Imagine for a moment you and your friends meet up and play a game of Monopoly in person. Monopoly is a very easy game to play in-person, as that's what the game is designed for, and you can easily pick up the game and play it randomly with your friends.

Now, imagine instead that you and your friends meet up and want to play a game of Survivor. You all enjoy the CBS reality competition show and would like to play it in-person (instead of playing the card game version for whatever reason). This is perfectly doable, might require some intentional planning and set-up but the actual structure of the game Survivor is fairly easy to replicate on your own at home.

Now, finally, imagine you and your friends cannot meet up but you want to play Survivor at your respective homes. You could play online, I guess, but you've already played Among Us fifty-thousand times, and you all really like Survivor in particular.

That is where ORGs come in.

An ORG, or an "Online Reality Game," is a game based online that's based on some sort of competition not unlike what you would find on a reality compeititon show. Note that these don't technically have to be based on an actual reality competition show; I've seen ORGs based on video game set-ups (where the framing device in-game is similar to a reality competition), ORGs based on PvP in tabletop RPGs such as Dungeons & Dragons, and ORGs based on an entirely original system.

These are often designed to use the same framing device as an actual reality competition. They may be a literal emulation of the original game designed to fit a special occasion or group, or they may be recurring games sorted into "seasons" with viewers.

What makes these games different than "official" versions you may play at home is that home versions are designed to be party games that may or may not fit closely to what is shown on television. Using that Survivor example earlier, while there is an official Survivor card game, that game lacks the physical competitions that the television show promotes. Also, while it keeps the social politics and maneuvering that covers the bulk of the Survivor game seen in the show, it also gives players multiple "lives" that would not occur in the television show.

ORGs are simply a different method designed to play these games at home.

An ORG attempts to recreate the game as seen on the show as much as it can. While a Survivor ORG may not have a challenge where every player stands on a floating device in the ocean, it will still attempt to create physical competitions that can be done at home as fairly and consistently as it can on an even playing field with other players. Or it may replace the physical challenges with more puzzle-based challenges that work better over a Discord call.

Sometimes, it's easier to play a different, similar game than attempting to recreate the original game. For example, fans of The Traitors may decide to instead play a runthrough of Blood on the Clocktower. The difference between playing an ORG recreation of The Traitors over a similar game like Blood on the Clocktower comes down to how the group is playing. A board game can be recreated in a number of similators, but recreating a board game in a similar requires a different kind of planning compared to planning to recreate a game such as this.

Each ORG – and the system it's based on – requires a different level of planning depending on how the ORG plays out and its medium. If players play together in a Discord server, then a Discord server needs to be created where players are given roles to match any factions (such as a role for each tribe in a Survivor game) and channels to complete their tasks (such as a private Turret or Tower channel where Traitors debate their next move). If games take place in forums, special channels, posting rules, and URLs need to be established for the game to take place.

All of this is perfectly doable in-person as well, of course. An ORG is specifically a game that attempts to tackle this online. In-person games, both reality games and board games, are likely significantly easier to set up from a practical standpoint, it's just that you can't always meet up physically for one of these games.

There is a bit of a je ne sais quoi to saying "I'm playing The Traitors on Discord." That je ne sais quoi may just be "cringe" but sometimes "cringe" is fun.

ORGs also provide the opportunity to practice in case you play the actual game one day. Not everyone playing in ORGs has any interest in applying for an actual television show, but the similar formats still provide the opportunity to practice if you do intend on playing.

Many ORGs also have fun with their themes and provide special challenges related to your interests. For example, a Pokémon-themed Survivor game may have challenges that relate to training Pokémon or battling on Pokémon Showdown, or a movie-themed Traitors game may center its challenges and factions on horror movie tropes.

If you ultimately just want to play a game that matches the vibes of a show, then it may be better to look into if there are official adaptations that take minimal set-up to play online through simulators. But if you're looking for a more personal experience that relates to one of these shows and may use the same or similar strategies, then it might be worth looking into applying for an ORG.

There are many places online designed specifically ORGs. The subreddit r/ORG literally only exist for posting advertisements for many such games. Similarly, r/OnlineSurvivor offers a corner of the Internet to advertise Survivor and Big Brother-styled ORGs and the meta around them.

While not technically a place for ORGs, Disboard is a good place for people to search for Discord servers that play whichever game they want to play. Searching for "Survivor" tags currently fetches twenty-four servers to choose from and apply for, Searching for "Big Brother" gets you a TON of servers, and The Traitors another twenty-four. Admittedly, there's a good chunk of overlap there, both in terms of fans and servers, but they're still good places to start.

Finally, you can just Google "Online Reality Game," "Online Survivor Game," or whichever game you're interested in playing.