Subject: proposal: Amendment to rule 24 (Pharmacy)

From: [email-masked]
Date: Fri, 26 Jan 2001 17:17:43 -0000

A revised, briefer, proposal.

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

Replace the current text of rule 24 (The Pharmacy) with the following:

i) Players may buy pills from the pharmacy, or sell them to the 
pharmacy, for cash. The pharmacy can never have a negative quantity 
of any pill in stock. Pill purchases and sales must be made using the 
PDP.

ii) In the interests of patient health and safety, no player may 
purchase more than 3 pills of each type from the pharmacy in one day.

iii) Pricing: The price at which players may purchase a pill is 
calculated as follows, rounded to the nearest integer:

If (Play >= Pills) then 
Cost := ((Play-Pills) * C/4) + (C * 1.5) 
Else 
Cost := C - ((Pills - Play)/4) 
END IF 
Where: Play = Number of players 
Pills = Number of pills of that color 
C = Base cost of that color pill 

The price at which a player may sell an unused pill (not even 
slightly sucked please) back to the pharmacy is calculated by 
subtracting 10 from the result of the above formula, or zero where 
the result would otherwise be less than zero. 

iv) Base Cost of items stocked by the pharmacy:

1 yellow pill	40 cash points 
1 purple pill	35 cash points 
1 red pill	30 cash points 
1 blue pill	25 cash points 
1 green pill 20 cash points 

1 "Getting over your addiction" pamphlet	0 cash points 
1 "101 ways to avoid infection" pamphlet	0 cash points 

v) Pills are made only in the pharmacy, and may not be created by any 
other means.

All pills given to players by Doc as perks, or provided through the 
action of any other rule, must therefore be withdrawn from the 
Pharmacy stocks. 

vi) The pharmacy's stocks are increased by the Nurse once during
each 
Nurse's Office Hours by the following quantities, rounded to the 
nearest integer, where n = the number of players at that time:

Yellow pills: n * 1.2
Red pills: n * 1.2
Blue pills: n * 1.2
Green pills: n * 2
Purple pills: n * 1

vii) Records of the Pharmacy's stocks, and the current pill price 
list, are maintained on the Player Details Page. Pamphlets are 
printed to order, and given out free by the pharmacy. The PDP need 
not keep records pertaining to pamphlet stocks.

viii) The following are interim measures while this rule is being 
brought into force:

When the PDP is able to maintain records regarding stocks and prices, 
this rule will be enacted fully by proclamation by Doc. Until that 
time, the pre-existing rules will continue to the extent that:
a) the pharmacy is considered to have an inexhaustible supply of 
pills; 
b) the Nurse is not required to replenish pharmacy stocks, and 
c) Doc may continue to create pills to give to players

On full enactment of this rule, the pharmacy will be provided with 
initial stocks of 30 pills of each type.

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

(Give a pill to Feyd for the formula as well. I'm sure he could
do 
with one.)
(for information, the formula leads to the following prices:

Number	Number	green	yellow	
players	pills	price	price	
8	1	65	130	
8	3	55	110	
8	5	45	90	
8	7	35	70	
8	10	19.5	39.5	
8	15	18.25	38.25	
8	20	17	37	
8	25	15.75	35.75	
8	30	14.5	34.5	<- initial pricing.
8	40	12	32	
8	50	9.5	29.5	

base=20	base=40	)

---

From: [email-masked]
Date: Fri, 26 Jan 2001 19:15:57 -0000

It is important to note that pill sales should be computed by the PDP 
one at a time. If you can sell in bulk at the current fixed price 
then players can generate infinite amounts of currency. Keven will 
need to be aware of this as he programs the PDP. 

Feyd

> (Give a pill to Feyd for the formula as well. I'm sure he could
Thanks...

jim

---

From: [email-masked]
Date: 26 Jan 2001 20:51:15 -0500

> initial stocks of 30 pills of each type.

REJECTED. Jeff's concerns strike me as valid ones. In addition:

(1) Since the Pharmacy stocks and pill prices are not information
about Players, it does not strike me as sensible to handle that
information through the PDP. Of course, to conduct a "buy pills"
transaction, some entity has to know the pill price. But as Jeff
points out, pill purchases are infrequent enough that they don't
have to be highly automated. The person who enters the
transaction in the PDP could look up the price elsewhere and type
it into a text entry field on the PDP along with the quantity.

(2) I find the pricing formula a bit ambiguous. "Pills = Number of
pills of that color" -- which number of pills does this refer to?
The number being purchased? The number the player has? The
number the pharmacy has? The number that exist anywhere?

(3) The handling of perks is unclear. Perks are said to come from
pharmacy stock. Who removes them from pharmacy stock? Who, if
anyone, pays for them?

Martin has FoR.

-- 
- Doc