Subject: ackanomic Digest V4 #190
From: [email-masked]
To: ackanomic digest users <[email-masked]>
Date: Sun, 18 Jul 1999 00:00:01 -0400 (EDT)

ackanomic Digest	Saturday, July 17 1999	Volume: 04  Issue: 190

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From: K 2 <[email-masked]>
Subject: Acka: RoP4252JFT
Date: Sat, 17 Jul 1999 00:16:41 -0400 (EDT)

I retract P4252.

K 2

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

From: K 2 <[email-masked]>
Subject: Re: Acka: Machine
Date: Sat, 17 Jul 1999 01:31:05 -0400 (EDT)

/dev/joe has found T257.

The map was:
The first player to have signed on the dotted line and completed the
seven
steps to K 2 satisfaction shall find this treasure.

The Seven Steps were:
· The first step is: sign on the dotted line.
· The second step is: Make an official posting, of a type which has been
used least for the purposes of finding this treasure, which includes two
unrelated words.
· The third step is: Create a list of at least 17 words starting with
the
first of the words from step two and ending with the other, such that
each
of the words in the list is a synonym of the words to which it is
adjacent.
· The fourth step is: Make an official posting, of a type which has been
used least for the purposes of finding this treasure and excluding the
type
used in step two, which includes all of the words in step three.
· The fifth step is: Link the most recent Fictionary word (wrt the
revelation of this step) to the first of the middle word(s) from the
list
generated in step three and make an official posting, of a type which
has
been used least for the purposes of finding this treasure and excluding
the
type used in step two, which includes all of the words in the new list.
· The sixth step is: Create a word list using all of the letters from
the
lists in steps three and five which does not include any of the words in
those lists. Publish the words in at least three official postings
(which
have been used least… etc) one of which should include poetry and one of
which should criticise the feeble official postings of other player
seeking
this treasure.
· Make an official posting of a type that has been used least for the
purposes of finding this treasure and include for each player who has
completed step six their initial two words

The final one was encypted (becuase I was running out of ideas) using
what I
thought was a vingrere cycpher ('a' + 'a' = 'b') based on the first and
last
words from steps 3,5 & 6

The words were:
JT: poet and republic
/dev/joe: either and donkey
Trent: easy and squeal

This treasure was prolly more to amuse me than anything else :-)

Joseph DeVincentis wrote:

> Honored Scholar, I humbly submit this guess at the truth of the Machine:
>
> IF AND ONLY IF today the Ackazens having the titles Scaremongers wrote
> defined messaging in dorum, THEN the Machine That Goes *ping* shall go
> *ping*.
>
> And all you GAD players: hurry up and finish the game!  It's easy:
> Send in a move, and grab somebody's donkey!  Make those donkeys squeal!
> Either you do that, or I'm gonna sic the poet laureate on you, and
> have him call an end to this banna republic.
>
> /dev/joe

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

From: K 2 <[email-masked]>
Subject: [Fwd: Acka: T240]
Date: Sat, 17 Jul 1999 04:12:40 -0400 (EDT)

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Message-ID: <[email-masked]>
Date: Mon, 12 Jul 1999 20:58:08 +1000
From: K 2 <[email-masked]>
X-Mailer: Mozilla 4.03 [en] (Win95; I)
MIME-Version: 1.0
To: Luc Tessier <[email-masked]>
Subject: Re: Acka: T240
References: <[email-masked]>
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Hya Luc :-)

**Self Destruct Warning**
This message will be forwarded to the main list in three days.
***** End Warning *******

Luc Tessier wrote:

> OK, what gives?  your delimiter clues SEEM to imply that you divide the
> description into 9-word segments,

9-word segments? Are you sure? IIRC you want to extract 9 words from
each paragraph, but to do that you have to treat the paragraph in 8 word
segments.

> but it doesn't come out evenly.  There
> are 293 words, which is prime.

Cool... I only wish that had been intentional :-)

>  If you count the comma and two hyphens, it

? Only words are important IIRC a hyphenated word is counted as-one
(there are 18 words in this sentence).

> is 296 = 37*8  but then you get "be helpful. On your hajji, as usual, a"

you're right there; not a triket ref in sight - make sure you spilt each
paragrph up sepatately, don't run them together before spilting em up.

"
helpful. On your hajji, as usual, a blue
"

> right in the middle, with not a trinket ref in sight.  And the bits are all
> wonky too.  And worst of all, there are THREE DIFFERENT VERSIONS OF THE
> TRINKET DESCRIPTION!
>
> the original failed one has a space before a comma after tsunami, and the
> one on the treasure page has inter mug instead of in ter mug

puctuation (other than hyphens and paragraphs) is wholly unimportant.

> At least tell which of these is the correct description...

the Treasure page has the best version on it.

K 2

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

From: JT Traub <[email-masked]>
Subject: Acka: *Ping*
Date: Sat, 17 Jul 1999 12:14:52 -0400 (EDT)

Today is Saturday the 17th day of July, and the Machine That Goes *ping*
has gone *ping* today.  Since I have been scholar, the Machine has
gone *ping* 6 times.

--Dragon Mage

-- 
[-------------------------------------------------------------------------]
[ Practice random kindness and senseless acts of beauty.                  ]
[ It's hard to seize the day when you must first grapple with the morning ]
[-------------------------------------------------------------------------]

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

From: Gabe Drummond-Cole <[email-masked]>
Subject: Acka: T259
Date: Sat, 17 Jul 1999 12:34:02 -0400 (EDT)

current drama critic: JT (Bullshot Crummond)
past drama critics:
rufus (Miracle Worker)
/dev/joe (Equus)
Alfvaen (Camelot)
JT (She Stoops to Conquer)

Quotes:

#1
   -Really good.
   -I'm glad you liked it.
   -I mean, you did a good job.  You really fixed it.
   -Uh-huh
   -It's the most life you've shown in a long time
   -Well, you bring out the best in me, baby.
   -Yeah?  Pigmy hunting!
   -PIGMY!?
   -You know, you're really something.
   -Baby, if quarterback there is a pigmy, you've certainly changed your
style.  What are you after now... giants?
...
   -it's perfectly all right for you... you can go around like a hopped-up
arab, slashing away at everything in sight, scarring up half the world if
you want to.  But let somebody else try it, no sir.
   -You miserable...
   -Why baby, I did it all for you.  I thought you'd like it, sweetheart.
It's sort of to your taste.  Blood, carnage, and all.  I thought you'd get
all excited -- sort of heave and pant and come running at me, your melons
bobbling.

#2
     -You been up there along time
     -I gave him morphine. He must be out of his mind. He says such awful
things to me. He says I want him to die.
     -You sure you don't?
     -I don't want no one to die.  Death's terrible, Val.  You gotta go now?
     -I'm late.
     -Late for what?  You got a date with somebody?
     -No...
     -Then stay a while.  Play something.  I'm all unstrung... I made a
terrible fool of myself down here today with-
     --That girl's brother?
     -Yes, I-threw away-pride...
     -his sister said she'd come here to give me a warning.  I wonder what of?
     -I said things to him I should of been too proud to say...
     -Once or twice lately I'be woke up with a fast heart, shouting
something, and had to pick up my guitar to calm myself down....somehow or
other I can't get used to this place, I don't feel safe in this place, but
I--want to stay....

#3
     -did they... uh... know each other?
     -the two guys?
     -yeah.
     -no.  i mean, not that i know of.  why?
     -just wondering
     -what?
     -nothing.
     -...people don't just wonder nothing...
     -no, no, i was just wondering... you know, was it a pattern?  That's all
     -No!
     -I mean, don't get upset, you asked me.
     -I was trying to tell you something else entirely.
     -I'm aware absolutely of what you were trying to tell me.  And I heard
it.  But am I supposed to just censor out all my perceptions, just filter
out everything that doesn't support your intention?  I made an association.
 And it was not an unreasonable association.
     -It was totally off-the-wall, and hostile.
     -Hostile!?
     -And you know it.
     -So I'm supposed to sit still for the most arcane association I ever
heard in my life: that levitation leads to dogs.  But when I come up with
an equally-- I mean, equally, shit, when I come up with a 100% more logical
association, I'm just supposed to accept your opinion that it isn't?  Well,
that's all it was, an association.  That's all it was.
     -OK
     -I mean, for the good of everybody involved, it appeared to me a
thought worth some exploration.  And if I was wrong, and I misjudged, then
I'm sorry.
     -It's just something that I'm very, sometimes, sensitive about.
     -What?  The abortion?   Sure, but you OK now? You feel OK?
     -I'm hungry.

-- Emperor Ai! Pedrito!
Butthead * Crazy French-Scotsman * DeeJay * Dungeon Master * Harfmeister *
Really Weird * Rule-Harfer * Weird * Wrangler

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

From: Gabe Drummond-Cole <[email-masked]>
Subject: T246 clue.
Date: Sat, 17 Jul 1999 12:46:18 -0400 (EDT)

QQQQMHXFVHF(vipu)(IWS):

1  3  1  3  1  3  1  3  1  3  1

Q  Q  Q  Q  M  H  X  F  V  H  F
 v  *  *  i  *  *  p  *  *  u
  I  *  *  W  *  *  S  *  *  *

abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyzcdefghijklmnopqrst...

There is one typo somewhere in the map
-- Emperor Ai! Pedrito!
Butthead * Crazy French-Scotsman * DeeJay * Dungeon Master * Harfmeister *
Really Weird * Rule-Harfer * Weird * Wrangler

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

From: Gabe Drummond-Cole <[email-masked]>
Subject: Acka: T256
Date: Sat, 17 Jul 1999 12:49:47 -0400 (EDT)

>I bury it and release the following, which is the map, in completeness: 
>"This treasure will be found by JT when e says so. E may only say so if 
>5 treasures I have buried have been found by a player other than em, and 
>e feels that e was cheated out of them by my actions. 
>
>On January 1st, 1999, this map automatically becomes the following text: 
>
>'This treasure will be found by the fourth distinct player to privately 
>(and not publicly) send me a message requesting it
>since this has been the format of the map.'" 

Keep em coming.

-- Emperor Ai! Pedrito!
Butthead * Crazy French-Scotsman * DeeJay * Dungeon Master * Harfmeister *
Really Weird * Rule-Harfer * Weird * Wrangler

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

From: Gabe Drummond-Cole <[email-masked]>
Subject: Re: T246 clue.
Date: Sat, 17 Jul 1999 12:53:57 -0400 (EDT)

err... i meant it more like this:

>Q  Q  Q  Q  M  H  X  F  V  H  F
> v  *  *  i  *  *  p  *  *  u
>  I  *  *  W  *  *  S  *  *  *

-- Emperor Ai! Pedrito!
Butthead * Crazy French-Scotsman * DeeJay * Dungeon Master * Harfmeister *
Really Weird * Rule-Harfer * Weird * Wrangler

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

From: Gabe Drummond-Cole <[email-masked]>
Subject: Re: T246 clue.
Date: Sat, 17 Jul 1999 12:58:18 -0400 (EDT)

I lied again.  I meant it like THIS:

>>Q  Q  Q  Q  M  H  X  F  V  H  F
>> v  *  *  i  *  *  p  *  *  u
>>    I  *  *  W  *  *  S  *  *
>>  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *

-- Emperor Ai! Pedrito!
Butthead * Crazy French-Scotsman * DeeJay * Dungeon Master * Harfmeister *
Really Weird * Rule-Harfer * Weird * Wrangler

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

From: Gabe Drummond-Cole <[email-masked]>
Subject: Acka: OC conversion
Date: Sat, 17 Jul 1999 16:22:54 -0400 (EDT)

While it has not been a week since I last converted 15 points to an OC, it
HAS been a week since I converted 20 points to an OC

I convert 20 points to a random OC
-- Emperor Ai! Pedrito!
Butthead * Crazy French-Scotsman * DeeJay * Dungeon Master * Harfmeister *
Really Weird * Rule-Harfer * Weird * Wrangler

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

From: Towsner <[email-masked]>
Subject: Acka: The Birth of a Nomic
Date: Sat, 17 Jul 1999 17:15:47 -0400 (EDT)

Submitted in completion of a BA in History.

The Birth of a Nomic
else...if

	There are, as everyone knows, a few large, long-lived nomics.
Agora and Ackanomic have lasted for more than five and three years
respectively.  The Fantasy Rules Committee, although not a nomic by the
strictest definition, shares most of its players with the nomic community,
and predates even Agora.  A few other nomics have lasted more than a year
or so, although often with periods of quiescence.  Meanwhile an endless
string of nomics are being born only to atrophy into non-existance after a
few weeks or months.  The question occurs then, why do some nomics survive,
and how can a successful nomic be founded.
	Typically, a nomic is founded when one person decides to create a
new nomic, publicizes it, and convinces a few other players to join.
Experience shows that the few weeks following this are critical.  Usually
at this stage the founder takes on the administrative needs of the nomic
and players begin to make the proposals which establish a nomic's
character.  There is a single factor which distinguishes nomics which
succeed at this stage from those which fail: the effort of the founder.  In
many nomics the founder will take days to distribute proposals or voting
results; as examples take the Common Law Nomic and the Fantasy Wargame
Design Project.  In both cases the founder was an experienced nomic player
(Scott Goehring and Joel Ricker, Ackanomic's own 404 Not Found,
respectively) and in both cases a number of players joined.  Neither,
however, was able to keep up with the pace of the game.  (This should not
be taken as a criticism.  The needs of a new nomic can be quite time
consuming.)  These few weeks are the first major hurdle a nomic faces; to a
prepared founder, however, they are also the easiest.
	A few things mark the transition from an infant nomic to a child.
The two most significant are a transition away from dependance on a single
player for administrative needs and a (relatively) stabilized set of
players.  Ackanomic achieved this stage around its second week, with Wayne
Sheppard taking over as Tabulator and the last of the first batch of
players joining.(1)  Not all games achieve this so early.  The People's
Republic of Macronomic achieved a stable membership quite early but never
really made a transition from depending on a single player to handle its
harfing.  Although a number of players took on minor tasks, only one player
was willing to take on the two biggest--rule and proposal harfing.  Once a
nomic does make the transition it tends to become significantly more
stable.  Usually such nomics progress steadily for a period; it is the
development in this period which determines its eventual survival (or
collapse).
	Typically after a month or two some of the early players of a nomic
begin leaving.  This immediately demands that the nomic have more people
willing to handle the work (since the founder often leaves, or at least
steps down).  As players begin to trickle out, both formally and
informally, the nomic faces its second major hurdle.  Being able to survive
the loss of multiple influential players, along with having the energy to
survive a crises, is what defines an adult nomic.  Ackanomic hit this in
mid-March, when a number of players left (killing two of the three
political parties), followed promptly by the Quorum Crises.(2)  Having
survived both of these, Ackanomic had the potential for a long history.
Other nomics are not so successful: Pnomic watched its players trickle out
one by one until only three remained.
	The crucial factor for a nomic to survive into and through
adulthood is being able to keep people interested.  Interest in a nomic is
cyclical: interested player do things like make proposals, harf the game,
and perform other actions; when things happen players get interested.  Many
nomics fall apart when the summer doldrums cause a number of college age
players to take a hiatus and noone wants to bother to restart it.
Macronomic is a typical example.  Ackanomic itself has had several periods
like that in its history; several of them have brought nomic quite close to
death, once as close as a single vote.(3)  Thus far Ackanomic has managed
to recover each time; the best explanation is that Ackanomic has a critical
mass of players.  One of them usually begins making proposals, then
another, and so on.  Smaller nomics are less likely to have a player
attempt to revive it, and it is less likely that the other players will
join in.
	What lessons can this history give us?  Firstly, it is a reminder
that when a game does begin to slow, Ackans should take it into their own
hands to make proposals and perform actions.  Even if the proposals fail,
they will help get players thinking about the game.  The other lesson is
for any players who seek to found new nomics: be ready to invest real time
into it to help get it off the ground.  If you can't do that, wait until
you can or convince someone else to help you.

(1)breadbox, _The History of Ackanomic_ (Ackanomic Press:1998)
(2)ibid.
(3)else...if, ^Proposal 4161^ (Ackanomic Press:1999)

--
-Henry Towsner

	<[email-masked]>

	Thank heavens, the sun has gone in, and I don't have to go out and
enjoy it.
		-Logan Pearsall Smith

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

Subject: Acka: What Phoebe Said
From: Joseph DeVincentis <[email-masked]>
Date: Sat, 17 Jul 1999 23:09:29 -0400 (EDT)

I was sitting in the office in Vulcan Headquarters which has acted as
my home for months, getting ready for my upcoming vacation, when my
viewscreen lit up with the design of the lid of a blue and red matchbox.

I jumped up and quickly accepted the message.  Phoebe's tiny body was
displayed larger than life on my screen.  She was uncharacteristically
decked out in beige-and-green fatigues.

"Phoebe, what a welcome surprise!" I exclaimed.  "You have never paid
visits electronically before.  What's the special occasion, and where
are you, and what are you doing in that crazy getup?"

"One question at a time," she said.  "I am undercover in Agora.  What
better spy than somebody so tiny she almost can't be seen?  I'm wearing
these clothes so my shiny body doesn't give me away.  And I'm contacting
you this way because I have urgent news."

"Urgent news?"

"Yes.  There's a problem with Acka's Declaration of War rule."

"Go on, Phoebe."

"That rule automatically sends to Gaol all players who are registered
players of nomics we are at War with.  It doesn't just make them guilty
of a crime, it immediately and continuously places them in Gaol.
This is a problem because implicitly (but quite clearly) depends on the
rules of the other nomics to determine membership.  Other nomics may not
have the voluntary membership criterion we have come to rely on.  Agora
could just make all of us non-voting players in Agora, and send us all
to Gaol here, indefinitely!"

"Hmm, that's not good, Phoebe.  Thanks for the report.  I'll take
quick action."

/dev/joe

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End of ackanomic Digest V4 #190
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