OngoingWorlds blog

News & articles about play-by-post games, for roleplayers & writers

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Squiddies and ToS and SciWorld, Oh my!

That’s right, we’re accepting Squiddie, ToS, and SciWorld nominations all at the same time!  Good luck! Read More

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How Does the Tournament of Simulations (ToS) Work?

Despite the image, we’re not currently accepting nominations for the 2018 Tournament of Simulations (ToS).  But that will happen very soon… so stay tuned!

In 2016 we published an article on how to win Squiddies that explained in great detail how the process works.  Even though that piece briefly discussed ToS and gave what is still the best advice regarding ToS (Just Enter!), we thought it would be helpful to pull back the curtain on this competition as well.

So here’s everything you need to know about the Tournament of Simulations:

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2018 Squiddies: The Winners

In June, we asked for nominations.  You responded, and we announced 19 nominees in August.  Now it’s time to reveal the three winner of this year’s Squiddie (officially the Ongoing Worlds Medal for Superior Online Role Playing).  Choosing just three winners from 19 excellent candidates was extremely difficult as many are deserving of a top-level award.  However, that’s our job!
If you’ll recall, Squiddies are awarded to only one person, one game, and one club each year.  The prizes come in three categories (Excellence in Role Playing, Originality & Innovation, and Facilitating the Community Experience) and are awarded primary for actions during the prior calendar year.  In this case, that’s 2017.  Without any further ado, here are your 2018 Ongoing Worlds Medal for Superior Online Role Playing Laureates…

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Congratulations to the 2018 Squiddie Nominees!

Congratulations to all of the 2018 Squiddie Nominees!  In response to our June post, we received 11 nominations for 10 people, 6 nominations for 6 games, and 3 nominations for 3 clubs.  In case you lost count, that’s 20 total nominations for 19 different entities.  All 19 are outstanding in their own right and deserving of top-level awards.  Unfortunately, we can only award 3 Squiddies every year: one person, one game, and one club.  We have our work cut out for us!

Without further ado, here are your 2018 nominees in no particular order… Read More

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Enter Your 2018 Squiddie Nominations Now!

The time is here!  Time for YOU to nominate the best from our community to win a Squiddie (aka The Ongoing Worlds Medal for Superior Online Roleplaying).  Each year we present Squiddies to three different entities: one person, one sim/game, and one club.  Squiddies are bestowed for exemplifying one or more of the following characteristics, primarily during the previous calendar year:

  • Excellence in role playing: Outstanding role play or leadership performance far above and beyond the typical person, game, or club
  • Originality and innovation: Using a new technology or innovation or combining existing technologies together in a new way to elevate the role play adventure
  • Facilitating the community experience: Enhancing interaction, cooperation, and/or collaboration among role players to improve or advance the community

You can read about past winners here: 2013 | 2014 | 2015 | 2016 | 2017 Read More

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2017 Tournament of Simulations (ToS) Winners!

The results are in and we have some winners!  If you’ll recall, we asked for nominations back in December.  If you’re not familiar with ToS, the original competition was held back in 1999.  For this year’s ToS, each participating sim submitted 10 posts that were written sometime during 2017.  The posts were then evaluated by three judges in three different categories (Story, Characters, and Readability/Grammar) on a 1-10 scale.  The final scores were then adjusted based on the individual judge’s respective averages and standard deviations to adjust for both hard & easy grading judges and judges with small & large ranges of scores.

As I say every year, evaluating sims is a subjective art, and this is certainly true with ToS.  We’re not here to identify the best games as this is impossible.  Instead, we’re here to identify what we think are outstanding role plays that exude excellence.  A different set of judges may very well chose a completely different set of winners.  And that’s okay!  With that our of the way, here are your 2017 tournament winners: Read More

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Submit your 2017 Simming Prize nomination

Tis the season to be jolly! The nomination period for the 2017 Simming Prize has officially opened! Some of you may have heard whispers as we geared up and began the hunt for judges and nominees on the low key, but now it’s absolutely undeniable that we’re open and ready for business once again! Read More

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It’s 2017 Tournament of Simulations (ToS) Time!

With FallFest out of the way, it’s time to turn our attention to something else.  Ahem…  Role players, hosts, and club leaders alike are all hereby invited to enter their games/sims/role plays in the the oldest and most prestigious competition of the entire simming and online roleplaying world: the Tournament of Simulations (ToS)!  What, did you think it was some other competition?  C’mon!

Ongoing Worlds is now officially calling on YOU (yes, you!) to enter your simulations and online role plays in the 2017 edition of ToS.  This will be the 13th tournament to be held, and the 4th sponsored by Ongoing Worlds.  Nominations will be accepted through December 31st, 2017.  Winners will be announced sometime later.  Here’s how to enter: Read More

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Congratulations to our 2017 Squiddie Award Winners!

Earlier this year, we asked the simming & online role playing community to nominate their very best for our pinnacle award, the Ongoing Worlds Medal for Superior Online Role Playing (affectionally known as the Squiddie).  You responded with 19 nominations for 17 different people, games, and clubs.  And my what an outstanding group it was!  The consistent high-caliber of the nominees made our job of picking winners extremely difficult.  For that reason, I want to personally thank everyone for providing us such a great group to choose from… even though it made our job more challenging.

If you recall, Squiddies are awarded to only one person, one game, and one club each year.  The prizes come in three categories (Excellence in Role Playing, Originality & Innovation, and Facilitating the Community Experience) and are awarded primary for actions during the prior calendar year.  In this case, 2016.  Without any further ado, here are your 2017 Ongoing Worlds Medal for Superior Online Role Playing Laureates… Read More

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Congratulations to all of our 2017 Squiddie Nominees!!!

Congratulations to all of our 2017 Squiddie Nominees!  After our May post, we received 7 nominations for 6 people, 6 nominations for 6 games, and 6 nominations for 5 clubs.  In case you lost count, that’s 19 total nominations for 17 different entities.  While it’s down from our usual ~30 nominees, we still have many absolutely outstanding candidates.  I can assure you that the competition certainly is fierce this year!  The level of commitment, creativity, and drive from our community never ceases to amaze me.  Let’s keep up the great role playing!

Without further ado, here are your 2017 nominees in no particular order…
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