0. Ruleset and Gamestate

The Game of DocNomic shall be played according to the current Ruleset. Each Rule shall consist of a unique, finite, nonnegative integer number, a brief descriptive name, and a rule body. To each Rule is attached a chronology of the Rule's enactment and amendments, and whatever additional information about the Rule is required by the Rules. The Enactment Date of a Rule is the date of the most recent amendment to any part of the Rule, or the date of its addition to the Ruleset if it has never been amended, or the date 7 Jun 2001 if it was part of the initial ruleset of Round 2 and has never been amended since then.

Rules with numbers less than 1000 shall be known as Fundamental Rules (FRs). Rules with numbers greater than or equal to 1000 shall be known as Not So Fundamental Rules (NSFRs).

Certain information reflecting the state of the game is known as the Gamestate.

The Ruleset and Gamestate may not be altered except as specified in the Rules.

1. Doc

A person shall hold the office of Doc. The identity of Doc is part of the Gamestate. At the outset of the Game, Doc is the person variously known as Doctroid, Rich Holmes, or rsholmes.

Doc maintains the DocNomic Web Site at <http://www.richholmes.net/games/nomic/docnomic/index.html> and the DocNomic Mailing List at <http://groups.yahoo.com/group/DocNomic> .

In the event that Doc is absent from the game for a period of more than ten duns without making arrangements for his return, the Active Players may choose a new Doc. They register their preference by election, each Active Player having one vote each. The Leading Player oversees the process, and appoints as the new Doc the Active Player receiving the most votes. In the event of a tie, the Leading Player may appoint one of those receiving the highest number of votes. The Active Player so appointed must immediately remove emself from the game and take on the role of Doc. This paragraph takes precedence over Rule 12.

2. Players

The list of Players is part of the Gamestate. Doc may not be a Player.

A person may become a Player by joining the mailing list and posting notice of their intent to become a Player. This paragraph takes precedence over Rule 12.

Posting a Proposal or a Point of Order, if it is legal to do so, shall be considered posting notice of intent.

A Player may at any time remove emself from the game by stating eir intent to do so by sending an email to the mailing list. No Player may rejoin the game within 7 duns of voluntary removal. At the start of each Round, all inactive Players are involuntarily removed.

When a Player is removed, eir name and all status information shall be removed from the gamestate and any rules where it might be listed. Eir Points shall be distributed evenly to all Players (remainders shall be thrown away).

Players may either be Active or Inactive. Players may change their own Active/Inactive status by declaring such an intention to the mailing list. When a Player joins Docnomic, he or she automatically becomes Active. If a Player has posted no messages to the mailing list in the past 7 duns, he or she automatically becomes Inactive.

The Active Player with the largest number of Points (with ties broken by seniority) is known as the Leading Player. "Seniority" refers to the amount of time since a Player most recently joined the game.

3. Proposals

Players may submit Proposals at any time permitted by the Rules by sending them to the DocNomic Mailing List. A Proposal thus submitted becomes Pending. A Proposal consists of one or more new proposed Rules, and/or one or more amendments to existing Rules, and/or one or more proposed repeals of existing Rules. (Changing the number or title of a Rule is considered an amendment of that Rule.)

A Proposal may be declared as "Trivial" if its Proposer feels that it is a minor change to the Ruleset and thus unworthy of reward or other consequence. Doc may choose to reject a Trivial Proposal if e feels it to involve more than a trivial change.

Players are encouraged to discuss Pending Proposals in the DocNomic Mailing List.

Doc will judge all Pending Proposals, in the order in which they were proposed, and accept, reject or ignore them. To ignore a Proposal, the condition by which it is ignored must be explicit somewhere in the ruleset. Once a Proposal has been judged, it ceases to be Pending.

When a Proposal is Accepted, Doc shall make the specified changes to the Ruleset.

Doc may ignore any Proposal whose intent has already been addressed by another (pending or otherwise) Proposal or Proclamation, if in eir judgment the Player who proposed it was likely to be unaware at the time of the other Proposal or Proclamation.

Doc may rewrite a Pending Proposal to clarify its meaning, correct errors, or for any other reason, as long as the rewriting does not alter the meaning. Doc may also specify or change proposed rule numbers for rules the Proposal creates.

Doc may, at any time, modify or remove any existing Rule or enact new Rules, or modify the Gamestate, by the publication of a Proclamation. In addition, Doc may, at any time, publish a Directive calling for Proposals in a certain area. This paragraph takes precedence over Rule 12.

4. Publication

Doc must publish all Proposal and Point of Order judgements, and all Proclamations and Directives, to the DocNomic Mailing List. No Proposal or Point of Order judgement, Proclamation, or Directive, shall have any effect until it is so published.

Doc must publish the current Ruleset at <http://www.richholmes.net/games/nomic/docnomic/doc_ruleset.html> No change to the Ruleset shall be considered to have occurred until and unless it is so published.

Doc must publish parts of the current Gamestate at <http://www.richholmes.net/games/nomic/docnomic/doc_gamestate.html> and must publish or arrange for the publication of all remaining parts of the Gamestate, if any, in public forums to be designated on the above web page. However, changes to the Gamestate occur immediately after the moment the condition leading to that change occurs; publication is not required for the change to occur.

5. Appeals Mechanism

Any Player may, at any time, submit a Point of Order to raise any issue relevant to the Game by sending it to the DocNomic Mailing List. A Point of Order thus submitted becomes Pending. Each Point of Order must have in its Subject line the text: "Point of Order:" followed by a label of the Proposal or Rule in reference or it shall be ignored. Each Proclamation shall follow a similar format at the Doc's discretion.

Doc will consider each Pending Point of Order and, if in Doc's judgement the Point of Order is upheld, publish one or more Proclamations to address the issue. Once a Point of Order has been judged, it ceases to be Pending.

Informal discussion of the game in the DocNomic Mailing List is encouraged. A Point of Order should be raised only if informal means of resolving the issue fail or cannot be applied.

6. Precedence

When two or more rules conflict, precedence as specified explicitly by the rules is applied first. Where there is no non-conflicting explicit precedence, the following procedure applies:

1. Rules with earlier enactment dates take precedence over later rules.
2. Rules with lower rule numbers take precedence over higher-numbered rules with the same enactment date.

7. Rounds

The Game is divided into Rounds. When the Game begins, the Round Number is 1. The Round Number is part of the Gamestate.

When one (and only one) Player achieves the title of The Winner of Round n , where n is the Round Number, the Round ends. The Initial Ruleset, Final Ruleset, and Final Gamestate of the Round shall be archived. All Not So Fundamental rules are repealed. All Gamestate items not mandated by a Fundamental Rule shall be deleted from the Gamestate. The Round Number increases by 1 and the Game continues. The identity of The Winner of each Round is part of the Gamestate.

8. Points

Players may possess Points. The quantity of Points possessed by each Player must be a finite integer and is part of the gamestate. When a Player joins the game, e has zero Points.

10. Timeframes

All spans of time are measured in DocNomic Units (duns). The length of a dun is part of the gamestate, and shall be equal to 48 hours unless Doc proclaims otherwise.

11. Manageable Number of Proposals

Whenever a Player submits a Non-Trivial Proposal, they lose 10 points for every other Non-Trivial Proposal submitted by them (if any) during the previous dun. If this would leave them with a negative number of Points, the new Non-Trivial Proposal is instead ignored.

12. Activity

There is a gamestate item known as DocNomic State, which may take the values Active or Inactive. DocNomic game activity may take place only while DocNomic State is Active. Any Proposals or Points of Order submitted while DocNomic State is Inactive shall be Ignored. No changes to the Gamestate shall take place while DocNomic State is Inactive. This Rule takes precedence over all other Rules except those that specifically claim precedence over this Rule.