E-wrestling

E-wrestling is an Internet variation on creative roleplay, based on the world of professional wrestling. There is much debate about the true origins of fantasy wrestling in general and E-wrestling in particular, but it is still popular amongst wrestling fans - although its peak was in the mid to late 1990s.

Most E-federations (or Efed) are very short-lived, and most do not last longer than six months. However, there are several federations that have withstood the tests of time thus far, and there is often disagreement about what allows a federation to last so long.

= E-Federation Formats =

There are two main formats - RolePlay or RP based, and storyline or Angle (professional wrestling) based. In both types of feds, players (sometimes called handlers in Efed parlance) write roleplays based on a character (usually known as an ewrestler) they have created. Some efeds restrict players to original characters, whilst others allow players to RP as their favorite real wrestling personality. Many Efeds are Hybrid (disambiguation) of these two types.

In an RP-based fed, players will roleplay against one another, with fed staff deciding who wins the Professional wrestling match types. The results are displayed in the format of a wrestling match featuring the two characters.

In an angle based fed, the flow of the overarching storyline (and the winners and losers) is determined by the staff s judging of which handlers have come up with the most innovative and compelling storylines. A variant of the angle fed is the matchwriting fed, in which writers draft a version of their match favorable to their character and storylines; the matches are judged, with the winning match becoming part of the show.

Some Efeds use a computer engine to simulate matches; this can become very complex. This can be done either Off-line, or online, in Real-time. Often, doing this allows the players to concentrate on Promo (professional wrestling), angles and interaction with other players. These feds can be expensive to run, and some even charge members for playing (often offering prizes and far more interaction within the game due to the greater amount of resources available to expand the federation).

There is also a third, less popular option in e-wrestling and that is the Match Fed. Match feds are different in that, as opposed to angle or RP feds, results are decided on two players working together to write their particular match that week, and whoever has written the best parts of the match will pick up the win.

=Anatomy of a Federation=

==Online==

Most E-wrestling communities contain the following:

A website, which serves as a permanent base of operations. Most of these websites contain the following:

Profiles of their wrestlers.

Rules (For RP federations only).

An archive of shows.

A role-play area. This is generally done in either the form of a guest book, a message board, or an edited Common Gateway Interface/PHP script which allows roleplayers to post directly onto the site in the same layout, archived on the profiles/biographies of the wrestlers. Some federations allow players to write role-plays on their own personal Websites and link to them through these pages.

An out of character forum for non-game chatter.

Other commonly found features are:

Columns: Usually created for fun, whether in an announcer s voice or an old wrestler from the promotion. Written in a PWI or WWE RAW magazine style. Sometimes filled with mock top five/top ten lists or Best moments of the month , or news about pay-per-views and special events.

Downloads section: Usually filled with desktop backgrounds, fake promo shots of wrestlers created with Poser (software) in front of varying stock background shots. Flash PPV commercials are sometimes available. Also, Real Audio styled reports from in character announcers are sometimes listed on a downloads section.

Executive board: A listing of who runs the federation, what these people do, and how to get in contact with them.

Federation history: How the federation came into existence, either out of character or in character.

Hall of fame: Older promotions reward those who have worked hard for years on them. Runs much like a WWE or MLB/NFL hall of fame would, rewarding the more epic players, and some cult favorites.

Title history: Each belt s history, from who held it at various times to the victories that led holding it.

Upcoming Shows: Usually done in a mock flyer fashion of independent organizations. Lists the scheduled matches for the next show, and sometimes has a Card Subject to Change at the bottom.

==Members==

Similarly, the hierarchy of the players in a community is important as well.

Roleplay Federations

Owners of the federation often have the final say in cards and angles, and serve to keep the community up to date as well as decide who to allow into their federation.

Bookers run the cards and decide what happens on shows. In most cases, the owner is also the booker. In Angle federations, the entire roster helps with the booking of the show.

Writers actually write the shows, news posts, and other official fed text for the site. Some are sourced from elsewhere, but most of the time the writers are the handlers and/or staff.

News Writers handle all non-show work for the federation. News Writers write news articles about the current events of the website itself, or may produce press releases to be distributed to interfeds.

Roleplayers are the lowest on the hierarchy, but also the most important part as well, as a certain number of roleplayers are needed for the health of the federation and to make the federation interesting. These people post their roleplays, often referred to as skits, interviews, or promos, onto the site in order to read other people s responses and further the storylines of the federation.

Most federations do not have enough people for each one to occupy a single position, and so a roleplayer (or even the owner) may also be a match writer. Also, there is no reason why some of the higher-level jobs such as booker or owner cannot be occupied by two or more people, lending rise to terms such as 50% owner or co-booker.

Angle Federations Structurally, the Owner usually takes the place of the Head Booker and the roleplayers take the place of the writers, and book their own character in accordance to where the Head Booker places them on the card. Whether they re a Steve Austin (Main Eventer), a Doink the Clown (Mid-card Comedy Character) or a Barry Horowitz (Jobber), and any level in between.

Since roleplay federations are based on competition (along with angles), there is a bias to writing one s own matches inherent in the situation. In Angle feds, there is less competition, and it is considered more about telling stories than trying to outdo an opponent. Which means there is less bias in writing for a character.

Hybrid Federations A federation of this type may contain multiple federations within one organisation. The organisation may have a committee or a single person overseeing the site, taking care of technical issues and carrying out upgrades as required. Each federation may then have a supervisor or commissioner . The commissioner would carry out day-to-day patrolling of the federation, booking cards, pay-per-views and general upkeep. There may also be a sheriff assisting the comissioner.

=Life of a Roleplay Federation=

==Normal Shows==

Most federations run on a weekly or bi-weekly basis, though some exceptions run on ten day or monthly cycles. For this example a seven-day cycle of a typical federation is used.

The roleplays from the previous grading cycle are evaluated, and matches are awarded accordingly to be booked. Most of these matches will be announced, or on the card, while others will be referred to as impromptu matches, or those supposedly booked on the fly without any notice. Most impromptu matches cannot be prepared for by the wrestlers themselves, but typically stem from a feud so intense the match has already been prepared for enough that no special hype is needed.

The card is either refined further or organized, and the Head Writer either starts writing, or matches and skits are delegated to the other show writers. At this time the official card is posted on the website or the forums as well. People in Angle federations tend to handle their own characters and write or help write everything that their character does on the shows. With less focus on roleplaying in Angle federations, people are focused on the show and the angles therein, and if they slack, they re the ones to suffer without any sort of appearance on the televised event.

Roleplayers have this time now to write their roleplays in concern to the matches, while the writers focus on their assignments.

In a roleplay federation, there are often deadlines as to when a roleplay will count towards judging.

In angle federations, roleplays can be submitted at any point in the process, although there are cutoff points from week to week to provide a standard grading period. In actuality, most angle federations don t even grade roleplays and simply use a sort of heirachy for the wrestlers to climb through their angles and gaining interesting and thought provoking angles.

Writers have a chance to look back on recent roleplays and look for elements within them to add to their matches and make their work more relevant.

Matches should be turned in by writers or finished by the head writer at this point in the cycle.

Angle federations will have these matches already complete when turned in, allowing the head writer to merely string them all together in the show.

Roleplay federations will have them finished to a point where the head writer can make a decision about the match and write an ending for it then. Some match writers may write two endings to cover both scenarios.

If not all of the assigned matches were turned in or finished the day before, this day serves as a buffer for writers to pick up whatever slack remains in the show. The show itself is finalized, proofed, formatted, and made ready for publishing.

The match results go up, often in the form of a television show. This is a misnomer as almost all results are written, but they are often referred to as televised events in order to give the federation a better feel.

*Sometimes a late writer will force the show itself to be late, but in most well-run federations, they are typically only late by a day or so. The best method to prevent a late show is to have at least one writer who can turn out quick matches, and hence cover for another writer.

==Pay-Per-Views (PPVs)==

Every one or two months (or approximately four to eight shows), federations will hold a pay-per-view (PPV) as a way of providing better-quality results and providing fitting ends to feuds and storylines. Unlike the television shows, these are not actual pay-per-views, and they cost nothing to read.

Often the preparation for certain matches in the pay-per-views will start weeks in advance of the show itself, though to prevent confusion and stress, the writers given these assignments so early in advance are often writers brought in only for the pay-per-views, and separate from the normal match writers. Normal writers also do matches for the pay-per-views as well, though they are usually not held to the same standard as PPV-only writers.

The cards for a pay-per-view often are announced at least a week or two in advance of normal cards, if not sooner, though some less important matches may only be announced the week of. There is often a main event in the form of a gimmick match that is specific to that pay-per-view.

= History =

The origin of efeds is uncertain. The original format was an email based listserv format, in which players would respond to RPs via a listserv, and fed staff would publish results the same way. The first efeds of this type were in the late 1980s.

The very nature of these feds makes them hard to track. Most efedders are males between the ages of 14 and 30, although a significant portion of the efed community is made up by females.

There are numerous top ranking sites dedicated to efeds, though efed participation is down from its peak in the mid to late 1990s. During this time, the most notable efed was CyberSlam, hosted by popular wrestling site ScoopsWrestling, with 1500 active members at its peak, and a profitable pay-to-play system in place. The site was shut down in 1998. Since the late 1990s, the popularity of E-wrestling has waned. This is probably attributable to the matching decline of the popularity of pro-wrestling.

=External links=

[http://www.fwrestling.com/ F-Wrestling (eWrestling Hosting & Resources)]

[http://groups-beta.google.com/group/rec.sport.pro-wrestling.fantasy RSPWF: Usenet Newsgroup devoted to E-Wrestling/Fantasy Wrestling] - Usenet newsgroup reader required.