The 2019 SciWorld Online Convention was an online convention for the play-by-post role-playing community. It was the 20th SciWorld Online Convention and was held on Saturday, May 18th on Discord. It was by hosted by Role Play Wiki, TNU Project, Theta Fleet, and Ongoing Worlds.
Organization[]
On March 24, 2019, Charles Star reached out to Akumi of Role Play Wiki, Joshua Hina of TNU Project, Major Tom of Outpost 42 News, and Kathryn Burke of Theta Fleet, who were all interested in hosting the 2019 SciWorld. Major Tom declined, with the rest of the users all agreeing to host the 2019 SciWorld.
Promotion[]
The first public promotion of SciWorld was on April 25, 2019, when Akumi posted a blog[1] on Role Play Wiki asking for panelists. Shortly after on April 26, CharlesStar posted a similar blog on OngoingWorlds.[2].
Location[]
The convention was held online on Discord. Five channels were set up on the server explicitly for SciWorld: #lobby, #auditorium, #panel-1, #panel-2, and #panel-3-overflow. #lobby served as a general channel for discussions not relating to the current panels. #auditorium was used for opening/closing ceremonies. The three panel channels were used for
Schedule[]
The 2019 SciWorld was held on May 18th. Times displayed here are in universal coordinated time (UTC). Times shown on other sites are generally displayed in UTC -08:00.
| Time (UTC) | Discord Channel | Event name | Event type | Hosted by |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 17:00-17:30 | #auditorium | Entrance ceremony | NA | CharlesStar, Akumi, Joshua Hina, Kathryn Burke |
| 17:30-18:30 | #panel-1 | Interview with Major Tom of Outpost 42 News | Interview | Major Tom and Akumi |
| #panel-2 | Star Trek Trivia | Trivia | Charles Star | |
| 18:30-19:30 | #panel-1 | 52 Card Pickup | Informative | Beautiful Night |
| #panel-2 | How stories and roleplay go together | Informative | Echo's Melody | |
| 19:30-20:30 | #panel-1 | Fantasy in Science Fiction | Informative | Gallant |
| #panel-2 | Successful Gamemastering and Storytelling Skills | Informative | Kim | |
| 20:30-21:30 | #panel-1 | Striking a Balance as a CO/GM | Informative | Chistery |
| #panel-2 | Worldbuilding and Alien Creation | Informative | Writing Bug | |
| 21:30-22:30 | #panel-1 | Not a Department head? Not a problem! | Informative | Kathryn Burke |
| #panel-2 | ||||
| 22:30-23:30 | #panel-1 | Writing Believable Female Characters | Informative | Kim (Shattered Universe) |
| #panel-2 | Creating an Alien Language | Informative | German Galven | |
| 23:30-00:30 | #panel-1 | Continuity in Multi-Plot Universes | Informative | Joshua Hina |
| #panel-2 | How to get everyone out alive, even the Bad Guy, OOC | Informative | John Yicks | |
| 00:30 - 01:00 | #auditorium | Closing Ceremony | NA | CharlesStar, Akumi, Joshua Hina, Kathryn Burke |
Participation[]
13/14 panel slots were filled. Over 100 users in the server attended this event. A survey was put out about the quality of SciWorld and what the hosts could do better, which got an overwhelming response.
Reception[]
Contrary to other years,[3] the reception of this SciWorld was very mixed. Many users found a lot of the panels to be boring and how the panels weren't as focused or discussion-related as previous years. Others thought that the administration did an amazing job. Some of this reception, however, was subject to bias. This feedback was taken into consideration by the hosts.