------------------------------------------------------------------------------ GARDEN NOMIC Proposals for Voting on in Week Two ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Proposal 8 - First past the red tape [amendment] {This is a purely bureaucratic proposal. I think the current wording of Rule 1 is OK but slightly clumsy, so I've done the following in an attempt to tidy it up: replaced 'words and phrases' with 'terms' which is both more comprehensive and more succinct; made English the 'Official Language' of the game; provided definitions for 'Official Document' and 'Public Message'; explicitly made the Speaker responsible for making random determinations -- all this may seem superfluous now but hopefully should help to avoid problems in the long run} Amend Rule 1 (Terms and Conditions) to read as follows: I. Language and Meaning The Official Language of Garden Nomic is English. Terms used in the Game and in Official Dcuments should usually be interpreted as they most commonly are in the English language. However, some terms may be entirely made up or may be used with a definition peculiar to the game of Garden Nomic. Game-specific definitions of terms may be made explicit in the Rules or may be dictated by context or game custom. Whether or not a term is being used in a game-specific way is determined entirely by context. Terms with game-specific definitions may be capitalised to indicate that they are being used in this way, but capitalisation of a term does not necessarily imply that it is being used with a game-specific definition. II. Official Documents An Official Document is anything which is described by a Rule as being an Official Document. The document containing the Rules is an Official Document. The Officer responsible for an Official Document should make that document available on a web page accessible by all Players and on the notice board in the Great Hall. Only the Officer responsible for an Official Document may alter that document in any way. If no Officer is specified as being responsible for an Official Document, the Speaker is the responsible Officer. III. Public and Private Messages A Public Message is any email communication that is sent by a Player to all other Players, including all messages sent sent to the Garden Nomic mailing list. A Private Message is one that is only sent to an individual Player or a few selected Players IV. Random Things When a choice is specified to be made at random, each possible selection should have an equal probability of being chosen unless otherwise indicated. The Speaker is responsible for making any random choices and may do so by any means e deems appropriate. V. Forms of Address The Spivak terms "e", "em", "eir", "eirs", and "emself" should be interpreted as gender-neutral third person pronouns which are the singular variants of their plural counterparts "they", "them", "their", "theirs", and "themselves" respectively. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Proposal 9 - Gnoming Me, Gnoming You [multiple] {this proposal aims to create a protocol for publishing proposals and voting results -- currently there are some inconsistencies in practice between normal and emergency proposals} 1. Rule 10 [amendment] {this part is to identify proposal authors, but also mucks about a bit with the wording} Amend Rule 10 (Proposal Distribution) to read as follows: At the start of each new Nomic Week (or at least four days before the end of that Week) the Speaker should post to the mailing list a document detailing Proposals submitted during the previous week. This document is known as 'Proposals: Week N', where N is the number of the current Nomic Week, and is an Official Document. Proposals should be numbered, each new Proposal being given a number one higher than the previous highest-numbered proposal, and the Proposal's author should be identified. 2. Rule 14 [amendment] {this part defines the contents of the Voting results document more explicitly than at present, and again mucks about with the wording to make it stylistically similar to Rule 10 (by using the same terms consistently)} Amend Rule 14 (Distribution of Voting Results) to read as follows: As soon as possible after the end of each Nomic Week the Speaker should post to the mailing list a document detailing the results of Voting on that week's Proposals. This document is known as 'Voting Results: Week N', where N is the number of the Nomic Week that has most recently ended, and is an Official Document. The document shall include a breakdown of votes on each proposal under voting consideration during that week, with details of how each player voted and whether or not the Proposal has been accepted, plus any other information deemed pertinent by the Speaker. 3. Amend Rule 17 (Emergency Proposals) to read as follows: {this bit is to essentially redefine Emergency Proposals to make them more like normal Proposals with exceptions, rather than completely distinct entities. This means that the protocol would apply consistently across normal and Emergency Proposals. Also, again, I've tinkered with the wording -- I'm not totally convinced by some aspects of the current rule, e.g. the phrase 'concerned about serious aspects of the ruleset' in the opening sentence (what does it mean?), and the fact that halfway through the rule the undefined term 'Eprop' suddenly appears -- yes, it is obvious what it means, but I think doesn't hurt to tidy these things up, however pedantic it may seem} If a Player believes that any aspect of the Game needs urgent amendment, e may submit an Emergency Proposal to the Speaker in an email with the subject line 'GN: Emergency Proposal'. Emergency Proposals and results of voting on them are processed in exactly the same way as regular proposals except in the following respects: i. The Speaker shold distribute the Emergency Proposal to the list as soon as possible, rather than wait until the end of the Nomic Week. ii. The voting period for an Emergency proposal is 24 hours starting from the time it is distributed, but not including the weekend (ie midnight Friday to midnight Sunday). If at the end of the voting period fewer than three votes have been cast, voting remains open until a third vote has been cast. iii. If the Speaker feels that the matter addressed by the proposal is not really urgent, e may reject the proposal or accept it as a regular proposal instead. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Proposal 10 - Ayes Right [amendment] {for no other reason than pure whimsy, why not have something other than the usual For, Against and Pass? It occurs to me that Pass votes are effectively useless, so I was going to propose to get rid of them, but I'm sure they'll acquire a purpose soon enough} Amend the first sentence of Rule 13 (Voting and Proposal Adoption) to read as follows: "Valid votes are AYE, NAY and NOT SURE." and amend the final sentence of Rule 13 to read as follows: "In order for a Proposal to be accepted, it must receive more votes of AYE than NAY." ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Proposal 11 - Peak Freen's Trotsky Assortment [multiple] {this hopefully fixes all the shortcomings of the original Biscuit proposal} 1. Hands off those Custard Creams [repeal] If there is a Rule with the name 'The Biscuit Barrel', repeal it. 2. The Biscuit Barrel Mk II [enactment] The Biscuit Barrel is the Garden Nomic treasury. The content of the Biscuit Barrel (i.e. the number of Biscuits in it) is called the State Biscuit Reserve (SBR). Access to the Biscuit Barrel is gained by the Keys to the Biscuit Barrel, which are unique and may not be copied. Only the Player who holds the Keys to the Biscuit Barrel may access the State Biscuit Reserve, and e may only do so as explicitly permitted by a Rule. 2. The State Biscuit Reserve [enactment] Set the State Biscuit Reserve at B$20,000, then repeal this Rule. {B$20,000 should keep us going for a while, but just in case...} 3. The Biscuit Factory [enactment] The Biscuit Factory is the Garden Nomic mint. The Biscuit Factory is operated and maintained by the Mice. Only the Mice may enter the Biscuit Factory -- it is Out of Bounds to Gnomes. The Mice manufacture Biscuits from Cocoa Drops and Butter Beans, using a highly secret process known only to them. This process may never be revealed to any Gnome under any circumstances. The Biscuit Factory is linked by secret tunnels to the Biscuit Barrel, thus ensuring the safe transit of newly minted Biscuits to the State Biscuit Reserve. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Proposal 12 - Coming and Going [amendment] {although Rule 6 is called 'Players and Player States' it currently makes no reference to such a thing as Player States...} Amend Rule 6 to read as follows: Anyone may apply to join Garden Nomic by sending a request in an email to the Speaker stating that e wishes to join the Game, and giving a one-word Name by which e wishes to be known. The Speaker will then determine whether the application is successful. Any successful applicant becomes a Player. The Speaker's decision is final in this matter. Players in Garden Nomic are known as Gnomes. Players may be in one of two Player States: Active or Hibernating. The default Player State is Active. Anyone who wishes to temporarily leave the game but remain a Player may change eir Player State to Hibernating by posting a public message stating that e is doing so. A Hibernating Player may change eir Player State to Active by posting a public message stating that e is waking up. A Hibernating Player may not submit proposals, vote on proposals or do anything else that may have any effect on the Game or any Official Documents, except to change eir Player State to Active. No other Player may do anything that affects a Hibernating Player. If an Officer goes into Hibernation, eir Office (or eir Seat in that Office) immediately becomes vacant. A Player may leave the Game at any time simply by posting a message stating eir intention to do so. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Proposal 13 - Round and Round the Garden [Multiple] (If Proposal 2 (Gnomes & Gardens) did not pass, this Proposal shall do nothing upon its own passing.) 1. Strimming [Amendment] Remove the paragraph beginning "The Garden measures 100 Lines long by 40 Lines wide." from the Rule entitled "The Garden", and remove the words "3 Lines long by 2 Lines wide" from the Rule entitled "The Garden Shed". { Comments : Shying away from a neat grid-based approach, since I fear this would become too fiddly. It'd either mean for a *lot* of postings to the mailing list announcing moves, or the imposing of a 'one per Week' limit, slowing the Game down beyond all usefulness. It'd be quite a pain to keep track of, as well, both in representation and keeping-up-to-date. The only real solution would perhaps be a turn-based approach, I suppose, but I've had quite enough of that with Mornington Nomic, to be honest. Still. I think an abstract "There are several locations, each of which may contain some Gnomes." approach is probably clearer, and lends itself better to descriptive writing and whatnot. } Also remove the paragraph beginning "Gnomes may move..." from said Rule. { Comments : Reworded in a new Rule, below... } 2. A Walk in the Garden [Enactment] All Gnomes are considered to have a Location within the Garden. Gnomes may move between Locations which are adjacent to one another. Unless otherwise specified, all Locations are considered to be adjacent to all other Locations. A Gnome may walk to a different Location by posting a message to the mailing list announcing this, provided that e has not made such a posting in the previous 48 hours. This message should have the subject line "GN: Walking to ", where "" is the name of a Location which the Gnome is able to walk to. The actual content of this email is irrelevant. When such an email reaches the mailing list, the sending Gnome is considered to have walked to the specified Location, unless such a walk is in breach of any Rules. When a new Gnome joins the Game, eir Location is considered to be eir Toadstool. 3. The World As We Know It [Enactment] The following Locations exist in the Garden (this list should be updated whenever a Location is created, destroyed or amended):- +---------------------------+----------+---------+ | Location | Owner | Status | +---------------------------+----------+---------+ | Elusive's Toadstool | Elusive | Private | | Kevan's Toadstool | Kevan | Private | | Poltroon's Toadstool | Poltroon | Private | | Richard's Toadstool | Richard | Private | | Sloop's Toadstool | Sloop | Private | | Womble's Toadstool | Womble | Private | +---------------------------+----------+---------+ | The Garden Shed | Elusive | Common | +---------------------------+----------+---------+ ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Proposal 14 - But First, The Weather [Enactment] Weather in the Garden is a strange and unpredictable affair, veering between bright sunshine and heavy snow throughout the Year, although rarely changing during the course of any given Week. At the start of each Week, the Weather for the duration of that Week is determined by the Gnome Master - e rolls a six-sided die and looks at the table below to determine the change in Weather, based on the current Weather. The new Weather conditions are then announced on the mailing list. Sunny The sun shines, birds twitter in the hedgerows, insects buzz lazily through the warm, still air, and all in the Garden is as fine and lovely as can be. 1-2 = Overcast, 3-4 = Sunny, 5-6 = Windy Overcast Ominous grey clouds gather slowly overhead, bringing with them the promise of rain. 1-3 = Raining, 4 = Overcast, 5-6 = Sunny Windy Trees sway and leaves flutter as a gentle wind sweeps through the Garden, rippling waves along the lawn. 1-3 = Sunny, 4-6 = Windy Raining The clouds open, and heavy raindrops patter on the lawn, streams of water snaking down the windows of the Garden Shed. While it rains, Gnomes may only move from one Location to another once per Game Week. 1-3 = Overcast, 4-5 = Raining, 6 = Snowing Snowing Chill winds blow, and a crisp layer of snow covers the whole Garden, tiny icicles hanging from the Garden Shed and the Toadstools. While it snows, no Gnome may move from one Location to another. 1-3 = Raining, 4 = Windy, 5-6 = Snowing Upon enactment of this Rule, the current Weather shall be considered to be "Sunny". This paragraph shall then remove itself from the Ruleset. { Comments : Very little effect on gameplay at the moment, but we'll be able to add more interesting modifiers when we've got more of a game to modify... } ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Proposal 15 - It's Still Going On, It's Still An Emergency [Amendment] Reword the last paragraph of Rule 17 (Emergency Proposals) from:- "After twenty-four hours have elapsed (excluding weekends) or after at least three Players have Voted, the Votes are tallied for the Emergency Proposal. The Eprop is treated as a normal Proposal for the purposes of determining enactment." to:- "After at least twenty-four hours have elapsed (excluding weekends) and at least one Gnome has Voted, the Votes are tallied for the Emergency Proposal. The Eprop is treated as a normal Proposal for the purposes of determining enactment." { Comments : As discovered over at Mornington Nomic, the original wording is a trifle unfair; it's preferable to get as many Votes as possible within the twenty-four hours, rather than going for a 'best of three'. } ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Proposal 16 - The Fishing Game [Enactment] The Fishing Game has always been a traditional way for Gnomes to pass those long summer days sat around the fishpond, waiting for a catch. The aim of the Fishing Game is for a Gnome to slip the name of a fish into conversation without the other Gnomes noticing. In these days of email and electronic communication, however, a slightly different version of the Fishing Game has evolved... Any posting made to the mailing list by a Gnome may Contain a Fish. If the name of a fish can be found in the message body of the email, reading left-to-right in the normal manner (and even as part of another word), and if the email is neither the Proposals List nor the Voting Results, that email is considered to Contain a Fish. If a Gnome spots that another Gnome's email Contains a Fish, and if that email was made no more than forty-eight hours ago, e may post a message to the mailing list detailing this spotting. The spotting Gnome gains five Groats. If an email that Contains a Fish has remained unspotted for more than forty-eight hours (but less than sixty), the Gnome that posted it should announce this to the mailing list - e gains five Groats. If the Proposal "The Root of All Evil" did not pass, amend "five Groats" to "fifty Biscuits". If the Proposal "Spending Power" did not pass either, replace "fifty Biscuits" with "the admiration of other Gnomes, but sadly no material reward". This paragraph shall then remove itself from the Ruleset. { Comments : Inspired by the Smuggling game from the BBC Radio 4 series "I'm Sorry I Haven't A Clue", based very loosely on Thring's Treasure Hiding game, and sparked by Poltroon mumbling about haddock a while back. Not as amusing as it'd be in a spoken-word form, of course, since you have to spell the fish out - I did consider allowing words or phrases that sound near enough, but I think that even regional accents would blur things too much... Still. Just a first stab at it. I rather predict people to come up with obscure fish names and make too much money, (gods help us if there's a rare Japanese fighting fish called the "gnome"), but we'll see how it goes. } ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Proposal 17 - Red Tape; A Thousand Household Uses [Amendment] In Rule 3 (Free for All), replace "Official Documents include the Rules, Player's Proposals, Votes cast and voting records maintained by the Speaker." with "Official Documents include the Ruleset, Player's Proposals and Votes, and any information which is required by a Rule to be stored." { Comments : A general description of what make an Official Document an Official Document is needed, really, otherwise we'd have to keep updating the list to include Biscuit balances, Gnome Locations and whatever else gets enacted. } ------------------------------------------------------------------------------