Subject: Ackanomic Research Digest V2 #80
From: [email-masked] (Ackanomic Research Digest)
To: acka-research-digest

Ackanomic Research Digest    Saturday, June 7 1997    Volume 02 : Number 080

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Date: Fri, 6 Jun 1997 15:37:27 -0600 (MDT)
From: Aaron Humphrey <[email-masked]>
Subject: Acka: RFC: Auction

This is something I'm thinking of proposing to clear up some of the
confusion I have with the current Auction rule.  It's a bit Mohammedan in
form, but I want to make it clear what changes I'm making.

Amend Rule 516, "Auction", as follows:

In section 1, add a clause f), as follows:

f) If the answer to b) is "no"{{[i.e., multiple items are not being
auctions as one "lot" ]}} , and the items being auctioned are not all
identical(in the sense of their being nonunique, non-named entities
which do not have different values assigned to them), then: a
method(from among those described below in clause 6f)to determine how
the items are assigned to each bidder.  Otherwise, this need not be
specified.  (In this case, the Auction may be referred to as a Jumble
Sale.)

{{[End of Clause f]}}

{{[This will hopefully clear up the question of what happens when you
auction a number of disparate items separately in the same Auction.]}}

Replace the current contents of section 5

{{[

5) The Auction shall last for 3 days, or 3 hours past the auction's most
recent bid(in public auctions), whichever is longer, after which time the
Auctioneer shall announce the results, and all A$ and items shall be
transferred to their new owners.  If the Auction was private, the
Auctioneer shall keep a 10% commission of all monies transferred to the
Treasury as compensation for performing the work and not being permitted to
bid.

]}}

with the following text(delineated by GARPLY):

GARPLY

5) The Auction shall last for 3 days, or 3 hours past the auction's most
recent bid(in public auctions), whichever is longer, after which time the
Auctioneer shall announce the results.  The items will then be
distributed to bidders as specified in section 6 below.  The money bid by
those players receiving items shall go to the player who called the
Auction, or the Treasury if the Auction was not called by a player.
If the Auction was private, and not called by a player, the
Auctioneer shall keep a 10% commission of all monies transferred to the
Treasury as compensation for performing the work and not being permitted to
bid.

GARPLY

{{[ Hopefully this will help clarify the question of where the money that is
bid goes.  See below also.  ]}}

Add a clause 6f) immediately after 6e), to read as follows(delinated by
SHUBIK):

SHUBIK

6f) If a Jumble Sale is being held, one of several methods must have
been specified to determine which bidder receives which item.  The valid
methods are listed below:

Random--The Auctioneer will assign the N items for auction to the N bidders
in some random way.

Bidders' Choice--The highest bidder will choose one of the N items, then
the second highest bidder will choose one of the remaining N-1 items, and
so on until the Nth highest bidder must take the only item remaining.  If
at any point there are K players tied for a bid, all players with higher
bids have already received items, and less than K items remain, then players
from out of those K that have not yet selected items shall be chosen
randomly until all items are gone.

Auctioneers' Choice--The Auctioneer will assign items to the bidders based
on eir own personal choice.

Value--If the items have differing values, then the bidders, ranked in
order of the size of their bid, will receive the items correspondingly
ranked in order of their values.  (That is, the highest bidder will receive
the item with the highest value, the lowest bidder the item with the lowest
value, etc.)  One of the preceding methods should also be specified as a
secondary method, for the case where one or more bids or values are
identical.

SHUBIK

{{[ 6d) might take effect in this case, but I think it would be better if
the Auctioneer had some control over how items were to be distributed.
Also, 6d) only refers to a case where bids are tied, and says nothing about
deciding which item to give to which bidder when no bids happen to be tied,
but the items are all different.  ]}}

Finally, replace the current contents of section 7

{{[

7) When a player acting on their own calls a private auction in which
exactly one item is being auctioned, that player may declare that auction
to be a "Shubik Auction" when it is initiated.  An auction may not be so
declared under any other circumstances.  At the conclusion of a Shubik
Auction, the player who made the second highest bid, if such a player
exists, forfeits his bid to the treasury as well, and receives no
compensation.

]}}

with the following(delimited by GRAULT):

GRAULT

7) When a player acting on their own calls a public auction in which
exactly one item is being auctioned, that player may declare that
auction to be a "Shubik Auction" when it is initiated.  An auction may
not be so declared under any other circumstances.  At the conclusion of
a Shubik Auction, the player who made the second highest bid, if such a
player exists, forfeits his bid to the treasury, and receives no
compensation.  The highest bid is transferred to the player who called
the Auction, as normal.

GRAULT

{{[ There's a world of confusion in that "as well" in the original text of
section 7, and this should clear it up. ]}}

- --
- --Alfvaen(Web page: http://www.terranet.ab.ca/~aaron/)
Current Album--Chas Jankel:Questionnaire
Current Book--Steven Brust:Five Hundred Years After
Munching our sandwiches, the train pulled out of the station.

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Date: Fri, 06 Jun 1997 22:02:07 -0400
From: Malenkai <[email-masked]>
Subject: Re: Acka: RFC: Auction

Alfvane wrote:

[about modifications to the auction rule]

> Value--If the items have differing values, then the bidders, ranked in
> order of the size of their bid, will receive the items correspondingly
> ranked in order of their values.  (That is, the highest bidder will receive
> the item with the highest value, the lowest bidder the item with the lowest
> value, etc.)

This is a problem, as Acka does not have an objective measure of Value.
For example, how much is a Contract worth, or how much is an Evil Ballot
Stuffer worth.  There are several EBSes in the game, and all received
different high bids in their auctions.  A Spell Book of Chorg missing 2
pages was sold for A$ 500 in a private deal, yet the same book missing
0 pages was sold for A$0 originally.  What is its value?

Before doing this, I would create an objective definition of value that
covers all tradeable entities.  Then it will work.  I had the same problem
when I wrote the Museum rule, and basically kludged something together,
because and objective value rule was beyond what I wanted to tackle.

Malenkai
Wearing a Silly Vacation Hat

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Date: Fri, 6 Jun 1997 21:06:30 -0600 (MDT)
From: Aaron Humphrey <[email-masked]>
Subject: Re: Acka: RFC: Auction

> > Value--If the items have differing values, then the bidders, ranked in
> > order of the size of their bid, will receive the items correspondingly
> > ranked in order of their values.  (That is, the highest bidder will receive
> > the item with the highest value, the lowest bidder the item with the lowest
> > value, etc.)
> 
> This is a problem, as Acka does not have an objective measure of Value.
> For example, how much is a Contract worth, or how much is an Evil Ballot
> Stuffer worth.  There are several EBSes in the game, and all received
> different high bids in their auctions.  A Spell Book of Chorg missing 2
> pages was sold for A$ 500 in a private deal, yet the same book missing
> 0 pages was sold for A$0 originally.  What is its value?
> 
> Before doing this, I would create an objective definition of value that
> covers all tradeable entities.  Then it will work.  I had the same problem
> when I wrote the Museum rule, and basically kludged something together,
> because and objective value rule was beyond what I wanted to tackle.

I'd be content to assign a value to zero to non-trinkets, but that's just
me.  Trinkets have an intrinsic value; everything does not, so that value
must be zero.  I had thought of the problem, and I think that's what was in
my mind.  I'd have to state that explicitly, though.  And I realize that
it's highly possible that more non-trinkets will be auctioned than
trinkets.  (IIRC, Otzma Day results in an auction of the cards, doesn't
it?)  I should just make it only a valid choice for a trinket auction.

- --
- --Alfvaen(Web page: http://www.terranet.ab.ca/~aaron/)
Current Album--Me Mom & Morgentaler:Shiva Space Machine
Current Book--Steven Brust:Five Hundred Years After
Enter any 12-digit prime number to continue.

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End of Ackanomic Research Digest V2 #80
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