Subject: File - ruleset.txt

From: [email-masked]
Date: 8 Jun 2003 07:50:50 -0000

::: THERMODYNOMIC
0	The full name of this game of Nomic shall be 'ThermodyNomic'.
0.1	Those who need a shorter name for this Nomic may refer to it by the nickname 'Thermo'.
0.2	Because Thermo is a relatively new Nomic, players are not to try to kill it.
0.3	To ensure that random selections occur without fraud, dice@p... shall be used whenever anything random is called for.
0.4	The Official Mailing List is http://groups.yahoo.com/group/thermodynomic/ and can be accessed by e-mail at [email-masked]
0.5	There are no restrictions on players entering the Nomic Market.
Comment:	

::: FIRST SACRED LAW
1.1	No proposal may be submitted whose passage would directly increase the number of Things in the game, unless it is explicitly permitted by rules in the group headed FIRST SACRED LAW.
1.2	A Registration Proposal may, if passed, increase the number of Things in the game by up to two, one of which is of course the player who submits that proposal.
1.3	Whenever a player Registers and the number of Therms exceeds the number of players by at least five, all players recieve a Coin and the number of Therms is set to zero.
1.4	Whenever the number of Things is decreased, the removed Things of that type are destroyed.
Comment:	The number of things can only increase when the game is influenced by external people.

::: SECOND SACRED LAW
2.1	Any player who submits a proposal that would destroy at least three Things recieves a Coin if that proposal passes.
2.2	If two weeks have gone by without a proposal passing, a Thing is chosen at random and destroyed.
Comment:	Without external influence, the number of Things may slowly decrease as they are replaced by Therms.

::: THIRD SACRED LAW
3.1	If a rule in one of the Three Sacred Laws conflicts with another rule which is not in one of the Three Sacred Laws, the rule in the Sacred Law takes precedence.
3.2	If two rules contradict one another, the rule with the lower number takes precedence.
3.3	No proposal to alter one of the Three Sacred Laws may pass if any player votes against the proposal.
Comment:	This makes sure the Three Sacred Laws remain inviolate. It has some redundancies, but they are a safety net in case parts of the Second Sacred Law destroy the other locations of them.

::: THE RULESET
4	A rule is a single sentence.
4.1	Every rule shall include a real number which uniquely identifies it.
4.2	A group of rules is any number of rules under a common heading, followed by a short commentary on the rules of that group.
4.3	The commentary within a group of rules shall not affect what is and is not legal.
4.4	Anything not prohibited by the rules is permitted.
4.5	The Ruleset shall consist of all groups of rules.
4.6	A group of rules is not a Thing, it is a collection of Things.
Comment:	Groups of rules serve as a coherent whole, acting as a single rule would in most Nomics. However, individual rules are not ammendable, but groups are, so it is helpful to have short individual rules.

::: PROPOSALS
5	A proposal consists of any number of suggested creations or destructions of Things, and the creation, destruction, or alteration of any number of comments and group headings in the ruleset.
5.1	A proposal belongs to the person who submits it.
5.2	A pending proposal is a proposal which obeys the Three Sacred Laws, has been submitted to the official mailing list, and has not expired.
5.3	A proposal may expire in only as directed in the rules within the group headed by the word PROPOSALS.
5.4	A proposal expires if all players vote on it.
5.5	A legal vote consists of FOR, AGAINST, or ABSTAIN.
5.6	To vote on a proposal, a player must announce what pending proposal they are voting on and how they choose to vote.
5.7	A proposal expires if one week has passed since it was submitted.
5.8	No player may vote on a proposal which is not pending and does not request Support.
5.9	If a player votes on a Proposal, and has already voted, eir previous vote is nullified an instant before the new vote becomes legal.
5.91	A Proposal may request a Support of Coins be established for said proposal, and if destroying said Coins as an action of said proposal would allow said proposal to become pending, then the destruction of all Coins assigned to said proposal's Support of Coins is considered an action of said proposal, and thus said proposal becomes pending.
5.92	Any player may assign any number of Coins which said player possesses to be considered part of a proposal's Support of Coins.
5.93	Any Proposal which has not become pending within one week of its submission is destroyed.
5.991	The person who submitted a proposal may destroy that proposal, if there are not currently more FOR votes than AGAINST votes on it, by announcing eir wish to do so on the mailing list.
Comment:	This defines the process of submitting proposals, and voting on them.

::: CHANGING THE GAMESTATE
6	The Three Sacred Laws are the groups of rules headed FIRST SACRED LAW, SECOND SACRED LAW, and THIRD SACRED LAW.
6.1	A proposal may pass only as defined in the rules within the group headed by the phrase CHANGING THE GAMESTATE.
6.2	A proposal which does not suggest altering one or more of the Three Sacred Laws passes if and only if, at the time it expires, the number of votes cast FOR it exceeds the number of votes cast AGAINST it.
6.3	A proposal which suggests altering one or more of the Three Sacred Laws passes if and only if, at the time it expires, the number of votes cast FOR it exceeds the number of ABSTAIN votes it recieves, and it recieves no votes AGAINST it.
6.4	When a proposal passes, the changes it suggests are adopted.
6.5	No changes to the gamestate may occur except as defined in the ruleset.
6.6	No proposal may modify any individual rule, aside from adding or removing it.
6.7	Destruction of a Thing shall be considered to alter that thing, but not modify it.
6.8	Any player may give any Thing e posesses to any other player by stating eir intent to do so on the official mailing list.
Comment:	This defines what a proposal is and what is needed for a proposal to pass. 6.7 clarifies why you can destroy a rule but not rewrite the TSLs with a single dissenting vote despite 6.1, 6.2, and 6.6.

Former Speaker Craig's editorial note - not officially part of the ruleset - I find 6.7 a bit kludgey. If anyone has any idea how to fix that, I'm all ears.

::: DEREGISTRATION
7	A player is someone who has registered more recently than ey has deregistered.
7.1	A player may deregister by announcing that ey wishes to do so.
7.2	If a player has been a player for at least a week and e has not posted a message to the offical mailing list in the past week, e is deregistered.
7.3	When a player deregisters, one of eir Coins is destroyed, and all eir things are distributed randomly between all other players.
Comment:	This defines how to not be a player.

::: REGISTRATION
8	A proposal submitted by a non-player is called a registration proposal.
8.1	Nobody may submit a registration proposal if a registration propsal ey submitted is currently a pending proposal.
8.2	A person who submits a registration proposal which subsequently passes is considered to have registered.
Comment:	This group of rules prevents a player who does not have any good ideas from joining.

::: THINGS
9	A Thing is any item declared by the rules to be a Thing.
9.1	Players, rules, offices, proposals, Coins, and hot potatoes are all Things.
9.2	No new type of Thing may be created without adding it to the list of Things.
9.3	Whenever a Thing is destroyed, the number of Therms is increased by one.
9.4	A player who deregisters is considered to have been destroyed.
9.5	A player who is destroyed automatically deregisters.
9.6	A rule which is destroyed is automatically removed from the ruleset.
9.7	Any Thing which is not a player, Rule, or The Bank, must be possessed by a player or The Bank.
Comment:	This defines Things. Coins are intended to be a currency, and The Bank is a Thing which posesses all Coins not in the posession of a player.

::: OFFICES
10	Each individual office shall be declared to exist by the rules of the group headed OFFICES
10.1	Each individual office carries with it its own duties.
10.2	An office exists known as the Office of the Speaker, whose possessor shall be called the Speaker.
10.3	The Speaker shall be in charge of tabulating votes and making any random decisions that the rules do not ask another player to make.
10.4	The Speaker shall also be in charge of keeping track of Things.
10.5	There is an office known as the Stenotype, whose posessor, the Stenographer, is responsible for tracking all past judgements and for assigning Judges and Appelate Justices.
10.6	Whenever any proposal is passed, the Bank will give one Coin to the person who submitted the proposal and one Coin to the Speaker.
10.7	Whenever a CFJ is judged and not appealed within a week, the Bank will give one Coin to the Judge and one Coin to the Stenographer.
10.8	Whenever a decision is reached on the appeal of a CFJ, the Bank will give one Coin to each of the Appelate Justices who returned judgements and one Coin to the Stenographer.
Comment:	This group lists offices, of which the initial ruleset only has one.

::: JUDGEMENT
11	Any person may post a message containing a clearly labelled Call For Judgement.
11.01	A Call For Judgement may only be submitted by a Player.
11.1	A Call For Judgement must be a statement which does not concern any other Call For Judgement.
11.2	When a Call For Judgement is issued, the Stenographer shall randomly choose a player, who shall be known as the Judge.
11.3	The Judge of a Call For Judgement must be a player other than the one who posted the Call For Judgement.
11.4	The Judge of a Call For Judgement shall post a message indicating whether ey judges it to be true or false.
11.5	The statement of a Judge shall be binding, unless it is appealed.
11.6	Calls For Judgement shall be appealed only as defined by the rules in the group headed APPEALS.
11.7	A Judge who has deregistered before ey have communicated eir Judgement, will be replaced with another player randomly selected, by the Stenographer, from amongst those players who have not yet been directly involved with the Call For Judgement, unless there are no such players remaining, in which case the next player to register will be assigned.
Comment:	This group lays the groundwork for Calls For Judgement. Judges who are no longer able to carry out eir duties, due to deregistration, will be relieved of such duties.

::: APPEALS
12	When a player feels that a Call For Judgement ey has issued has been judged unfairly, ey may post a message announcing eir intent to appeal it.
12.1	When a player appeals a Call For Judgement, three players, to be known as Appelate Justices, shall be randomly chosen, who shall not include the Judge or the player who called the Call For Judgement.
12.2	All Appelate Justices shall announce whether they consider the Call For Judgement in question to be true or false.
12.566	The decision of the majority of Appellate Justices shall be binding, and not subject to appeal.
12.6	An Appellate Justice who has deregistered before ey have communicated eir Judgement, will be replaced with another player randomly selected, by the Stenographer, from amongst those players who have not yet been directly involved with the Call For Judgement, unless there are no such players remaining, in which case the next player to register will be assigned.
Comment:	This allows for Calls For Judgement to be appealed. Appellate Justices who are no longer able to carry out eir duties, due to deregistration, will be relieved of such duties.

::: PAST JUDGEMENTS
13	Whenever a decision on a Call For Judgement is not appealed within two weeks, and the Call For Judgment is judged true, the sentences of the Call For Judgement shall be added, one by one, to the ruleset in the group headed PAST JUDGEMENTS and may edit the comment for said group.
13.1	When a rule is added to PAST JUDGEMENTS, its number must be higher than any previously existing rule.
15.001	It is not necessary for a registration proposal to have a posessor.
15.002	Because the proposal 'stop stealing my damn coins' will, if passed, create a rule which must be assigned a number which not only cannot be assigned but cannot exist, the clause in question must be ignored.
15.003	Craig successfully entered the Market prior to the submission of this CFJ.
15.004	There are currently no restrictions in the rules on players entering the Nomic Market.
15.005	For some period of time prior to the submission of this CFJ but after the creation of the Nomic Market, Craig had zero Coins for the purposes of the Market.
15.006	The proposal, known as "Proposal 3", Submitted on Thursday, the 10th of April 2003 at 10:16pm by unlin_e, was submitted illegally under Rule 1.1 .
15.007	Rule 7.3 did not destroy any points upon Josh's deregistration of April 10, 2003, as there was nothing to destroy.
Comment:	

::: POTATOES
15	Each Hot Potato must have its own unique name, and it must also have a description of when its effect occurs and what that effect is.
Comment:	The intent of these rules is that hot potatoes will be created which in some way harm their posessors, so that players will frantically give them to one another as the appointed time draws near.