Post by vastrix on Dec 5, 2019 7:58:17 GMT -5
1. What's your real name?
My real name is John.
2. When did you begin Fantasy Wrestling and how long have you been doing this?
Started out around 1997-98. First on random boards and then finding myself at ROW before MoonChild ran it. I dropped out around 2003 and didn’t get back into it until MC told me about fedwars aka efedwrestling.
3. Which one of your characters is your favorite and why?
Damn, I can’t just pick a favorite character. They’re all favorites for one reason or another. Mace Draklin was the first ever character I created and the guy has died more times than I can remember but I’ll always enjoy writing for him. Baron Vendredi I love because when I came back to e-wrestling I wanted a campy character like we used to see in the old days of professional wrestling. “Jumping” Jack Burton because he was the first time that I actually took a character without any crazy gimmick – he was just your average, old wrestler wanting to get his fame back. And lastly, Pedro Hernandez Jr. because he was fun to write with and I loved the Pedro Hernandez character.
4. What's your favorite character owned by another player?
So many. Like I said above, Pedro Hernandez because the character was exactly how I expected him to be. El Flamingo because of his stories and misadventures. Brother Abishag (the best brother in my opinion) because of his crazy loyalty to Dr. Summeroff. I then got to see his back story play out, which was awesome because it was a character not a lot of people knew. I had been reading Summeroff’s stuff since ECWC/WECW and I just loved seeing this character develop. Takuma Sato and Eric Dillinger because they made wrestling feel real. There are more but I think I’ve rambled on long enough.
5. If you could own one of the Feds on this site, what would it be and why?
There was one fed a long, long time ago that was basically an underground boxing league. By the time I joined fedwars, it looked like that league fell. I know, random. But I always enjoyed the idea of running an underground fighting league. I’ve seen many attempts but I think I could do it.
6. Who was your favorite feud with and why?
El Flamingo with Jack Burton. We did the first ever Spider Web Match in nGw. El Flamingo was the kind of guy that I loved to roleplay against – to me, he had that “it” factor.
With Pedro Hernandez Jr, it would be with Scarlett Rose because of the hilarious interaction that the two had.
As for Baron Vendredi. . . I honestly can’t remember feuds as much as I can stories.
Mace Draklin never had a feud in fedwars.
7. What feds are you currently in? Are you looking at expanding to others?
I am currently in no other feds. My characters are still in “ROW” but ROW is closed. I was in nGw but I felt my time had run its course there as well. At this time, I’m not looking into other feds. Too busy with other hobbies at the moment.
8. In a perfect world where you had time to write whatever you wanted, what feds are you not a part of that you would like to join? Or rather, what feds interest you?
I’ve been so out of the loop with everything, I have no idea who is still active anymore. I go on the forums because I feel I have made friends with a majority of people (maybe minority now that a lot of people have left) and still want to maintain contact. I know Rob has finally gave it a go with a fed, so probably there.
If I could bring a fed back, well, you know my answer to that one. WECW/ROW would be it.
9. Have you been in a feud so thick with emotion that you felt as much anger toward the Handler as well as wrestler?
Not really. There would be times where I knew politics played a role in efedding but I would never let that get to me. Usually, if people told me beforehand that it would be based on storyline rather than competition, I didn’t care. Feuds were fun and gave us the ability to write something that made us happy.
OOC feuds? Yeah, I’ve been angry. Partially a small reason why I left. I’m not one to cause trouble, so I’ll leave it at that.
10. If you could improve the efedwrestling.com site in any way (without returning game elements), what would you do?
Where to start?
This question sounds rather negative because I can easily start writing and make it sound like LAL does a crappy job, which I don’t think is true. But here is what I see and assume as an outsider currently:
LAL has done a terrific job with fedwars/efedwrestling. He gave a lot of people a place to go to express themselves. And he did this FOR FREE. He never followed the Zynga line of thinking and that is what made FedWars great. He was/is active on the boards. He took things into consideration when people had suggestions and improvements – he messaged a lot of us that wanted to see this place succeed. Currently, it looks like we have no administrator. It looks like LAL gave up. I’m not trying to offend him but if I was new and came to this site, I would think Vastrix was the admin.
I think there should have been a BOD put back into place. When I joined, we had one but that was quickly dissolved. I think the Board was a good idea because it put things into perspective with others instead of one guy vs. one guy.
Unfortunately, drama happens. No matter where you are in life. Do I believe drama is the reason for efedding dying a slow death? Yes. Drama is what got users banned. It’s what made people leave. We need to remember that we are all human beings that have our own problems and we should not take it out on one another; especially how tempting it can be when you are hidden behind a keyboard.
Sorry for that, but I think that would also help improve the site. I miss achievements. I miss game elements (I know, I know) like the ranking system (which I’m really surprised that I’m saying this). If you don’t have a ranking system, the feds page needs to alternate randomly every time I click on it to give other feds a chance.
And honestly, if it wasn’t for Vastrix trying to help out with taking some control, like doing these interviews, I think efedwrestling would be rather quiet on the main forums. We went from a simple concept, to the idea of adding to it, to a simple concept again. However, we lost a lot of people along the way and that hurt us big time. I don’t know how to convince others to come back in this case.
11. Every fed owner has a wish list for handlers, and sometimes even a wish list of characters from those particular handlers. If you were to own a Fed or recruit for one, what would be your wish list?
I would want a fed where I could help out with those getting into roleplaying. Not tell people what they should or shouldn’t do but to push them into becoming better writers. We are at this point where a lot of us that are still doing this have been doing it for a long time. And when kids get involved or people who don’t normally write, we really do a terrible job of helping out. We have forgotten that some people don’t necessarily need the help but they need the boost. This isn’t a false confidence boost but what do you expect to see when you have midcard or lower card guys go up against top tiered guys? I can and have seen dream matches in other feds. I want “lower card” guys that want to write and learn.
12. What do you do when you're not efedding? Other hobbies, job, and such? Married, single, kids?
I am married and have a very young son. I love to spend time with my family. When I’m not doing that, I am running a Podcast Network – podbros.com. I also am a part of a comic book review podcast – pencilandinkreviews.com with MoonChild. Many people might not be aware but MC and I have known each other since we were young kids. But yeah, visit podbros.com and you’ll get an idea of what I do now instead of roleplaying. I also have a job that I’ve been at for ten years but that’s boring to talk about. I would rather promote my podcast :-D podbros.com
13. What is your favorite fed?
WECW/ROW. Hands down. MC writes some of the best matches I have ever read. Yes, they are long, but they weren’t boring to read. There is always some big surprise in each match or storyline. It is chaotic poetry.
14. Ok. A movie is being planned with Baron Vendredi who do you think would best be able to play this person? Just thinking out loud here, I was thinking Lance Reddick. He played Papa Legba in American Horror Story: Coven (Season Three).
Hell yeah, Lance Reddick would do a great job. Would love to see Nelsan Ellis (True Blood) try his hand at it.
Thanks for doing this, Vastrix. I enjoy getting to know the people behind the characters.
My real name is John.
2. When did you begin Fantasy Wrestling and how long have you been doing this?
Started out around 1997-98. First on random boards and then finding myself at ROW before MoonChild ran it. I dropped out around 2003 and didn’t get back into it until MC told me about fedwars aka efedwrestling.
3. Which one of your characters is your favorite and why?
Damn, I can’t just pick a favorite character. They’re all favorites for one reason or another. Mace Draklin was the first ever character I created and the guy has died more times than I can remember but I’ll always enjoy writing for him. Baron Vendredi I love because when I came back to e-wrestling I wanted a campy character like we used to see in the old days of professional wrestling. “Jumping” Jack Burton because he was the first time that I actually took a character without any crazy gimmick – he was just your average, old wrestler wanting to get his fame back. And lastly, Pedro Hernandez Jr. because he was fun to write with and I loved the Pedro Hernandez character.
4. What's your favorite character owned by another player?
So many. Like I said above, Pedro Hernandez because the character was exactly how I expected him to be. El Flamingo because of his stories and misadventures. Brother Abishag (the best brother in my opinion) because of his crazy loyalty to Dr. Summeroff. I then got to see his back story play out, which was awesome because it was a character not a lot of people knew. I had been reading Summeroff’s stuff since ECWC/WECW and I just loved seeing this character develop. Takuma Sato and Eric Dillinger because they made wrestling feel real. There are more but I think I’ve rambled on long enough.
5. If you could own one of the Feds on this site, what would it be and why?
There was one fed a long, long time ago that was basically an underground boxing league. By the time I joined fedwars, it looked like that league fell. I know, random. But I always enjoyed the idea of running an underground fighting league. I’ve seen many attempts but I think I could do it.
6. Who was your favorite feud with and why?
El Flamingo with Jack Burton. We did the first ever Spider Web Match in nGw. El Flamingo was the kind of guy that I loved to roleplay against – to me, he had that “it” factor.
With Pedro Hernandez Jr, it would be with Scarlett Rose because of the hilarious interaction that the two had.
As for Baron Vendredi. . . I honestly can’t remember feuds as much as I can stories.
Mace Draklin never had a feud in fedwars.
7. What feds are you currently in? Are you looking at expanding to others?
I am currently in no other feds. My characters are still in “ROW” but ROW is closed. I was in nGw but I felt my time had run its course there as well. At this time, I’m not looking into other feds. Too busy with other hobbies at the moment.
8. In a perfect world where you had time to write whatever you wanted, what feds are you not a part of that you would like to join? Or rather, what feds interest you?
I’ve been so out of the loop with everything, I have no idea who is still active anymore. I go on the forums because I feel I have made friends with a majority of people (maybe minority now that a lot of people have left) and still want to maintain contact. I know Rob has finally gave it a go with a fed, so probably there.
If I could bring a fed back, well, you know my answer to that one. WECW/ROW would be it.
9. Have you been in a feud so thick with emotion that you felt as much anger toward the Handler as well as wrestler?
Not really. There would be times where I knew politics played a role in efedding but I would never let that get to me. Usually, if people told me beforehand that it would be based on storyline rather than competition, I didn’t care. Feuds were fun and gave us the ability to write something that made us happy.
OOC feuds? Yeah, I’ve been angry. Partially a small reason why I left. I’m not one to cause trouble, so I’ll leave it at that.
10. If you could improve the efedwrestling.com site in any way (without returning game elements), what would you do?
Where to start?
This question sounds rather negative because I can easily start writing and make it sound like LAL does a crappy job, which I don’t think is true. But here is what I see and assume as an outsider currently:
LAL has done a terrific job with fedwars/efedwrestling. He gave a lot of people a place to go to express themselves. And he did this FOR FREE. He never followed the Zynga line of thinking and that is what made FedWars great. He was/is active on the boards. He took things into consideration when people had suggestions and improvements – he messaged a lot of us that wanted to see this place succeed. Currently, it looks like we have no administrator. It looks like LAL gave up. I’m not trying to offend him but if I was new and came to this site, I would think Vastrix was the admin.
I think there should have been a BOD put back into place. When I joined, we had one but that was quickly dissolved. I think the Board was a good idea because it put things into perspective with others instead of one guy vs. one guy.
Unfortunately, drama happens. No matter where you are in life. Do I believe drama is the reason for efedding dying a slow death? Yes. Drama is what got users banned. It’s what made people leave. We need to remember that we are all human beings that have our own problems and we should not take it out on one another; especially how tempting it can be when you are hidden behind a keyboard.
Sorry for that, but I think that would also help improve the site. I miss achievements. I miss game elements (I know, I know) like the ranking system (which I’m really surprised that I’m saying this). If you don’t have a ranking system, the feds page needs to alternate randomly every time I click on it to give other feds a chance.
And honestly, if it wasn’t for Vastrix trying to help out with taking some control, like doing these interviews, I think efedwrestling would be rather quiet on the main forums. We went from a simple concept, to the idea of adding to it, to a simple concept again. However, we lost a lot of people along the way and that hurt us big time. I don’t know how to convince others to come back in this case.
11. Every fed owner has a wish list for handlers, and sometimes even a wish list of characters from those particular handlers. If you were to own a Fed or recruit for one, what would be your wish list?
I would want a fed where I could help out with those getting into roleplaying. Not tell people what they should or shouldn’t do but to push them into becoming better writers. We are at this point where a lot of us that are still doing this have been doing it for a long time. And when kids get involved or people who don’t normally write, we really do a terrible job of helping out. We have forgotten that some people don’t necessarily need the help but they need the boost. This isn’t a false confidence boost but what do you expect to see when you have midcard or lower card guys go up against top tiered guys? I can and have seen dream matches in other feds. I want “lower card” guys that want to write and learn.
12. What do you do when you're not efedding? Other hobbies, job, and such? Married, single, kids?
I am married and have a very young son. I love to spend time with my family. When I’m not doing that, I am running a Podcast Network – podbros.com. I also am a part of a comic book review podcast – pencilandinkreviews.com with MoonChild. Many people might not be aware but MC and I have known each other since we were young kids. But yeah, visit podbros.com and you’ll get an idea of what I do now instead of roleplaying. I also have a job that I’ve been at for ten years but that’s boring to talk about. I would rather promote my podcast :-D podbros.com
13. What is your favorite fed?
WECW/ROW. Hands down. MC writes some of the best matches I have ever read. Yes, they are long, but they weren’t boring to read. There is always some big surprise in each match or storyline. It is chaotic poetry.
14. Ok. A movie is being planned with Baron Vendredi who do you think would best be able to play this person? Just thinking out loud here, I was thinking Lance Reddick. He played Papa Legba in American Horror Story: Coven (Season Three).
Hell yeah, Lance Reddick would do a great job. Would love to see Nelsan Ellis (True Blood) try his hand at it.
Thanks for doing this, Vastrix. I enjoy getting to know the people behind the characters.