OngoingWorlds blog

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

Feb
24

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It’s… ToS Time!

Category: Awards, Competition, Events, Roleplay-related projects, Roleplaying community Tags: , 2 Comments

I recently posted about my own 20-year simming anniversary. Or is that birthday? Here’s another: It’s been 20 years of ToS (aka Tournament of Simulations). That’s right, the original ToS was held for the year 1999. ISO Troi ran it, and the Simming League sponsored it. While it’s been 20 years since that first ToS, this is actualy the 15th competition as not all years had a tournament. Another interesting bit of trivia: According to the surviving records, 167 total awards have been bestowed.

Okay, enough reminiscing. How about get on with the nominations?

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Apr
6

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2018 ToS Winners

Category: Awards, Competition, Events, Roleplaying community Tags: , 1 Comment

We asked for Tournament of Simulations (ToS) submissions back in February and March.  You responded by nominating 28 fantastic games, truly the best of the best from throughout the simming and online role playing community!  It’s now April and we have 10 winners.  If you’re curious how we choose the top games, here’s how.

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 record, here are your 2018 tournament winners: Read More

Mar
12

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Last Call for 2018 ToS Nominees!

Category: Awards, Competition, Events, Roleplaying community Tags: Leave a Comment

Last month we asked for Squiddie nominations, ToS submissions, and SciWorld hosting applications.  If you’re interested in the Squiddies or SciWorld, refer back to that link for how to make your submissions.  If, however, you’re looking to submit your games for the Tournament of Simulations (ToS), we’ve decided to simplify it below: Read More

Feb
10

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Squiddies and ToS and SciWorld, Oh my!

Category: Awards, Behind the scenes - running RPGs, Competition, Events, Play-by-post discussion, Roleplay-related projects, Roleplaying community Tags: , , 3 Comments

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

Feb
5

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How Does the Tournament of Simulations (ToS) Work?

Category: Awards, Competition, Events, Roleplaying community Tags: 6 Comments

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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Feb
8

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2017 Tournament of Simulations (ToS) Winners!

Category: Awards, Competition, Events, Roleplaying community Tags: , 7 Comments

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

Dec
17

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

Category: Awards, Competition, Events, Roleplaying community Tags: 14 Comments

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

May
13

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2016 Tournament of Simulation Winners!

Category: Awards, Competition, Events, Roleplaying community Tags: , , 5 Comments

Hear ye!  Hear ye!  It’s time to announce the winners of the 2016 Tournament of Simulations (ToS).  For those who may not be aware, ToS is an annual competition, sponsored by Ongoing Worlds, where role play games of different clubs and genres compete against each other in a friendly manner for several awards.  The original tournament was held back in 1999.  For this year’s ToS, each participating sim submitted 10 posts that were written sometime during 2016.  The posts were then evaluated by three judges in three different categories on a 1-10 scale: Story, Characters, and Readability/Grammar.  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 said, it’s time to finally announce our winners… Read More

Jan
1

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It’s time for the 2016 Tournament of Simulations (ToS)

Category: Awards, Competition, Events, Roleplaying community Tags: 7 Comments

ToS2016That’s right, it’s time for our annual Tournament of Simulations (ToS) competition!  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 universe (yes, it’s ToS!).  Indeed, Ongoing Worlds is officially calling on on YOU (yes, you!) to enter your simulations and online role plays in the 2016 edition of ToS.  This will be the 12th tournament to be held (the first happened in 1999).  Nominations will be accepted through January 31st, 2017. Winners will be announced sometime later.  Here’s how to enter: Read More

Dec
9

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How to Win a Squiddie (and other awards too)!

Category: Awards, Competition, Events, Roleplaying community Tags: , , , , , 11 Comments

Ongoing Worlds Medal for Superior Online Role Playing

Ongoing Worlds Medal for Superior Online Role Playing

We have received a few questions about how we choose the Squiddies winners (2016, 2017, 2018) and what makes a good candidate.  Before we get to that, I want to do two things first:  1) Explain the Squiddies to anyone who might not be familiar with them, and 2) Provide a brief overview of some of the other major annual awards within the greater simming and online role playing community.

  1. The Squiddie (officially the “Ongoing Worlds Medal for Superior Online Roleplaying”) is presented annually to three entities: one person, one sim, and one sim club.  It also consists of three categories: Excellence in Roleplaying, Originality & Innovation, and Facilitating the Community Experience.  The award is sponsored by us, Ongoing Worlds, and was first presented in 2013.
  2. The Squiddie is one of three families of major community-level awards.  The oldest is the Simming Prize (officially the “Prize for Simming and Online Role Playing in Memory of Seth Cotis“), dating back to 1999.  Originally awarded by the Simming League and later by Ongoing Worlds, it is now bestowed by a group of trustees.  It is presented to up to five entities each year and is named in memory of an early influential simming leader.  ToS (“Tournament of Simulations”) is the final group of awards.  In ToS, volunteer judges from around the community read posts form participating games and choose winners in different categories that may vary from year to year.  ToS also dates back to 1999.  It is currently presented by Ongoing Worlds, but began in the Simming League as well.

Clear as mud?  Fantastic!  So here’s how we choose Squiddie winners… Read More

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