Your GTT7 Experience, Encompassed.

[Wikipeteia]

Be it known: I will never, ever, ever, ever, ever word cap GTT. Period. End of story, end of statement. If that impacts your ability to join, so be it and I'm sorry you feel that way.

Word caps are for the Infinite Gauntlet, not what has become to known in our hobby as THE tournament for creative wrestling writers. Joe and Dave are absolutely exceptions to the rule that longer is better, simply because they have proven that despite the word count, they can write an engaging story that people want to read, that people want to be entertained by and that people can point to and say "Yeah, read this and tell me I'm wrong for thinking he's the GTT Champion. Go ahead, I'll wait a week."

The word count has never and will never factor positively into anyone's judging. No one reads an RP as a judge and says "Sixty three thousand words? That was exactly what I wanted to read. Thanks." If anything throughout the judging comments, the consensus to just about everyone read that their RP was long, and they needed to tighten it up a bit where it dragged... except for Joe. Weird, eh?

You are not required to start writing the moment the countdown starts, and stop the moment the countdown ends. If you do? Fine. If that's what gets you through the day, fine. But, at the end of the day, the difference between 5000 words and 16000 words comes down to one thing and one thing alone and that's story. If you can accomplish more with less, that's a beautiful thing, and I'm absolutely a proponent of that. I've won the Dual Halo with an RP that was around 4000 words and far, far less than my fellow competitors by a long shot.

I guarantee that if you can do more with less, you're going to go far in any tournament.

[Hyde]

1. You entered GTT7 familiar with a few characters. What was your standout character of GTT7, based on their body of work?

It's difficult for me to answer, as so far I've read few of the GTT7 bodies of work. Perhaps selfishly, I decided to largely wait until the end to see which stories would be the most complete and therefore more deserving of my limited reading time. I read a LOT of roleplays week to week, so what I wanted out of GTT7 as a reader wasn't just "more roleplays", but entire stories that I could devour in my own time and consider alongside the great novels I have read in the past. All that said, my standout character based on his body of GTT7 work is Garbage Bag Johnny, but that was predictable because I (1) like Garbage Bag Johnny, (2) mark out for mentions of AWC, and (3) have read seven of his nine GTT7 roleplays, which is more than I've read of anyone else in the tournament.

2. What person stood out to you throughout GTT7?

I was impressed by a number of guys I'd never read before: Impulse and Christian Mathias spring to mind. I also greatly enjoyed what I've read so far of Terrence Kingsley, and saw Trent once more outperform what he's ever done in a fed (there was a lot of surprise to see him go out to Lance Marshall, which is a testament to how well suited he is to the GTT format).

3. What was the be all, end all RP of GTT7 for you?

I can't answer this (yet).

4. GTT8. Who are you begging for in the first round?

I would have said Jared Sykes, but I have him in the Gauntlet instead. I wouldn't have said Varga, but it seems like he wants to call me out, so let's go for him.

5. Please verbally tongue-bathe my balls about how awesomely this tournament was run, and how awesome I am, and how my ass looks really good in these jeans. No? Okay.

It was very good. I know you know there were things I wasn't sure about, and I don't think all the calls were the right ones, but I don't think any of it needs to be rehashed, and there's only one problem I noted that hasn't been mentioned but I don't want to mention it publicly. If you'd like to know, PM me, but I've decided I'm past putting my opinion out there just for the sake of it as it only brings me grief.

6. What did you like the least about GTT7. Be honest. This can/will impact any future plans for GTT8 which -- if you can't tell -- has been announced already. More on that later though.

I heard a lot about rude comments about fellow contestants on a social networking site. I didn't see them for myself, but I don't want to have to hear such things. We're a community and even if we don't all like each other we should be above trying to destabilise those still in the tournament.

[suddenimpact]

I heard a lot about rude comments about fellow contestants on a social networking site. I didn't see them for myself, but I don't want to have to hear such things. We're a community and even if we don't all like each other we should be above trying to destabilise those still in the tournament.

I would've thought that judges providing a rationale for why they voted the way they did would've kept this from happening.

[Kat]

1. You entered GTT7 familiar with a few characters. What was your standout character of GTT7, based on their body of work.

I'd say that Aaron really surprised me by bringing in something fresh. If Joe plays it right, Desade being believably human will probably stand out the most. More than anything, though... Ben kicked some ass. We spoke at length about the Guest/Stevens relationship and how he was crafting it kind of inspired by my all-time favorite fictional relationship.

2. What person stood out to you throughout GTT7?

Definitely Aaron for dominating with a new character for PTC, and only getting knocked out by the ginger hair on one of his balls.

3. What was the be all, end all RP of GTT7 for you?

To be honest, my 'Be all, end all' was my own round 2 piece, just because I'm still bitter that I got sick and couldn't continue at that level. It wasn't anything amazing, but it stood out to me as one of the few times I've felt really clear in writing. As far as actual RPs? Lane Stevens torturing that poor guy for shits and giggles.

4. GTT8. Who are you begging for in the first round?

Cancer. A scare of it knocked me out of this GTT, and I'd say I want to beat the hell out of it in GTT8... but I already did that. Fuck you, health.

As far as things that could write against me... whoever the PRIME or GCW champ is at the time.

5. Please verbally tongue-bathe my balls about how awesomely this tournament was run, and how awesome I am, and how my ass looks really good in these jeans. No? Okay.

Already did this, but pink is a bad color for denim.

6. What did you like the least about GTT7?

Aside from some needless opinions getting tossed around, which probably won't ever stop, the play-in system was the only thing as far as the actual administration of the tournament that I thought felt loosely put together.

No! Wait! Early judging. We need to be a little more careful about who's allowed to judge, instead of 'Anyone who volunteer can... oops, you fucked up, you can't anymore'. Try to weed out the potential for problems that way. Also: I really wish we had multiple judges in all rounds.

[Nick]

1. You entered GTT7 familiar with a few characters. What was your standout character of GTT7, based on their body of work. Honestly, this sounds like a cop-out, but Joe's work as Desade was just fantastic in this. He's always been good, dont get me wrong, but I think a lot of people didnt really see this coming and the fact that He still managed to pull off this victory has to make him the standout.

2. What person stood out to you throughout GTT7?
Lane Stevens - another guy who has always had talent but was always on the back burner for whatever reason. I dont think anyone will ever face him and not be afraid again.

3. What was the be all, end all RP of GTT7 for you? This I have to pas on because I did not read all the rps and it would be unfair to say.

4. GTT8. Who are you begging for in the first round? HAH! The correct question is who is begging for ME? All ego aside here, the winners of both GTT8 and The CWT have one thing in common, they faced yours truly in the first round and won. So let's line it up right now and put the bounty out there.

(honestly though, can someone cut me some slack lol?)

5. Please verbally tongue-bathe my balls about how awesomely this tournament was run, and how awesome I am, and how my ass looks really good in these jeans. No? Okay.

Pete, we've made considerable progress in our repoire, however I just dont know that your ass would ever look good in jeans. That being said, you did a great job in the GTT and it was a lot of fun to be a part of. If this happens again, you are definitely the right man for the job.

6. What did you like the least about GTT7. Be honest. This can/will impact any future plans for GTT8 which -- if you can't tell -- has been announced already. More on that later though.

I'm going to say this plain as I can: The play-in system sucks. It has little to do with the fact that I did not get one, but more to do with the fact that if we are going to have a system like this, it cant just be on whims. There definitely has to be some sort of structure to it. I appreciated the fact that in my situation Pete did take time to read my rp and consider me, but honestly, why shouldn't everyone's rps have been in that pool already? Why did it take the collective urging of the entire board to even get a consideration for it? I dont know how to fix that issue Pete, but it just has to be done better.

Also, the comment that incentive to keep interest goes down rapidly, and I think that is true. I dont know what you could do to change that Pete, but something should be looked into.

[Wikipeteia]

The play-in system will be worked on for GTT8.

Also, as far as incentive: Double Elimination

No, I'm not kidding.

[Hyde]

For GTT8 I think one objective could be tying the tournament in more closely with the PTC member feds. For example, why not allow the winner of the tournament the free choice of one shot at ANY of the PTC championships? That is to say, any SCCW, PRIME, GCW or Just belt, or indeed the Elite or IG championship - a 'golden ticket' of sorts.

[Wikipeteia]

For GTT8 I think one objective could be tying the tournament in more closely with the PTC member feds. For example, why not allow the winner of the tournament the free choice of one shot at ANY of the PTC championships? That is to say, any SCCW, PRIME, GCW or Just belt, or indeed the Elite or IG championship - a 'golden ticket' of sorts.

Without a traditional PTC format around, I'd be hesitant to tell Ben over at GCW that someone from GTT should get a shot at his #1 belt, and then have Ben spend a story arc pushing the feud to the moon. That's definitely not within my best interest or the best interest of the majority of the fedheads here in PTC.

[Hyde]

Without a traditional PTC format around, I'd be hesitant to tell Ben over at GCW that someone from GTT should get a shot at his #1 belt, and then have Ben spend a story arc pushing the feud to the moon. That's definitely not within my best interest or the best interest of the majority of the fedheads here in PTC.

Obviously if the fed-heads didn't want it to happen, it wouldn't happen. But I've sensed a significant upswing in enthusiasm for crosspromotional work within PTC over the last couple of months and you must have sensed it too. Maybe I'm just optimistic, but I think the fed-heads might be more open to it than they would have been this time last year.

Also - semantics - GCW will have a new fed-head as of next week.

[Wikipeteia]

Obviously if the fed-heads didn't want it to happen, it wouldn't happen. But I've sensed a significant upswing in enthusiasm for crosspromotional work within PTC over the last couple of months and you must have sensed it too. Maybe I'm just optimistic, but I think the fed-heads might be more open to it than they would have been this time last year.

Also - semantics - GCW will have a new fed-head as of next week.

While I'd have no issue with cross promotional events in the slightest, I would have an issue with someone getting a "golden ticket" to work in someone's fed for any length of time. I think that needs to be left to events like the Dual Halo, Rampage, Dangerous Games, etc. The the fedhead offering the prize have the biggest say in what the end result is, rather than PTC saying that they have to give X, Y.

If I'm wrong about that fedheads, please let me know.