Subject: Proposal: 21st Century Medicine (Again)

From: [email-masked]
Date: Thu, 04 Jan 2001 15:10:26 -0000

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Proposal - 21st Century Medicine (Again)

{ Reproposed in light of recent changes to the Ruleset. Players
are encouraged to update the PDP to include their details
*before* this Rule enacts. Doc is free to mete out whatever
punishment he sees fit to those who don't. }

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

Enact a new Rule, "The Player Details Page":-

The Player Details page (PDP) tracks various aspects of the
Gamestate, and is updated and moderated by the Players.
Whenever a Rule requires that a relevant piece of the
Gamestate be altered, any Player may make that alteration
via the PDP (unless a particular Player is specified to
make the change, in which case only he or she may do so).

All alterations are logged - if any Player feels that an
alteration goes against the Rules of DocNomic (as they were
at the time of the alteration), he or she may undo the
effects of that alteration (unless it was made more than
five days ago). If such an undoing is disputed, a Point of
Order should be raised.

Doc may choose to impose fines of up to 500 Cash, or beatings
of up to 120 Body Points damage, for any PDP alterations which
are against the Rules.

The data presented by the PDP shall be considered to be a legal
record of the relevant aspects of the Gamestate, although any
corrections to it shall take effect with as much retroactivity
as Doc feels appropriate.

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

In Rule 4 ("Publication"), replace the second paragraph with:-

Doc must publish the current Ruleset at
<http://web.syr.edu/~rsholmes/games/nomic/docnomic/doc_ruleset.html,>
and parts of the current Gamestate at
<http://web.syr.edu/~rsholmes/games/nomic/docnomic/doc_gamestate.html>
.
Other aspects of the Gamestate may be stored on the Player
Details page at <http://uncertain.org/~kevan/cgi-bin/docnomic.cgi>
No change to the Ruleset or Gamestate shall be considered to have
occurred until and unless it is so published. 

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

In Rule 11 ("Body, Soul and Cash"), reword the second paragraph to:-

Whenever a new Player joins the game, Doc shall give them a hundred
Body Points, a thousand Cash Points, and Soul Points equal to the
average Soul Points of all other Players (rounded down).

...and replace "During office hours, every player gains 240 cash
points." with "Any Player may collect their Wages if they have not
already done so since the most recent Office Hours. Upon doing so,
that Player may gain 240 Cash, via the Player Details page."

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

Repeal Rule 14 ("Cures").

To Rule 8 ("Pills"), add the following:-

A Player may take or discard a Pill they possess, at any time,
via the Player Details page. Whenever a Player takes a Pill, a
percentage success rating for each Pill is given in the Change
Log; this should be used to determine the Pill's success in
whatever effects are specified. (For example, if a Green Pill
has a 30% chance of curing a Player of Nasty Cough, a success
rating of 30% or less for a Green Pill means that the Player
is cured.)

In addition to any other effects that Pills may have on Players,
they also affect Body and Health Points, as follows: 

Yellow Gain 2 soul, 2 body 
Red Gain 1 soul, 2 body 
Blue Gain 1 soul, 1 body 
Green Gain 0 soul, 1 body 
Purple Gain 1 soul, -1 body 

(These effects are applied automatically by the Player Details
page.)

To the Disease "A Bit of a Cough", add:-

If a Player takes a Green Pill, and also took a Green Pill
between the previous two Office Hours, that Player is cured
of this Disease.

In the Disease "Fear of Rejection", replace "Whenever a player
with this disease has one of their proposals accepted, they are
immediately cured." with "Whenever a Player with this Disease
has one of their Proposals accepted, or takes a Purple Pill,
they are immediately cured."

Enact a new Rule, "Death":-

If a Player's Body Points or Soul Points are zero, that Player
is Dead and may take no further part in the current Round.

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

Reword Rule 15 ("Pill Exchange") to:-

Certain Pills may be swapped for others. Any Player may use the
Player Details page to exchange some of their own Pills for
other Pills (losing some Pills, then gaining others), at the
following rates:-

* Two Green Pills may be exchanged for one Red Pill.
* One Red Pill and one Blue Pill may be exchanged for one
Yellow Pill.
* One Yellow Pill may be exchanged for two Purple Pills.

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

Reword Rule 16 ("Nurse") to:-

The Nurse assists Doc in the running of the Hospital. The name
of the Player who holds the office of Nurse shall be part of
the Gamestate. 

At any time the Nurse may, unless he or she has done so already
since the most recent Office Hours, raid the pharmacy to gain
three Green Pills, 2 Soul Points and 5 Body Points.

If at any time the Nurse is unable to fulfill his or her role,
or that Player wishes to vacate the office, Doc must choose a
new Nurse to take over. 

{ Sadly, this job becomes almost entirely obsolete in the face of
modern technology. }

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

Reword Rule 17 ("Deliberate Contagion") to:-

A Player with an Airborne Disease may, at any time, pay 5 Soul
and 5 Body Points to give that Disease to another Player.

{ Simplification. I may pad it back out if I add a "Cough" action
to the PDP. }

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

Reword the first paragraph of Rule 24 ("Pharmacy") to:-

The Pharmacy sells pharmaceutical items to players for Cash. Any
Player may, at any time, buy the following items at the given costs.

{ No need for an actual Pharmacist any more. And pamphlets may be
added to the PDP if they start having an effect. }

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

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From: "Feyd " <[email-masked]>
Date: Thu, 04 Jan 2001 15:17:42 -0000

Surely you aren't suggesting that Doc punish players for not 
following a PROPOSAL?

Feyd

---

From: Ottis Airhart <[email-masked]>
Date: Thu, 04 Jan 2001 09:28:55 -0600

I'm not a true fan of this in total... first, I think that it will be VERY
difficult for new players to join the game... I think getting rid of most
of the Nurse's duties (pill taking etc) is very good. BUT, I think getting
rid of the Pharmacist is a mistake. I think that position (regardless of
who holds it) should remain the sole method for BUYING new pills. If a
black market is established, then players should be able to exchange pills
between each other, but not with the pharmacy, on their own. I also think
that it would be neat to see the Pharmacy only operate during "certain
hours" (say only on weekends or something like that) which would encourage
the black market if established.

Doc, in my humble opinion (IMHO), I would like to see this proposal passed
but I would like to encourage you to in your omnipotent power to not
include the Pharmacist changes. I would also encourage you to remain in
control of the "paycheck" every month since the money is become the primary
source of income for players. I don't think a game COMPLETELY run by the
players is always good. Having a few people with responsibility who are
active players promotes positive game play. I would also encourage you to
only accept this with the stipulation that pill exchanges be between
PLAYERS not with the pharmacy or nurse.

Just my opinion.
Ottis.

At 03:10 PM 1/4/2001 +0000, you wrote:
>To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to:
>[email-masked]
>
>

---

From: [email-masked]
Date: Thu, 04 Jan 2001 15:31:46 -0000

> Surely you aren't suggesting that Doc punish players for not 

I'm only underlining his earlier comments on the matter; I would have 
thought it was fairly obvious to everyone, by now, that Doc is in 
favour of the PDP being used to automate the Gamestate, and that a 
Proposal to start using it is going to pass at some point in the near 
future.

Kevan

--
http://uncertain.org/~kevan
"Resistance is useless."

---

From: [email-masked]
Date: Thu, 04 Jan 2001 15:40:18 -0000

> difficult for new players to join the game...

Hm, I don't think so. New player announces themselves, someone puts 
their stats up, I give them a password. No different to having to 
have someone update the eGroups database. If anything it makes life 
easier because the new player doesn't have to learn who and how to 
ask for various things. Or am I missing something?

> I think getting rid of most
> who holds it) should remain the sole method for BUYING new pills. 

I'm afraid I don't see how asking the Pharmacist to swap 40 Cash for 
a Yellow Pill is any different to asking a cgi-script.

> I also think

Possibly, although something like weekends would be unfair for people 
who only have Internet access through work. But even so, it's not a 
problem with the PDP - any purchases made during the week would just 
be considered illegal.

Kevan

--
http://uncertain.org/~kevan
"I've been in a mental hospital, but I don't
like to talk about it, all the same."

---

From: Ottis Airhart <[email-masked]>
Date: Thu, 04 Jan 2001 09:54:44 -0600

What I was actually referring to is that new players will have an even
steeper learning curve to start playing an already complex game (at least
to an outsider). I want the PDP... trust me... I don't think we can get
around the new player problems. We might need someone to help them get
started though... and don't say the Nurse (heh heh).

Concerning the Pharmacy hours, I was thinking that players can request pill
purchases anytime they wish, just that the Pharmacy only FILLS requests,
for instance, only between 5pm Friday and 8am Monday inclusive so that
there is an encouragement for player exchange it also keeps INSTANT cures
to be not as INSTANT. I don't think there is much fun in players
contracting diseases and in some cases being able to cure them within 5
minutes of infection. There might could be more of a demand than supply of
curing pills, at least until the pharmacist can fill them. If Doc's office
hours are on Thursday, and the Pharmacy was open on Friday then players who
were infected Thursday by Doc's dirty needles, ahem, I mean, by Doc's....
well, whatever he has that can make people sick, then it would be
interesting. Maybe the Pharmacy should be open on Wednesdays. The PDP could
even handle that! Players could only buy pills from the pharmacy on a
certain day of the week. nah. The pharmacist should hand out pills.

---

From: [email-masked]
Date: 04 Jan 2001 15:42:40 -0500

ACCEPTED. 1 green, 1 red.

This creates Rule 28.

Phobia check:

Britta, Jim, and Mark lose 5 SPs.

Feyd, Jeff, Jon, and Ottis have 28% chance of getting A-phobia:

4 random reals 0 < x < 1:
0.24102783203125
0.20782470703125
0.64508056640625
0.74871826171875

Feyd and Jeff do.

-- 
- Doc

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From: [email-masked]
Date: 04 Jan 2001 16:02:41 -0500

I altered a few of the things (by implicit Proclamation) in
implementing this proposal.

[...]
> occurred until and unless it is so published. 

I left in a mention of the eGroups databases, since that's where the
Blood Bank gamestate is kept. I re-ordered things a little, and I
took "or Gamestate" out of that last sentence. The omission was
deliberate in the first place. I don't want rule changes to take
effect until they're published, but I want gamestate changes to take
effect immediately -- if you want reasons I can give you a longer
discussion. 

> is Dead and may take no further part in the current Round.

This seemed much more natural as an amendment to the "Body, Soul, and
Cash" rule.

> Reword Rule 15 ("Pill Exchange") to:-

Rule 15 was just repealed, so this was ignored.

-- 
- Doc

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From: [email-masked]
Date: Fri, 05 Jan 2001 17:13:54 -0000

Because of their good health, whenever an Epidemiologist would 
normally contract any disease, e gets one additional 25% change to 
NOT catch the disease. 

--- In [email-masked], rsholmes@m... wrote:
> kevan@s... writes:

---

From: [email-masked]
Date: 08 Jan 2001 19:37:49 -0500

> > 4 random reals 0 < x < 1:

Right.

1 random reals 0 < x < 1:
0.019744873046875

So Feyd does NOT get Agoraphobia.

-- 
- Doc