either wind up having to find another e-fed or on his bad side, and won't see another title shot for awhile anyway.

Earlier I mentioned 'The Big Picture'. This is the defining point of e-wrestling...if you can manage this very simple task in every RP you do, you'll find your way to greatness. The Big Picture is the reason why you're writing the RP. What's the point? Who are you going after? Why are you going after them? Why will you win? How will you win? Answer all the questions in your RP in any style you choose...but if you do it each time, every time, you'll become a fantastic RPer.

It's that easy...so many people just write with no true direction in their RPs that you can capitalize and beat them just by stating simple facts. Once you've got this down pat read RP guide Lesson 3.


Rp Guide Lesson #3

You've probably gotten the jist of RPing by now and really don't need my help. But hey, you want to see what I've got to say so you can improve just a little bit more, right? Right. Let's get to it.

One of the best things to do when roleplaying is dishing everything they say about you back at them. I consider this my speciality. Read your opponent's RP thoroughly. Find a weak point, ANY weak point. If they contradict themselves on even the slightest of things, nail them for it. Take something from every paragraph, if possible EVERY SENTENCE and make them eat their own words. Before you know it, you'll be making them eat your fist as well...in the ring, that is.

Despite anything that may be said, even if it was mentioned in one of the earlier lessons of this Tutorial, LENGTH DOES MATTER. I promise, no matter what any fed head or e-wrestler says, the very first thing they see or say is that that your RP is so many kilobytes/lines/letters/whatever long, and that'll be their first impression. We all know first impressions are everlasting...so if you really want to make 'em worry, hit your opponent with an RP twice as long as the one they just sent out. Now they know you've not only said a lot more, but you've upped the bar on how much time you put into it...which is always something good. These also turn into the best feuds, as you'll have two guys (in this case, yourself and your opponent) sending out a flurry of RPs to try and outdo one another. This is one of the greatest tests of willpower in e-wrestling. Who can out muscle one another in the verbal war?

Unfortunately, I can't post a sample RP for the above because it would have to be a string of sample RPs from two different guys, and that will just take too long. Whats funny is that in the Roleplay Guide: Lesson 1 I tell you all about how size doesn't matter. That was to set you up as a very beginner RPer to learn to just RP to your ability. Now I'm telling you to use size to your advantage.

Anyway, another VERY overlooked idea is the in-ring interview. If the YWF produces weekly cards (not just results), consider the idea of sending in an interview for the card. It's a free RP for yourself that can set up a feud with someone else, can add a new dimension to your character, and/or at least give you a free RP. You can write it days in advance and thus find yourself ahead of the rest of the fed because you've got that extra time in the spotlight.

Let's add some more Do's and Don't to RPing:

~Do's~

1. Humor:

Be funny. But know your limits. Making people laugh will score you a great deal of popularity with your fed, and that kind of backing can earn you all sorts of shots at bigger things. Just know when to be serious, too.

2. Spelling and Grammar:

Hey, spelling and grammmer checking everything is flat out annoying, so I won't tell you to do that. But if you don't know how to spell a word, make sure you find out. If you make a few typos or whatever, that's alright...just make sure that you're not writing something completely illegible. You'll just open yourself up to an attack.

3. Double-Check:

Not just what was mentioned above, but close all the gaps in your RP. If you have a friend in the YWF, get him to read the RP and tell you what he'd respond with. Take that advice and correct your RP to close any flaws he may have found.

4. The Big Picture:

Mentioned in Roleplay Guide: Lesson 2, I can't emphasize how important this is. If you don't remember it, go back to that lesson and read it. Memorize it. Live it. Its the unofficial RPers Creed.

~Don't's~

1. Stretch Yourself Thin:

One opponent at a time. Don't challenge someone you haven't already looked over and are capable of fighting...no point getting your ass kicked for nothing more than the sake of doing it, right? If you can avoid it, stay away from anything major like a Battle Royal until you know you're ready to destroy the fed.

2. Go Blind:

Just briefly mentioned above, research your opponent. Know his origins, his height, weight, entrance theme, everything about him. Know who he's beaten and lost to...that kind of information never hurts in an RP war.

3. Last Minute RP:

Unless ABSOLUTELY neccessary, don't do one of those "I'll write 3000 RPs in the last 45 seconds before the card comes out or RPs are due" things. This happens a surprising amount of time, and EVERYONE, fed heads and e-wrestlers alike, hate it. You might deserve to win the match with these RPs, but you lose a lot of respect from everyone in the fed. Not worth it, trust me.


How Rank is calculated

In the E-fed rank is based on your win and loss ratio.


How Money is Earned and Managed

Firstly, you earn money based on your pay per appearance value. For example if Wrestler X’s pay per appearance value is $2,500 then whenever they appear on a show, regardless of if they are in a match or not they would get paid $2,500.

Next, you would be paid based upon your Overall Rating if you are in a match. Your Overall Rating, which can be 0-100, is based off your Match Quality (0-100) plus the Crowd Reaction to your match (0-100) divided by 2.

Here’s the breakdown for that bracket as it stands:

Rating – Payout
91 -100 – $3,000
81 - 90 – $2,900
71 - 80 – $2,700
61 - 70 – $2,400
51 - 60 – $2,000
41 - 50 – $1,500
31 - 40 – $1,300
21 - 30 – $1,250
11 - 20 – $1,100
0 - 10 – $1,000

So if your Match Quality was 75 and the Crowd Reaction was 90 then you would add those two numbers and get 165. You would divide 165 by 2 and get 82.5. You would round that up to 83 and would be paid $2,900.

Then you would be paid based on the rank you would be AFTER the show ends. Below is a breakdown of rank payout based on the idea that there are only 10 people to be ranked:

Rank - Payout
1 – $5,000
2 – $4,800
3 – $4,400
4 – $4,000
5 – $3,500
6 – $3,200
7 – $3,000
8 – $2,700
9 – $2,500
10 - $2,000

Here are some additional ways to earn money:

~Wrestling in the Main Event match: $1,000.00

~Wrestling in a Mid-card/Upper Mid-card match: $500.00

~Wrestling in a Opener/ Lower Mid-card match: $250.00

~Winning the XHCWF World Heavyweight Championship: $2,000.00

~Winning the XHCWF Women’s World Championship: 2,000.00

~Winning the XHCWF National Championship: $1,500.00

~Winning the XHCWF Hardkore Championship: $1,000.00

~Winning the XHCWF World Tag Team Championship: $1, 000.00 per member

~Cutting a promo on a show:

Good Promo Rating: $500.00
Fair Promo Rating: $350.00
Poor Promo Rating: $100.00

~Cutting a promo on a PPV:

Good Promo Rating: $850.00
Fair Promo Rating: $500.00
Poor Promo: $250.00

~Having an official site for your character, and actually using it, updating, etc.: $1, 000.00

~Being in a movie:

Good Movie Rating: $1,000.00
Fair Movie Rating: $700.00
Poor Movie Rating: $350.00

~Writing a book:

Good Book Rating: $1,000.00
Fair Book Rating: $700.00
Poor Book Rating: $350.00

~Merchandise: Money depends on wrestler’s status, popularity, etc. – weekly based on merchandise ranking


How a Rp Is Judged

~RP's ARE BASED ON PUSH AND REALITY~

1. Push:

Push is how aggressive or how serious you are about winning. You can have the longest RP but be off subject and non-aggressive and get a 0. Or you can be loud and short and still get a 0. Now if you are long, soft and on target and showing that you mean business you can win this thing. You can be loud and short but still mean business you can win it. It's all how you approach the topic at hand.

2. Reality:

This part is easy. Make your role play seem real. Don't make it out in fantasyland. Make it real and live. Like you are a wrestler and you are actually giving an interview or talking in the ring.

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