There was a conversation that took place not too long ago where James and I were discussing whether a writer should be able to write their own character's matches and segments and overall determine the route that their character takes in EAW. I believe that a writer shouldn't be able to take control of their character because that ruins the entire efed experience. I'll elaborate if needed. 

What do you guys think?

Elaborate pls

Yeah, I think that they should. Sometimes it's unavoidable that they will need to manage their own character. E.G, Aaron and Demon taking over SD writing duties while their characters were both on SD. It wouldn't make sense just to randomly trade their characters to a different brand to avoid that. On that note, I think both guys (and Demon will continue to do) have managed their characters fairly. I feel writers in general here are good at managing their own characters fairly and not pushing themselves too much.

IDK about ruining the whole efed experience, or to say they shouldn't be able to. I will however say, it kind of get's obvious that they put a lot more energy into pushing their own characters and giving them depth, all of a sudden their lyrics are placed in their entrances, they get extremely detailed promos on shows, heavily focused on feuds more than other people and all that, so it sort of gives them an unfair edge over others. Still, I won't say they shouldn't be able to do it.

Writers should be able to write their own character, but with restrictions. All major decisions should be overseen by an absolute authority figure, or a group of 3-5 of the most important authority figures (head writers, VP, etc). No writer should have complete autonomy over their own character, but some handle it better than others.

Yes. As long as they don't abuse it by making their own character more over than others I see nothing wrong with it

J Dynasty wrote:

all of a sudden their lyrics are placed in their entrances

IIIIII SHOOOOOOOT THE LIGHTS OUT
HIDDDEEEE TILL IT'S BRIGHT OUT

Y2Impact wrote:

J Dynasty wrote:

all of a sudden their lyrics are placed in their entrances

IIIIII SHOOOOOOOT THE LIGHTS OUT
HIDDDEEEE TILL IT'S BRIGHT OUT

Lol DDD isn't the only one who did that, and eventually I assume others just inserted it for him when doing his matches. But yeah that type of stuff lol.

Some people its fine but other people are unqualified.

Some people like Demon and I arguably would have better winning records if we didnt write ourself. Maybe our stories wouldnt be as good, textbook or intricate though, but only we would have the gall to book ourselves losing many of the matches that we made ourselves lose and we'd have far more time to promo.

Then theres the opposite where there are writers who have or clearly placed far more focus on their own characters in a multitude of ways than others.

So maybe just maybe there are downsides to writers writing themselves thats more than "they put themselves over" but there are definitely people who (no shot as Senn since this is a quote linked with him) manufacture their legacies in an unfair way. It's arbitrary.

Mr. DEDEDE wrote:

So maybe just maybe there are downsides to writers writing themselves thats more than "they put themselves over" but there are definitely people who (no shot as Senn since this is a quote linked with him) manufacture their legacies in an unfair way. It's arbitrary.

RABBLE RABBLE RABBLE!

How dare you say such? Why I would never do such a thing? This outrageous! Ridiculous! Insulting! I can't even believe you would make such an accusation!

RABBLE RABBLE RABBLE!

Yes. If they can't be trusted to write their own characters they shouldn't be writers in the first place.

I don't mind as long as there's a balance.

As long as they aren't shamelessly putting themselves over without building anyone else up, I say yes. Some writers can be good with this and I've seen some abuse it a little bit.

I wrote my character for an entire year putting so many people over. If writers don't abuse their rights over their character, I don't think they should be prohibited from writing it. I also like now that the co-writing system helps prevent that in many ways. You can look at guys like Ken, Robbie, Xavier, Mr. DEDEDE, Demon, and others who wrote themselves for such a long time and treated their character fairly or even drove them into the ground by putting so many others over. Not only that, but the writers have Mr. DEDEDE watching over them to ensure no abuse. The trusted writers I see are the best writers.

J Dynasty wrote:

IDK about ruining the whole efed experience, or to say they shouldn't be able to. I will however say, it kind of get's obvious that they put a lot more energy into pushing their own characters and giving them depth, all of a sudden their lyrics are placed in their entrances, they get extremely detailed promos on shows, heavily focused on feuds more than other people and all that, so it sort of gives them an unfair edge over others. Still, I won't say they shouldn't be able to do it.

I agree with this assessment 100%. I just wanted to add a disclaimer to it, is all. You often do see the writers getting the most detail work, especially when it comes to entrances, promos all that stuff. But I think communication goes A LONG way. If someone that is NOT a writer wants a detailed entrance, feels as if this is one of the biggest matches of their career, they could PM their writer to give them one of those as well. Pain For Pride is the only time I've had people PM me giving them special entrances, which is understandable. But no writer is ever against it, people just have to ask.

As for the thread in general. I think there are some things that writers have earned the right to do, it just comes with the territory of taking on extra responsibility. The availability to go in more depth with your own character, either it be to give yourself detailed promos or something along those lines. It doesn't hurt anyone else from getting a push, so I see this as harmless. Like with Lannister, I always strive for him to be involved in interesting storylines. Wins and loses don't matter to me personally, but each writer has their own values I guess. I'm sure this thread is speaking more towards the accolade success of when writers win world championships and all that.

There are definitely some that handle power better than others. Look through the chronicles of EAW history, and you will find guys that got a lot more than they deserved, and then some. But there are also some writers who have taken a backseat for as long as they could, and picked a "the time is right" moment once and for all. It happens. It is always said, nobody knows how to write their character more than themselves. So that is why you so often find people writing themselves. It's not to get more championships, any of that. It's always just to get a good story, and to keep things interesting. At least I hope that's what people's motivations are. Some abuse it of course, but that happens.

It's a double-edged sword. Just truly need a balance, and not to focus solely on your character. I always tell myself, "You're a General Manager first, writer second." Because that lets me know I have a roster to look out for, a puzzle to continuously figure out and put in the best situation. And if that involves certain individuals, including myself, to take a backseat or a nice, warm driver's seat, then that's what you roll with.

But I understand the pessimism. There's a higher chance for a writer to feel as if they have deserved a world title reign than the next guy up, just simple due to human nature. But there's a co-writer system these days, and there's not just a decision made by one guy alone anymore. It's a collaborative effort. And at the end of the day, I think at least during this regime's tenure, EAW has gotten it right a majority of the time.

I have two lines of thought on the argument.  I've been in feds where people got to write specific segments for shows for their characters if asked to by writers who were only match writers and not RPers.  If you want a fail safe system, that's about as close as you can get to one.  However, being solely a match writer can get tedious, and nepotism is just as inevitable, be it because their friend's in the fed, they have a clique of fedders they've been around more and are used to writing their characters, or they might just simply favor a gimmick over others.  

Personally, I'd prefer that style simply because it allows writers and fedders to get a better grasp of a character through the RPer's lens instead of some writer who might not be acclimated enough with their characters to do them justice.  The style of EAW is actually a bit alien to me, but I'm also fine with it, even if PB doesn't always come across the same way in a promo than he does in my RP.  Considering the size of the rosters here, I'd wager that there really isn't a way to let RPers have a say that didn't either a.) turn into utter chaos due to how hungry everyone is or b.) left someone feeling left out.  

I know my opinion's a bit slanted since I've more or less made myself the KoKo B. Ware of EAW and don't really expect much in the way of favorable booking, but I'm fine with the writers writing for themselves.  Is it an advantage? Perhaps that's subjective, but the ones who seem to show self-favoritism tend to do so in fairly innocent ways that does make it obvious whose writing a match due to an elaborate entrance or some silly character tropes in match that's probably not as likely to happen for people who don't GM, but buries the lead when the bell rings and they pretty much come back down off of their pedestal and make results and actions within the match more about the work put in by the RPers.  And, likewise, I have respect for those who show complete self-restraint, to the point of sacrificing a favorable position in the show that they might actually deserve.

idk why but I feel like this is low key directed towards Senn when he had his match with Imp on Dynasty Wrestling. :$

Ryan Savage wrote:

idk why but I feel like this is low key directed towards Senn when he had his match with Imp on Dynasty Wrestling. :$

No, Ryan, this is not a passive aggressive post trying to call someone out without directly saying it. This was just a general, broad conversation that sparked the idea for this topic. If it was directed towards someone, then I'd make sure to point it out. So stop, u fukboi.

I've seen many writers have complete autonomy over their character and except for one infamous (around my circle, anyway) incident, there weren't any complaints even from members.

Non-promo storytime with Lioncross: the infamous example I'm referring to is one that I've written about on my Webs site. The efed was at a point where it very well could've closed if not for the writer joining a power trip-type stable due to a dwindling main event scene. The writer didn't even make himself World Champion, and nothing about the storyline was beyond the realm of top-flight heel angles from the WWE over the past 30 or so years. The situation got ugly because a few people not even in the efed started spewing out falsehood-filled hot takes about the situation, and the members of the stable - the writer included - played their characters in the chat, which is something I found and will forever find annoying. The point of that tangent is that I cannot connect the grumbling from some people directly to the fact that the writer had control of his character.

Most people here who are qualified to write for EAW are people I would trust to write their characters. I do believe that in almost everyone's case here, each person is his or her own biggest mark (think about that before you deny it), but excessive pushing of his or her own character at the expense of others will probably be aggressively called out by people on the chat, in PMs, whatever. Most of us would correctly choose to sacrifice our own character's immediate success in order to not have a situation like this blow up in our faces.

That being said, if time is a constraint for a writer - which, as we know, has happened a lot - sacrifices in quality will have to be made somewhere. It's during those times that we'll see if the writer is more about his or her own character or managing the egos on the roster. Lannister said it best; he's a manager before a writer. Ask Jose Mourinho, football fans; he's a very effective tactician and coach but can't seem to manage a ship for more than two seasons. As a result, he's probably the best coach I've seen in all of sports to repeatedly get sacked/asked to leave. In the same way, I'm guessing that a classic character or even a classic storyline involving the writer wouldn't excuse a bad show. And, I believe that the writers either were taught or innately know this.

But, again, I believe that even if we claim to be selfless writers and people, we're still our own biggest marks. A bad decision that favors the writer's character may be made every once in a while. I can see, and I have seen, how things can spiral downward in rare instances. I don't think that's enough evidence, however, to say that writers shouldn't be allowed to write themselves, especially since the writers here are among the best promoers and if anything, may be holding themselves back in terms of results because of their roles as managers. They may be getting more detailed segments and entrances, but results matter more to me in the end.

I'd like to see why you think it "ruins the entire efed experience". That's a very strong claim to make and it's very broad if you don't elaborate. You and I did see this go bad in NGW back in 2009, but that place and this place are like night and day.

Eris LeCava wrote:

Ryan Savage wrote:

idk why but I feel like this is low key directed towards Senn when he had his match with Imp on Dynasty Wrestling. :$

No, Ryan, this is not a passive aggressive post trying to call someone out without directly saying it. This was just a general, broad conversation that sparked the idea for this topic. If it was directed towards someone, then I'd make sure to point it out. So stop, u fukboi.

Girl take a seat please like a couple or several. I was just joking. Goodness. But anywho I'll post my serious thoughts in a minuet

Ryan Savage wrote:

Eris LeCava wrote:

Ryan Savage wrote:

idk why but I feel like this is low key directed towards Senn when he had his match with Imp on Dynasty Wrestling. :$

No, Ryan, this is not a passive aggressive post trying to call someone out without directly saying it. This was just a general, broad conversation that sparked the idea for this topic. If it was directed towards someone, then I'd make sure to point it out. So stop, u fukboi.

Girl take a seat please like a couple or several. I was just joking. Goodness. But anywho I'll post my serious thoughts in a minuet

FIGHT FIGHT FIGHT FIGHT!

The Fabled Conqueror wrote:

Ryan Savage wrote:

Eris LeCava wrote:

Ryan Savage wrote:

idk why but I feel like this is low key directed towards Senn when he had his match with Imp on Dynasty Wrestling. :$

No, Ryan, this is not a passive aggressive post trying to call someone out without directly saying it. This was just a general, broad conversation that sparked the idea for this topic. If it was directed towards someone, then I'd make sure to point it out. So stop, u fukboi.

Girl take a seat please like a couple or several. I was just joking. Goodness. But anywho I'll post my serious thoughts in a minuet

FIGHT FIGHT FIGHT FIGHT!

REVOKE THIS MAN'S MAIN WRITER STATUS. What he has done with his match with Y2Impact is evidence alone that Senn can't handle writing his own character 

I think it's possibly up to writers preference. I believe that writers should be allowed to write for their own matches and segments, but as is often the case, if I'm involved in something on Battleground or the like I tend to ask someone else to write it, not because I don't trust myself, but because I just prefer not writing for myself in matches or segments.

Up until I came to EAW, in the 10+ years I've been fedding, unless it was an angle fed, any segment I wanted put on the show involving my character, I was told I had to write myself. The writers there would help push whatever angle you were running so long as it didn't conflict with current major storylines, but any promo or attack your character made during shows was written by you and approved by them before posting. Because of that, I feel that with this ultimately being a game we all very much enjoy, it should be left up to the discretion of the designated writers and staff to determine if someone should be allowed to write for their own character. Personally, I hate writing my own matches, because I want to read the result and watch it all play out like everyone else.

On the other hand though, I have been in far too many feds where this same idea of letting people control their own characters has caused egos to explode, feuds to spill out of character, and fed owners becoming world champion without any real logic for the push. Since joining EAW, not having to worry with promos and such for the shows and being able to read the results from a perspective as a fan and then furthering the stories through rps has been AMAZING.

Based on past experiences with feds, it really don't matter that much as long as the other talent is allowed to have some input on their segments if they have the drive to.