Well I guess it has to be said..

[Tommy Sirius]

...but why REW hasn't grown has just been proven. During my last tangent here and I had numerous people come over to REW and check it out and see if they would like to roleplay...including Triple X. And none of them stayed. Why? Because people can't roll with stories. They want to one up one another and look stupid in the process. Not to mention the whole "supernatural" shit really turned them away. I worked with DK the last time, took the supernatural thing away and tried to give him something to work with...tried to help you with character developement...well it's regressed back to where it was.

Now don't get me wrong, I'll roll with the punches DK "threw" and correct some misunderstandings. But "picking locks with razor fingers" wasn't a very good turn around. You would have scored more points, atleast in my book, if you had rolled with the story and what was layed out. A good rper isn't someone who can just turn it around all the time....a GooD rper is someone who dispite the circumstances set infront of them can still come out on top without completley flipping the story around. Guys like JMW, i've seen him roleplay some outrageous stuff that someone has thrown at them. He didn't flip the story around to instantly make himself on top...but played it out and when the right moment hit...whooosh. That is what makes JMW a GREAT roleplayer. That is what made guys like Trips, Dozer the ones who came before us (Holiday, me and JMW) great roleplayers.

So let me pass this little bit to you all....it doesn't make you look better to just flip a storyline. It makes you seem desperate and uncreative. And if this comes across as me being a dickhead, well to be honest...change your tampon and grow a set. Creativity is the key in this game, not stuborness.

[johnmwhite]

Thanks for the props, Dreamer, I appreciate it. Being able to roll with the punches and react to changing storylines is something I have prided myself on in my career, and it's a big part of the fun of the game for me. I remember a while ago being a bit annoyed that, despite my careful orchestrations to try to avoid something happening to her, my valet was overpowered, snatched up and shaved bald in someone else's post. Such a drastic change to someone else's character would normally piss them off (understandably) but, still, it happened. I could have wriggled out of it by proclaiming she wore a wig, that I had a magic brew to make her hair grow back in one night, or that it was a doppelganger or something. Instead I sold it, made the character react to it, then kept the trait and she's still bald today.

Of course then the perpetrator no-sold it themselves. Go figure.

Anyway, letting stuff happen to your characters is part of the dance of wrestling, giving a little and taking a little, and I don't think anyone should totally dictate the flow of a match or story since both players probably have something interesting to bring to the table. Unfortunately a lot of people get into the game thinking they have to be the meanest, the toughest, the strongest and to always get the top of every situation. Maybe they see their heroes like Stone Cold having been really tough and kicked a lot of ass, but then again would Stone Cold's awesome moments been nearly as awesome if they had happened every week? Would him becoming CEO of the WWF have been nearly as cool if he hadn't kept getting screwed by McMahon? Would Undertaker coming back from the dead be any good at all if he wouldn't show some vulnerability and die now and then?

I'm not going to single out anyone since this is a problem I see with a lot of players, especially newer ones - they don't want to show any vulnerability. Unfortunately, roleplaying is about playing a role, not playing a winner. Sometimes your role isn't going to be taking names and kicking ass, and that's fine, because in the ebb and flow of the game everyone should be able to get a turn doing something cool for their character. True we're competing, but competing to write the best quality posts, not to have the toughest make-believe character.

A related problem is one that was highlighted to me last night. I was talking to another ringer here (I won't name them, but they can come forward if they wish) who pointed out that they at times find it difficult to be motivated to post because they never feel like playing a role is rewarded. The title scene seems to be tied up with whoever makes the most noise and basically demands it, so there's no sense of climbing a ladder and starting small, you can just jump right in if you yell a bit about wanting the belt, and I can definitely see that point. No-selling is not marked down, so selling and playing what we would describe as well is not marked up. Therefore, why work hard? It's an issue I can definitely sympathise with. I've lost matches to people who have no-sold much of what I've thrown at them, and it gets frustrating. I still made an effort to try to build a back and forth match, though, but I've had a long career and achieved a lot to be proud of already. I have to wonder, if I were new to the game, how much greater would the temptation be to just try to dominate and win with lesser quality but more forceful posts? At least it'd be good for the ego, right?

I'm not trying to pick on anyone in particular, and not trying to bury the people running the fed, but I can definitely see areas where we could improve the experience for everyone.

[Tommy Sirius]

It's true though, I've seen people lose matches who SHOULD NOT have lost. Even with my short stint as staff here I butted heads on a couple occasions with a staff member or two over results because to be honest...it wasn't graded right. No sells where over looked, the lack of creativity and originality was rewarded and the flow of things was just ignored. Im not sure how it's running now and who is doing what...but at that time there where too many people calling shots and some people shouldn't have been given the power to do so.

["Scarecrow" Jason Myst]

I have kind of hit a wall in the past, been out of the game for about 1 year and a half. But that gave me sometime to work on my characters, and there storylines, granted I am not the greatest rper out there in the world but I do try. I do understand where you both are coming from, but I am just throwing my side out there. I have to be creative at all costs, even if I am 7ft. beast that weighs 300lbs. granted the "Dark One" took me longer to come up with the past of the character but I try to do my best, and I try to do what I can to make everyone happy without trying to go to the real extreme.

I will admit that I need some help at times, but hell I think everybody could use a little in sight on what you need to say.[/b][/size]

[johnmwhite]

Personally I don't mind supernatural characters like yourself, Dark One, but common sense has to apply when running with a story. We can't win all the time and get the immediate upperhand of every situation, even if we are supermen. When a character acts like that, it's very frustrating to play against and makes the game no fun for the one on the receiving end.

I'm not saying you are guilty of this personally, just throwing it out there that it is a risk we run when playing as such characters.

[The Outlaw]

If I call correctly I shaved your nurses head John and sold it...though I could be VERY wrong.

In my opinion....every now and then you can throw a BIG punch like that...it's a risky thing to do but to be honest it's a trick I've used a time or two for the following. A GooD role player will run with it, they will blow it up and exploit it which translates into SELLing. However if they don't....you've stopped them dead in their tracks.

But if you can run with it, if you're creative it and do it almost perfectly you can just as easily TWIST it. In UVCW I killed a few people...shot dead! They felt the jerk, they felt their body hit the floor and somehow opened their eyes to realize it was only a dream!

I believe in pushing the limits, I believe that Aaron Holiday can dive off a 20 foot ladder through 3 tables and maybe not the next second per say but in the end still stand tall!

And as far as a grading scale, HELL YES does this place need a new scale that I've tried to bring to the table. QUANITY DOES NOT win matches. My grading scale starts right in the middle of a 5 scale at 2.5...No selling etc will take points away while selling and being creative will gain you points.

[johnmwhite]

You sold, absolutely, but your partner at the time didn't and I thought she had been the one to do it in her post. I am probably misremembering the situation, my bad.

I really like your idea of a scale. Adding for good work and taking away for being a bit sloppy seems a nice way to balance it, and it doesn't require that you be a legend to get anywhere - by a system like that, I imagine a good quality roleplayer not taking a match too seriously could lose to a less experienced player working hard, which works quite like wrestling should.

[The Outlaw]

Indeed it does, as does my scale to average points and not just add up total points to determine a winner of course some times it's not always able to be used. You can have someone write a single 5.0 post and someone write their pre match, entrance, and them something for activity sake and not spam with lower points but they'll get the win