A Game of Nomic

from-livejournal-nomic@l2g.to — Thu, 20 Mar 2003 01:45:03 GMT

}checks calendar{

ayup. hehe

So....

from-livejournal-nomic@l2g.to — Sat, 15 Feb 2003 19:36:55 GMT

If, before the week is up, all five of us vote 'nay' then each of us gets ten points for voting against a passing proposal, and we go to a simple majority rule 1.8 turns early.

Call to Vote

from-livejournal-nomic@l2g.to — Fri, 14 Feb 2003 07:41:52 GMT

Oh fucking fucking hell. I'd completely forgotten that I had forgotten to post this on Monday god damn it.
So. Rule 301, if approved, would change the wording of Rule 203 from:

A rule-change is adopted if and only if the vote is unanimous among the eligible voters. If this rule is not amended by the end of the second complete circuit of turns, it automatically changes to require only a simple majority.

to:

A rule change is adopted if and only if the final vote is a simple majority of 'yes' or affirmative among the eligible voters.

(Note the addition of the requirement that the votes be in favor of the new rule, and the change from unanimous to simple majority.)

Inital proposal of a rule

from-livejournal-nomic@l2g.to — Thu, 06 Feb 2003 05:31:54 GMT

301 Proposal to amend rule 203
This proposal, if unanimously favored, would rescind the requirement that rule changes only be adopted on unanimous approval, and would instead be enacted on a majority approval.

from-livejournal-nomic@l2g.to — Wed, 05 Feb 2003 23:33:48 GMT

It looks like we have unanimous approval to go with the pre-game amendments and to begin the game.

So let the game begin!

The first turn goes to cyranocyrano.

from-livejournal-nomic@l2g.to — Sun, 19 Jan 2003 21:55:19 GMT

Well, shall we put it to a vote?

First, a quick summary of the changes (which can be found here):

Rule 105: The requirement that all voters participate in votes on rule-changes is removed. A time limit of one week is set for voters to cast their votes, after which time they are considered to have abstained.

Rule 201: Sets turn-taking order by order that players are listed on the "nomic" community info page.

Rules 202 and 208: Not changed substantively; only parts that don't apply to a computer game are removed.

Rule 210: Removed entirely, since it has no effect in a computer game.

View Poll: Nomic pre-game rule changes

from-livejournal-nomic@l2g.to — Sat, 18 Jan 2003 00:36:43 GMT

There is a proverb in Esperanto: Silento estas konsento. (Silence is consent.)

Is that the case here? Is everyone withholding comment on my changes because they're okay with them?

Please don't tell me y'all have lost interest already. :-)

from-livejournal-nomic@l2g.to — Wed, 15 Jan 2003 01:40:21 GMT

So I said the other day that I'd be making another post, and then I neglected to do it. Oops.

Well, have a look at the rules page. I've made some changes, but these are just proposed changes; I've tried to make it clear what I want to take out and what to add.

Most of the changes are the same as last time, but there is an important new one, the rule defining eligible voters (105). I've removed the requirement that eligible voters cast votes on rule changes (my thinking being that no vote is as good as a "no" vote). I've also added a requirement that voters cast votes within a week after the call of the vote, or they forfeit voting on that issue. I think this will head off problems with people holding up the game indefinitely.

If you have any comments, please reply here. Please also feel free to make your own proposals for pre-game changes if you can think of any other onerous loopholes.

from-livejournal-nomic@l2g.to — Sun, 12 Jan 2003 21:20:44 GMT

Week's up!

Now to business. Pre-game business. :-)

Mine will be in my next post.

Shall we get the ball rolling again?

from-livejournal-nomic@l2g.to — Sat, 04 Jan 2003 05:07:33 GMT

I would not be surprised if many of you have forgotten that this community was still around. :-)

Well, I've got a bug in my ear to get the ball rolling again. To that end, I've set up a couple of pages on my PhpWiki that we can use to keep track of info that's too cumbersome to keep updated on LiveJournal (for instance, the rules!). This is the "top" page.

You'll see that I put up a copy of Peter Suber's initial rule set. As discussed before, I don't want to use this as-is. I do, however, want to stay as close as we can to that rule set, closing enough loopholes to be playable but keeping things open enough to be interesting.

I think the first thing we should do is confirm who all wants to play the game. If there's no objection, I'd like to see everyone who wants to play respond to this post within one week; everyone who does so within that time frame will be considered a player. (I still have this community on open membership, so feel free to invite a friend.)

from-livejournal-nomic@l2g.to — Tue, 11 Jun 2002 04:25:49 GMT

I am working on a concept for a Nomic designed principally for play through a custom-designed web site. Some notes on this may be found in my journal.

nomic.org

from-livejournal-nomic@l2g.to — Fri, 07 Jun 2002 00:28:48 GMT

i own it.

if anyone wants to host it for me until i get my own box up we could use it for the game... (well, stuff not on lj)

official player lists
rule set
secure anonymous voting at some point?

a friend and former co-worker of mine who happens to be in 2 other nomic games i'm playing has prepared a simplistic set of xml templates and stylesheets we could use as well...

Ready, set...

from-livejournal-nomic@l2g.to — Fri, 07 Jun 2002 00:22:24 GMT

Alright. We've got eight players.

Let's debate opening rules. Both ravenblack and cyranocyrano have suggested modifications. Read about them here and comment below. We're gonna get this thing up and running by Monday afternoon.

from-livejournal-nomic@l2g.to — Sun, 02 Jun 2002 07:59:49 GMT

Sorry, but it's the wee hours, and I'm feeling frisky. The starting Ruleset I'd really like to see would be something relatively sparse, but covering game-halting contingencies, something like...

The Ruleset

The current Ruleset is the contents of the "Current rules of the game" website linked at the bottom of the Nomic community.

At any time, all Players must abide by the Rules in the current Ruleset. A Rule is a titled section of the Ruleset.

Capitalised terms in the Ruleset (sometimes excepting the beginnings of sentences) refer to game-specific uses of such words, if there is a definition for the word present in the Ruleset.

Game Data

Game Data is defined as any information which the Ruleset implicitly or explicitly requires to be available to Players. There is a link to the current Game Data from the bottom of the Nomic community, and/or from the current Ruleset page.

Default Behaviour

Anything not prohibited by a Rule is permitted, with the exception of changing the Ruleset or Game Data, which is only permitted when the Ruleset explicitly or implicitly permits it.

Conflict

In a conflict between two or more sentences in the Ruleset, the more specific takes precedence. If the conflict is still in question, the sentence in the Rule that appears first takes precedence.

Rule Ordering

Two Rules may not have the same name.

When a new Rule is added to the Ruleset, it is added at the end unless explicitly stated otherwise, and assigned a name as specified by the Proposal that creates it. If the Proposal doesn't specify a name for a new Rule, the Rule is given the same name as the Proposal. If neither of these naming mechanisms are possible, the Secretary chooses a name for the new Rule.

Mistakes

In the event of a mistake being made, the Player(s) responsible should do their best to correct the mistake retroactively. All activity should cease when a mistake is pointed out, until it is rectified to the best ability of those responsible. Any time that passes during this frozen state does not count for the purpose of other Rules. If the Player who made the mistake has not attempted to resolve the problem for a week, the mistaken Player becomes Inactive, and the accusing Player may opt to resolve the mistake before play continues.

Players

Anyone taking part in the game is known as a Player. Players are distinguished by their livejournal username, also known as their Player Name.

A list of the Players and any additional Titles they hold is part of the Game Data. Players may hold more than one Title at a time.

At the beginning of a game, the starting Players and their additional Titles are selected and placed in the Game Data by the Player who will be the Janitor when the game begins.

A Player may be removed from the game at any time by declaring so to the community.

If a Player with a Title is removed from the game, their Title is given to the Player who holds whichever other Title appears earliest in the Ruleset. If there are no other Titled Players, the first willing Player takes the Title. If there are no Players willing to take the Title, the game is over.

At any time, any Player may make a Proposal that a new Player be added, even if it is not their Turn. This additional Proposal is dealt with in parallel with the normal sequence of events.

The Secretary

One Player is in charge of updating the Ruleset when it is required. This Player holds the Title of Secretary.

The Janitor

One Player is in charge of updating the Game Data when it is required. This Player holds the Title of Janitor.

The Pollster

One Player is in charge of collecting and collating Votes when it is required. This Player holds the Title of Pollster.

Inactivity

A Player may declare themself Inactive at any time.

When a Player is required to make any action (eg. Vote, make a Proposal, update the Ruleset), and has not acted within a week of the requirement beginning, that Player becomes Inactive.

Any Player who remains Inactive for a week may be removed from the game at the discretion of the Janitor.

If any Player with a Title becomes Inactive, their Title is reallocated as if they had been removed from the game.

Any Player not explicitly labelled Inactive by the Rules is considered Active.

Passing

A Player may, on their Turn, opt to Pass, which means none of the events associated with that Turn will occur.

Any Inactive Player automatically Passes their Turn.

Turns

Turns occur cyclically, in alphabetical order by Player Name. In a Turn, the following events occur in this order:

The Player whose turn it is makes a Proposal.
All Players Vote on the Proposal.
If the Proposal Succeeds, it is Enacted.

A Turn ends only when all required actions for that Turn (such as updates to the Ruleset and Game Data) are completed.

Proposals

Proposals are made only by Players only when the Ruleset requires it. A Proposal is a suggestion modification (or a series of modifications) to the Ruleset and/or Game Data. Each Proposal must have a title.

Comments may be included in the body of Proposals, and will have no effect on the Ruleset or Game Data when the Proposal containing them passes. Such a comment is any text enclosed by curly braces - "{}".

Proposals are made by posting them as new entries to the Livejournal community. The subject of the post should be 'Proposal - ' followed by the name of the Proposal, but this is not required so long as the Proposal is easily identified as such.

Votes

Votes are made only by Players and only when the Ruleset requires it. A Vote is made by email to the Pollster, ideally with subject line 'Vote - ' followed by the name of the Proposal, but this is not required so long as the Voting intent of the email, and which Proposal it refers to, is clear. The body of the email should begin with one of the words 'FOR', 'AGAINST' or 'ABSTAIN', which will be the value of the Vote.

Only one Vote is made per Player per Proposal. If a Player submits two conflicting Votes for the same Proposal, the Pollster may choose which to accept.

Any Inactive Player automatically ABSTAINS.

Once all Players' Votes are collected by the Pollster, the Pollster posts to the community a list of all the Votes and who cast them, along with any effects the Votes are required to have, and the resulting Success or Failure of the Proposal.

Success

If half or more of the Votes a Proposal receives are 'FOR' Votes, the Proposal Succeeds. Otherwise it Fails.
When a Proposal Succeeds or Fails, the Janitor and Secretary make any updates that may be required by the Votes, and/or the Success or Failure of the Proposal.

Enaction

When a Proposal is Enacted, the Janitor updates any Game Data that the Proposal's description requires, and the Secretary updates the Ruleset in any way that the Proposal's description requires.

Starting rules

from-livejournal-nomic@l2g.to — Sun, 02 Jun 2002 05:37:15 GMT

Not wanting to take over or anything, but since I was making vague unsettled noises about the starting ruleset (its rather unpleasant loopholes, and its unnecessary parts), I thought I'd toss out an opening ruleset as I imagine it should be. I've removed much of Suber's that I find unwieldy (what's with the integers?), but left in more than I would by choice (why start with winning and scoring conditions when you can easily add them later?) out of deference to the assumption that you were starting with the ruleset you had for a reason.

I'm not so much suggesting that this should be the ruleset, as using it as an example of what I would prefer. Suggestions, modifications, stealing parts into the ruleset you have, or outright rejection are all perfectly fine responses.

Without further ado...

Immutable Rules

PRIMARY. All players must always abide by all the rules then in effect, in the form in which they are then in effect.

SECONDARY. Rules are only changed when the rules explicitly dictate that they must be.

TERTIARY. Anything which is not prohibited or regulated by a rule is permitted and unregulated.

FORFEIT. A player always has the option to forfeit the game rather than to continue to play or incur a game penalty. By choosing to forfeit, the player ceases to be a player, and may have no further effect on the game.

MUTABILITY. Rules listed under the heading Mutable Rules are mutable. Other rules under the heading Immutable Rules are immutable.

PROPOSALS. A proposal may only describe any one of the following: (1) the repeal of a mutable rule (enacted by removing the rule from the ruleset). (2) the amendment of a mutable rule (enacted by modifying the rule's text as described in the proposal). (3) the transmutation of an immutable rule to a mutable rule, or vice-versa (enacted by moving the affected rule from the section of the ruleset it occupies to the end of the other section). (4) the creation of a new mutable rule (enacted by adding the new rule at the end of the mutable section of the rules). To indicate which one of these is to occur, a proposal's title must begin with one of the words REPEAL, AMEND, TRANSMUTE or CREATE.

ENACTION. A proposal is not enacted unless the rules dictate that it should be.

VOTERS. Every player is an eligible voter. Every eligible voter must cast a single vote with regard to every proposal.

VOTES. A vote may only be one of the following options: (1) FOR. (2) AGAINST. (3) ABSTAIN.

HINDSIGHT. No change to the rules may have retroactive application, nor may its stated effect be explicitly dependent on events before its enaction.

TITLES. Each proposal shall be given a title for reference. The title shall be chosen by the proposer, and must not consist of 'CREATE' and an existant rule title. When a CREATE proposal is enacted, its title except for the first word becomes the title of the new rule, unless the proposal's description explicitly states otherwise.

MAJOR CONFLICT. If a mutable rule and immutable rule conflict, the immutable rule takes precedence, and the conflicting part of the mutable rule shall be void.

CORRECTIONS. If a proposal has received fewer than two votes, the proposer may modify the proposal. If it had received any votes, the voter(s) may change their vote at any time before the final vote for the proposal is cast.

STAGNATION. It must always be possible for the rules to be changed.

Mutable Rules

ORDER. Turns are taken by players in alphabetical order by username.

SKIPPING. A player may, on their turn, opt to pass. If they do so, it becomes the turn of the next player.

FORCED SKIPPING. If a player has not made any action during 7 days of their being required by the rules to do so, they automatically pass any turns, and ABSTAIN in any votes.

DISAPPEARANCE. If a player has not made any action during 7 days after their turn is skipped, they are no longer a player. Unlike forfeiting, they may rejoin the game under any rules permitting joining.

TURNS. A turn consists of two parts, in this order: (1) making one proposal and having it voted on. (2) adding a number of points to their score, this number being calculated by adding 10 to the turn number, and multiplying by the fraction of FOR votes this turn's proposal received.

DEMOCRACY. If 50% or more of the votes on a proposal, after all required votes on it are cast, are FOR votes, the proposal is enacted.

STRATEGIC EVIL. The first two sentences of this rule are removed at the end of two full cycles of turns. The following sentence has no effect. Any players who voted AGAINST an enacted proposal receives 10 points upon its enaction.

MAKE IT GOOD. When a proposal is defeated (ie. is not enacted after all required votes are cast), its proposer loses 10 points.

JUST THE ONE. Players may never cast more than one vote on a single proposal.

VOTING ORDER. Votes may be cast whenever they are required. The player whose turn would occur soonest after that of the proposer and who has not yet voted is required to vote before any other player, at the other player's request. In Livejournal, votes on a proposal are made in the form of comments.

VICTORY BY SCORE. The first player to achieve 200 (positive) points wins.

MINOR CONFLICT. If two rules in the same section of the ruleset conflict, whichever occurs first takes precedence, and the conflicting part of the later rule shall be void, unless the precedence is explicitly stated to be otherwise.

JUDGEMENT. Any player may invoke Judgement, if they disagree with the legality of a turn, or application of a rule.
The player whose turn it is becomes the Accused. The player whose turn precedes the Accused's becomes the Judge. The Judge decides how the dispute is to be resolved.
The decision of the Judge may only be overruled if all players other than the Judge and the Accused agree that it should be before the next turn begins. If any other player agrees with the Judge's decision, the decision is implemented, the Judge and Accused lose those titles, and the game resumes as normal. The next player beginning their turn is an implicit agreement with the decision of the Judge.
If the Judge is overruled, the player whose turn preceeds the Judge's becomes the Judge. If the Accused becomes the Judge, the role of Judge automatically passes again to the preceeding player.

VICTORY BY DOOM. If the rules are changed so that further play is impossible, or if the legality of an action cannot be determined with finality, or if by the Judge's best reasoning, not overruled, a move appears equally legal and illegal, then the first player unable to complete a turn wins.

Roll Call!

from-livejournal-nomic@l2g.to — Sat, 01 Jun 2002 21:00:41 GMT

Who's here, watching, and playing? We're going to start determining our pre-game agreements this week, and we're going to start playing next Monday.

Enroll now by commenting on this post.

Pre-Game Agreement

from-livejournal-nomic@l2g.to — Sat, 01 Jun 2002 18:51:32 GMT

My proposal, to avoid the languishing between turns from last game:

(1) When input is required from a single player (as opposed to a group, such as a call to vote) if there is a delay of seven days without the input, the requirement for that input is waived. (ie: If the input required is a new rule suggestion, turn moves to the next player who then suggests a new rule.)

(2) When a New Rule Suggestion has been under discussion for seven days without posted input, it shall be considered open to a vote.

(3) When a New Rule Suggestion has been Open to a Vote for fourteen days and still failed to collect the complete complement of votes, all silent votes shall be considered abstentions and counted as negative votes.

(4) Any player using pictures of coyotes as 'userpics' shall receive a bonus 2 points every round because coyotes are so cool.

There. Is that hopelessly naive of me? Have I left any glaring loopholes or obviously neglected facets?

from-livejournal-nomic@l2g.to — Sat, 01 Jun 2002 18:30:49 GMT

Hi, everyone. I heard about this game last night, and I'd like to play, if nobody minds.

when do we begin

from-livejournal-nomic@l2g.to — Sat, 25 May 2002 05:10:32 GMT

it's been a couple weeks. ETA on game start? agreed ruleset?

New game; open membership begins

from-livejournal-nomic@l2g.to — Tue, 07 May 2002 17:55:48 GMT

We have declared a revolution and decided to start the game over. :-)

We are now in an open membership period. All who are interested in playing the next game are welcome to join.

So now it's the first.

from-livejournal-nomic@l2g.to — Mon, 06 May 2002 06:12:18 GMT

Larry? Did you ever hear from the 'other person that might be interested'?
If not, we should consider who gets to go first.

Pressing the big RESET button

from-livejournal-nomic@l2g.to — Sun, 21 Apr 2002 21:27:09 GMT

Acting as a force outside of nature, I am taking over this group to announce a mutiny.
All of you swarthy sea dogs who still read this group, raise your voices and say whether you want out or to start over at the beginning and pretend this three-hour cruise never happened.
I say that if we can get as many as three participants, original players or new, then I'm ready to go.

Impasse

from-livejournal-nomic@l2g.to — Sat, 23 Feb 2002 20:52:51 GMT

Well, I'm at a loss as to what to do here.

If we want to follow the rules exactly and strictly, then we have reached a point where play cannot continue, and I am the winner.

But if we would like to continue playing, I'm less sure about what we can do. I suppose those of us who are still playing could vote on whether to consider digitalscreams forfeit from the game, and if that vote passes unanimously we can continue the game without him. I'm short on other ideas.

Discussion?

from-livejournal-nomic@l2g.to — Wed, 20 Feb 2002 18:51:28 GMT

3 month anniversary - coming up in a week.

from-livejournal-nomic@l2g.to — Fri, 25 Jan 2002 18:35:39 GMT

Just wanted to remind everyone of our 2 month anniversary on Monday
:P
I vant to plaaaayyyy