OngoingWorlds blog

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

Mar
22

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2020 ToS Winners!

Category: Awards, Competition, Events, Roleplay Systems, Roleplaying community Tags: , 2 Comments

It’s time to announce the winners of the latest Tournament of Simulations (ToS). We asked for nominations in January, and you responded by nominating a whopping 64 absolutely incredible games from across the community. That’s definitely a modern tournament (since 2011) record, and maybe even of all time (since 1999). It just goes to show that simming and online role playing is far from dead. In fact, it’s as strong as ever.

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! In case you’re interested, this is how we select the winners. With that on the record once again, here are your 2020 tournament winners:

*Chat role play; all others play-by-post

Congratulations to our winners! Well done! Believe me when I say that there were some really, really good entrants that didn’t make the above list. 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 play 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 already been emailed to each sim’s respective representative.

I’d also like to acknowledge our amazing panel of judges: Alison Edwards, Amanda Rose, Aurther Winters, Avakhon Khinsharri, Bandit, Beeman, Blondie, Greenfelt, Malkfan, Mike Bremer, Nathalie Chapman, Nim, Nugra, October Veritas, Rhenora Kaylen, Stephen, TheDoctor/Christie, Wes Davis, Willvoy, Winteroak, Wizardbeard. All 21 of them were fantastic. They volunteered hours of their time to serve the simming and online role playing community. I can’t thank them enough for the wonderful job they did!

OWCH

While we’re on the subject of judging, Nim of Ongoing Worlds is hereby awarded the Ongoing Worlds Community Honor (OWCH) for serving as a judge in three Tournament of Simulations in a row.  He has volunteered hours of his time to serve in this capacity.  His selflessness and volunteer attitude are an example for us all to follow.  Without Nim and others like him, we simply wouldn’t be able to hold major events like the Tournament of Simulations. Thank you!

A few statistical notes

  • This is the 10th year in a row that a tournament was held (2011-2020). Six total tournaments were held 1999-2007. No tournaments were held 2008-2010.  Sixteen total tournaments have been held to date.
  • Twenty-three awards were bestowed this year. The 2007 tournament saw the most awards presented (26). 205 total awards have now been conferred dating back to 1999.
  • Five clubs brought home multiple awards this year: Theta Fleet (5), 22nd Fleet (4), Independence Fleet (4), UCIP (3), and Obsidian Fleet (2). The record for most awards in a single tournament is 10 (Starfleet Legacy Alliance, 2005).
  • Repeat winners from last year include 22nd Fleet, UCIP, Star Army, Shattered Universe, and RPGWriting.
  • Star Army extends its record of consecutive tournaments with at least one win to nine (2012-20).  UCIP is in second place with awards in seven different tournaments (though only six are consecutive).
  • UCIP moves into second place all-time with 15 total awards. Star Army slides to third with 14 awards, while Independence Fleet moves up to fourth with 13 awards. Federation Sim Fleet and Bravo Fleet are tied for fifth place with 12 awards, and Starfleet Legacy Alliance remains in first place with 31 total awards.
  • 5th Fleet and Pegasus Fleet both picked up their first wins this year. Thirteen of the 16 tournaments have now seen at least one club pick up their first award.  The three exceptions are 2001, 2013, and 2017.
  • No independent sims won this year. That’s the first time that’s happened since 2005. However, a record 10 different clubs brought home awards.
  • USS Vindicator extends its record to awards in six consecutive tournaments (2015-20). Memory Theta won for the third year in a row. Cold Station Theta, USS Black Hawk and YSS Kaiyō II each won for the second year in a row.
  • However, it was third total award for Cold Station Theta, USS Black Hawk and YSS Kaiyō II (2017, 2019-20 for all three). The USS Liberty also captured its third award (2011-12, 20).

All results are final and are not subject to appeal.  Look for next year’s tournament to begin in late 2021 or early 2022.  Have a great year of role playing!

How Does the Tournament of Simulations (ToS) Work?

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