Competition

I live in Small Town, Oklahoma so we are a tad behind on a few things.  No - before you ask - we are not still fighting "the Indians out there".  No, that comment is not meant to be offensive.  Someone always seems to be under the impression that it is "almost the Wild West" in this part of the nation.  I assure you that is not the case.  We have the same modern conveniences as other places in the United States; from automobiles to computers to shopping malls and even that fancy internet!  So, what is my point you may be wondering.

 

Quite simply, my wife and I have two small children and have elected to live in a smaller town.  There are several reasons - family, schools, college, etc. - but the biggest reason is the option to avoid being in "thug-central" because it "feels safer" in this smaller town.  One of the side effects of that choice is being a little behind in some areas.  For instance, we have high speed internet but we could have much faster internet if we lived in the big city.

 

I had Netflix for quite some time but the internet was just lagging too much in this area.  I cancelled my subscription about 8 months ago.  In the months following my cancellation, the internet has gotten more stable in this area and we received an upgraded router.  I decided to give Netflix another try because I figured if I was out $7.99 due to dissatisfaction then it really was no big deal.  It works great now because the Internet is much faster and I have experience no delays or lagging while we have been burning through seasons of shows that are now available on Netflix.

 

This past weekend I was down with whatever bug was going around the community.  It had went through the rest of the family and it was my turn.  I had a little bit of insomnia after sleeping off and on all day so I went to the living room and decided to fire up the Netflix while I was surfing the Internet in hopes of making myself drowsy. 

 

I am a long time professional wrestling fan so I browsed the wrestling titles available.  I would have preferred something from the old school era but I settled on The Rise & Fall of WCW and NWO: The Revolution because I had some big gaps to fill in on my wrestling history.  I knew a bit about WCW but I mainly watched WWF at the time.  As I watched those programs I was visiting the various role playing forums and blogs I have saved on my favorites list.  

 

As I watched the story of the Monday Night Wars between WWF and WCW unfold I realized that I watched a bit more of WCW than I had previously thought.  I was in the Army at the time so we would hang out, drink beer, and see what was happening on the wrestling shows.  Professional Wrestling was huge at the time and there was wrestling shows on 6 nights a week with Pay-Per-Views on about every 3 weeks when you throw ECW in to the mix.  I recalled that during this time, Eric Bischoff made WCW the #1 wrestling company in the world.  Nitro was clearly leading in the ratings at the time and did so for something like a year or two years.  Fast Forward several years down the line and there is no WCW or ECW left to compete with WWF.  There were many WWF fans that felt everything would have been better off that way all along. 

 

I am sure you are wondering what in the world does all of this have to do with D&D or roleplaying in general?  Quite simply, there are some interesting parallels that can be drawn between the Monday Night Wars and the 4E/Pathfinder split in the fan base.  It all starts by replacing WCW with Paizo Publishing and WWF with Wizards of the Coast.  WCW really started hitting it big when they got an old WWF product - Hulk Hogan - and made him their own by turning him heel and then launching the NWO invasion angle.  Paizo did something very similar by taking D&D 3.5 and creating the Pathfinder system.  If your throw the OSR/retro clone publishers into the mix then you basically have ECW represented also.   

 

I may be grasping at straws with this post but I do have two points to make.  First, all of these competing products in the D&D field eventually makes the whole field stronger.  When WWF had WCW and ECW to compete against for money then it was a much better in ring product.  Sure, there is TNA today but their show is on one right a week and does not go head to head with WWF on Monday Night.  WCW literally took the fight to WWF and it made both of their products better.  Second, a lack of competition basically translates to a lack of a measuring stick to compare product against product.  I read several posts from 4E fans that wished Pathfinder was not available so 4E could rule the D&D field.  I think it would be more interesting to see how D&D Next responds to the shortcomings of 4E to see what is next.  Then maybe we can see what comes from Pathfinder 2 has to offer against 5E?  Honestly, without Pathfinder would Wizards be knee deep in play testing D&D Next or would they have let the edition have a life span that lasted several more years? 

 

Just some food for thought...   

 

-----------

 

Note: Yes, I am aware that it is now properly WWE but I just refuse to use that label.  I grew up with WWF and it will always be WWF to me.   

ECW - The Argument Against...

In my last post I talked about the ECW retrospective DVD.  In this post, I give an opinion that is solidly against ECW and the hardcore wrestling scene - Jim Cornette.  I don't always agree with what he says but I am always entertained.

Further thoughts are included in this video.

I think Mr. Cornette brings up many good points BUT who is that in this video doing work in ECW?

Food for though...

The Rise and Fall of ECW DVD

I am off on a professional wrestling tangent for this post.  I may delve into some more posts about this topic because I was a huge professional wrestling fan at one point in time.  I mainly skip it these days but I will stop for a few minutes while I am flipping through the channels. If someone invites me over to watch a Pay-Per-View event then I will more than likely show up.  I must admit that professional wrestling is just all around not the same anymore at all.  I loved it from the late 70s to the early 90s - when kayfabe was still in effect - but now that Vince McMahon is the undisputed king of the dung heap the state of professional wrestling is in a shambles.  Like the old timers say, "A polished turd is STILL a turd."  That is a quick background and my current opinion of the professional wrestling industry so now it is time to move on to my thoughts on ECW.

Before I go any further, I need to make a few things clear.  First, I was aware of ECW at the time but I was not a regular viewer.  I did not have cable because I was a young married soldier in the Army with little to no disposable income.  Second, my knowledge of ECW comes from the DVD, The Rise and Fall of ECW, and from YouTube and other sources.  Third, I am only discussing Extreme Championship Wrestling and not the precursor Eastern Championship Wrestling or the revival (read as "abomination") known as WWECW in wrestling circles.

I found this DVD at Wal-Mart  and bought it since I was always interested in seeing more about ECW.  This 2-Disc set has a company retrospective on the first disc and 7 matches on the second disc.  The first disc starts in the days of Eastern Champinship Wrestling when they were part of the National Wrestling Alliance.  Eventually, Eastern Championship Wrestling is folded and Extreme Championship Wrestling is born.  This is a new era of reality tv type wrestling that smacks you in the face and caters to the adults instead of the children.  The DVD continues to tell the story of how the company got a TV show, started doing pay per view shows and finally folded. 

ECW seems to be a very divisive topic to a large majority of wrestling fans.  The fans of ECW were almost fanatical and cult like in their devotion to the company; there was a group of fans that would show up every week and try to sit in the same seating area for the shows.  The crowd did not just watch the show but they participated in it by chanting "E-C-W" when the wrestlers pulled off amazing moves.  Since this was an adult show, the violence was pretty intense.  Wrestlers were getting slammed through tables AFTER THEY WERE LIT ON FIRE, slammed onto thumb tacks thrown on the mat. jumping from 20 feet above the ring onto their opponents - it was just insane seeing the moves that these guys would pull out in a match!    For a glimpse of some extreme action, watch this video:

The crowd would also bring pots, pans, oars, and sorts of other things that the wrestlers would go to the audience to grab and use in the matches. You can not get that sort of interaction at a WWE event!  If a wrestler messed up a move, the crowd was waiting to chant "You Fucked Up!".  It was a completely different atmosphere at an ECW event and I am sorry to say I never got to see it live.

I know that the ECW style is not for everybody and there is nothing wrong with that at all - different strokes for different folks and all - but if you are a wrestling fan and want a promotion that is about the product in the ring and not "sports entertainment" then you should check out some ECW.  If it was so terrible then why did wrestling legends such as Terry Funk, Bam Bam Bigelow,  and Sid Vicious decide to work there?  It ECW was "Extremely Crappy Wrestling" as Jerry Lawler put it then why did the big two companies raid their lineup in search of new talent?  In all honesty, ECW was the first victim of the Monday Night Wars that took place between WWE and WCW. 

The DVD closes by having various wrestlers state why they thought ECW was special.  Finally, Paul Heyman closes with these words, "You cannot achieve success without the risk of failure. And I learned a long time ago, you cannot achieve success, if you fear failure. If you're not afraid to fail, man, you have a chance to succeed. But you're never gonna get there unless you risk it, all the way. I'll risk failure. Sometimes, half the fun is failing. Learning from your mistakes, waking up the next morning, and saying 'Okay. Watch out. Here I come again. A little bit smarter, licking my wounds, and really not looking forward to getting my ass kicked the way I just did yesterday.' So now, I'm just a little more dangerous."

       

Assorted Links I Enjoy

I admit it, it IS a lazy Sunday.  Here are some links that I enjoy that you may also:

Born of Hope A story from the past of Lord of the Rings that tells the story of Aragon's parents.

Fan Films collection A collection of fan films satisfying your needs from Akira to Yu-Gi-Oh.

The Hunt For Gollum An unofficial prequel to Lord of the Rings.

Starship Exeter A Star Trek like series set in the time of the original series.

Star Trek New Voyages A fan made continuation of the original Star Trek series with seasons 4 and 5.

Wrestlecrap The very worst in professional wrestling plus an interesting "What if?" section.

Enjoy.