OngoingWorlds blog

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

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How will the Simming & Online Role Playing Universe End?

NASA's 9 Year Microwave Sky Image

NASA’s 9 Year Microwave Sky Image
“The Face of God”

Much like the origin of the universe, the beginnings of the simming and online role playing community remain shrouded in mystery.  Sure, we know that it developed out of fan fiction on primordial online services of the late 1980s and early 1990s, but we lack specifics, and many of the details we do have are quite vague.

Records exist for many of the major players and significant historical events, but we miss a lot of the nuance.  It is also highly likely that there are pockets of our cosmos that we don’t even know about it, and now may never know about.

In the approximately 25 years since our creation, clubs, much like stars, have come and gone.  And role-plays, much like planets have come and gone too.  The community is much different now than it was then.  Indeed, just as the physical universe is more mature and less volatile than it was during its early days, our demographic is older and our universe more stable as well.  But how will it all end?  Here are three possibilities:  The Big Freeze, The Big Crunch, and The Big Bounce.
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The 2015 Tournament of Simulation is Now Calling all Entrants

simcup2015UPDATE: The Nomination window has been extended through February 29th, 2016.

Hear ye, hear ye!  Hosts, participants, and club leaders alike are all hereby invited to enter their games into the the oldest and most prestigious competition of the simming and online roleplaying universe:  The Tournament of Simulations!  Indeed, Ongoing Worlds is officially calling on on YOU to enter your simulations and online role plays in the 2015 edition of ToS.  This will be the 11th rendition of the tournament, which was first held in 1999.  Nominations will be accepted through January 31st, 2016. Winners will be announced sometime later.  Here’s how to enter: Read More

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The 2015 Squiddie Award Winners

Ongoing Worlds Medal for Superior Online Role Playing

It’s time!  That’s right, it’s time to present our top award for the entire simming and online role playing community: the Ongoing Worlds Medal for Superior Online Roleplaying… better known as the Squiddie.  For anyone who isn’t familiar with the award, we present three respective citations annually for Excellence in Role Playing, Facilitating the Community Experience, and Originality & Innovation.

We received 30 outstanding nominations this year.  However, we are only able to present Squiddies to three: one club, one game, and one person.  And believe me when I say that picking the winners was extremely difficult as there were many absolutely fantastic nominees!  Without any further ado, here are the winners of the 2015 Ongoing Worlds Medal for Superior Online Roleplaying: Read More

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The Ongoing Worlds Community Honor now has two more Laureates

The OWCH award

Ongoing Worlds Community Honor
image by David Ball

FallFest V officially belongs to history now!  For those who attended earlier this month on December 5th, you know what a fantastic event it was!  The entire team from host club UFOP: StarBase 118 put on another world-class show, just as they did two years ago at FallFest III.  I’d like to personally thank everyone who took some part in making it all happen:  those who hosted events, those who promoted & advertised, those who played a technical role whether it was graphic design or setting up chatrooms, and those who simply invited a friend to join in on the fun.  Thank you all!  And finally, I’d like to thank everyone who attended–without you bringing your energy and ideas, there would be no FallFest.  Thanks for everything!  For those of you who may have missed FallFest this year, we’ll see you next year for a day filled with lively discussions, trivia games, and role plays in IRC chat rooms.  With all that being said, it’s time to present a couple awards… Read More

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Taking 5

When we need to reach a certain word count set by the mod, it can be difficult. But not everything needs to be said or even thought. Sometimes, bringing in our five senses gives two characters something to do or talk about. Read More

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Tis the season for Prizes

trophies

Tis the end of the year, which means one thing – awards season. Between the Sethies, Shunis, and Squiddies, one can’t take a step without stumbling over a trophy.

Add another to the mix – the Simming Prize. Read More

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5 ways to describe a Mary Sue (according to Fallfest attendees)

Fallfest was a few days ago, which is a chat bringing all different types of online roleplayers together. In a chat titled Mary Sue – Model Citizen or Menace to Society? by Sal Taybrim, people were asked to define what a Mary Sue character is. Read More

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Whoever you are… you should be at FallFest today

FallFest V

2015 Simming Fall Festival
image by Jalana Rajel

That’s right, the 2015 Simming Fall Festival will be held today (5th Dec) from 8:30 AM to 5:30 PM EST (1:30 PM to 10:30 PM GMT) in IRC chat rooms.  Host UFOP: StarBase 118 and chair James Drysdale have put together an absolutely fantastic schedule that features some of the most talented from among us leading multiple discussions, games, and trivias.

No matter who you are in the community–from an Ensign to a Fleet Admiral, a rogue trader to a Jedi, or an Orc to an Elf, there will be something for you!  FallFest is when the entire simming and online role playing community comes together to discuss our craft.  We talk about how to be better writers.  We talk about how to be better leaders.  We about how to better get along.  And most importantly, we have fun, and lots of it!  Those who have attended past FallFests will all agree: It is the highlight of the year.  And you can be a part of it!

Whether you’re an individual role player, a host, or a club leader, there’s something at FallFest for you:

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Characters v. Worlds

Superman

When mods create games, they think of two things: the setting and the character. Without a good setting, the world lacks substance enough to hold interest for players. Without good chapters, the story can’t progress in an interesting way. But what do we do to insure a good story? Read More

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Developing long term players

This post is a part of Senile Rapture, a periodic installment by Chas Hammer. In it, he revisits, mostly, his era of online role-playing, the 1990s and 2000s.

people magnet

Charles Star, David Ball, and James Drysdale recently tackled the issue of recruiting and retaining players in a series of articles. Thanks to them, the gears in my head started turning, all be it slowly.

There’s a fickle element to our quest to attract and retain players. People may join your game, but become too busy to post. Read More