OngoingWorlds blog

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

Jun
18

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Calling all Nominees for the 2024 Tournament of Simulations!

Category: Advertising your game, Awards, Competition, Events, Roleplay Systems, Roleplay-related projects, Roleplaying community Tags: Leave a Comment

Image by Willvoy

Now that the 2023 competition is in the books, it’s time for us to hold the next Tournament of Simulations (ToS): this tournament will feature entries from last year, 2024.

For those who might be unfamiliar with ToS, this is where you can enter your role play or sim to potentially win a prize at no cost or risk to you! Judges from across the community go through all of the entries and evaluate them on story, characters, and readability.

As has been our tradition for several years now, play-by-post games will be graded on 10 consecutive posts while chat games will be graded on a single chat session. All sims will be considered regardless of club or fleet affiliation. We then present awards to the top-scoring games. The sims that don’t place are not announced. That’s right: you’ve got nothing to lose, so why not enter?

Okay, enough on that. How about we get on with the nominations…

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Jun
5

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2023 Tournament of Simulations Concludes

Category: Advertising your game, Awards, Competition, Roleplay Systems, Roleplay-related projects, Roleplaying community Tags: Leave a Comment

Image by Willvoy

The nominations were received and evaluated, and now we have some winners! Before we announce those amazing sims, in case anyone is unfamiliar with this program, the Tournament of Simulations (ToS) is an annual competition, sponsored and run by Ongoing Worlds, that is open to all sims and online role-playing games, regardless of format or genre.

This year we had 60 unique entrants, which resulted in 23 different winners. As it is seemingly every year, the participation and excellence displayed is a true testament to the ongoing strength of our simming and online role playing community, despite the naysayers.

As I frequently remind myself and others: 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 sims that exude excellence.  A different set of judges might very well chose a completely different set of winners.  And that’s okay! If you’re interested, this is how we select the winners. With that on the record once again, here are your 2023 Tournament of Simulation winners:

Play-by-Post

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Mar
4

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USF’s 30th Anniversary: 1995-2025

Category: Roleplay Systems, Roleplay-related projects, Roleplaying community Tags: , , Leave a Comment


Main banner/logo from December 18, 1996 (archive.org)

USF (short for United Space Federation) officially marked its 30th anniversary back in January. One of the oldest clubs still in existence today, they continue to thrive in their chat-based format literally decades after their 1995 launch. To celebrate, they are inviting the entire community to an open house:

And You’re invited!

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Feb
23

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Where to Advertise Your Game: 2025 Edition

Category: Advertising your game, Roleplay-related projects, Roleplaying community Tags: , , Leave a Comment

Billboard that says join my play-by-post game

It’s been nearly four and half years since our last advertising update. While the billboard above might be the same, the landscape has certainly changed!

Check out our lists below to find the best places to advertise your play-by-post game.

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Jan
31

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2024 Simming Prize Winners

Category: Awards, Roleplay-related projects, Roleplaying community Tags: , , , Leave a Comment

It’s time to announce the 2024 Simming Prize winners–the cream of the crop from the nominations submitted by you, the community over the last year. They represent the very best of the simming and online role playing world today and provide each of us with a unique model of excellence, dedication, or innovation to follow. While our community is ever evolving, our historical core remains. Well done, Simming Prize Laureates!

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Jan
1

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Simming Prize Double Feature

Category: Awards, Roleplay-related projects, Roleplaying community Tags: , , , , , , Leave a Comment

simming prize
The Simming Prize Image by Jack Carter

As we ring in the new year, please help me in congratulating both the 2022 & 2023 Simming Prize winners. They represent the very best of the simming and online role playing community today and provide each of us with a different and unique model of excellence, dedication, or innovation to follow. While our community is ever changing, our core of greatness endures. Well done, Simming Prize Laureates!

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Nov
25

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2023 Tournament of Simulations open for nominations… Finally!

Category: Advertising your game, Awards, Competition, Roleplay Systems, Roleplay-related projects, Roleplaying community Tags: Leave a Comment


Image by Willvoy

It’s long past time for us to hold the next Tournament of Simulations (ToS)… before it’s 2025! Speaking of years, ToS is the oldest and longest-running award in the simming and online role playing community.

For those who might be unfamiliar with ToS, this is where you can enter your role play to potentially win a prize at no cost or risk to you! Judges from across the community go through all of the entries and grade them on story, characters, and readability.

As has been our tradition for several years now, play-by-post games will be graded on 10 consecutive posts while chat games will be graded on a single chat session. All sims will be considered regardless of club or fleet affiliation. We then present awards to the top-scoring games. The sims that don’t place are not announced. That’s right: you’ve got nothing to lose, so why not enter?

Okay, enough on that. How about we get on with the nominations…

Read More

Mar
16

By

2022 Simulation Cup Results… Finally!

Category: Awards, Competition, Roleplay Systems, Roleplay-related projects, Roleplaying community Tags: , , Leave a Comment

Image by Malkfan

What a tournament! A record of 88 fantastic entrants led to another record of 36 awards to be conferred below. Before we get to those, however, you might remember that we’re running this Tournament of Simulations (ToS) under the Simulation Cup banner to honor the 2012 and 2014 tournaments.

Naming conventions aside, this competition has been one for the ages, easily blowing away last year’s records of 70 entrants with 26 winners. The participation and excellence displayed is a true testament to the ongoing strength of the simming and online role playing community, regardless of what others might say.

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 sims that exude excellence.  A different set of judges might very well chose a completely different set of winners.  And that’s okay! If you’re interested, this is how we select the winners. With that on the record once again, here are your 2022 Simulation Cup winners:

Play-by-Post

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Jan
16

By

2022 Simulation Cup: Enter Today!

Category: Advertising your game, Awards, Competition, Roleplay Systems, Roleplay-related projects, Roleplaying community Tags: , Leave a Comment

Image by Malkfan

With calendar year 2022 in the books, it’s time for us to formally close it out with the annual Simulation Cup. Wait, don’t I mean the annual Tournament of Simulations aka ToS? Yes, they are one at the same!

According to our records, the 2012 tournament was held under the Simulation Cup banner. In honor of that event 10 years ago, we decided to use its name again today. And we think it makes a pretty cool poster too!

The mechanics of the game remain the same: Here are a few tips on how to win. For those who may be unfamiliar, this is where you can enter your role play to potentially win a prize at no cost or risk to you! Judges from across the community go through all of the entries and grade them on story, characters, and readability.

As has been our tradition for several years now, play-by-post games will be graded on 10 consecutive posts while chat games will be graded on a single chat session. All sims will be considered regardless of club or fleet affiliation. We then present awards to the top-scoring games. The sims that don’t place are not announced. That’s right: you’ve got nothing to lose, so why not enter?

Okay, enough on that. How about we get on with the nominations…

Read More

Dec
22

By

The Benefits of Playing Online Role-Playing Games

Category: Roleplay Systems, Roleplay-related projects, Roleplaying community Tags: Leave a Comment

Image source


A lot has been written recently about artificial chatbot ChatGPT. The New York Times describes it as a ‘Code Red’ For Google Search. Other sites talk about its ability to potentially disrupt Hollywood, how it can write essays, and that it can even negotiate your cable bill. More worryingly, in the hands of bad actors, it can be used to generate malicious code. Since it can seemingly do so much, what can it do for role playing? I decided to put it to the test with this request:

Write a blog post to appear on ongoingworlds.com

Here’s what we got in response:

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