(04-06-2018, 03:03 PM)Shane <img src="https://i.imgur.com/pUgtAVa.gif"> Said: Trash talk is a tough one because as much as we do have a unique and talented roster at the moment, some of the hardest hitting and most intricate trash talk I've seen has been during other eras. I wouldn't want everybody being taught the same formula for trash talk that has been successful "enough" in a landscape that isn't necessarily demanding of top notch trash talk techniques because there's so much more to trash talk than just trashing an opponent while sounding clever. I'd love to see our trash talking title (Federweight title) being attempted daily and changing hands multiple times a week, and that alone is one example of how we'll know when we have a collection of the best trash talkers who can then start teaching others, and everybody's hands will wash each others asses very nicely. lol Right now most people just ignore it or are afraid to go for it, and the judging of its exchanges is kind of just based off of who sounded better between two quick exchanges rather than true back and forth battles, retorts, shut outs, etc... from what I've seen.

Really the same could also be said about narrative, character development, even basic story telling... and most importantly, simple writing. Somebody can be seen as a rather entertaining story teller by the people looking on but if their work is suffering from basic spelling/grammatical/etc... errors that we were taught how to avoid in grade school and high school alone, it's a problem and is going to start hurting more in the future because while we're all roleplayers and story tellers, we're doing it through one core tool - WRITING ABILITY. Sloppiness such a coding errors, mismatched formatting and spacing, etc... also are really easy to catch if somebody proof reads their work and it matters. While I've seen some excellent work in RPs lately, we're coming off of what many would see as a pretty long slump period and I've been working hard to try and get a variety of writers and RP styles in the doors to hopefully see the XWF evolve into the beast it was once known to be, years ago.

Not cutting down anybody's work but I feel like with such a small crop of upper level talent that fits the XWF RP mold (not just basic efedding molds), we need to tread carefully and make sure we're not turning everyone into the same writer who may or may not actually be as refined and polished as they believe themselves to be. I sound like such an ass right now, I'm sure. lol But I've got to be the guy who says this stuff. Hope you guys can see my point though and overall I DO support this general idea, and would also love to take part in something like this just to make sure the people seeking guidance are receiving the type of advice and direction that the XWF will be demanding in the (hopefully) near future, rather than what might sabotage them in the long run once things do really heat up down the line.

Could you expound on what you think is missing from current trash talk that was captured in earlier eras? Not trying to snark, it's just that most of us weren't around back then and just don't know.

I hear what you're saying about wanting more back and forth with regard to trash talk. I see it as really a function of time, and the fact that a lot of efedders who were around back in the day are hitting ages now where we just don't have the time to go back and forth like that.

I don't know if I've ever mentioned it here, but one of my favorite feds I've ever been in was a place called Hardkore World. It's been closed for years, but it had a very unique format in that shows only happened like once a month (if that), but the RP threads were open the whoooooole time, so the trash talk battles were insane. You could legit have people cutting back and forth's like 10 times a piece and that happened regularly. That place had a very unique "flavor" though, and the people who were there were such die hards that the lack of show frequency never hurt the fed much. They also had only one RP thread for the entire show (yes, it's as insane as it sounds), so often times you'd even get people taking pot shots at people who they weren't even facing. It sure was a clusterfuck at times, but my God was it entertaining. My breakout character there was actually Madison and that place was where I learned a lot about how to cut trash and evolved my style beyond just doing character development that was irrelevant to the match at hand.