Subject: Ackanomic Digest V1 #44
From: [email-masked] (Ackanomic Digest)
To: ackanomic-digest

Ackanomic Digest        Tuesday, June 11 1996        Volume 01 : Number 044

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

Date: Mon, 10 Jun 1996 15:02:21 -0800
From: [email-masked] (Phil Ackley)
Subject: Acka: Jazz Jackrabbit

Hey there jazz,

This is a private message.  I couldn't really bring myself to vote against
you in the politness moon thingee.  I just wanted to prove that it could be
done (being rude to an entity).  Anyhow, I hope you are enjoying your new
nickname.

snowgod
Ambassador
CSRR
Acting Senator (Seat c)
Wearing a prosthetic forhead
In fear of being burned for exposing the heretical rantings of a
blashpemous golden frog.

- -

To see snowgod's new prosthetic forehead visit:
http://www.alaska.net/~snowgod/acka/head.html

To visit the Ambassador's page goto:
http://www.alaska.net/~snowgod/acka/ambas.html

At any time that I am online, you may telnet to my computer by entering
this URL:
telnet://snowgod.alaska.net

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

Date: Mon, 10 Jun 96 19:13:44 EDT 
From: [email-masked] ()
Subject: Ackanomic: Proposal 908

Proposal 908 - Mon Jun 10 19:13:44 EDT 1996
making game cycles last longer
/dev/joe  (Joseph DeVincentis)

[[ While I was proposing to change the proposal scoring, I figured I'd
   consolidate a few things as well.]]

1. Amend rule 207, "Scoring When A Proposal Is Adopted" as follows:
   a. Change the name to "Scoring When A Proposal's Voting Period Ends"
   b. Replace the text:

       "When a proposed rule change is adopted, those players who voted
        against it receive 5 points each.  A player whose proposed rule
        change is adopted also receives 10 points."

      with:

       "When a proposal passes, the player who proposed it receives 9
        points and every player who voted against it receives 2 points.

       "When a proposal fails, but meets quorum, the player who proposed
        it loses 9 points and every player who voted for it receives 1 point.

       "When a proposal does not meet quorum, each active player who 
        was not on vacation and abstained on the proposal shall lose
        5 points and be placed on vacation."

[[ Since we have auto-vacation, this last part is not likely to happen
   very often, so I increased the penalty.  In general, I am trying to
   put more emphasis on making proposals rather than on voting, as we had
   a player run up 250 points in a month during which he only made 6
   proposals which we didn't retract, and 2 of them failed. 

   The four rules listed below are all incorporated into the one rule above.]]

2. Repeal rule 208 "Scoring When A Proposal Is Defeated".
  [["When a proposed rule change is defeated, the player who proposed it
     loses 10 points."]]

3. Repeal rule 427, "Vice Versa".
  [["Any player voting for a proposal that does not pass will be awarded 3
     points above and beyond any other bonuses or penalties."]]

4. Repeal rule 599, "Encouraging Voting".
  [['If a quorum is not established for the voting on any proposal then:

    '(i) Each player who did not legally cast a vote on that proposal, and
     who was legally counted for the purpose of determining the quorum, shall
     lose two points.

    '(ii) No player who did legally vote on the proposal shall have his score
     adjusted as a result of the failure of the proposal.

    'This rule takes precedence over all mutable rules governing scoring.

    'If the term "active player" is defined in the rules, then every occurance
     of the word "player" in parts (i) and (ii) of this rule shall be
     interpreted as if it was "active player."']]

5. Repeal Rule 774, "Auto-Vacation".
  [["If a quorum is not met on a proposal, all players who abstained on the
     proposal shall be placed on vacation."]]

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

Date: Mon, 10 Jun 96 19:14:11 EDT 
From: [email-masked] ()
Subject: Ackanomic: Proposal 909

Proposal 909 - Mon Jun 10 19:14:11 EDT 1996
amend R480
Niccolo Flychuck  (Uri Bruck)

Ammend the first sentence of R480 to 
The New Ackanomic Zooz will be the official currency of Acknomia

[[Currently it says
The AckaDollar (A$) will be the official currency of Ackanomia.]]

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

Date: Tue, 11 Jun 1996 02:00:45 +0300
From: Uri Bruck <[email-masked]>
Subject: Re: Acka: lot's of different topics 

At 11:52 AM 10/06/96 EDT,  wrote:
>
>
>
>

>
>Also, I'm tired of people creating enities and stuff, but never using
>them.  Look at the Church.  Since the Church really had no power,
>no one has bothered to form a Church.  These are useless Rules.
>
Church and organizations are good, playable rules. 
People have formed political parties, even though they do very little
themselves. How often has the party unity vote actually made a difference?
Entities such as Church are not about power, they're about forms of
organization. Once the Festival is over I intend to propose a few more types
of organizations. Perhaps a few would pass. I also intend to propose a
second version of Asefa (already RFCd last week).
Aggreeably, these rules might have more meaning in a larger nomic. In a
larger, provided the option, I believe that players would tend to organize
more than they would in a small nomic. I also might propose some privileges
(rather than power) for each organization.

When i first joined ackanomic, it was right at the begining of the qourum
crisis. While I agree that solving such a crisis is part of the fun of
nomic, I also maintain, that develeloping rulesets that can accomodate for
many eventualities, and allow us to emply creative solutions from within the
rules, is part of the fun of the game.
See the current reactions to gadgets. Mohammed is a responsible inventor.
But he has successfully demonstrated, whether by or not by design, I cannot
say, that a less responsible inventor, could wreak havoc on Ackanomia, and
there has been at least one proposal trying to head that possibility off.
In order to use any of the current tools, we need to be quick on our
keyboards, and not everyone can read all of their ackanomic mail everyday.

I RFCd a different kind of manipulative object, i.e. Otzma Cards (previously
named Power Cards), but I have already built many checks and balances into
the rules. F'rinstnace, the types of Cards are not made up by the Wizard,
but they are rules, and hence each type is 'approved' by ackanomia before it
can be created, let alone used.
I am not claiming this is better, just that it is different. 

If my Eleusis proposal works out (i'm currently fixing the rewards, to
reflect better the original intention of the game), a proposal that will
also have to wait for after the festival, and people actually play it, I
might draft additional proposal in a similar vein, i.e. - internal games, or
activities, that a subset of the players of ackanomic may be involved in.
The relation of each of these activities to the game of ackanomic, would
probably a weak relation, people would gain/lose currency/points.
they gain object such as gadgets or Otzma cards. They may gain titles or
privileges.
They would all be most playable
Nicolo Flychuck

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

Date: Tue, 11 Jun 1996 02:20:45 +0300 (EET DST)
From: Uri Bruck <[email-masked]>
Subject: Re: Ackanomic: Proposal 899

On Mon, 10 Jun 1996, Jazz Jackrabbit wrote:

> [email-masked] wrote:
> > 
> > Proposal 899 - Mon Jun 10 00:26:57 EDT 1996
> > Banning Forged Mail
> > /dev/joe  (Joseph DeVincentis)
> > 
> > Nobody may send e-mail related to Ackanomic in such a manner that it
> > appears to be from any email address besides their own, except in the case
> > of resending email to other players/observers, as is the case with mailing
> > lists.  [[Leave the punishment up to a CFCJ.]]
> 
> I respectfully request a clause, or at least existing game custom,
> to allowfor people like myself with dreadful ISPs who must do so
> to maintain game play. I cannot switch ISPs lightning fast.
> 
> I realise these actions are not directed against my current state (at
> least I hope not), but the wording does not permit it as it does for
> the mailing list.
> 
> Malenkai, still using
> [email-masked]
> [email-masked]
> 
> working on the problem
>
I believe it is sufficient to require that people sign all mail with their
Ackanomic name.
Nicolo Flychuck

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

Date: Mon, 10 Jun 1996 15:42:29 -0800
From: [email-masked] (Phil Ackley)
Subject: Re: Acka: Jazz Jackrabbit

Ah hell! I guess that wasn't a private message after all.

I apologize for my stupidity.

snowgod

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

Date: Mon, 10 Jun 1996 19:38:40 -0700
From: Jazz Jackrabbit <[email-masked]>
Subject: Re: Acka: lot's of different topics

Uri Bruck wrote:
> 

> Aggreeably, these rules might have more meaning in a larger nomic. In a
> larger, provided the option, I believe that players would tend to organize
> more than they would in a small nomic. I also might propose some privileges
> (rather than power) for each organization.
> 

I agree, that our nomic is not to scale with the amount of proposals
it generates. As I have said in a previous RFC, we spend more time 
writing proposals than playing them. I have no problem with that, 
people do what they want, which is cool, as long as it is lawful.

I have tried to adjust the "problem" with the Festival rule. We shall 
see how it works. I also don't mind organisations such as Church being
created, then filled later. They may spur someone else to develop the
idea in a way different that the original creator intended.

on the other hand...

I do question how we have Party Hall, Churches, and Senators, none of 
which do anything, and instead of developing these ideas further, we
develop new ideas. It becomes a question of enjoyment. Hopefully people
will continue to do what they enjoy, and enjoy what is done.

Malenkai
Sage O'Doe Gas wannabee

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

Date: Mon, 10 Jun 1996 20:01:07 -0700
From: Jazz Jackrabbit <[email-masked]>
Subject: Ackanomic: Gumball Party

> Markovian Party
> Neuter the CSRR Party

Well this is my thrid try at forming a political party. I guess you
need an adjenda people will rally behind.

I propose the form the Gumball Party.

Its adjenda is to assure that no one violates the Gumball rules.
Its membership is open to anyone.

E-mail me privately if you would like to join the Gumball Party.

Malenkai

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

Date: Mon, 10 Jun 1996 20:11:20 -0700
From: Jazz Jackrabbit <[email-masked]>
Subject: Re: Ackanomic: Proposal 909

[email-masked] wrote:
> 
> Ammend the first sentence of R480 to
> The New Ackanomic Zooz will be the official currency of Acknomia
> 

Is this an attempt to get a bizarre, palondromic word into the
ruleset ahead of a Sage O'Doe Gas attempt :)

Actually, I was thinking of renaming the currency to the Sevin. But,
this proposal should go through the rules and clean up all references
to ackadollars, or at least claim a transmution of meaning. In any
case, it may be confusing if the translation of meaning is not 
claimed. (Because of the work involved, this is why I have not done
so.)

Do all my Ackadollars become worthless? Is this an egg?

Malenkai

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

Date: Tue, 11 Jun 1996 04:18:29 +0300
From: Uri Bruck <[email-masked]>
Subject: Re: Ackanomic: Proposal 909 

At 08:11 PM 10/06/96 -0700, Jazz Jackrabbit wrote:
>[email-masked] wrote:
>> 
>> Ammend the first sentence of R480 to
>> The New Ackanomic Zooz will be the official currency of Acknomia
>> 
>
>Is this an attempt to get a bizarre, palondromic word into the
>ruleset ahead of a Sage O'Doe Gas attempt :)
I actually missed that. 
Zooz is a name of an ancient coin, mentioned in the bible.
In fact, I had other proposals where I imported some Hebrew terminology. The
Asefa is one of them. But I'll only provide explanation should its second
version pass. and that would only happen after the festival.
>
>Actually, I was thinking of renaming the currency to the Sevin. But,
>this proposal should go through the rules and clean up all references
>to ackadollars, or at least claim a transmution of meaning. In any
It doesn't, and that is precisely the point.  If you look at some older
proposals, or some of my current RFC, you'll see mostly refferences to
'units of currency', some of the early ones add ' if they exist'. But lately
we have been getting careless, and most proposals reffer directly to A$,
even though they could be undefined just like that.

>case, it may be confusing if the translation of meaning is not 
>claimed. (Because of the work involved, this is why I have not done
>so.)
>
>Do all my Ackadollars become worthless? Is this an egg?

Ackadollars have very little value already. Yes, it is an egg. Add to that a
clause about exchange rates, and you can render a whole of bunch of existing
rules meaningless. 
Although I wouldn't mind adding a secondary unit of currency, with an
A$<->ZooZ exchange rate dependant on... dunno yet, will come up with something

I'm not even campaigning for this one proposal.

Nicolo Flychuck

>
>Malenkai
>
>

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

Date: Tue, 11 Jun 1996 04:21:40 +0300
From: Uri Bruck <[email-masked]>
Subject: Re: Acka: lot's of different topics 

At 07:38 PM 10/06/96 -0700, Jazz Jackrabbit wrote:

>I have tried to adjust the "problem" with the Festival rule. We shall 
>see how it works. I also don't mind organisations such as Church being
>created, then filled later. They may spur someone else to develop the
>idea in a way different that the original creator intended.
>
My sentiments approximately. I believe I stated as much when I first put
those proposals forward. 
I am actually actively playing one of the proposal that came at the same
batch with Chuch, and that is Individuality. I am a strong supporter of the
latter.

>on the other hand...
>
>I do question how we have Party Hall, Churches, and Senators, none of 
>which do anything, and instead of developing these ideas further, we
>develop new ideas. It becomes a question of enjoyment. Hopefully people
>will continue to do what they enjoy, and enjoy what is done.
I see a challenge. I had privately set myself with the goal of bringing the
number of Institutions (counting Senate) up to three, and likewise with the
number of Organizations. and then start to work on filling them up with
meaning, creating the interplay between them.
Other players complain that these entities have little use. Don't complain,
create the use.
Nicolo Flychuck

>
>Malenkai
>Sage O'Doe Gas wannabee
>
>

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

Date: Mon, 10 Jun 1996 21:27:57 -0700
From: Supreme Court <[email-masked]>
Subject: Ackanomic: Appeal Ruling CFJ 164

CFJ 164 was appealed to the Supreme Court by /dev/joe. The
Court has overturned the original verdict, returning an appeal verdict
of FALSE. The Justices agree unamiously in verdict and reasoning.

The original CFJ is followed by /dev/joe's appeal, then the
Court's reasoning:

> Judgement 164
>   Subject:  The Speaker and the Voters
> Initiator:  Simon Marty Harriman
> 1st Judge:  Bascule (selected at 1026h on 4 May 1996)
> Judgement:  (failed to respond)
> 2nd Judge:  Techno (selected at 1329h on 20 May 1996)
> Judgement:  True
>
> Statement:
> > Robert Sevin cannot vote on proposals according to rule 443/1
>
> Techno's comments:
> > I have to rule this true as written. 443/1 says a player is either a
> > voter or the speaker, but cannot be both at the same time.

/dev/joe's appeal and reasoning:

I appeal the ruling on 164 to the supreme court, on the
basis that not only does the ruling go against the text of the rules
(although R443 said the speaker was not a voter, the rules governing
voting say that each *player*, not *voter*, gets one vote), but also because
by the time the judgement was returned, Rule 443 had been repealed!

The Court's Reasoning:

Robert Sevin is no longer the Speaker, and there is no longer a R443/1,
to consider, nor has it been renumbered to something else. Therefore
the original statement on which judgement was called is FALSE, based on
the current facts.

The only issue here is which set of facts must be considered, the ones
in force at the time the statement was made, or the current facts. As
the statement is in the present tense, the Court has no choice but to
consider the facts at present. Additionally, neither Justice was serving
at the time the statement was made, so it is impossible to determine
precisely what those past facts were anyway, and in general the Court
feels current facts must hold sway unless the original statement contains
tense or other temporal language to call other facts into force.

Penalty:

By rule, the Court must assess a penalty of 1-10 points on the original
judge; Techno is hereby assesed a penalty of 3 points.

Supreme Court

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

Date: Mon, 10 Jun 1996 21:12:40 -0500 (CDT)
From: "Joseph W. DeVincentis" <[email-masked]>
Subject: Re: Ackanomic: Proposal 899

> > Proposal 899 - Mon Jun 10 00:26:57 EDT 1996
> > Banning Forged Mail
> > /dev/joe  (Joseph DeVincentis)
> > 
> > Nobody may send e-mail related to Ackanomic in such a manner that it
> > appears to be from any email address besides their own, except in the case
> > of resending email to other players/observers, as is the case with mailing
> > lists.  [[Leave the punishment up to a CFCJ.]]

> I respectfully request a clause, or at least existing game custom,
> to allow for people like myself with dreadful ISPs who must do so
> to maintain game play. I cannot switch ISPs lightning fast.

> I realise these actions are not directed against my current state (at
> least I hope not), but the wording does not permit it as it does for
> the mailing list.

No, the actions are intended against the messages sent to the list
recently by "The Voting Gnome".  I think the way you handled your ISP
dying was appropriate -- just have your official address changed to
whatever you have available.  The issue of ISP's dying is something
that needs to be handled some other way by other rules, although
'No E-mail, No Game' helps in the case where e-mail can't even be
delivered.  Note that the Postmaster doesn't have to remove players from
the game when that becomes possible, though I'd expect to almost always
use the part about putting players on vacation when it applies.

- --
/dev/joe, trying to imagine a nomic run via PGP-encrypted e-mail.

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

Date: Mon, 10 Jun 1996 23:08:25 -0700
From: Supreme Court <[email-masked]>
Subject: Ackanomic: Appeal 178

The Court is still working on CFJ 178. The Justices have reached
a unanimous verdict, but differ on reasoning. We are deciding
whether to publish seperate reasoning with the verdict in one
package, or work until we agree on the reasoning. In any case, a
verdict will be published tommorrow, 11-Jun, with or without reasoning.

Supreme Court

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

Date: Mon, 10 Jun 1996 22:38:26 -0500 (CDT)
From: Mohammed <[email-masked]>
Subject: Re: Ackanomic: Politness Moon (again)

> >> Proposal 890 - Sun Jun 09 17:58:57 EDT 1996
> >        What is this trash?  No more proposals that parse to nulls,
> >please!
> It's talk like this that could squash proposals before they are ever
> submitted, stifling creativity in the game, and making the game less fun in
> general.
	I wouldn't have said that if I thought the proposal was 
particularly creative or fun.  I do my part around here to encourage 
creativity.  (Come to think of it, I'm also the person most frequently 
Mooned.  Maybe I should calm down a bit.  Nah.)
	I think using game mechanisms to force an issue is in poor 
taste.  Rather like blinking web pages, or twenty-line signature files 
(*ahem*).

> A proposal to creat a resolution does not change the rules.  It simply
> issues a statement that is supported by the majority of the players.
	Not so.  Read the Resolution rule.  The idea behind resolutions is
to allow the transfer of points, dollars, or gadgets without making rules
to regulate those one-shot exchanges; to eject players from the game; etc.
	I strongly support Malenkai(?)'s proposal to introduce double 
braces to replace the Resolution idea.

- --Mohammed

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

Date: Mon, 10 Jun 1996 22:43:10 -0500 (CDT)
From: Mohammed <[email-masked]>
Subject: Re: Ackanomic: Proposal 897

> As a colorblind player, I will be unable to faithfully place a yellow
> element in my web pages.    I might get it, or I might not.  I might have
> green or even, god forbid, orange in place of yellow, and would never know
> it until someone ships me to the gaol.  Also, this rule may discriminate
> against users who create their web images without a color monitor.
	I generate my web pages without a color browser (I can't get 
netscape at home; not enough RAM) and would find it annoying to be 
required to do this.
	In fact, I find the whole idea of regulating the content of
people's web pages rather annoying.  I'll have to vote no as well. 

- --Mohammed

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

Date: Mon, 10 Jun 1996 23:21:58 -0500 (CDT)
From: Mohammed <[email-masked]>
Subject: Re: Ackanomic: three new Blueprints

> First: What is a noun phrase? I presume it's the same as a noun.
	Yes, except that a noun phrase is any string of words that acts as
a noun.  It can be several words.  For instance, "the inventor rule" and
"all the text in the ruleset" are two swappable noun phrases in the following
paragraph:

> This is potentially very funny - and potentially disastrous! Plus the 
> inventor rule is even more powerful than this. I can't see why 
> Mohammed couldn't produce a game winning device for instance, or what
> if the Frobnotzer deleted all the text in the ruleset inbetween the
> nouns that the Frobnotzer's nodes are connected to? 
	As for your main point, consider this:  once I publish a 
Blueprint, I can't create a Gadget to match until a week has passed, and 
even at that time, the thing has no owner--it must be auctioned off.
During that week, I could be impeached, or the ruleset could change to 
make the Gadget illegal (which destroys the Blueprint).  I don't want to 
see any more committees in the game.  They'll let you down in a crunch; 
it's happened to us before.
	I -do- support the following checks/balances, and though I
don't plan to propose them myself, I'll vote for any one that comes up:
	. A minor rewording of the Gadgets rule to say that if the Inventor
is on vacation or in the Gaol, the creation process is put on hold.
	. A new rule defining Emergency Proposals, which would have a voting
period of just four days and require a larger majority to pass.  I
originally intended to do this with a Gadget, but I now think that would
run afoul of the rules.
	One safeguard already built into the rules is that the Inventor
takes a hefty penalty when he is impeached!  Trust me, I'll do nothing to
wreak havoc on the game.  I'll build plenty of Monkey Wrenches before I
try anything as ambitious as the Frobnotzer.
	Another safeguard is that a player can always propose a Resolution
of the form "Five Plunky Monkey Wrenches will be created, and the Inventor
shall auction them off, one at a time." if e thinks there aren't enough
Wrenches in the game.  Or, more bluntly, a resolution like "Such and such
a Gadget is broken." 

- --Mohammed

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

Date: Mon, 10 Jun 1996 23:44:15 -0500 (CDT)
From: Mohammed <[email-masked]>
Subject: Re: Ackanomic: Proposal 886

> > > I tend to agree with you Nicolo.  I would be all for a requirement that
> > > prpaganda on web pages by marked as such.
> >         That's camel waste.  The way to solve this problem is to say,
> > "snowgod, if you don't get all the propaganda off your web page within the
> > next 24 hours, I'm submitting an IP against you."
> 
> That is too strong. snowgod is doing a good job. Should one objectionable
> thing be cause for Impeachment?
	Yes.
	I should have been impeached as CotC a loooong time ago.

- --Mohammed

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

Date: Mon, 10 Jun 1996 23:58:53 -0500 (CDT)
From: Mohammed <[email-masked]>
Subject: Ackanomic:  Official (CotC)

The Nomination Period for Clerk of the Courts ended some time ago; the
Nominees are this is not a name, Malenkai, and De'ghew.  I select Malenkai
to be the Candidate for Clerk of the Courts.  Now two confirmation
messages from the (acting) Senate are necessary.  Thanks.

- --Mohammed, soon-to-be-former barely-Acting Clerk of the Courts

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

End of Ackanomic Digest V1 #44
******************************