Rules and Regulations

Rules, we all love them, right? Rules are the backbone to any sort of organization that exists. Rules keep places structured and regulate the activities therein. Not following the rules will get you penalized up to and including termination.

1.) Have fun! This is the most important part of our game. Having fun is essential in keeping this interesting for you, me, and everyone else here in the AWA.

2.) Don't complain. We want this to be a positive place with a positive atmosphere. You can help that cause by not being negative about anything that happens that you do not like. If there's something bothering you, feel free to contact anyone on the staff and they will be more than willing to help you out with any problem(s) you may have.

3.) Wait your turn. There is an order of events that always take place in any e-fed you will join. What we want is for you to be patient and wait until you are offered an opportunity to advance in the AWA. We don't just hand out title shots or main event programs, however if you show us that you are dependable and contribute to the AWA in various ways, your opportunity will come sooner rather than later. Your time will come so be patient and work hard. It worked for us and it can definitely work for you.

4.) There are RP Limits. We have roleplaying limits established here in the AWA to help out everyone on our roster by giving everyone a fair chance at being successful here. We have people that have difficulties roleplaying because of work and such. We understand that and we accomodate these individuals by invoking a roleplaying limit.

5.) We have roleplay deadlines. The deadline of all RPs is 6:00 PM Eastern Standard Time on Thursday for our House Shows and on Saturday for all Shock and PPV Events. NOTE: Check the OOC board for POSSIBLE changes if needed. Once 6:01 PM EST hits, your RPs are invalid and will NOT be counted. No excuse will get them in. You many times have five or six days to roleplay, so you have plenty of time to get your work done and submitted. Saying to me you were busy the last day or two is no valid excuse as you STILL could have worked on it three days ago.

6.) We have a penalty system. Our penalty system is called the New AWA Warning System (NAWS for short) and is broken down into four quarters, three months a piece. If, during one quarter, you fail to roleplay for one (1) week, you wind up on the warned list. You will be booked the following week and MUST roleplay at least one (1) time, however your character will automatically be jobbed because of your failure to roleplay the previous week. If you fail to roleplay again during the same quarter, you will be placed on the warned list and your character will be booked and automatically jobbed the second week, but are still expected to post at least one (1) roleplay. If it happens a third time, you are released from the AWA and your character is written out of any storylines they are currently in. If you do not roleplay for two (2) straight weeks, you will be released from the AWA.

Remember, you are still expected to roleplay at least one (1) time during any weeks where you are being penalized and your character is receiving an automatic job. The more you roleplay, the more of a fight your character will put up in that match.

7.) Be wary of racial or ethnic jokes. As from rule 1, we want this place to stay a positive and fun environment. Keep the OOC board, RP board, and television shows free from any sort of sour racial or ethnic jokes. These days it's in a bit of a flux on how far is "too far" on some topics, but common sense around these boards should tell you what they are.

8.) This really isn't a "rule" or anything, but I would like you guys to keep this place a very "tight" group. Trade emails and screen names. Talk amongst each other on the OOC board and make this place fun. Doing so will get everyone "familiar" with everyone else and it'll make it much easier to approach or be approached by anyone with an idea for an angle. I am a huge proponent for cooperation between handlers on thinking up new stories and angles for yourselves. Furthermore, it makes the place look much more professional as people know that the majority of the heat seen is left on the Roleplay board. Also, the OOC board will show that we all get along like one big, happy (digital) family.

9.) Read the Roleplay Guide and Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ). We all got better in this game by learning from others. Our Roleplay Guide is filled with information that will help you be as successful as you can be in the AWA or any e-fed that you may go to in the future. It also wouldn't hurt to read other people's roleplays to learn a few things about how they might set a scene, talk about their match, and/or add character development. Also, any questions you may have about the AWA might have already been asked and answered in the FAQ. Reading that might help you answer your question more quickly. On the applications, there is a field where you click either "Yes" or "No" for if you read the Rules, Faqs, and Roleplay Guide. I would like to see our members be a man/woman of their word in this area as these rules and regulations are here for a reason.

10.) No in-ring roleplays. The AWA doesn't host many house shows, so it doesn't make sense to have any unless the house shows are announced. And even if we had house shows, there would still be no in-ring roleplays allowed. Losing the ability to perform in-ring roleplays to an arena filled with thousands of fans will force you to be a little more creative about what you do and where you go in a roleplay. It helps you to think things out a bit and breaks the sometimes monotonous feeling that happens when you read in-ring roleplays. Setting a roleplay in a restaraunt, radio talk show, game show, wherever makes the roleplay more interesting and invites the reader to read on as to what you can possibly do in that environment.

11.) If you want a specific match with someone, email us. If you want to request a match against someone, please, feel free to email me and we can get the ball rolling on making that match into a reality. Please, DO NOT request a title match. You can get a match with a title holder, but I will decide whether it should be for the title or not.

12.) A wrestler can only hold two singles titles AND the tag title at once per character. That means, you can hold any two of the World, US, NL, or CW titles as well as the tag titles, but nothing more. Also be aware that if you have more than one title, you may be double (albeit rarely) booked for a card. Also, all champions are defending champions and will be booked accordingly at all times.

13.) Speaking of titles, while we do know that there may be an occasion where you must leave for an amount of time, be aware that you may have to "lose" the title if it is too long. Generally, if you are unable to return (without a set date) by the next PPV (unless it's a week before the PPV), then your character WILL be put in a match for that title with two or more deserving candidates, and a new champion will be determined. That's because we don't want to tie titles down on characters whose handlers may not be around for a good deal of time.

14.) Any angles, strats and stipulations MUST be e-mailed and/or run through us. I hold all the keys to all the doors in the AWA. I want to make sure that what you have planned is thought through before you go out and implement them. Also, you may want to do something with another handler, but I'll know that they might be tied up in something else and can offer you a good replacement that will do your story justice. You have creative freedom in what you do here in the AWA, I just want to know about it and be in the loop.

Speaking of strats, please, please, PLEASE do the following things.

Rules for Judges

1.) Have your results in within the time asked for by the showheads. If you have a work conflict or such, talk to us. We are flexible. You are taking time out to read the RPs just as we are.

2.) Unless you want yourself to lose (in other words, you voted against yourself), don't vote on your match. We won't count it.

3.) All judge's decisions are confidential. That means we won't say who said what.

4.) In the EXTREME INSTANCE where you simply cannot pick one wrestler over another when judging, a draw will be permitted. However, if you need to pick a match as a draw, you should have very detailed reasons why this is so and not just be an "easy out" of judging a match.

5.) For tag team matches, judges are to pick what they feel are the three best roleplays of each tag team and use those in their decision making. It is your responsibility as a judge to explain why you feel these three roleplays are the best and to use those explanations in explaining your result for that given tag match.

6.) The AWA Judging Criteria is located on the OOC Board. Click here to read.

Rules for Card Writers.

1.) Please send the match as soon as you can. Don't get this wrong, stuff happens and if it does, it's cool, but please, if you can, give us a warning. We don't like being unable to post a card because ONE match is missing.

2.) Put a <p> for each new paragraph. That's for HTML. It makes it so after I check your match out, I can just copy and paste it in.

3.) Make matches cohesive. What that means is, don't do something like this.

See what I mean? It looks like an entire part was cut out. So make them cohesive. They don't have to follow every movement, down to their fingers, but please make sure we can 'follow' the action. Also notice that I used the paragraph tag, <p> before the paragraph.

4.) Do NOT do anything not approved by the show-/fedhead. If you aren't told to use a screwjob finish, for example, DON'T do one.

In short, the DOs and DON'Ts of match writing:

In short, please view this post about the very specific formatting we want and need from each and every match writer and strat sender.

Also, consider that not EVERY match has to be a match of the year contender and has to be 10 pages long. Furthermore, the matches should reflect the RPing effort, so take a look at how many RPs have been posted and get an idea of what was said in them. All matches for Shows will be in a "summarized" format whereas for PPV Events, they will be fully written. The Summarized Format will lessen the words it takes to simply describe a simple action.

Example of "Fully Written" PPV Event Format:

Example of "Summarized" TV Event Format:

Notice the difference? One is more descriptive than the other. Also, notice how I have the <p> before each paragraph and I've used parantheses, both open ( and close ), at the beginning and end of each paragraph of in-ring action. Notice how I correctly used Herb and Frank and their individual formatting for their dialogue.

General Fed 'Outside' Rules

1.) Please consider being a card writer. We can never have enough. Also, it makes the matches look better. Seriously, you know how much it sucks to have to write five or six matches in one day? Big time. Furthermore, it makes the matches suffer, because either we or someone else doesn't have the time to do them, or get sick of doing them but want that card up so the next card will come up on time.

I would love to have about 8-10 card writers. You may say that's a lot and it is, but also, it would mean 1 match or so per person. That's not too much, more like an average RP or so. It would take less than an hour and if everyone chipped in, cards will be on time, with spectacular results.