OngoingWorlds blog

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

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SciWorld and FallFest Applications Update!

Sciworld - celebrate roleplaying

Good evening,

After much consideration by the Selection Committee we have decided that applications will be opened year round for SciWorld and FallFest hosts to make selection and application easier for all involved. These events are about working together and growing our combined knowledge and sphere of people we know in simming so putting any offering of help behind an application timeline isn’t in the best interest of anyone involved. We will also be dropping a formal application. Instead we ask that interested parties explain in their email why they believe they can help, what contributions they can make and how they would improve the process for hosting the event moving forward. We also ask that the person hosting on behalf of their organization reach out that way there is less hands in the jar. Direct communication makes life easier and means there is less email shuffling. Once a host is selected we will notify the contact person as soon as we have reached a decision. Please remember that feedback is the only way to make things better and how we improve so if you have feedback about the application process, how the con’s are run or something about the Discord please share your comments.

E-Mail to apply to host SciWorld or FallFest: conhostapps@tnuproject.org

As a reminder we do intend to run SciWorld between May, June and July. FallFest tentative plans is some time in September, October or November.

Josh

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2022 Simulation Cup: Enter Today!

Image by Malkfan

With calendar year 2022 in the books, it’s time for us to formally close it out with the annual Simulation Cup. Wait, don’t I mean the annual Tournament of Simulations aka ToS? Yes, they are one at the same!

According to our records, the 2012 tournament was held under the Simulation Cup banner. In honor of that event 10 years ago, we decided to use its name again today. And we think it makes a pretty cool poster too!

The mechanics of the game remain the same: Here are a few tips on how to win. For those who may be unfamiliar, this is where you can enter your role play to potentially win a prize at no cost or risk to you! Judges from across the community go through all of the entries and grade them on story, characters, and readability.

As has been our tradition for several years now, play-by-post games will be graded on 10 consecutive posts while chat games will be graded on a single chat session. All sims will be considered regardless of club or fleet affiliation. We then present awards to the top-scoring games. The sims that don’t place are not announced. That’s right: you’ve got nothing to lose, so why not enter?

Okay, enough on that. How about we get on with the nominations…

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Top Blog Posts of 2022

As we say hello to 2023 today, it’s time to take a look back at yesterday with some of the best blog posts of 2022. This has become somewhat of a tradition around here since we first did it for 2014. These talented writers amaze me every year with their insight and dedication to the community and the sheer creativity!

Enjoy….

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The Benefits of Playing Online Role-Playing Games

Image source


A lot has been written recently about artificial chatbot ChatGPT. The New York Times describes it as a ‘Code Red’ For Google Search. Other sites talk about its ability to potentially disrupt Hollywood, how it can write essays, and that it can even negotiate your cable bill. More worryingly, in the hands of bad actors, it can be used to generate malicious code. Since it can seemingly do so much, what can it do for role playing? I decided to put it to the test with this request:

Write a blog post to appear on ongoingworlds.com

Here’s what we got in response:

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20 Years in Star Army

While 2021 turned out to be the year of the anniversary, we haven’t run out of anniversaries quite yet. Indeed, our friends at Star Army celebrated a big one earlier in 2022. Depending on how you count it, they were founded in either June or November 2002. Regardless, it’s still an incredible 20 years!

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2020 Squiddie Award Winners

Squiddie award for superior online roleplaying

After announcing this year’s award and receiving nominees, it’s time reveal the winners for the long overdue 2020 awards:

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Whether it’s coffee, Earl Grey, or Romulan Ale, it’ll taste better in your very own UtopiaFleet mug!

That’s how it read on the shopping or merchandise or whatever they called it page on the Utopia Fleet website more than 20 years ago. As I recall, they sold at least four different Utopia Fleet-branded items:

ItemPriceDescriptionPitch
100% Cotton T-Shirt$14.99“White T-Shirt with Fleet logo on the front and the URL of the Fleet homepage on the back.”none
11 & 15-ounce Coffee Mugs$12.50 / $13.99“Dishwasher safe ceramic coffee mugs.”“Whether it’s coffee, Earl Grey, or Romulan Ale, it’ll taste better in your very own UtopiaFleet mug!”
Mouse Pad$12.99“Standard-sized premium cloth covered mousepad”“What better way to show your loyalty to the Fleet than by having the logo right under your mouse?”
Ballcapunknownunknownunknown
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FallFest 2022!

Hello,

I am happy to announce that we have selected a host for this years FallFest. Theta Fleet after their great handling of SciWorld has volunteered to assist with FallFest! We are honored they have agreed to help and hope that people are as interested to se what this fall brings as we move closer to the event. The timing for this year will be adjusted a little bit to help free people’s time up for the holidays and so that schedules for organizers are workable for the hosting of FallFest. The date for this year’s FallFest is October 22nd 2022; a Saturday in keeping with tradition for these events. More information about panels, how to help out and the schedule for the event will be posted on Discord as we get closer to the date!

Josh

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A FallFest Time of Year!

It is that time of year again… to select a host for FallFest or the Simming Fall Festival that is! If you’re interested in hosting & chairing one of the role playing world’s most coveted community events please submit an application by September 4th. FallFest has been held every year since the first festival back in 2011 started by OngoingWorlds.

For those who may be new to these events, FallFest is a one-day online convention held annually in Discord chat rooms for anything and everything simming and online role playing. We remember our past and look towards the future. It generally runs for a few hours and includes provacative discussions, trivia games, and live role plays as well as the recent addition of voice based presentations for all to enjoy. Originally intended to be a mini-SciWorld more friendly to European time zones, FallFest has since grown into much more!

We need a host & chair to make it all happen!

The host is a club, fleet or individual sim that partners with SimmingHub to make FallFest happen. The chair is an individual from the host organization who serves as the point person to coordinate the scheduling, advertising for, and logistics of FallFest. More specifically, the host and chair will work with the SimmingHub Organizing Committee to:

• Select a date and time for festival (a Saturday sometime within October to December)
• Design a unique festival logo.
• Recruit approximately 8-12 volunteers to run individual one-hour or half hour long events depending on the preference of the host and presenters.
• Work with those volunteers to create unique and engaging events (discussions, sims, and trivia games) that represent and support the interests of the broader community.
• Assist SimmingHub Moderators in maintaining and organizing the Discord Chat Rooms.
• Promote and advertise the festival.
• Host opening and closing ceremonies on the day of the festival.
• Attend all FallFest events (usually two at the same time) to ensure that they run smoothly. The host can also appoint people to help them with this if they have life obligations that cause them to have to set away.
• Be ready to improvise when things don’t go as planned.
• Post-festival, provide a list of lessons learned and feedback from the community for SimmingHub to improve on later festivals.

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SciWorld is Here!

Good evening,

I just wanted to take a quick moment to remind everyone that the SciWorld convention is just about eight hours away. For an up-to-date schedule and additional information please visit the website for the con and it’s Discord.

Website: https://www.sciworldonline.com/

Josh