How do you not get overwhelmed starting a default database game?

[thatryanguy]

I've played tons of real world mods, but any time I try to start a game with the default database, I quit within one show.

 

How do you process everything when you have tons of random workers on your roster with no real idea of the world?

[Bigpapa42]

Its familiarity. Looking at a RW mod is equally random and overwhelming if you don't know any of the companies or workers. Taking the time to poke around, read bios, maybe even do a watch save for a bit, those things can make a big difference. You start to get a feel for the characters and companies. And that can start to bring it to life. You'll connect with a company and you realize that the blanks are there for you to fill in, and that's where it gets fun.

[BrokenCycle]

<p>Play as a small company. MAW is probably the best. You don't have to deal with a lot of workers on your roster, and can watch the world develop. Read the bios in the loading screen as you go along, and just be immersed in the world and try to learn as much as you can. </p><p> </p><p>

Everyone felt overwhelmed by the game when they first started it up. But a lot of people on here have been playing the Cornellverse since 2004, so they already know the lore. </p><p> </p><p>

I would also suggest that you download the C-Verse 2010 mod. It was a really fun time.</p>

[foolinc]

<p>Another quick tip is to find a similar wrestler in the real world to help you book them. For example, Jack Bruce is an all-a-round solid wrestler that has a fantastic look, is great on the mic, and has a gimmick of a rock star. He's basically the C-Verse's version of Chris Jericho.</p><p> </p><p>

You can also find a diary for that company on the forums if you want to see how others have booked them.</p>

[Matt_Black]

For me, it helps that I love big fictional universes with pastiches and homages.

[seminoledozer]

i got into the cverse by starting my own promotion. starting from scratch allows you to take your company in any direction without being stuck in the mold of an already established promotion and makes your bring in a lot of talent which is a good introduction to the universe.

[Irish Wolf]

I mean I never get overwhelmed by the Cverse and I play with it exclusively. I don't touch real world mods with a 10' pole. You don't get overwhelmed by taking it one piece at a time. Start with one company get ot know the characters and then try another one later on. Its really not that hard. Not any harder then say some one who only rally knows WWE being inundated with every time store indy promotion and worker that take up many of the overly bloated RW mods.

[El Horse]

<p>I can kinda see what you mean but for me personally I love the idea of having a universe that is as deep as the C-Verse. I never play anything else which is funny considering my only other Ryland experience was EWR. But I'd just pick one company and go from there. </p><p> </p><p>

I ended up being obsessed with MAW for the first few months of owning the game and still have 3 MAW saves that I haven't touched since July of last year. Eventually you just end up getting the hang of the game and move to the next challenge whether it's Mexico, Japan, Australia, or SNP.</p>

[Azul]

<blockquote data-ipsquote="" class="ipsQuote" data-ipsquote-username="thatryanguy" data-cite="thatryanguy" data-ipsquote-contentapp="forums" data-ipsquote-contenttype="forums" data-ipsquote-contentid="45161" data-ipsquote-contentclass="forums_Topic"><div>I've played tons of real world mods, but any time I try to start a game with the default database, I quit within one show.<p> </p><p> How do you process everything when you have tons of random workers on your roster with no real idea of the world?</p></div></blockquote><p> </p><p> I've heard this before from other people playing TEW fictional databases but the funny thing to me is that you don't really hear the same thing if you flip the situation. I was a die hard WWE fan when I was little. The years were probably 2001-early 2008 if I had to guess. I remember starting to lose interest when Hornswoggle was brought it. I followed the news of wrestling but I wasn't into it again until I started watching New Japan during the G1 in 2016. Because of this I can't play a real world mod because I know almost nothing about anyone outside of guys who have wrestled in New Japan. When I see someone playing a real world mod I wonder how they have a feel</p><p> for the workers in the database. Even if you are a big wrestling fan I can't imagine being familiar with a majority of the guys.</p><p> </p><p> Even if I was to play a real world mod in lets say 2006 it would still be really difficult for me to get a feel for it because I know very little about the guys outside of WWE.</p>

[AceCodey]

<p>First thing I'd suggest is looking through this site: </p><p> </p><p>

<a href="http://www.greydogsoftware.com/cornellverse/index.html" rel="external nofollow">http://www.greydogsoftware.com/cornellverse/index.html</a></p><p> </p><p>

Read through the 'Columns', 'Profiles' and 'History' tabs. Now you can certainly get into the CornellVerse without this, but reading it certainly helped me engage more with it. It's basically a bunch of cool 'canon' moments that have taken place prior to TEW's start point. </p><p> </p><p>

Next I'd recommend looking through some of the Power 500, since these are going to be the major players that you'll maybe want to learn about. Finally, pick a company (probably one of the US 'Big Three') and read. Read the company's bio, read the bios of the roster, etc. It's all about getting familiar with the database.</p>

[noknuckles]

<p>Start with a small company, book characters based on what their portrait looks like and over time you'll get familiar with your own roster.</p><p> </p><p>

Starting with say 6 major characters, then picking up 4 more, then picking up 4 more is a lot easier to learn than starting with 14 major characters and having to book all of them right from the start.</p><p> </p><p>

Maybe for bigger rosters, you can have only 3 or so major storylines and weave your minor characters in and out of the story just to get a feel for them. Then when you get used to your roster, you can have more storylines going at once</p>

[BigINMoldova]

<blockquote data-ipsquote="" class="ipsQuote" data-ipsquote-username="Azul" data-cite="Azul" data-ipsquote-contentapp="forums" data-ipsquote-contenttype="forums" data-ipsquote-contentid="45161" data-ipsquote-contentclass="forums_Topic"><div>I've heard this before from other people playing TEW fictional databases but the funny thing to me is that you don't really hear the same thing if you flip the situation. I was a die hard WWE fan when I was little. The years were probably 2001-early 2008 if I had to guess. I remember starting to lose interest when Hornswoggle was brought it. I followed the news of wrestling but I wasn't into it again until I started watching New Japan during the G1 in 2016. Because of this I can't play a real world mod because I know almost nothing about anyone outside of guys who have wrestled in New Japan. When I see someone playing a real world mod I wonder how they have a feel<p> for the workers in the database. Even if you are a big wrestling fan I can't imagine being familiar with a majority of the guys.</p><p> </p><p> Even if I was to play a real world mod in lets say 2006 it would still be really difficult for me to get a feel for it because I know very little about the guys outside of WWE.</p></div></blockquote><p> </p><p> </p><p> As a New Japan fan, That's weird. Because New Japan has a deal with CMLL and ROH, don't you follow those people back to their home promotions?</p><p> </p><p> Even if you just watched the main events you would have to know who Rush is because that's how Naito became Tranquillo. Like when Hirai Kawato left, did you just think he retired or are you aware that he's on excursion? What about when Marufuji and Nakajima came in for the G1?</p><p> </p><p> I just can't imagine being able to fully understand New Japan if you have no idea what is happening in other companies.</p>

[K-Nection]

The way I break in a database is do road to glory challenges. It gives me a feel for the bottom of the world and it gives you room for booking errors while finding your place. Once you feel comfortable with a country move onto another one.

[Matt_Black]

Another good idea? Pick a company that's not only regional or lower, but has a very specific niche- women's wrestling, all cruiserweights, etc. Having a smaller talent pool available to hire allows you to dip your toes in before diving into the deep end.

[scorpion]

the truth is almost all of us were overwhelmed at first. I've recently played a few TVerse games and that was overwhelming at first. Like others have mentioned is just read a little o the bios, find a small place to start and go from there. You'll start to see characters that remind you of real workers and that will help you immerse. A lot of people like MAW. I really like CZCW and GSW

[scorpion]

I'd also add that I basically stopped watching wrestling after what happened with benoit. it wasn't an act of protest, just stopped being fun. I eventually got back into it a few years ago when I got the Network and even bought the NJPW show in January. But for years the Cornellverse was more real to me than the real world mods

[Azul]

<p>"As a New Japan fan, That's weird. Because New Japan has a deal with CMLL and ROH, don't you follow those people back to their home promotions?"</p><p> </p><p>

<span style="color:#0000FF;">You don't need to follow the CMLL guys. They show up for Fantastica Mania and maybe a few multi man matches throughout the year. </span></p><p> </p><p>

"Even if you just watched the main events you would have to know who Rush is because that's how Naito became Tranquillo."</p><p> </p><p>

<span style="color:#0000FF;">Yes, I know that. That is true but that is only 1 character. I know Ultimo Guerrero lost his mask that was a big deal, and I understand the character, I get the Maximum Sexy character too. Could I write a few sentences for a TEW bio for some of the workers in Fantastica Mania that I haven't listed here? Sure. But that wouldn't compare to the amount of information in a Cornellverse/Thunderverse/Londonverse etc bio.</span></p><p> </p><p> </p><p>

"Like when Hirai Kawato left, did you just think he retired or are you aware that he's on excursion?"</p><p> </p><p>

<span style="color:#0000FF;">I was aware he was on excursion. You don't need to follow other promotions to know that the announcers will tell you. </span></p><p><span style="color:#0000FF;">

</span></p><p> </p><p>

" What about when Marufuji and Nakajima came in for the G1?"</p><p> </p><p>

<span style="color:#0000FF;">This goes back to what I was saying before. Could I write a few sentences about them? Sure, but it wouldn't compare to a Cornellverse/Thunderverse/Londonverse etc bio.</span></p><p> </p><p> </p><p>

""I just can't imagine being able to fully understand New Japan if you have no idea what is happening in other companies."</p><p> </p><p>

<span style="color:#0000FF;">I'm very surprised you feel like this. The announcers do a good enough job of filling in the holes. </span></p><p><span style="color:#0000FF;">

</span></p><p> </p><p>

This a better explanation. The Thunderverse has great detail bios of all 2700 workers. If I was playing a real world game I would be able to know a great deal (detail) of about 60ish WWE guys that are still active, 25ish former TNA guys, 40ish New Japan guys.</p><p> </p><p>

ROH not counting former TNA guys I know a <strong>great/on par with fictional verse bios</strong> detail about would be </p><p> </p><p>

<Non New Japan For The Most Part At Least></p><p>

Bruiser</p><p>

Boy 1 </p><p>

Boy 2 </p><p>

Cheeseburger</p><p>

Chuckie T</p><p>

Colt Cabana</p><p>

Dalton Castle </p><p>

Flip Gordon</p><p>

The Briscoes </p><p>

Romero</p><p>

Silas Young </p><p> </p><p>

Beretta, Cody, White, Scurll, Young Bucks, and Ospreay I would put in the 40ish New Japan category. </p><p> </p><p> </p><p>

So it's 136 vs. 2700. Sure I could play a real world game with 136 but I would rather have 2700. 136 is a turn off for me. Could I come up with a few sentences for a decent amount of real world workers? Maybe, but it doesn't compare to the knowledge of a Thunderverse.</p><p> </p><p>

This is coming from someone who has followed Meltzer and VOW for the last 4 or so years. I didn't follow wrestling outside the United States before the last 4 or so years.</p>

[effigies]

Also take time to read the card summaries, announcements, news, hirings/firings other companies have. You learn a lot about how companies and workers fit together from this volume of data. Part of a watcher save or off days for a smaller company.

 

It takes some time, but playing 6 months to a year as a few small companies gives you a huge sense of the database. You learn which Dojos are good, which companies churn, who is a jerk, who can put on best matches/promos, who is criminally undervalued, etc.