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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

Play-by-Chat

  • None this cycle!

Congratulations to all of our Tournament winners! Well done! Believe me when I say that there were some really, really good entrants that didn’t make the winners list this year. For that reason, I’d like to personally thank everyone who took the time to enter their games in the competition: Thank you for providing a fantastic role playing experience for your players–that was more than evident in ALL of the entries. And that’s really what it’s all about. The individual grade sheets have been emailed to each sim’s respective representative.

I would also like to acknowledge our outstanding panel of judges: Amanda Rose, Ametheliana, Avakhon Khinsharri, Christie, Ennom, Greenfelt, Gregory, Hadir Prenar, Joseph Carroll, Ken Gillis, Kevin Riker, Malcom Llwyedd, Matthew Desmond, Nikki, Nugra, Raz, Rosie B, Spiral, StarDuster, Willvoy, and Wizardbeard. All 21 of them were amazing professionals from start to finish. They volunteered hours of their time to serve the simming and online role playing community, and I can’t thank them enough for the wonderful job they did!

OWCH

While we’re on the subject of judging, Avakhon Khinsharri, Gregory, Kevin Riker, Matthew Desmond, Nikki, and StarDuster are hereby awarded the Ongoing Worlds Community Honor (OWCH) for serving as a judge in three different Tournament of Simulations.  They have volunteered hours of their time to serve in this capacity.  Their selflessness and volunteer attitude are an example for us all to follow.  Without these six and others like them, we simply wouldn’t be able to hold major events like the Tournament. Thank you!

A few statistical notes…

  • This is the 13th year in a row that a tournament was held (2011-2023). Six tournaments were held 1999-2007. No tournaments were held 2008-2010. Nineteen total tournaments have been held to date.
  • Twenty-three awards were bestowed this year, tying 2020 for the fourth most ever. The record of 36 awards was set last year. 290 total awards have now been conferred dating back to 1999.
  • Four clubs brought home multiple awards this year: Obsidian Fleet (5), Theta Fleet (5), Independence Fleet (3), and Star Army (2). All four are repeat winners from last year. The record for most awards in a single tournament is 10 (Starfleet Legacy Alliance, 2005). Starfleet Legacy Alliance also holds second place (9, 2006) and third place (8, 2007) in the category.
  • Independence Fleet (26) stays put at #2 on the all-time awards list while Theta Fleet (22) passes UCIP (18) for third just as Star Army (18) ties UCIP for fourth. Obsidian Fleet (16) passes Bravo Fleet (13) to land in sixth place, with Federation Sim Fleet (12), RPGWriting (11), and Phoenix Roleplaying (10) rounding out the top ten. Starfleet Legacy Alliance remains first all-time with 31 total awards.
  • Star Army extends its record of tournaments with at least one win to 11. UCIP is in second place with wins in nine different tournaments. Star Army additionally holds the record for most consecutive tournaments with at least one win (9, 2012-2020). RPGWriting has the longest active streak (5, 2019-current), with Independence Fleet, Theta Fleet, and Obsidian Fleet all tied for second (4, 2020-current).
  • This was the fourth tournament not to have at least one club pick up its first win. The others are 2001, 2013, and 2017.
  • Six independent sims won this year. The record of 11 was set in 2021. Independent sims were shutout in five tournaments (1999, 2001, 2002, 2005, and 2020).
  • The following simulations that placed this year have won multiple awards:

All results are final and are not subject to appeal.  Look for the 2024 tournament to be announced very soon.  Until then, continue the incredible role playing!

How Does the Tournament of Simulations (ToS) Work?

Past winners: 2011 | 2012 | 2013 | 2014 | 2015 | 2016 | 2017 | 2018 | 2019 | 2020 | 2021 | 2022