Subject: acka-research-digest V3 #65
From: [email-masked] (acka-research-digest)
To: [email-masked]

acka-research-digest     Saturday, April 11 1998     Volume 03 : Number 065

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Date: Sat, 11 Apr 1998 03:54:52 -0400 (EDT)
From: Duncan Richer <[email-masked]>
Subject: Re: Acka: Proposal 2864

On Fri, 10 Apr 1998, Thierry Joffrain wrote:

> >> If no Manifesto exists on the 21st of January, the original rule set of
> >> Ackanomic will be considered the Manifesto.
> >
> >This would become (3) No manifesto means that the Current ruleset shall be
> >considered the Manifesto, and the Senators placed in Contempt and
> >additionally Gaoled for 7 days.  (This is something the Senate really
> >ought to do if the rule gets passed).
> 
> Oh... That's too cheap! They should be removed from office and fined 90% of
> their holdings. This is a revolution.

Fine - I just wanted to make sure it was at least a larger penalty than a
mere Contempt.

> >Let's not throw away the whole of our sandcastle - we've reinforced some
> >ideas in stone and it would be a shame to destroy them too.
> 
> I wrote the toughest thing I would allow myself to write. I am willing to
> cut to cut it back a bit, but I think the more drastic the cut, the more
> interesting the situation will be. The worse thing would be to have half a
> revolution.

Yours,
Slakko
- -- 
Duncan C. "" Richer aka
Slakko (Lost) Warner - http://dcr24.quns.cam.ac.uk/ - Queens' College
Cambridge, 1st Year PhD(Pure Maths), CUDipSoc, CUSFS, CUSTS, CURS etc
Acka - ex-President/still Web-Harfer RuneMaker ChessUmpire Map-Harfer

------------------------------

Date: Sat, 11 Apr 1998 08:18:23 -0400 (EDT)
From: Hubert <[email-masked]>
Subject: Acka: Word Un-Association RFC

Ladies and Gentlebeings:

These are some ideas I had regarding the game of Word Un-Association.  I
would be interested in all opinions, but especially those of the players
involved in the current incarnation of said game.  This rewrites the
section describing how the game is played rather drastically in format,
but keeps much of the same functionality.  The only substantial changes
are a few with regards to how the Linker might gain extra points.

I purposefully left out any mention of the fact that any words beyond the
very first must be able to be found in the Official Dictionary; if any of
you think that should be part of the Rules, let me know.

In any case, please let your opinions be known as to the scoring changes
and the section on valid links.

...

Append the string "For the purposes of this Rule, N shall be the number of
players involved in the current instance of Word Un-Association, excluding
the Referee." to the end of section II of Rule 1250.19, "Word
un-association".

Replace section IV of Rule 1250.19, "Word un-association" with the 
following QUEEN-delimited text:

QUEEN
IV. Playing the Game:

The game is composed of rounds; each round shall have one "Linker."  All
players in a round who are not the Linker shall be known as "Confused."

The game runs in the following series of lettered steps:

a) The round number is assigned to be 1, and Player 1 is the Linker for
the first round.  The Referee publically posts a word, known as the "ah!
word" for the round, from the Official Dictionary [which is encouraged to
be farily common, but not too simple (i.e. not "the" or "at," etc.)]

b) The Linker has three days to publically post a word.  This word, called
the "uh? word" for the round, must have a common "link word" with the
ah! word, but must not itself be linked to the ah! word.  The Linker must
privately post eir link word to the Referee.  If a non-Vacationing Linker
fails to do either of these within three days, e loses three game points
and play skips to step d).

c) All Confused then have three days to privately submit a link word to
the Referee.  At the end of this three-day period, scoring takes place
as follows:  If the word submitted by a Confused is a valid link word,
that Confused gains one Gamepoint.  If no other Confused submitted the
same link word e gains an additional Gamepoint.  If no Confused submitted
the same link word as the Linker, and said link word was valid, the Linker
gains 2 Gamepoints.  If no Confused submitted a valid link word, the
Linker gains N-1 Gamepoints, unless N is 2.

d) The uh? word for this round becomes the ah! word for the next round,
unless there was no uh? word for this round, in which case the ah! word
for this round becomes the ah! word for the next round.  The round number
is increased by 1, and the player with a number one higher than the player
who was most recently Linker becomes Linker, or player 1 becomes Linker if
the player with the highest number was most recently Linker.

e) If no player has more than 5N, or 30, Gamepoints, whichever is lower,
or all players have not been Linker the same number of times, play
continues at step b), otherwise play continues at step f).

f) If no one player has more Gamepoints than any other, play continues
at step b).  Otherwise the player with the highest score wins the game.
QUEEN

Renumber section V of Rule 1250.19 to section VI.

Insert the following PAGE-delimited text at the end of section IV of Rule
1250.19:

PAGE
V. Links
A "link" between two unassociated words must be a word that is in some way
related to each of the other two words, neither of which is related to
each other.  For example, "bottle" is a valid link between "blue" and
"wine," and "pupil" would be a valid link between "school" and "eye."

"School" and "teacher," however, are unable to be linked (even though
"pupil" has a valid relation to each) because they are themselves related.
Therefore, "teacher" would be an invalid uh? word if "school" were the ah!
word.

The decision of the Referee is final with regard to the validity of a
link word.

{{[ This is where I'd like some help: if you beings can think of some way
to delineate the valid categories of links; some way to make this game
more concrete and less of an arbitrary decision on the part of the Ref,
I'd be eternally grateful. ]}} 
PAGE

- -Hubert

A Freudian slip is when you say one thing and mean your mother. 

------------------------------

Date: Sat, 11 Apr 1998 08:30:31 -0400 (EDT)
From: "Tom Walmsley" <[email-masked]>
Subject: Re: Acka: Action

> > I think you're missing something important here, namely the fact that as
your
> > boomerang passes over my head I duck and then after it passes back over
my
> > head coming back towards you I start to run towards you keeping pace with
the
> > boomerang so that you are forced into a situation whereby you don't have
any
> 
> Keeping pace with a flying Razor Boomerang?  Klingons may have lots of 
> honor, but they're certainly short on brains.  I cringe as I watch you
> stumble on a conveniently placed hummock on the ground, flinch as the
> spinning Boomerang enters the back of your thick skull, and try not to
> look at the carnage as I remove it from your mutilated cranium and wipe it
> off on your gingham shirt.  Which, by the way, looks REALLY silly on a
> Klingon.

Didn't you read what I said? I waited for it to pass back over my head before
following it. That way even if I had have tripped on a hummock, which of
course I didn't, I wouldn't have got hit by your boomerang. What actually
happened was that as I approached the hummock I saw it out of the corner of
my eye and with super-human strength (not being human after all) I aim a kick
at it, causing dirt to go into your eyes, temporarily blinding you and
causing you to be unable to catch your own razor boomerang that was flying
back towards you and ended up lopping off your head.

TGW.

------------------------------

Date: Sat, 11 Apr 1998 08:30:32 -0400 (EDT)
From: "Tom Walmsley" <[email-masked]>
Subject: Re: Acka: Proposal 2865

> > It is the duty of the Registrar to maintain a list of players who are
> > in the mentor pool.  Any Acting player may place emself in the mentor
> > pool or remove emself therefrom.  If there are not enough players in
> 
> So any player filling an office in an Acting capacity?
> 
> Or an Active player?

No, what e actually meant was any player currently appearing on stage or
screen.

TGW.

------------------------------

Date: Sat, 11 Apr 1998 09:03:48 -0400 (EDT)
From: "Tom Walmsley" <[email-masked]>
Subject: Re: Acka: Word Un-Association RFC

> These are some ideas I had regarding the game of Word Un-Association.  I
> would be interested in all opinions, but especially those of the players
> involved in the current incarnation of said game.  This rewrites the
> section describing how the game is played rather drastically in format,
> but keeps much of the same functionality.  The only substantial changes
> are a few with regards to how the Linker might gain extra points.
> 
> I purposefully left out any mention of the fact that any words beyond the
> very first must be able to be found in the Official Dictionary; if any of
> you think that should be part of the Rules, let me know.
> 
> In any case, please let your opinions be known as to the scoring changes
> and the section on valid links.

<SNIP>

I haven't looked over the change to the format in much detail but I'd imagine
that it would make things simpler. As for the rest though, I have a few
comments to make. I would resist any attempt to make all the words used be in
the official dictionary. Anything that is considered a valid link should be
allowed. I also don't like the changes to scoring. I think it would be a bit
too easy to come up with a word with an easy link but submit a more difficult
one as your link. As for what is considered a valid link word I think that
that's always going to be pretty arbitrary and be down to the ref's decision;
similar to YORL in that respect really.

TGW.

------------------------------

Date: Sat, 11 Apr 1998 10:26:47 -0400 (EDT)
From: "Joel Ricker" <[email-masked]>
Subject: Re: Acka: Proposal 2864

> On Fri, 10 Apr 1998, Thierry Joffrain wrote:
> 
> > >> If no Manifesto exists on the 21st of January, the original rule set of
> > >> Ackanomic will be considered the Manifesto.
> > >
> > >This would become (3) No manifesto means that the Current ruleset shall be
> > >considered the Manifesto, and the Senators placed in Contempt and
> > >additionally Gaoled for 7 days.  (This is something the Senate really
> > >ought to do if the rule gets passed).
> > 
> > Oh... That's too cheap! They should be removed from office and fined 90% of
> > their holdings. This is a revolution.
> 
> Fine - I just wanted to make sure it was at least a larger penalty than a
> mere Contempt.
> 
> > >Let's not throw away the whole of our sandcastle - we've reinforced some
> > >ideas in stone and it would be a shame to destroy them too.
> > 
> > I wrote the toughest thing I would allow myself to write. I am willing to
> > cut to cut it back a bit, but I think the more drastic the cut, the more
> > interesting the situation will be. The worse thing would be to have half a
> > revolution.

Just wanted to give my A$.02 worth (I'm expecting some change 
back too, thank you). 

After talking to CnH and a few others about this plan, it seems like 
a solid idea.  It is quite possible for Acka to collapse under its 
own weight and this proposal will attempt to correct that.  I'm told 
that the ruleset has grown at least 100-150k over the last year.  
Based on that, is a ruleset 300-500k (minus the rulesets) be 
playable?  Still be harfy?  This sort of shake up is exactly what a 
long running game like Acka needs to stay healthy.  As far as who and 
where to extend powers, how to decide what gets cut, etc.  we still 
have almost 8 months to decide all of these things and work out the 
bugs the proposal.  

My hats off to CnH for even having the courage to suggest such a 
heretic idea.  Amputating part of the ruleset like that will be hard 
and may hurt a little but it will bring a fresh set of rules and more 
playable ruleset.  If this is what it takes for the livelihood of 
Acka, so be it.

Action: I create a trinket called "The Medal of Courage" costing A$1 
with the description: "A silver medal, shaped like the Medal of 
Valor, strung on a purple ribbon, with the inscription:  'So, brave knights, if
 you do doubt your courage or your strength, come no further, for 
death awaits you all with nasty, big, pointy teeth.'"

And I give it to Calvin N Hobbes if e'll have it.

- -- Joe Java

- -----------------------------------------------------------------
     Joel Ricker [] [email-masked] [] ICQ# 6244364
                The Imperial Emporer of ImpNom #28
         http://www.Geocities.com/TimesSquare/Arena/1047/
- -----------------------------------------------------------------
              That's my story and I'm sticking to it.
- -----------------------------------------------------------------

------------------------------

Date: Sat, 11 Apr 1998 10:47:08 -0400 (EDT)
From: "Ian K." <[email-masked]>
Subject: Re: Acka: Word Un-Association RFC

> I haven't looked over the change to the format in much detail but I'd imagine
> that it would make things simpler. As for the rest though, I have a few
> comments to make. I would resist any attempt to make all the words used be in
> the official dictionary. Anything that is considered a valid link should be
> allowed. I also don't like the changes to scoring. I think it would be a bit
> too easy to come up with a word with an easy link but submit a more difficult
> one as your link. As for what is considered a valid link word I think that
> that's always going to be pretty arbitrary and be down to the ref's decision;
> similar to YORL in that respect really.

I agree as regards the scoring.

Also as regards the Official Dictionary.

Koxvolio

------------------------------

Date: Sat, 11 Apr 1998 16:32:17 -0400 (EDT)
From: [email-masked] (Aaron V. Humphrey)
Subject: Acka: Eleusis

Now that the Proposal has already been submitted with "Deus" in it, I note
from Martin Gardner's article that "The dealer may be called by such titles
as God, Nature, Tao, Brahma, the Oracle, or just Dealer."  Wish I'd seen
this first...oh, well.  We can CSR it later.  :-)

- --
- --Alfvaen(Web page: http://www.telusplanet.net/public/alfvaen/ )
Current Album--This Mortal Coil:It'll End In Tears
Current Book--Sean Stewart:The Night Watch
This is the time, and this is the record of the time.

------------------------------

Date: Sat, 11 Apr 1998 16:34:43 -0400 (EDT)
From: JT Traub <[email-masked]>
Subject: Re: Acka: Eleusis

Heheh.. Yeah.. I should have looked a bit deeper there.. When I learned the
game (in college) we always used 'god' as the name for the dealer.. Your
change to Deus was fine by me, so I incorporated it :)

- --JT

------------------------------

Date: Sat, 11 Apr 1998 16:35:43 -0400 (EDT)
From: Duncan Richer <[email-masked]>
Subject: Re: Acka: Eleusis

On Sat, 11 Apr 1998, Aaron V. Humphrey wrote:

> 
> Now that the Proposal has already been submitted with "Deus" in it, I note
> from Martin Gardner's article that "The dealer may be called by such titles
> as God, Nature, Tao, Brahma, the Oracle, or just Dealer."  Wish I'd seen
> this first...oh, well.  We can CSR it later.  :-)

The Ackanomic Oracle... would have the Internet Oracle worried.
- -- 
Duncan C. "once got a question into the Oracularities" Richer aka
Slakko (Lost) Warner - http://dcr24.quns.cam.ac.uk/ - Queens' College
Cambridge, 1st Year PhD(Pure Maths), CUDipSoc, CUSFS, CUSTS, CURS etc
Acka - ex-President/still Web-Harfer RuneMaker ChessUmpire Map-Harfer

------------------------------

Date: Sat, 11 Apr 1998 22:49:47 -0400 (EDT)
From: Hubert <[email-masked]>
Subject: Re: Acka: Count Tabula Reports

On Sat, 11 Apr 1998, Brian Raiter wrote:

> Not necessarily. Your eligibility is determined at the time of
> Nomination.
> 
> In fact, your resignation might require a brand new election to begin.

My admittedly cursory examination of the Rules in the 400s found no
mention of the fact that I would be ineligible to be Nominated for the
office because I held the seat already.  (It says that any player who
would be eligible to hold the Office would be eligible for Nomination.
Obviously I'm eligible to hold the Office; I did until several hours
ago.)  If I simply missed something, please point it out to me.

If it _is_ necessary to hold a brand-new election, I ask Count Tabula to
please do so.  And I apologize for all the fuss this miswording of mine
has caused.

- -Hubert

Make it idiot proof and someone will make a better idiot. 

------------------------------

Date: Sat, 11 Apr 1998 22:57:36 -0400 (EDT)
From: Hubert <[email-masked]>
Subject: Re: Acka: New Player (Vynd)

On Sat, 11 Apr 1998, Aaron V. Humphrey wrote:

> Vynd has been chosen as eir mentor.  Let's welcome em to Ackanomic!
> (And I think this adds another continent to our tally, so with Niccolo
> Flychuck and K 2 this brings it up to five...)

Counting Hawai'i?  Maybe 5.0001?

- -Hubert

Make it idiot proof and someone will make a better idiot. 

------------------------------

End of acka-research-digest V3 #65
**********************************