Left-brained TEW vs. Right-brained TEW

[edenborn]

TEW crowd, a psychological question for you. Do you ever find that the left hemisphere of your brain (which wants to "win" the game and drives you to put on shows that gain popularity every time because you enjoy the thrill of victory and like to demonstrate your skill as a gamer) comes into direct conflict with the right hemisphere of your brain (which wants to play around in this sandbox, be creative, tell good stories, and put on the kinds of feuds you'd personally mark out for because you are or once were a wrestling fan?) In other words, do you ever get a headache booking your shows because the creative part of your brain wants to book your main event a certain way, but the "win at all costs" part of your brain won't let you pull the trigger because it knows it'll be a bad main event, which will bring down the show, which will cause you to lose popularity and therefore require you to put on more good shows to get where you want to go? For example, have you had a situation where logically it makes sense for the main event to be a match between your popular main eventer face and the relatively unpopular lackey/bodyguard/manager of the main eventer heel he's feuding with, but you don't want to actually make it your main event because you know it will tank your show? Similarly, a decent number of real-life wrestling shows have ended the night with a tag team match where all four wrestlers involved don't ordinarily team with each other. Like when two singles feuds cross, and the bookers are using the heat of those two feuds coming together as the big match that closes the show. In TEW 2008, tag matches tend to take a hit in grade compared to singles matches if the teams involved are made up of inexperienced tag partners. The fact that I know the main event will suffer and this will set back my quest to gain my fed popularity makes me very reluctant to actually go through with it. Now from a gameplay standpoint, I should be reluctant because games have to have rules. But because I see the feud going a certain way in my head, I want to book it that way, even though the game won't reward me for it and I find myself so conflicted that I just go back and forth on it in my head, getting a gradual headache, and then stepping away from the game for a while. I'm prepared to believe maybe I'm a freak, the only one who experiences this. It's possible. But I think there's a fair chance that there are others of you out there who experience something similar to what I'm describing when you play, so I'm posting here in the hopes you'll identify yourselves and give me some tips on how to deal with it.

[Midnightnick]

My brain only goes into Conflict mode when I'm booking for SWF. I want to book like how the WWE would book, but when I recreate those styles of shows. I lose popularity. It's a real shame. When it's smaller feds though. My brain never is conflicted except when pushing green rookie. *Yes. I'm looking at you Cole Tayler*

[Gigas]

I think youd be surprised how well a match with a Main Eventer and lower midcarder/midcarder would fair. Thats assuming the lesser guy actually has some talent. I had Mainstream Hernandez with an E popularity wrestle one of my B main eventers as the last match in USPW and it got a B rating. No chemistry notes or anything. I'd say just go ahead and try it, if it scares you that much.. thats what dark matches are for.

[NordVolf]

Eden, I have a lot of the same issues when I play. Granted, I don't play a whole lot, as I have little time, and trying to keep a diary afloat to boot! But I have those issues none-the-less. And I find I'm not as conflicted as I may fear. Of course, I have the luxury of being able to say that, as my diary is in a stage that it's only peripherally about wrestling for the time being... :cool: But yeah, I get that too. I find that I have several things going for me. First, for me it's more about story than 'game success' anyway. So that sort of trumps my left brain. Also, I find that with the stories I've built so far (and haven't gotten very far into, mind!) mean that the people involved have more overness than I'd expected, so matches haven't / probably won't tank as much as they otherwise would. Besides which, some beautiful things have happened that really, and quite surprisingly, add to the story. And for me, since I'm more right-brain oriented anyway and it's more about the story for me, those things outweight any pain I may experience with a bad show. Not to mention I'm running AAA, which sees every show pretty much tank anyway, considering other promotions like SWF, TCW, etc. If I pull off a D show, it sucks by large promotion standards. But by AAA's standards/history it's a major industry coup as far as I'm concerned! The upshot is, find what you enjoy most in the game and play to that. Don't worry about the rest so much. And you'll find as your enjoyment goes up, you'll notice things that make you enjoy it that much more, you'll get some wonderful unexpected goodness, and you'll be able to exploit it rather than worrying about whether you're meeting your 'goals' or not (left [B][I]or[/I][/B] right brain!) - NordVolf

[Malioc]

Well, as soon as I have B-popularity guys, my target isn't a "B" anymore, but to reach National with many and many "A"s. I must admit, that I'm dominated by the "left" side. Normally I prefer creative work. But there is no way in such games, how to reward creativity. - You'll get even punished, because you can't afford "creative" mistakes on higher levels. But I never demanded it to be different. In the end, if you really think your storylines through, it's still so private and simple, that real creativity can't evolve anyway. Only option is usually a diary, but that hasn't much to do with the game itself anymore. (except, that it based on the same game world) So I found my "satisfaction" in competitive aims a long time ago: Increase the size of my company, increasy my wealth, improve my popularities, my momentum, and ultimately improve my workers to become better and better every year / month / week. The only "creative" aspect I use, is with Tag Teams, Stables, new names, new characters, smart title changes and sometimes a cool side story, that I keep in my head (like renaming El Hijo Espada Roja into Phoenix IV, and teaming him up with my remaining Phoenix III, because they incidently have great chemistry, to form a new Phoenix tag team / generation). But even those storylines aren't really complex. It's just not a complex game (as far as the mental-creative requirements go).

[FINisher]

A good and interesting thread :) I'm about.. 70/30 there; I want to succeed and constantly gain popularity. I hate being stuck in a certain level. I also like to create my own stars and watch them grow and gain experience and skills. I have never done a diary because I think it could be boring to some people, as I tend to be interested in the numbers and grades etc.. And not so much in the stories :p

[Hyde Hill]

Depends which fed I am playing and where I am at with that fed. As soon as I am confortable that the fed won´t go down in size too easily I get more creative. And generelly I take a kinda E aproach too it. I have my main storylines pretty straight up and the rest can be as creative as I want it to be.

[djthefunkchris]

I did the Left side so many times it's not funny. I haven't tried it with '08, but when I first started playing, all I did was go for the match-ups I knew would go over well, and really worked on getting the promotion up to global, moreso then worry about stories. It's hard to fail that way, as long as you can balance the worker's so they don't "Get too big for you". I had a few unsuccessfulls, where that happened, so I was constantly having to get other worker's to replace them. But after figueing that out, it's always been a bit too simple to go that route.. So now, I only go the other route. I try to be creative, book solid stories, and work on the entertainment portions more. My goal here depends on who I'm using. For the first time, I am attempting to use WWE from Know Your role mod. With this game, I am going to attempt to keep the big guys big, and work on getting the lesser known (lower cards) built up as much as they can be. When I hit the caps, I will bring in new talent, and as they pass caps of other's on the roster, I will cut the capped out people, in order to bring the roster even higher/tighter together in my card positions. Right now it's a pretty good spread. Now, if I were using a smaller fed, I would definately be carefull not to get the worker's too popular, that I really like using. With the C-Verse game I played, I started with nothing, and worked up to national. I did it with stories, and build-ups, etc.. Of the two ways to play, I find that I enjoy the Entertainment promotions, quite a bit more difficult to rise up through the ranks. The ones I find too easy to play, do not worry about anything but ring work, so all you have to do is hire people with certain stats to succeed. If they can't cut it, you fire them and replace them with someone you think can cut it. It's too simplistic that way, at least to me.

[Tom Bombadil]

I find myself tending slightly towards the right brained approach. While I generally book towards good storylines, I'll generally try to pick storylines that will get decent ratings as well, and my personnel decisions are almost entirely based on talent rather than personal preference. Then again, that's based on my experience with EWR, where you really don't have to work that hard to succeed. TEW doesn't seem as forgiving, so I find myself concentrating more on doing a decent job, at least as I'm learning the ropes. We'll see how that all balances out when I start my diary. >_>

[Comradebot]

Going through this battle now... Started up a game in 1997 C-Verse with a company of my own creation, White Sands Wrestling Alliance (based out of New Mexico). They're a unique blend of 80s throwback and lucha libre (actually, guess that gives them some similarities to FCW...) and I love the idea... but I started them at local so I can't very well run a mass of storylines. Atleast in my head these guys have personalities. So I guess right now I'm focusing on making the company bigger, so in the future I can be creative with them. Until then Ricky Dale Johnson will continue to Main Event every show, probably until RDJ finally signs a written deal with someone (god I hope HGC continues to struggle like it has for the last month) or until I can run more than one or two shows a month without losing money, which I imagine at this rate will come around being Regional or so. Definetly need to expand a bit on the concept, though. As it stands I'm still lacking in the department in terms of the high fliers for the Lucha Libre, and I've considered implementing Lucha 2/3 falls style matches. I seem to have the 80s throwback part down though, as Big Trouble, Randall Hopkirk, Bigger Dan Ewe (my owner, lulz) and Krusher Karloff (Billy Jack Shearer) are gold almost every time I use em.

[1PWfan]

Interesting discussion, this. Normally I prefer to play Small or Regional feds, where the two aren't in too much competition. Often, the creatiive side works well with the competitive side ('I have a main event of Phunk/Flash" "Right, I'll come up with a story"), although when there's issues the creative bit just gives competitiveness a good kicking. But seriously, I've found that it helps to run two games at once, e.g. ROF and USPW. The USPW game allows me to invest in crazy storylines and indulge my creativity, whilst ROF brings out my competitive side.

[Comradebot]

[QUOTE=1PWfan;483938]Interesting discussion, this. Normally I prefer to play Small or Regional feds, where the two aren't in too much competition. Often, the creatiive side works well with the competitive side ('I have a main event of Phunk/Flash" "Right, I'll come up with a story"), although when there's issues the creative bit just gives competitiveness a good kicking. But seriously, I've found that it helps to run two games at once, e.g. ROF and USPW. The USPW game allows me to invest in crazy storylines and indulge my creativity, whilst ROF brings out my competitive side.[/QUOTE] Also true. My diary game, EWA is the balanced one I guess... with a SWF game thats purely there for me to have Rich Money and Joe Money (Joe Sexy) compete over who's the more ruthless millionaire, and to have Angry Gilmore bathe down Eric and Richard Eisen with Mountain Dew from a giant tank on a truck. And, of course, turning the Biggz Boys in the Disciples of the Fallen Sky (The Fallen Sky Cult being a Vengeance run stable) and allowing them an important role on the show... which, shockingly, worked out extremely, extremely well. They're both Bs and B+s across the USA now... hehe. And now with WSWA, I'm trying to take a company from Local to who knows how high. I'll implement those whacky storylines someday, but I'll probably only run a couple unchained at a time while I claw my way up.... they're about a show away now from having an E in importance in the Mid South now!

[MrCanada]

the only conflict I ever face in this is that the "creative" side always takes over whenever I set up a game I want to play. For instance I can NEVER take over an exsisting promotion. I rather be creative, make my own with my own handpicked roster. A roster which in most cases isnt stacked like a lot of people will do. Then when I play the game my "win" side gets pissed and quits because although what I'm booking is fun and makes sense to the promotion I have its destined to fail the second I start the game. I find my biggest problem is simply having a big enough roster. I never like to have people doing nothing. So I end up with small rosters, and in TEW its usually not even big enough to support the [i]must have[/i] length of PPVs. I can never understand how some people constantly job in other peoples games and keep momentum. In my game if people lose they always go to F- momentum after losing a handful of times and get pissed and start having ****ty peformances.

[Guest deathcroc]

I play almost completely "right-brained". I often play as smaller federations and use the storylines I want to use, push the people I want to push, and growth be damned! Most of the time I could care less about getting my fed to "cult" or whatever. If it happens, it happens. If it doesn't, I'm ok with it as I'm more concerned about my own entertainment. Of course, that usually puts my fed into bankruptcy and/or gets the owner ticked off - but I have fun doing it! :)

[lordprimeau25]

I too am almost completely right brained. I think I try to convince myself that in the end I will eventually get the ratings I desire, it will just take longer. I think I am actually not such a great TEW player because I do not tend to make the most business savvy decisions for my feds.

[infinitywpi]

*points to his dynasty* The left brain tells the right brain, "Here... this is what I want." The left brain then goes out for a smoke and when it comes back, six months have been simmed, the right brain is happily working on the next card, and not a whole lot has happened, causing the left brain to chew out the right brain and put this incident in his personnel file before saying, "Here's what I want, do it right this time," and goes into his office to websurf and chat away on the phone for the rest of the day...

[1PWfan]

[QUOTE=infinitywpi;483995]*points to his dynasty* The left brain tells the right brain, "Here... this is what I want." The left brain then goes out for a smoke and when it comes back, six months have been simmed, the right brain is happily working on the next card, and not a whole lot has happened, causing the left brain to chew out the right brain and put this incident in his personnel file before saying, "Here's what I want, do it right this time," and goes into his office to websurf and chat away on the phone for the rest of the day...[/QUOTE] And this is why Welcome to the Coastal Zone is so much fun

[McShamrock]

My right brain killed my left brain in a knife fight in the shower over a booking angle. [Crickets.] Ooops ... too soon?

[1PWfan]

[QUOTE=McShamrock;483998]My right brain killed my left brain in a knife fight in the shower over a booking angle. [Crickets.] Ooops ... too soon?[/QUOTE] Even your non-dynasty posts are funny as heck. How do you manage it?

[CQI13]

I will book entertaining stuff, even if the rating suffers at first. I always think of it as if it were real life: if it makes sense and you can build something off it, do it.

[Sigilistic]

For me, I have a little Paul Heyman on one shoulder and a little Vince McMahon on the other. The little Paul Heyman says "Hey! Book crazy, creative storylines and ratings be damned!". The little Vince McMahon says "No, no, no! It's all about the money, and rating bring money! Screw creativity!"

[lazorbeak]

For me, it's about balance. I never get into the boring trend of having the same guys or the same show every week, because it's not interesting, but at the same time, I go out of my way to avoid booking either of the situations described by the OP as my main event. Did every Austin match main event? No, not if he was facing Bossman or some equally incompetent jobber- that's what the one hour main event is for. As much as possible, I take my risks in segments that won't make or break me.

[Hyde Hill]

Yep same here lazorbeak the opener and main and semi main are for good booking the rest for creative. Once I am sure my fed won't drop too much too fast in size I go more creative.

[The Shape]

Right brained over here, I mean really the game I've used mainly along with various diaries elsewhere etc and when I'm not doing when I kinda get involved and plan the feuds out in more depth as to what would actually happen etc to keep myself interested. Otherwise I'd find the game completely pointless, it's more of a vehicle through which to add structure etc to things you'd like to see, with the backstage elements this year making it yet deeper. But unfortunately this game requires you to book differently I feel so that to get good ratings you have to be on the "left" side of things, stuff like how crap tag matches do with irregular teams, how heavy the main event effects rating, and so many other factors make it a lot more frustrating in that regard this time.

[D-Lyrium]

I find that generally the right side of my brain controls playing TEW. The left side chips in occasionally for new signings and suggestions for storylines and feuds, but the right brain always wins any arguements by default :p