So, what have people been up to since we last spoke?

Started a new job?

Been to a new place?

Picked up a new hobby?

Got a good project on the go?

Committed a felony?

Not much really. I did start E-fedding again last month, and that's all I do apart from keeping a child alive and working... Oh, and I do the Insanity fitness program six times a week.

Starting e-fedding again? Where and with what board and what character? I'd be interested in seeing what e-fedding looks like these days. Not really in terms of making a comeback, but just in seeing how people are doing it now compared to how we used to do it in the old days.

You still at Morrisons then?

How old is Riley now?

I'm in a couple. Went to one called XHW with Paul James, and I'm not doing great as my RPs are very rusty. I joined NCW again as well. This is the link to XHW: http://xhwarena.proboards.com/index.cgi

Yep, still on the deli counter. In June, I'll have been there five years.

Riley's four. He starts full time school in September, which he's really looking forward to. It also means my girlfriend will be able to get a part time job.

I thought I'd come back to this thread and talk a bit more about how E-fedding works now, compared to how it used to be. Back when we were all fedding together, we did the best we could to advance stories. We'd make each others characters look like their handlers want them to while still sticking to how our own character should be.

Now, it's more about running your opponents down as much as possible, with little focus on creating a great story and making both characters look strong. Having a friendly character who respects others is considered a bad thing. If you're good at slagging people off in varied and creative ways, you're onto a winner. Hell, you don't even need to add any actions to your RP or be descriptive anymore. As long as the words are good and slag off your opponent well, you're onto a winner. I got feedback for one of my RPs in early 2011 I think it was, and the person giving the feedback (who was a staff member at the time) told me that I was too descriptive and added too many actions to my RP! Basically, they would have preferred it if my character stood motionless for five minutes, and spoke in the same tone with the exact same facial expression the whole time...

To be honest Dave, I think if you looked at how E-feds operate now, you'd be sickened by it. Winning matches comes before good story telling. If you went into an E-fed with your RPing style, you'd probably go on a massive losing streak. No offense to your RPing, as I think you are one of the best RPers I've ever come across. It's just your style of RPing just wouldn't work in todays ultra-competitive E-feds.

Hmm, sadly I suspected that this might be the case, as it was certainly the direction that e-fedding was heading in even before we called a halt to it. Its part of the reason I'll never return to it as, for me, its not where the fun was (its also pretty ironic that they are doing this whilst aping a sport where the storylines are actually pre-determined and they DO work together to tell better stories).

As we have said before, I think we were very lucky here in having a core of people who wanted to tell good stories. If its just an insult-fest there's no skill there, and there's nothing to really hold an audience. When one of us posted something, I wanted to read it because I was interested in the characters. I certainly wouldnt want to read the sort of thing you are describing.

My style of writing was pretty much at odds with e-feds anyway though, LOL. As a matter of fact, I have started a follow-up bit I might post on here. Something showing how David and his family get back together.

It is a shame E-fedding has turned out like this. It seems they'll never revert back to how they used to be, as everyone has far too bigger ego to lose matches just to advance stories. People are only after the win, regardless of what it does for the storyline they're barely a part of.

When I first took Paul James to NCW, he lost a lot due to being "too nice" which was how I wanted him to be. I wanted a face wrestler who respected others, and that's how I wanted to portray him in any storyline I got involved in (You know how I used to use him, as a querky yet friendly wrestler). I had to change his attitude completely, just to have any chance of winning my matches. It wasn't something I was particularly happy about, but it's what I needed to do in an effort to stop him becoming a jobber to anyone and everyone.

Hmm, that's a shame. I always thought that when you were running a fed, it ought to be about rewarding the quality of the writing and effort being put in to do something different and original with the character and work with other people.

Personally, I'd be much more likely to have given the wins to a character like Paul James than I would someone who just comes in with an attitude, and I really think its a pity that you had to change your style so much because the owners of the fed are short-sighted.

It is a real shame. It's like most characters are a carbon copy of one another now. They all have a bad attitude, and nobody shows their opponent any respect anymore.

Well, a lot of things have happened. Almost all of them for the worse. This was up to when 2013 began and to be honest... 2013 is a better year for me already and seems to be the year that I am up to reclaiming myself and my own goals in life.


Lately, I am doing a series of video game playthroughs. It's also gotten better than that, and I have a major project in production with my best friend that will be totally revealed to all in June, when i'm actually heading out from where I am to Massachusetts to set this up.

In the mean time, I have been trying to make a name for myself as an internet Let's Player, and part time reviewer. I've also sort of received an invitation just lately to be part of a group of other LPers.

I may have other things in store, who knows. 2013 is going to be the year I pull myself out of the garbage and back into the world of productivity.

....Well, that is when my editing software and Youtube's uploading system isn't giving me shit....

You may have seen me bit--er... complaining about that a good deal, lately.

I exaggerate, though. Wildy. To be honest.

You? Exaggerate? Surely not?