Playing for the wrong reason? I don’t think so.

I’ve read and continue to read, those(while well meaning) that seem to think there is some noble, ultimate reason for roleplaying and that other forms are a waste of time and effort. You’ve read these I’m sure, the peeps that claim that e-fedding should only be taken seriously if you do it for the pure enjoyment of writing or story-telling. Personally, I get more than a little ticked off when I read that. Why? Because regardless of opinion there really is no correct way to e-fed.

A lot of the people that fall into the “Rp’ing in order to write” category are also the same sort of mindset players as the “RP’ing for the ability to setup angles and storylines” group.

In the beginning back in the 90’s, e-fedding was strictly a roleplaying game. And it was just that, playing the role of a make-believe wrestler. Only later did it morph into the writing contests many Feds encourage. However, e-fedding developed along the way, changing from simple RP’s to more complex structures. Simple 5 minute rants typed out were slowly replaced by hours of creative writing.

It starts off with;

1. Rp’ing for fun… This is when one is first introduced to e-fedding. 3-5 paragraph trash talk promos and cleverly worded insulting dialongue-based RP’s dominate this section. It’s the sort of things new players wish their TV heroes would say, if they were the wrestlers.
2. Rp’ing to be creative… Now, instead of just putting words into their characters’ mouths, now they develop the entire personality. RP’s now become more thought out and backgrounds and secondary characters
3. Rp’ing to win… E-Fedder’s in this category will use their RP skills simply to win matches. They will pay keen attention to what wins matches in their fed, and produce RP’s accordingly, even if it’s not the style they normally enjoy writing. They will research opponents hoping to counter any RP style they may have as well as reproduce it first so that their opponent appears to be the “unoriginal copy” that is not worthy of winning. All stops, styles and arguments are sometimes employed to win, including some rather unfair methods(as discussed in another article in this issue).
4. Rp’ing for titles… This is exactly like the above reason, but with a twist. Players focus all their attention on grabbing title after title, with little regard for anything else. They position all their efforts into title matches and little else for ordinary matches.
5. Rp’ing for the writing aspect or for storyline purposes… This is when players pay close attention to detail in terms of creative writing. Plots, sub-plots, back histories, grammer form, descriptive prose, sentence structure, metaphors…etc, etc are all used to the fullest in each and every RP they type out. Extreme pride and accomplishment goes hand-in-hand with the completed work of these players. It’s no wonder they end up with a larger sense of self-worth.

A lot of people, especially the older players with years of RP’ing under their belts that progress onto level 5, seem to think that the first four reasons do not do the hobby credit and those that play for those reasons are somehow, less of a player than they are. However, each of the above reasons has it’s own set of players that firmly enjoy the game of e-fedding on their own terms. Do some simple arithmetic here and you’ll see that the majority of e-fedders do not play due to level 5 reasons. They each get as much pleasure out of e-fedding as the other groups and no one group deserves to be judged by the others

People do many things for many reasons. Look at the job market, some take certain jobs for certain reasons. Some take a job because of the money it pays, some because of the people in the company, some just because the work is something they like to do. You see there is no one “ultimate” reason for taking a job and anyone that goes around claiming so, looks rather shallow and out of touch when they do.

So, yeah, the whiney, annoying player that complains he/she should be constantly be in title match after title match, or the egotistical RP’er that can not accept defeat has as much right to play the game without hassle as the calm, prime and proper serious writer of stories.

Stop thinking that “YOUR” reason for role-playing is the most noble reason for e-fedding. Some play to win, some for pure enjoyment and some for self-important reasons as titles and recognition by peers. It’s a vast game filled with a vast array of personalities and views. E-fedding has as much depth as the limitless wealth of imagination that fuels it. Why should we try to set a ceiling on something so far-reaching in scope? Simple… we shouldn’t. Let’s try to remember that.