To understand why I am “all in” on the efedding hobby, you should probably understand a little bit about what efedding is exactly. So, let me boil it down a bit for you into the most basic of terms (probably).
The term eFedding is like a verb, ya know? It means “To eFed” or “to partake in the hobby that is eWrestling”.
eFedding, eFed, eWrestling, and so on are all terms with the e in front of it to stand for Electronic. So Electronic Wrestling. It’s my way to describe it anyway. It’s the fictionalized form of a fictionalized form of fighting.
So, there’s a dude called the Fed Head who creates the setting and what not that go with the eFederation. He gathers his staff to him (hopefully) and creates the card, which is the list of the matches on the show. As a player in the game or handler, you fill out the application for a fictional wrestler and put it in the proper place on the forum (or website, depending on where you’re efedding at).
The fed head will put out the card and thus you will know who your character is facing in a wrestling match just like on the television shows. You will write a promo that depicts your character getting ready for the match, talking smack about the opponent, or maybe a snippet in the life of the character of what he/she does when not wrestling.
The fed head usually sets the limits on roleplaying before the card is set or when the fed is set. Usually in a easy format 1x750 means 1 roleplay at a 750 word limit. Most places are more words than that for a limit and if you like Fireside, you negotiate limits per match with your opponent(s).
You write your promo or roleplay as the terms go and post it in the designated section. The fed head and staff will go over your roleplay. They will laugh, they will cry, they will either praise or cut it in private and then decide based upon their own personal rubic who should win the match.
Then, they will write the matches with a variety of formats to choose from to make it like you were watching the wrestling show happen on television. There will also be an opportunity to put in something called a seggie or segment. It’s a term that describes taking up a section of time on the show like the segment of a worm. So this is a bit more limited. It could be something backstage, in the ring, or prerecorded video for the big screen for replays and entrance packages that tv wrestling shows so often have. Writing a segment doesn’t often sway who wins the match, but it does show that you are more involved in the fed so bigger opportunities could come your way because of it.
And the show comes out, you’ve placed your heart in the outcome of the match and either you have won to extend your elation at being in this weird hobby in the first place or you have lost. I mean you could have lost because you did something wrong, it could also simply be that the other guy did better. And of course there’s all kinds of feelings in the middle that you could have about the loss. If you feel really bad about the loss, it’s best to privately contact the fed head, who normally has the final say on matches, how you did in reviews and how you could do better.
And then we repeat at the next show! I mean, there’s also tag teams/stables/managers/valets and so on, but that’s for another tale. This is efedding in a nutshell. A fantasy writing contest between two or more people framed within the workings of a wrestling competition.
That’s something of a description about what I think eWrestling is. Now why do I do it? I mean it’s really a good question. I am not currently a “televised wrestling fan” and haven’t been for about twenty years or so. Why? Because televised wrestling is stupid and panders to the lowest denominator.
When I first began to watch wrestling, they at least pretended that it was real. Back in the 80’s when Legends like Hulk Hogan, Bob Backlund, Andre the Giant, Randy Savage, and so many more dominated the ring. I was hooked. These people are battling for domination for my amusement! They had combat skills that were off the charts and sometimes fighting off legions of lesser wrestlers (especially when Andre the Giant got mad). I fancied that I could duplicate their fighting moves in real life fighting (yeah, that went South real fast). I wanted to duplicate the experience of being a wrestler and so we, my close friends and I, either did backyard wrestling or backyard wrestling with an eye of pretending to be different characters in the “real” WWF.
You know what I quickly discovered? Being thrown off of a trampoline to land flat o your back kinda hurts. As well as when a kid that outweighs you by about fifty pounds or more drops down on top of you.
So we turned to dice based or angle based WWF action as we made original characters to take on the WWF superstars in the ring. This eventually led to me finding Computer Wrestling Federation where I could manage a wrestler(s) in a career. I put out challenges and money to get on the many cards and the computer did up the action of who won. It was a pre-roleplay period and so really doesn’t always count, but I count it.
There was also dice wrestling at home with any number of figures. Wrestling figures, He-man figures, TNMT figures, and whatever else that was roughly on the six inch scale to wrestle in a homemade ring of massive nails, plywood, and rubber bands. Yeah ok, in high school and a bit beyond I played with action figures…
Eventually, we switched from a play by snail mail report that required money (to cover printing and postage) to an email federation where we began to run promos and such.
Email federations led to forum based and website based, each with their own advantages and disadvantages.
It still doesn’t speak on WHY I do the efedding.
In the beginning it was about wrestling, because I was obsessed with televised wrestling. Now, it’s to tell a story about my characters who are typically larger than wrestling. They wrestle to prove a point or because it’s fun, but their outside of the ring adventures dominate the roleplays I write.
I am driven to write. Sometimes I NEED to know what happens next in the adventures of my characters just as much or not more than any fans I might have. I sit down at my ipad and I could be playing games, but are these games as fulfilling as seeing how Esmeralda von Krauss is doing in the War of Shadows? It is not.
I know that to others, eWrestling is something of an addiction that sooner or later they grow out of. Me…the frame of wrestling is nice, but the stories to me are more important. If it’s an addiction I don’t need no intervention. If it’s a disease, I don’t need the cure. Yes, I may one day leave the framework of efedding behind, but in the meantime I’m all in.
All in as in I’m writing promos for several efeds with different characters. I’m all in as site admin with judging other matches. I’m all in for writing matches. I’m all in on awards shows to stroke the egos of fellow handlers. I’m all in on creating banners as needed and playing with photoshop and whatever other software that will help things out. I’m all in on a lot of things involving the XHF Network.
The XHF Network is a family of feds with something of a centralized government. We run “global events” that are cross-promotional like Infinity Wars and End Game with Marvel movie brands. We are a family and that includes the fighting that siblings often come up with in the process of playing this game that means so much to us.
This is part of it. The making of new friends in far away places. The passion of seeing what my characters are going to do next. The adrenaline of winning matches. All of this combines to make for a heady potion and that is why I eFed.
Edit: I forgot a link to the XHF Network in case you wanted to check it out. http://xhfnetwork.com