Step By Step Guide to building an e federation

-By Kut 6/17/2004 -revised 6/22/2004

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Step 1. Time for some decisions dude.

- Why are you opening a fed?
Give me a reason why you feel the need to pollute the Internet with yet another eFed. There are thousands out there. Why can't you just join a struggling efed? Is it Ego or Love? You gotta be the boss of something, don't you? Your fed will fail if so. Think before you act. This ain't real life, it's just a game. A game about pretending to wrestle...online. You need to figure out why you are doing this before you ever begin building an eFed. You should first consider helping out a fed already established on the net. THEN, if you REALLY feel like you have something new and innovative to offer, then keep reading.

- Do you have the time? Love? Commitment?
Do you know that this efed of yours will take up MOST of your free time? There is no way around it. I am the expert in making things easy. I had automated join forums, automated title updaters, automated everything and my eFed, RKW, STILL took up most of my time. Judging, writing results, matches, PPVS, ranking, approving apps, promoting, looking for members, keeping up with stats, history, designing and maintaining a webspace, dealing with rude members, answering questions.... AND YOU GOTTA BE ON TIME AND DO ALL OF THIS FOR FREE! You can't depend on "staff" they will bail because they don't have to be there... Unless you can pay them, heh.

- Do you have any experience?
You think being a wrestling fan means that you can run a fed? Think again! It's no different than running a business, except ten times worse. YOU do everything. You don't get paid. Look around RoughKut.com for some successful eFeds. Do some research. It ain't easy dude. Not even a little. Ask any fed head.
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Step 2. Do you even HAVE a plan?

- Somehow I doubt you put a lot of thought into this.
Just by looking at some of the horrible feds in my database, I think most of you just want to own something. Mostly every indy efed is poorly planned.

What kind of eFed do you want to run?

  • Roleplay
  • Angle
  • Real
  • Fake
  • Other

What will it be like?

  • Rules
  • Judging
  • Staff?
  • Money system?
  • Prizes?
  • Rewards?

WHAT ELSE?

  • How many titles?
  • Kayfabe type?
  • What kind of results?
  • Roleplay board?
  • Email results?
  • Will you invent something totally new?

You should know what your efed will be like from top to bottom before it ever hits the net.
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Step 3. How will this fed of yours look?

- Content is a factor.
Go here for a few tips on fed content: http://roughkut.com/content.html It's one of the most amateur help pages I've written, but whatever.

- Lay it all out
Look at some websites that you enjoy visiting that catch your eye. Incorporate the ideas into your own fed. Just DONT STEAL ANYONE'S DESIGNS. You don't want people claiming your ideas for their own. You shouldn't either. If you have NO idea what you're doing I have help pages for that as well.

- What type of results will you write

Here are the details on match/results writing: http://roughkut.com/results.html
Also a helpful match writer: http://roughkut.com/writer.html

You could also record MP3 style results and let people listen. That's a real 'hip new thing' or whatever. Your results and writing skill will decide whether most experienced people will join your fed. If they suck then they will go elsewhere. There are thousands of eFeds on the net, keep this in mind.

- Where will your roster roleplay?

Will they even roleplay at all? Email flash packets? Message boards? Forums? Here's a place to start looking: http://roughkut.com/boards.html
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Step 4. Will it be a success?

- You got A LOT of competition out there? What are you going to do to make your place on the net?
You need some members, dude. You need to learn how to promote your piece-of-crap fed.
Hype feds: are the term I have given to eFeds that aren't exactly open yet, but they link to a page with a join form/application or forums. They may place a "Opening Soon" or something as well.

This draws much debate from Fed Heads in the Database especially, they don't like it. They think they should be deleted if they aren't open yet. However, this is a tactic that has been used for years by experienced Fed Heads.
I'd guess about 8 times out of ten, the fed flakes out and never makes it to the opening day, but if done right it works fine. Some Fed Heads Hype their efed for months before doing anything at all. It gives the illusion that they are hard at work in the background making their efed as good as it can be. Again, I am guessing that they are just lazy or busy.

It's a good tactic and I don't personally think it's a good idea, but it is acceptable to use. Hell even I did it before, though I had good reason.
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Step 5. Why should people join?

- Why does your fed deserve any members?
What exactly does your fed offer that any other fed doesn't have. What stands out? Think REAL hard about this because it will make or break your fed. I will repeat this many times, there are thousands of feds on the net. Why should anyone chose yours?
  • Amazing design?
  • Poser?
  • MP3 style results?
  • Prizes
  • Real money?

Ask around, hell that's what I'm here for. Get advice, get tips. Ask members if you have any. Make your fed desirable for people to join. Don't just put some crap online and expect people to join. Here's the most important question of ALL.


WOULD YOU JOIN YOUR FED?
Be honest... would you pick your fed if you were a visitor?
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Step 6. Getting a Fed Host or visitor to consider your EFed.

-Time to make a proposal

A proposal is an invitation, a pro offer, a proposition. It's basically the reason anyone should take you seriously. A good eFed should have one. What should you put in your proposal? Why should you make one?

- Consider an "Efed Host" website. They usually want a proposal of some sort.

They are popular, they already have a following of visitors. In other words... if you get in good with a Fed Host then you have half of the battle won. Odds are you will get a nice sized roster if you do a good job.

- What should your proposal say?

There is no 'set way' you make one. Just make it good. Here's a sample of what I think a proposal should read.
*Remember to NEVER MASS EMAIL PEOPLE! It's f'n spam and people hate to be 'clustered'. You should always send email to individual people. I'd never join a fed where the fed head is too lazy to invite me personally.
The Proposal for UKDAW

Dear, visitors or eWrestler or Fed Host site:

1. Why I opened this efed.
BLAH BLAH BLAH BLAH BLAH

2. Why should you consider my eFed?
BLAH BLAH BLAH BLAH BLAH

3. What does my eFed have that noone else has?
BLAH BLAH BLAH BLAH BLAH

4. What kind of experience do I have as a Fed Head?
BLAH BLAH BLAH BLAH BLAH

5. How much time do I have to invest in this eFed?
BLAH BLAH BLAH BLAH BLAH BLAH

6. What success have I had in eWrestling?
BLAH BLAH BLAH BLAH BLAH

7. This is mainly what my eFed consits of.

Titles, shows, real or fake, results, PPVS, staff, etc, etc, etc.

8. Here's a few sample links:

  • Design Link (You should use a small screen cap of your design or make a page that shows your design)
  • Results (Your best written results)
  • PPV (PPVS are different, they are usually longer)

Thank you for your consideration, I hope that you would take a chance with me. I believe that we can help each other to have a great time in this eFed Game! Please email me with any questions! email@email.com
-MikeThe Owner of UKDAW

Do you see what I did above? I didn't leave any openings for questions, I layed it all out in a single, SHORT display. People don't like reading boring stuff. Keep it Simple Stupid (KISS). I'm shocked you made it this far into this tutorial!

I SENT IT TO ONE PERSON, NOT A LIST OF PEOPLE. People almost NEVER join a fed when the Fed Head is lazy enough to mass mail.

This very same technique can be applied when applying your Efed for consideration to many Fed Host sites. You can find a couple here on the RoughKut.com eFed Database: http://roughkut.com/efeds/SuperLinks.cgi


Also be sure to visit other eFeds, study, take your time, make your eFed WORTH joining! Look at all the different styles of eFed Games. Most of all, have fun. What the hell else are you doing this for? Take care!