Audience Saturation

[WrestleManiac]

I am currently playing through a long-term game. Two years in-game time. Two things I've noticed is that after a few years the top companies are getting constantly top scores, and the top stars are getting popularity in the high 90s.

In my head-cannon, this level of popularity is crossing over to mainstream popularity (Hulk Hogan, The Rock).

It got me thinkng. Hulkamania and the Monday Night Wars were two peaks in wrestling the likes of which we've only seen twice in the history of televised wrestling. How to replicate that flash in the pan rare occurance in game?

An Audience Saturation mechanic that limits the overall popularity of the wrestling industry in a particular region. As wrestling gets more popular, promotions put more shows on TV. The more wrestling shows that are on TV, the higher the audience saturation stat gets.

Let's use Monday Night Wars as an example: it starts off with Nitro and Raw on 1 hour shows. Popularity is rising.

WCW starts putting on monthly PPVs. WWF follows suit.

Nitro goes to 2 hours. Raw follows suit. Nitro goes to 3 hours. WCW introduces Thunder. WWF introduces Smackdown.

At some point the casual, mainstream viewer is overwhelmed by content, and begins to lose interest. By implementing an Audience Saturation mechanic into TEW this scenario could be replicated, and the in-game universe wouldn't have constantly growing numbers.

Add to this a risk that your most over and most charasmatic wrestlers might get so over with the mainstream that they might give up wrestling for greener pastures (until they can be tempted back into the busineness with a hefty pay day.) I think this could replicate the rare occasions when wrestlers cross over to the mainstream.

This could also replace the random rising and falling of the wrestling industy/popularity stats the game currently has for something more dynamic and with a sense of causality.

[newbiezness]

Let's face it, the ratings and money system are broken.

I've said before in another post that the rising in popularity and also decline should be the opposite of what it is now. A small company should gain much more popularity with a single great event, as it happens IRL. Just an event that gets viral and your company starts to get more recognition. The same should happen with a big company that has a bad show, especially a PPV, just one really bad show can harm your popularity. What should never happen is that you have for example big size, you have a rating that is slightly worse and you fall to medium size and now it happens (think SWF when you start a default game in TEW2020). Nobody would notice IRL if a show gets 77 or 78 and you are telling me that just one point makes you fall in size? No way! You should get 77 or 76... whatever, many times before you fall to medium, but if you are close to medium and you get 50 you automatically fall to medium.

About wrestlers... IDK what system would be the best but I think an ELO system with some modifications would work much better than the current one.

Edited March 11 by newbiezness

[Zero]

On 3/11/2024 at 5:58 PM, newbiezness said:

Let's face it, the ratings and money system are broken.

I've said before in another post that the rising in popularity and also decline should be the opposite of what it is now. A small company should gain much more popularity with a single great event, as it happens IRL. Just an event that gets viral and your company starts to get more recognition. The same should happen with a big company that has a bad show, especially a PPV, just one really bad show can harm your popularity. What should never happen is that you have for example big size, you have a rating that is slightly worse and you fall to medium size and now it happens (think SWF when you start a default game in TEW2020). Nobody would notice IRL if a show gets 77 or 78 and you are telling me that just one point makes you fall in size? No way! You should get 77 or 76... whatever, many times before you fall to medium, but if you are close to medium and you get 50 you automatically fall to medium.

About wrestlers... IDK what system would be the best but I think an ELO system with some modifications would work much better than the current one.

I'm with this.  Take GCW or whatever it was called when Moxley showed up or Matt Cardana won their championship.  I had never heard of this promotion until this moment.  It should get a massive popularity boost (maybe 5/10% in its home area with 2-5% everywhere else)

On the flip side, lets take that famous Hell in a Cell with Rollins vs. Wyatt.  That would have maybe a 1-3% popularity dip but maybe a 5-7% prestige decrease.