Subject: acka-voting-digest V2 #177
From: [email-masked] (acka-voting-digest)
To: [email-masked]

acka-voting-digest     Thursday, October 16 1997     Volume 02 : Number 177

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Date: Thu, 16 Oct 1997 01:32:18 -0700 (PDT)
From: Brian Raiter <[email-masked]>
Subject: Acka: Proposal 2334

Proposal 2334
Blueprint Reform
Malenkai (Randy Hall)

This is a Grandiose proposal.

{{[gist:

1) make blueprints rules in a rule suite with
subordinated precedence; allow a completed
frankenstein monster to actually live.

2) remove the processing chip requirement (this
seems to be another poor fun to work ratio thing).

3) eliminate the electronic potato (poor fun/work
ratio).

4) Recreate the Pyriac Frobnotzer, which was destroyed
upon the creation of rule 1 (although no one seemed to
harf it this way.  I also point out that the Null Gadget
blueprint prolly does not exist either, as it does not
unambiguously describe the behaviour of any gadgets, but
that was not harfed that way either.  IAC, this proposal
will work whether or not that one exists).
]}}

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

A. Create a new rule numbered 102.1 called "102.1" with text:

"
{{

This rule has precedence over all rules.

I.  [Guard against Malenkai's Loophole]

a) All Discoveries are destroyed.  
b) All entities named "Pyriac Frobnotzer" are renamed "ZZimsy X" where 
X is replaced by the lowest prime number such that the name is unique.
c) All ZZimsy-Gadgets are destroyed.

- --------

II.  [Remove PCs from blueprints]

For each blueprint whose final sentence begins with
"Raw materials of" and ends with "processing chips are
required", amend that blueprint to remove its final
sentence.

- --------

III.  [Nuke the electronic potato]

a) Each player receives A$50 from the treasury for each
Electronic Potato that they own.
 
b) All Electronic Potatoes are destroyed.

c) The Blueprint for the Electronic Potato is destroyed.

[is the trivial A$2/proposal really more fun than the
financier's work for this?]

}}
"

============================

B.  [Fancy Footwork]

{{[This is required because no gadgets and blueprints can exist at the
time the gadget and blueprint rules are rewritten below, or complicated
things may happen.]}}

Create a rule numbered 102.2 entitled "ZZimsy-Gadgets and Discoveries" with
the following text:

"
This rule has precedence over all rules.

A type of entity known as ZZimsy-Gadgets exist.  ZZimsy-Gadgets are not
Gadgets, but they have an attribute.  Upon an entity being transformed
into a ZZimsy-Gadget, which may only occur as described in the rules, 
it is named "ZZimsy-Gadget X Y" where X is replaced by the name the entity
had before the transformation, and Y is replaced by the lowest prime
number such that the name is unique.  Its attribute becomes the name of 
the type of gadget is was just before the transformation.

{{All extant gadgets are transformed into ZZimsy-Gadgets, in time
order of oldest to youngest gadget first.  [I wonder if
this will have any weird unintended effects like in the Xanth series 
and the Time of no Magic, which had effects even the author didn't realize
until a couple of books later :-)]}}.

A type of entity known as a Discovery exists.  Discoveries may be defined
and described in other rules as well, and such definitions describe the 
same sort of entity.  This rule defers to all such rules.

{{All extant blueprints are transformed into Discoveries with names identical
to the type of gadget they described before the transformation, and text
identical to the text they had prior to the transformation, and authorship
they had prior to the transformation; this transformation occurs with oldest
blueprint first down to youngest, and with an infinitesimal amount of time
between each one.

[Bring back the Pyriac Frobnotzer]

Create a new Discovery named "Pyriac Frobnotzer" with
text identical to the text of the Blueprint for the Pyriac Frobnotzer which
existed one second before the rule entitled "The Evil Overlords of Ackanomic 
(retired)" was created, and authorship credit of 'Mohammed (Jason Orendorff)".

[the old PF conflicted with rule 1 and thus was nuked when that rule was
created.
This new scheme will prevent it from working on rule 1, but otherwise work as
intended.  I think that could be a fun gadget.]
}}
"

============================

C.  [Blueprints Rule Suite]

{{[gist: blueprints are created as Discoveries, and become 
blueprints as described in the rules.  Upon doing so, they also 
become rules in this rule suite, with a more sensible precedence
scheme, and they inherit all the other things about being rules, such
as the spelling bee, etc.]}}

Amend rule 594 so that its title is "Blueprint Rule Suite" and its text is:

"
I.  Discoveries are unownable entities.  As a privilege, Scientists
make Discoveries by posting their name and text, and labeling them
as such.  The text must describe the behaviour of exactly one 
new type of Gadget, and the name must be legal and unique, or the 
creation fails.   

II.  A Discovery is said to be made by the player who posted its text.
If, however, a Discovery is created by a rule, then the player who authored
the proposal that created the rule has made the Discovery unless the creating
rule describes other authorship credit.  If no such player or undead exists,
or it is otherwise ambiguous who created the Discovery, then no one did.

III.  A Scientist may make no more than 4 Discoveries per calendar month.

IV.  Discoveries are accepted 7 days after their creation, unless the 
rules describe different acceptance circumstances or procedures for a
particular Discovery or type of Discovery.

V.  When a Discovery is accepted, a new rule is created as a member of this
rule suite, with the title "Blueprint: <name>" where <name> is the name of
the Discovery, with authorship credit as described in section II, and 
with text identical to the text of the Discovery.  The Discovery is 
then destroyed.  Creation of a Blueprint does not create any instances of
the type of Gadget described by that Blueprint.

VI.  The term "Blueprint", as used in the rules, means a member of this
rule suite.  The term "Useless Blueprint", as used in the rules, means a 
Blueprint for which there currently exist no Gadgets made from that Blueprint.

VII.  When a Discovery is Debunked, it is destroyed, and thus is never 
accepted.  When a Blueprint is Debunked, all extant Gadgets made from that
Blueprint are destroyed, and it is repealed.

VIII.  If a Scientist leaves or loses eir office for any reason, all of eir
Discoveries and Useless Blueprints are Debunked.  A Scientist may Debunk
eir own Discoveries or Useless Blueprints as a public action.

IX.  If a Blueprint specifies the effects of a certain kind of Gadget-related 
manipulation, and tells who can perform it, but does not specify how it is to
be accomplished, then that type of manipulation can be performed as a public
action.  [See Rule 373 for more about public actions.] 

X. A Blueprint is Qualified if and only if it has existed for at least a week,
or if it is not Useless. 

XI.  All Blueprints defer precedence to rules which are not Blueprints.

[Follow this link for the Blueprints]
"

============================

D.  [Tweak the gadget rule]

Amend rule 595, "Gadgets" so that its text is:

"
I.  A Gadget's Blueprint is the Blueprint that defines the class of Gadget to
which that Gadget belongs. If a Gadget's Blueprint exists, the Gadget behaves
in the manner defined by the Blueprint, and may be manipulated in accordance
with it. 

II. Gadgets are entities.  A Gadget is tradeable unless its Blueprint 
specifies otherwise.

III. The ability to create Gadgets is a Privilege of a Scientist. A 
Scientist may create a Gadget only by performing these tasks, in this order: 

(a) Choosing a type from those defined by existing Blueprints. If the Gadget
requires raw material, the Scientist must own the specified quanti(ies) and 
type(s); the raw materials used are then destroyed. 

(b) Announcing publicly that a new Gadget of that type is being made. This 
cannot be done if the Scientist is already in the process of making a Gadget. 

(c) Building the gadget.  This task is completed when the Scientist has spent 
at least three days building, at which time it is created unowned. 

(d) Announcing publicly that the new Gadget has been built, and initiating a
public Auction of the Gadget, as defined by Rule 516. If this announcement is
not made within 3 days of the completion of the Gadget, the Gadget is destroyed
instead.

(e) If the Scientist loses eir privileges for any reason prior to the
completion
of step (d), the process is aborted and the Gadget, if it exists, is destroyed.

IV.  Gadgets may also be created by rules, provided the rule specifies the
quantity created, the Blueprint which defines its behaviour, and how ownership
is to be determined. If ownership is to be determined by Auction, The Auction
shall be conducted by the process described in Rule 516. 

V.  A Gadget's owner can destroy it as a public action, unless the Gadget's
Blueprint specifies that it is indestructible. 

VI.  A Gadget is Qualified if its Blueprint is Qualified.
"

============================

E.  [Transform back]

Create a new rule numbered 102.3 entitled "Gizz" with the following text"

"
{{

This rule has precedence over all rules.

a) All extant Discoveries are accepted, one after another, with an
infinitesimal amount of time separating each acceptance; they are
accepted in oldest to youngest order.

b) For each player who had a Pyriac Frobnotzer one second before the rule
entitled "The Evil Overlords of Ackanomic (retired)" was created, a Pyriac 
Frobnotzer is created and transferred to that player. [no orgs had one,
and I don't care about undead.]

c) Each extant ZZimsy-Gadget is transformed into a Gadget of type X,
where X was the attribute of that ZZimsy-Gadget just prior to this
transformation.  If the resulting gadget is a Spell Book of Chorg, then
the lowest-numbered page in that book is destroyed until the book has the
same number of pages as it had before it was transformed into the ZZimsy-
Gadget it was just prior to this transformation.

d) Rule 102.2, "ZZimsy-Gadgets and Discoveries", is repealed.
}}
"

============================

F.  [Various related rule changes]

a) Amend rule 593, "Ackanomic Research Guild", to remove

"
The Duties of the Inventor are to keep a public record of all existing 
Blueprints, to keep a public record of who owns each existing Gadget,
and to take care of all other bookkeeping required to ensure that all
Gadgets behave in accordance with their Blueprints.
"

{{[the financier keeps records of gadget ownership, and the speaker makes
sure the rules are followed.  As for the public record bit, it is the 
financier's job to track all entities (including rules).  I guess game custom
allows the web-harfer to track rules, which are in the treasury.  IAC, the
Inventor can volunteer to be an assistant web-harfer and track the new rule
suite if e wants, so no real functionality is lost.  This rule-harfer thing
needs to be fleshed out anyway, that is for another time.]}}

- ----

b) Amend rule 597, "The Frankenstein Monster(s)" as follows, in the order
specified:

(i) Replace

"
E shall then post the text of the Blueprint-under-construction. At this point
the Blueprint is constructed, (and is a Blueprint) and no more Parts may ever
be added to it. The Mad Scientist must immediately, after this announcement, 
begin building the Frankenstein Monster subject to the general limitations 
placed upon Scientists working from Blueprints except that e need not pay
Processing Chips, or any raw materials of any sort. 
"

with:

"
E shall then post the text of the Discovery. At this point, and only under
these circumstances, the Discovery is accepted [and thus becomes a 
Blueprint; no more Parts are added to it as described in this rule]. The
Mad Scientist must immediately, after this announcement,  begin building 
the Frankenstein Monster subject to the general limitations placed upon
Scientists working from Blueprints.  The Mad Scientist is considered the
author of this Discovery.
"

(ii) Replace "blueprint-under-construction" (ignoring case) with "Discovery",
where it appears [second paragraph, section i), section iv) a few times, and
possibly elsewhere].

(iii) Replace

"
Frankenstein Monsters behave in the manner described in their Blueprints, 
unless they are in conflict with another blueprint, in which case the 
Blueprint which was created earliest hs precedence. Blueprints for 
Frankenstein Monsters alway defer to the rules.
"

with:

"
Frankenstein Monsters behave in the manner described in their Blueprints.

{{The blueprint-under-construction, if it exists, that was started after
Rex Mundi  became mad scientist is transformed into a Discovery with name 
as the name of the Monster being created, and text identical to the text the 
blueprint-under-construction had before transformation, and authorship
credited to the player Rex Mundi.  All other blueprints-under-construction
are destroyed.}}

"
 
c) Amend rule 1013 "Secret Laboratories", to replace:

"
An Organization that has a Secret Laboratory may, as an action, build a Gadget
from any existing non-lonely Blueprint once per calendar month. This new Gadget 
is created in the Organization's possession either three days after the action
of building it is performed, or when the Blueprint for the Gadget has been
in existence at least one week, whichever comes later.
"

with

"
An Organization that has a Secret Laboratory may, as an action, build a Gadget
from any existing Qualified Blueprint once per calendar month. This new Gadget 
is created in the Organization's possession  three days after this action
is announced.

{{[the blueprint, in essence, has to be around 14 days or be non-Useless.  I'd
like to standardize on the Qualified terminology.  As this is worded now, I'm
not sure its possible to build a gadget at all ... 'it is created 3 days after
it is created' is one way of reading the current language :-), perhaps a bit
nit-picky, but ...  that is not why I wish to change it, just being weird]}}
"

- ----

d)  Amend rule 1211, "Boons of the Ancients", to replace:

"
A Blueprint is created in the Blueprint Archive (not owned by the player, but
said to be created by the player), as described by the player 
"

with:

"
A Discovery is created (not owned by the player, but said to be created by
the player), as named and described by the player 
"

- ----

e) Amend rule 1240.14, "Scientist for a Day", to read:

"
A Card of this type may be played only in the public forum. A player who does
so pays A$20. 

In the message in which a player states he is playing a card of this type, e
may also include exactly one collection of named text which e would like
to see as a new Discovery. This text becomes a new Discovery as named; it is
said to be made by the player who played the Scientist for a Day Otzma Card. 

If at least 5 active players, or 20% of the active players, whichever is
greater, publically object to this Discovery within 3 days of its creation, it
is 
Debunked, and its creator loses 10 points. 

Counter-Action: Any Discovery created by the use of the countered Scientist 
for a Day Card is Debunked. 'Scientist For A Day' Otzma Cards have an 
F-designation of Normal. 
"

[end of proposal]

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End of acka-voting-digest V2 #177
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