OngoingWorlds blog

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

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FallFest 2018, Anyone?


It’s time to select a FallFest host!  Well, it’s actually past time!  We held SciWorld later than usual this year and wanted there to still be a good gap between the two. Anyway, we’re now accepting applications to host and chair the online roleplaying community’s premier event: The Simming Fall Festival (aka FallFest).  This will be our 8th festival since beginning back in 2011. Read More

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Things All Ongoing Worlds Members Should Know

The Ongoing Worlds community is about as open as you get. Anybody who can access the internet and understands English can join. There are no rules nor protocols listed anywhere except in the game information sections and descriptions of some of the games on the site, and those vary per game. Yet despite that, really becoming a comfortable member of the Ongoing Worlds community and getting the most out of the Ongoing Worlds experience is not quite as simple as it may first appear. Ongoing Worlds offers a substantial number of tools whose value and utility may not immediately be recognizable, and the Ongoing Worlds community itself has a unique microculture, with a lot of values and beliefs that may not be readily apparent either.

In an attempt to help newcomers and veterans better understand the tools at our disposal, how we use those tools, and understand the beliefs of the Ongoing Worlds community, I have worked with the people of the Ongoing Worlds Community Platform to put together a list of ten things that we would like everyone to know and understand about Ongoing Worlds. Many of these are lessons that I have learned through making mistakes, resulting in hurt feelings for me or those that I have interacted with. Hopefully, by sharing this information, others can learn what I have learned less painfully than I did.

Tools

1. Email is Ongoing Worlds’ method for Private Messaging. You can find the email address of any given member by clicking the links to their profile page. Email communication is extremely valuable here on Ongoing Worlds, as it is the primary means through which different OW members can discuss things that don’t need to be publicly displayed for everyone to see. The Ongoing Worlds experience is not meant to be enjoyed alone, and email is the primary means of bridging the physical distance between you and other OW members. Keep in mind that you cannot see another member’s email address until you are an accepted member of a game that they are also in. A quick way to be able to see the email addresses of a lot of other members is to join the Ongoing Worlds Community Platform. Read More

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2018 Squiddies: The Winners

In June, we asked for nominations.  You responded, and we announced 19 nominees in August.  Now it’s time to reveal the three winner of this year’s Squiddie (officially the Ongoing Worlds Medal for Superior Online Role Playing).  Choosing just three winners from 19 excellent candidates was extremely difficult as many are deserving of a top-level award.  However, that’s our job!
If you’ll recall, Squiddies are awarded to only one person, one game, and one club each year.  The prizes come in three categories (Excellence in Role Playing, Originality & Innovation, and Facilitating the Community Experience) and are awarded primary for actions during the prior calendar year.  In this case, that’s 2017.  Without any further ado, here are your 2018 Ongoing Worlds Medal for Superior Online Role Playing Laureates…

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Every RP has a Crutch

This post was written for us by OngoingWorlds member Writing Bug.

Hello guys, it’s WB from OW. I want to tell you about something called a Writing Crutch. If you google it, it talks about how writers use safe-words in their writing. But that isn’t the only crutch I see in RP’s. Every role play has some form of crutch, that allows for a writer to lean on when giving an explanation. Some examples can include… Read More

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Highlighting Hero Members

Hello roleplayers! I’ve made a recent change to the homepage that highlights our Hero Members.

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We’ve been spoofed!


Okay It’s not often I post satire here, but OngoingWorlds has been spoofed by the satire site Outpost 42 News, which is sort of like The Onion, or The Daily Mash, you’ve probably seen the type, but for the roleplay community. Read More

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SciWorld! Wow!


What a SciWorld we had last month!  In case you missed it, Bravo Fleet and Star Army partnered together to host the 2018 edition, which was an absolute blast!  As far as we know, this was the first time that two different sim clubs co-hosted the convention.  The first SciWorld was in 1999, and it has been held continuously since 2011.  We believe that this year’s SciWorld was the 16th, but we’re not positive as many records from the early 2000s are no longer available. Read More

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Using a Personality Test to Flesh Out Your Characters

This article was written by Nim, creator of the OW Community Platform & Engines of Chaos.

After a substantial amount of peer pressure, I finally took a personality test called the Enneagram. I didn’t really expect anything to come out of it, but the results actually surprised me with how true they rang. I then proceeded to read the descriptions of the other eight personality types (called enneas) and I realized just how much a person’s personality has the potential to affect their worldview. Read More

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Congratulations to the 2018 Squiddie Nominees!

Congratulations to all of the 2018 Squiddie Nominees!  In response to our June post, we received 11 nominations for 10 people, 6 nominations for 6 games, and 3 nominations for 3 clubs.  In case you lost count, that’s 20 total nominations for 19 different entities.  All 19 are outstanding in their own right and deserving of top-level awards.  Unfortunately, we can only award 3 Squiddies every year: one person, one game, and one club.  We have our work cut out for us!

Without further ado, here are your 2018 nominees in no particular order… Read More

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2018 SciWorld Online Convention

That’s right, SciWorld 2018 is today.  See you over there.

We would also like to give a special thanks to Alexander of Bravo Fleet and Wes Davis of Star Army for chairing this year’s convention.  Great work so far!  We can’t wait for SciWorld to begin!

2018 SciWorld Online Convention