Subject: Direction needed.

From: "Snow" <snowl@s...>
Date: Wed, 17 May 2000 17:04:10 +0100

We need to decide what we're doing or not doing, before we start doing
it. The questions I think we need to answer are:

a) Does everything work as it is?
b) Do we want a "static" version of the game?
c) Do we want to scrap everything and start again?
d) If yes to (c), do we go down the "one person rewrite track".
e) Do we drop the Nomic side? If so what do we replace it with?

These are my views:

a) No
b) Yes
c) Yes
d) I think we need a one-person editor to start with.
e) We drop it initially, to make things work fast, once we have a
reasonable stable ruleset we reintroduce it, but modified.

The plan I would suggest is:

1) Everyone has a good old shouting match about what the game needs
and what it doesn't. Each person can contribute bits of ruleset
(including bits of the current ruleset).
2) Someone is made editor and goes off with all the bits of ruleset
and tries to tie them up. If there are gaps either e tries to fill
them eirself or makes a note for everyone to think about.
3) Everyone looks at the ruleset and we have a vote on whether it is
acceptable as a starting point. If not goto (1).
4) We then start up some form of fast-track Nomic system to edit the
ruleset.
5) Once the ruleset is "stable" we modify the nomic system so that it
can only be changed with a large majority.
6) We play.

Before all that I think we would need to decide on the democratic
systems we will use at each stage (how we decide the editor, how we
vote to approve the intial ruleset, how the fast-track nomic works,
how the stable nomic works). I would also suggest that these systems
be kept separate from the game rules (to avoid confusion to newbies).

I keep using the word nomic in all this, but I am advocating a game
which is essentially not a nomic, and thus a different game to
Mornomic.

What does everybody think?

Snow
-Fighting custard for the good of the planet..

---

From: "Wayper, Paul" <WayperP@p...>
Date: Thu, 18 May 2000 09:05:00 +1000

> a) Does everything work as it is?

Yes

> b) Do we want a "static" version of the game?

No

> c) Do we want to scrap everything and start again?

No

> d) If yes to (c), do we go down the "one person rewrite track".

No

> e) Do we drop the Nomic side? If so what do we replace it with?

No. Keep it.

I think you miss another fundamental feature of our current conditions. At
the moment play seems to be stalled because people don't have the time to
play. In this situation, the chances of someone actually having enough time
to sit down and rewrite vast quantities of ruleset are slim at best.
Therefore, if we do go down that path we can expect the entire game to
crumble into a wilderness of flaky revisions, hesitation, and apathy. This
is not a Good Thing, in my opinion.

I've been having conversations with ky (from MCiOS) and she's found my Guide
(now called the Hitchhiker's Guide to MC) very useful. That from a player
completely new to both MC and Nomics is a telling point, again IM(PNSH)O.

What did other people think of it?

Paul Wayper -- DPI IS&S ITO Computer Systems Officer
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