OngoingWorlds blog

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

May
10

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2021 WarGames Competition Winners

Category: Awards, Competition, Roleplay Systems, Roleplay-related projects, Roleplaying community Tags: , , 1 Comment

Image by Malkfan

It’s time to announce the winners of the latest Tournament of Simulations (ToS). But before we get to that, you might remember that we’re using the WarGames banner this year to honor the 2001 tournament from 20 years ago. My how times flies!

Anyway, we asked for nominations in February, and you responded by sending us an absolutely incredible list of 70 fantastic games from across the community. That easily breaks our modern (since 2011) record of 64 set last year, and is maybe even tops all-time (since 1999). Regardless, it just goes to show that simming and online role playing is still thriving and probably stronger than 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 sims 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 2021 WarGames winners:

Play by Post:

Play by Audio:

Congratulations to our winners! Well done! Believe me when I say that there were some really, really good entrants that didn’t make the winners circle. 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’d also like to acknowledge our amazing panel of judges: Amanda Rose, Angelus, Blondie, Curzon Bennett, Esrom, Frogger, Gregory, Hadir Prenar, Kathryn Burke, Kevin Riker, Matt D, Mike Bremer, Nathalie Chapman, New Retro Guy, Nikki, Nugra, October, StarDuster, The Doctor, Trident, Vass, Willvoy, Winteroak, WizardBeard, Zuzutoo. All 25 of them were fantastic 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, Amanda Rose of RPG Writing, Mike Bremer of Starbase 400, Nathalie Chapman of the USS Ariadne, and
October of UCIP are hereby awarded the Ongoing Worlds Community Honor (OWCH) for serving as a judge in three 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 four and others like them, we simply wouldn’t be able to hold major events like the Tournament of Simulations. Thank you!

A few statistical notes

  • This is the 11th year in a row that a tournament was held (2011-2021). Six tournaments were held 1999-2007. No tournaments were held 2008-2010.  Seventeen total tournaments have been held to date.
  • Twenty-six awards were bestowed this year, tying a record set in 2007. 231 total awards have now been conferred dating back to 1999.
  • Five clubs brought home multiple awards this year: Independence Fleet (3), RPG Writing (3). Theta Fleet (3), Obsidian Fleet (2), and UCIP (2). All five are also repeat winners from last year. The record for most awards in a single tournament is 10 (Starfleet Legacy Alliance, 2005).
  • UCIP remains in second place all-time with 17 total awards, trailing only Starfleet Legacy Alliance (31). Independence Fleet moves up to third place with 16 total awards, while Theta Fleet rises to 7th place with 11 lifetime awards, and Obsidian Fleet enters the top 10 with 8 awards.
  • Sim Central and Zodiac Fleet both picked up their first wins this year. Fourteen of the 17 tournaments have seen at least one club win their first award.  The three exceptions are 2001, 2013, and 2017.
  • A record 11 independent sims won awards this year after being shut out last year. 2020 was also the first time no independent sims had won since 2005.
  • USS Vindicator extends its record to awards in seven consecutive tournaments (2015-21). Memory Theta won for the fourth year in a row, and Cold Station Theta won for the third year in a row. Obsidian Command, USS Standing Bear, USS Wayfarer, and USS Wolff each won for the second year in a row.
  • However, it was the fourth total award for Cold Station Theta (2017, 2019-21). USS Legacy (2014, 2019, 2021) and Lunar Veil: A Firefly Tale (2018, 2019, 2021) each won their third total award.

All results are final and are not subject to appeal.  Look for next year’s tournament to begin in late 2022 or early 2023.  Until then, 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 | 2020