OngoingWorlds blog

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

May
17

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SciWorld 20 Years 1999-2019: Saturday May 18th

Category: Behind the scenes - running RPGs, Events, Interviews, Play-by-post discussion, Roleplay-related projects, Roleplaying community, Trivia Tags: , , 1 Comment

When I announced SciWorld 2019 last month, I failed to notice that this would indeed be the 20th anniversary of the SciWorld Online Convention (Discord Invite: https://discord.gg/EGBwV54). Wow! What a milestone! How could I have missed it?!?

Well, I did. To make up for it, I’m posting an edited version of a previously unpublished interview I conducted with Ender Maki back in 2011. For those who may be wondering, simmer Ender Maki is credited as being the founder of SciWorld. The interview wasn’t conducted for the purpose of publishing, but rather to collect information so I could flesh out a few articles on the old Simming Encyclopedia (which lives on today as Roleplay Wiki). As such, the interview may seem a little disjointed. But it’s still great! Without any further ado, here is Ender Maki, in mostly his own words, from 2011…

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Apr
22

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Online Role Players & Pokémon Go: 2019 Edition

Category: Interviews, Play-by-post discussion, Roleplaying community Tags: , , Leave a Comment

In case you missed it, we talked to online role players who also play Pokémon Go back in both 2017 and 2018. A lot has changed since that last post: the introduction of shiny Pokémon, research, monthly community days, friendships, gifts, player vs player battles, and more! While the game isn’t as popular as it once was, it still has a loyal following of fans who continue catch ’em all! We caught back up with a few of them to see where they are today:

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Feb
22

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Online Role Players & Pokémon Go: One Year Later

Category: Interviews, Play-by-post discussion, Roleplaying community Tags: , , 2 Comments

A little over one year ago, we interviewed 12 online role players about their experience with Pokémon Go.  The answers were… well, diverse!  A lot has happened with Pokémon Go since that February 2017 article: Gen 2 & 3 releases, legendary raids, EX passes, and more!  So why not revisit our interviewees and see where they are today?  We were able to catch up with six of them.

The mobile augmented reality game Pokémon Go was released jointly by Nintendo and Niantic in July 2016.  It reached an astounding 500 million downloads by the end of 2016, and increased to 750 million by its one year anniversary.  While not as popular as it was shortly after its launch, Pokémon Go maintains a loyal following of players. Read More

Feb
10

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Online Role Players & Pokémon Go

Category: Interviews, Play-by-post discussion, Roleplaying community Tags: , , , 2 Comments

Editor’s Note: This article was published shortly before Pokémon Go’s February 16, 2017 Gen 2 update.

The mobile application Pokémon Go was released a little over seven months ago today.  Unless you’ve been hiding under a rock, you know what a big hit it was.  Indeed, almost immediately it broke multiple download and revenue records for mobile apps.   Read More

Sep
8

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Star Trek’s 50th Anniversary: Your Favorite Trek

Category: Interviews, Play-by-post discussion, Roleplaying community Tags: , 10 Comments

The first episode of Star Trek, "The Man Trap," aired on NBC on September 8, 1966.

The first episode of Star Trek, “The Man Trap,” aired on NBC on September 8, 1966.  While it was the sixth episode filmed, the studio elected to show it first because of its horror-based plot.

Fifty years ago today the very first episode of Star Trek aired.  In “The Man Trap,” viewers saw Captain Kirk, Spock, McCoy, and the rest of the USS Enterprise crew battle a shapeshifting alien attempting to steal the salt in their bodies, which of course would kill them.  (Spoiler Alert: The crew survives and the mission continues… otherwise we probably wouldn’t be publishing this article!)  Reviews of the episode were mixed.  For what it’s worth, I like it.

Most people, including many in the cast and crew, expected the show to last only a season or two and to be nothing more than a footnote in television history.  As they say, the rest is history.  The Star Trek franchise is now valued in the billions of dollars and a cultural phenomenon that permeates many sectors, including the simming and online role playing community that we’re all a part of.  Just imagine, for a moment, simming without Star Trek.  Gene Roddenberry surely could not have foreseen all of this!

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Mar
24

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Interview with Mike Bremer

Category: Behind the scenes - running RPGs, Interviews, Play-by-post discussion, Roleplaying community Tags: , 4 Comments

Mike Bremer

Mike Bremer

Last week I had the opportunity to ask simming legend Mike Bremer a few questions.  Mike needs no introduction as he’s arguably one of the most important leaders in simming and online role playing history.  Mike started his career in Allied Electronic Simulations (AES) way back in 1996.  After moving over to Tango Fleet later that year, he then co-founded Bravo Fleet with Pat Weber in 1997.  Mike served as Bravo Fleet Commanding Officer (BFCO) from 1998 to 2004 and grew it into one of the first true mega-clubs of the Internet era.  Mike has received numerous accolades over the course of his career, including the 2011 Simming Prize and, most recently, the 2015 Ongoing Worlds Medal for Superior Online Role Playing (aka the Squiddie).  Mike also hosts the Starbase 400 sim (SB400, previously known as the USS Pegasus), which is incidentally one of the sims he joined back in 1996!  Starbase 400 has won multiple awards for its high-quality and longevity.  With that, I present to you, Mike Bremer in his own words… Read More

Apr
15

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The Monster Wars’ One Year Anniversary

Category: Interviews, OngoingWorlds site news, Roleplaying community Tags: 1 Comment

DavidThere’s been a few milestones reached recently, if you follow our Facebook page you’ll have seen that the game Nova Lux is 200 days old, and I posted a graphic Tib made to mark the occasion. On the same post, Luke mentioned that his Darwin game is celebrating 100 days. Of course this is a mere blink in the lifespan of our longest running game Blue Dwarf, which was 14 years old this month!

Here’s an article written for us by Ralazie, talking about another anniversary, and what that means.

Monster WarsHello all! Zie here! Recently my very first Role-Playing game, The Monster Wars celebrated it’s first birthday. Not only did this game have its first anniversary on this site, but I did too. That’s right! I’ve been here for a full year now, and in the process, joined more games then I really should, but enough about me! Read More

Apr
1

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Grand Master Tib’s Corner – Interview with Chas Hammer, Creator of SciWorld #PraiseTheTurnip

Category: Behind the scenes - running RPGs, Interviews, PBEM games, Roleplay Systems, Roleplay-related projects, Roleplaying community Tags: , , , 1 Comment

perpetual-universesHail those of Perpetual Universes! Grand Master Tiberius here, recently I had the opportunity to talk to the creator of SciWorld, [which is coming up soon] Chas Hammer! So let’s see what Mr. Hammer had to say shall we?

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Jan
26

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Interview with Anodyne Productions!

Category: Behind the scenes - running RPGs, Interviews, Roleplay Systems, Roleplaying community Tags: , , , 4 Comments

Nova is installable software by Anodyne Productions for play-by-post games

Nova is installable software by Anodyne Productions for play-by-post games

I recently had the opportunity to sit down with two leaders from Anodyne Productions, the company behind the most popular and most widely used software for Play-by-Post games on the net.  From their humble beginnings several years ago, they’ve ascended to producing the premier simming solutions package.  Instead of putting words in their mouths, here’s what they had to say… Read More

Jan
9

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Tib’s Corner – Interview with Elena Vasilescu, Creator of “Before The Mast” #BeforeTheMast

Category: Behind the scenes - running RPGs, Inspiration for writing, Interviews, Play-by-post discussion, Roleplay Systems, Roleplaying community, Uncategorized, Writing tips Tags: , , , , , , , , 2 Comments

pirate__1221836287_8352Yo ho ho Ongoing Worlds! Tib here with a special interview! Note that this one is actually TC’s first out of site interview. This week I interviewed Elena Vasilescu, creator of the notable RP game, Before The Mast. The game, Before The Mast is an 18th century naval themed play by post forum game opened on August 6th, 2010. The game has been running for more the two years, and just like us the players in the game have just entered their New Year. So let’s get this interview started and delve into the world of swashbuckling shall we? Read More

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