Parties
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Section 0: Emergencies and Dictators
Rule 0: In Case of Emergency
For the purposes of this rule, the term "Potential Emergency
Participant" (or PEP) shall mean each of the current players of the
game as defined by other rules. However, if who the current players
are in the game is unclear, uncertain, or ambiguous, or if there are
less than four such players, then it shall instead mean who the
players were before such uncertainty or drop in player count.
Each PEP has in his possession a Game Object called a Panic Button. If
a PEP does not have such an object, a Panic Button is created and
given to em. If a PEP has more than one Panic Button, all except one
are destroyed. If an Object that is not a PEP has a Panic Button, his
Panic Button is destroyed.
Each Panic Button has a state of being Off or On. All Panic Buttons
are initially Off.
A PEP may post a message to a Public Forum or any forum that within
the past month was a Public Forum stating that he is Hitting his Panic
Button. If he does so, his Panic Button becomes On.
A PEP may post a message to a Public Forum or any forum that within
the past month was a Public Forum stating that he is Stopping his
Panic Button. If he does so, his Panic Button becomes Off.
If there exist at least four Panic Buttons which are On, B Nomic
becomes in a State Of Emergency. When this occurs, the following
Procedure happens:
1. Game time is stopped. Whatever means used in the Game to track time
is stopped as of the beginning of the Emergency. Pending events and
deadlines relative to Game time, with the exception of those specified
in this rule, are postponed until Game time resumes. Pending events
and deadlines with absolute dates and times do not occur.
2. The PEP who most recently held the Minister of Ministries becomes
the Emergency Coordinator. If this Emergency Coordinator does not
exist, or it is unclear which PEP it is, or if he does not possess the
Active property, then the PEP that first attempts to organize running
this Procedure becomes the Emergency Coordinator.
3. The Emergency Coordinator designates a means for PEPs to
communicate as the Emergency Forum and makes a reasonable effort to
notify other PEPs about the Forum's existence.
4. The Emergency Coordinator makes a statement to the Emergency Forum
that he is initializing the Pause. The Procedure tracks time spent
using the Pause. When the Emergency Coordinator initializes the Pause
it is zero. Thereafter, until the completion of the Procedure, the
Pause is increased by one each day at 00:00:00 UTC. Once per day, the
Emergency Coordinator may announce to the Emergency forum their
intention to increment the pause. If no PEP voices objection to this
action on the Emergency Forum within 24 hours, then the value of the
Pause is incremented by one.
5. Refresh Proposals are submitted. The Forum will be used to submit,
discuss, select and implement proposed changes to the state of the
Game (hereafter in this rule known as "Refresh Proposals") for the
purpose of either resuming or ending the Game. PEPs and the Emergency
Coordinator may each submit a Refresh Proposal. A Refresh Proposal
consists of a list of changes to the game which may affect any aspect
of the Game or the state of the Game, including, but not limited to:
rules, scores or other player attributes, the valid list of players,
current holders of any Ministries, the legitimacy and/or actuality of
any action taken in the context of the Game, etc.
6. A first-round Ballot is formed. When the value of the Pause is 5,
the Emergency Coordinator will gather all submitted Refresh Proposals
into a Ballot on which PEPs will vote.
7. First-round votes are cast. Each PEP casts a single vote to select
one of the Refresh Proposals in the Ballot. Votes are cast by
announcing them via the Forum.
8. When the value of the Pause is 7, first-round votes are counted.
The Emergency Coordinator will count all the submitted votes and
announce to the Forum which Refresh Proposal received the largest
number of votes. If only one Refresh Proposal received the largest
number of votes, it is selected and the Procedure skips to step 12;
otherwise the Procedure continues to Step 9.
9. A second-round Ballot is formed. Refresh Proposals that tied for
the largest number of votes received in the prior Ballot will be
gathered into a second Ballot on which players will vote.
10. Second-round votes are cast. Each PEP casts a single vote to
select one of the Refresh Proposals in the second Ballot. Votes are
cast by announcing them via the Forum.
11. When the value of the Pause is 9, second-round votes are counted.
The Emergency Coordinator will count all the submitted votes and
announce to the Forum which Refresh Proposal in the second Ballot
received the largest number of votes. If only one Refresh Proposal
received the largest number of votes, it is selected; otherwise the
Emergency Coordinator selects one of the Refresh Proposals.
12. All changes listed in the selected Refresh Proposal occur,
implemented by the Emergency Coordinator as needed. All Panic Buttons
become Off.
If at any point during the procedure, there are less than four Panic
Buttons On, the procedure stops and B Nomic stops being in a State of
Emergency, and normal Game time resumes.
Section 1: Foundation
Rule 1-1: The Game of B
The name of this game is B Nomic.
Rule 1-2: Game Objects
The game of B Nomic consists entirely of Game Objects, which may be
known simply as Objects. Anything that exists in the game is an
Object, and anything that is not an Object is not in the game.
Game Objects can only be created, destroyed, or modified if allowed by
the Rules, in a manner explicitly governed by the Rules.
Rule 1-3: Outsiders
An External Force is anything which exists independently of the game.
That is, it would still exist if the game stopped existing, and would
still exist if the game had never started existing.
An Outsider is a Game Object representing the projection into the Game
of an External Force. As a Game Object, an Outsider is bound by the
Rules. These Rules do not purport to regulate External Forces except
in relation to their interaction with the Game as Outsiders. [[ i.e.,
something that exists outside of the game but is also acknowledged by
the rules as influencing the state of the game, and thus exists within
the game as well, such as a player.]]
Rule 1-4: Joining and Leaving
There exists a ministry known as the Ministry of Society. The Minister
of Society, also known as the Registrar, is responsible for
maintaining a Public Display of the current Players and Factions and
their Attributes and Properties, as well as a Public Display of the
current Public and Discussion Fora.
A Player is an Outsider who consents to be governed by the rules,
fulfills all requirements for continued playerhood specified by the
rules, and has become a Player in a manner specified by the rules.
An External Force may become a Player by posting a message to a Public
Forum containing a request to become a Player and a uniquely
identifying name that e wishes to be known by.
A Player may cease to be a Player by Forfeiting the game; this must be
done in a Public Forum unless there are no working public fora, in
which case he may notify the Player he most recently knew was
Registrar privately instead.
No restrictions may be placed on when a player may forfeit; any player
may forfeit the game at any time (regardless of any timekeeping device
used in the game).
Player names must consist of between 1 and 64 characters from the
following list:
* Letters of the alphabet
* Underscores (_), dashes (-), or apostrophes (')
* Decimal digits
* Spaces
For the purposes of identifying players, and determining uniqueness of
names, the following conventions are to be used:
* Uppercase letters are to be considered equivalent to their
lowercase counterparts, and vice-versa.
* Sequences of one or more consecutive spaces are to be considered
identical.
* Leading or trailing sequences of spaces may be disregarded or introduced.
Where a player's name might be ambiguous with other grammatical forms,
it may be surrounded by double quote characters (") to differentiate
it from surrounding text.
A player may change his name at any time, unless otherwise prohibited,
by posting a message to a Public Forum, stating his intent to do so,
and clearly stating both his "old" and "new" names. Such name changes
take effect upon recognition by the Registrar.
A Player may cause any other Player who has become a player within the
past 12 ndays to cease to be a Player with 3 Support. He must state
the reason for such action.
Rule 1-8: Rules
Rules are Game Documents that define how this game is played. Each
Rule may have a Name and a Number.
Rules may be contained in Sections, which may each have a Name and a Number.
There exists a ministry known as the Ministry of Law. The Minister of
Law, also known as the Rulekeeper, is responsible for maintaining a
Public Display of the current Rules and Victory Conditions.
The Rulekeeper may, as a Game Action, do any of the following:
* Add, change, or remove a Rule's Number.
* Create a Section.
* Add, change, or remove a Section's Number or Name.
* Remove a Section, causing all Rules in that section to no longer
be contained by a Section.
* Move a Rule into a Section.
Rule 1-9: Fora
A Forum is any External Force that allows Outsiders to communicate.
Each forum may be designated as one of the terms Private, Public, or
Discussion. All Fora are initially Private.
Rule 1-10: Game Actions
A Game Action is defined as any activity specified by the rules to be
a Game Action. Other Outsiders may also take Game Actions if
explicitly permitted by the rules. To perform a Game Action, an
Outsider must post a message to a Public Forum specifying that he is
taking that action. He must also specify any targets and/or parameters
necessary for that action [[for example, you must specify a proposal
in order to vote against a proposal]]. He may list multiple actions
that he wishes to take, in which case he takes them in the order he
lists them. He may also state a specific positive integer to perform a
particular action that many times (if legal, of course) sequentially.
The Rules also have the power to cause an Outsider to take Game
Actions whether he posts or not.
Game Actions occur upon reaching the appropriate fora, in the order
they arrived, unless a rule states otherwise. A Game Action that is
caused by a Rule instead of by a Forum Post takes place at the time
specified by the rule.
An Outsider may post a message to a Public Forum specifying that he
will perform a specified Game Action at a specified time in the future
[[UTC or with reference to starts and ends of ndays]]. A Game Action
performed in this manner takes place at the time specified by the
Outsider.
Text to the effect that "any player may do X" should be interpreted to
mean that X is a Game Action; but such a declaration implies that only
players may take the Game Action X (unless another declaration permits
other Outsiders to as well).
Rule 1-11: Submission
The rules may state that it is legal for Outsiders to Submit certain
document types as a Game Action. To Submit a Game Document, an
Outsider must provide a full description of the Document in the Public
Forum message where they take the Action of Submitting.
Rule 1-12: Eras
The First Era of B Nomic is the time starting with the creation of the
game (approx. 5 Dec 2001, prompted by a five-month lull in A Nomic)
and ending immediately before the start of The Second Era of B Nomic.
The Second Era of B Nomic is the time starting with nweek 85 (approx.
4 Apr 2005, prompted by data loss when the bnomic.org server crashed)
and ending immediately before the start of The Third Era of B Nomic.
The Third Era of B Nomic is the time starting with nweek 112 (approx.
14 Nov 2006, prompted by another five-month lull) and ending
immediately before the start of The Fourth Era of B Nomic
The Fourth Era of B Nomic is the time starting with nweek 135 (10 Dec
2007, prompted by a second State of Emergency in 2 nweeks), and
continuing to the present.
Rule 1-13: A Peculiar Quality
Any Game Object may possess a non-negative, finite, number of Properties.
A Property is described by a unique string of alphanumeric characters.
Properties may only be granted or removed as described in the rules,
or by proposal.
Rule 1-14: Attributes
An Attribute is a game object, defined in the rules. Each Attribute
has a Scope, a Range, and a Default Value. The Scope is a set of Game
Objects to which the Attribute applies. The Range is the set of
possible values for the Attribute. The Default Value is an element of
the Range.
Each element of the Scope of an Attribute possesses an Instance of
that Attribute. If the element in question does not possess such an
Instance, one is created immediately. If a Game Object outside the
Scope of an Attribute possesses an Instance of that Attribute, the
Instance in question is destroyed immediately.
Instances of an Attribute are Game Objects which have a Value. The
Value of an Attribute must be a member of the Range of the Attribute.
When created, the Value of an Instance is its Attribute's Default
Value, unless otherwise specified.
For brevity, the value of an instance of an attribute of some object
may be referred to as the value of that attribute on the object in
question.
The Scope, Range, and Default Value of Attributes are static and
defined in the Rules. The Value of Instances of Attributes can be
changed only as specified in the Rules.
Rule 1-16: Transactions
As a Game Action, an Outsider can submit a Transaction. A Transaction
consists of:
* A clear statement marking the Start of the Transaction, such as
"BEGIN TRANSACTION".
* A list of Game Actions and assertions about the state of the game.
* A clear statement marking the End of the Transaction, such as
"END TRANSACTION".
The list is considered in sequence. If it would be legal for the
Outsider to take each Game Action within the Transaction exactly as
specified, and each assertion would be true at the time it occurs
within the list if the Game Actions were so taken, then the
Transaction is said to Succeed. Otherwise, the Transaction is said to
Fail. If it cannot be determined with finality and certainty whether
or not a Transaction Succeeds, then the Transaction Fails.
The Game Actions in a Transaction that Succeeds occur just as though
the Outsider had taken them individually.
A Transaction that Fails has no effect.
Rule 1-18: untitled
Whatever is not prohibited or regulated by a rule is permitted and
unregulated. However, for the purposes of this rule an action or
object is regulated if described by a rule.
Section 2: Gameplay
Rule 2-1: NTime
Definition
There is a Game Object known as The Clock. The Clock consists of the
following values:
* A positive integer known as the nweek
* A positive integer known as the nday
* A state of being Off or On
* A nonnegative integer known as the ndelay
Clock Changes
At midnight (00:00:00) Coordinated Universal Time (UTC), if the Clock
is On, then the nday is incremented by 1. Otherwise, the ndelay is
incremented by 1. [[An online UTC clock is available at
http://www.time.gov/.]]
If the nday would be set to a value greater than 12, instead it is set
to 1, the nweek is incremented by 1, and the Clock becomes Off.
At the beginning of each Voting Period, the Clock becomes Off, and
until the Clock next becomes On, the Chairman may as a Game Action
change the clock to be On, provided he has first published to a Public
Forum a Ballot listing any Open Proposals and their text or a link to
said text.
The Clock may be changed from On to Off as a Game Action by the MoM.
If there are no Vacant Ministries, the Clock may be changed from Off
to On as a Game Action by the MoM. The MoM should not start the clock
until the Minister of Change has published to the Public Forum the
results of the previous nweek's voting, if any. When the Clock is
turned On, the ndelay is set to zero.
Time
Each time that the Clock nday value changes a new nday begins. /*the
previous nday ends in the moment immediately before the Clock change*/
A period of one nday is the time intervening between two consecutive
changes of the Clock nday value. Each time that the Clock nweek value
changes a new nweek begins. /*the previous nweek ends in the moment
immediately before the Clock change*/ A period of one nweek is the
time intervening between two consecutive changes of the Clock nweek
value.
When the clock turns off, and each time that the Clock ndelay value
changes to a value different from 0 a new ndelay begins. When the
clock turns on, the current ndelay immediately ends. While the clock
is off a period of one ndelay is the time intervening between two
consecutive changes of the Clock ndelay value.
Durations
A duration to the effect of "X ndays", where X is a number, shall be
interpreted to mean that the duration ends at the end of the nday
after X consecutive changes of that value. [[Thus, if it is currently
the middle of nday 2, something happening "in 2 ndays" will occur at
the end of nday 4.]]
A duration to the effect of "X ndelays", where X is a number, shall be
interpreted to mean that the duration ends at the end of the ndelay
after X consecutive changes of that value. The resetting of an ndelay
to 0 from the Clock being turned On does not count as a change for the
purposes of this paragraph.
A duration to the effect of "X nweeks", where X is a number, shall be
interpreted to mean that the duration ends at the end of the nday when
the nday is the same value, but the nweek is increased by X.
A duration to the effect of "X rdays", where X is a number, shall be
interpreted to mean the duration ends after X occurrences of midnight
UTC.
Nyears
A period of 10 nweeks is known as an nyear. Hence, the first 10 nweeks
(1-10 on the Clock) comprise nyear 1, the second (11-20 on the Clock)
comprise nyear 2, and so on.
Starts and ends of nday
All events occurring at the end of an nday occur before all events
occurring at the beginning of the next nday.
Rule 2-2: Proposals
The Ministry of Change
There exists a ministry known as the Ministry of Change. The Minister
of Change, also known as the Chairman, is responsible for maintaining
a Public Display of the current Proposals, including whether they have
passed or failed if applicable.
Definition
Proposals are Game Documents. Each proposal has the following properties:
* A Title, which is a string
* A Body, which is a block of text that contains a list of
instructions that if followed would result in changes to the state of
the game
* A Status, which is one of Pending, Open, or Historical
* A Success state, which is one of Won, Lost or Undecided
* A Proposal Number, which is an integer or null
* A set of Conflicts, which are other proposals
* A set of Dependencies, which are other proposals
If, in a set of two proposals, either lists the other as a Conflict,
those proposals are said to Conflict with each other.
If one proposal lists another on its list of Dependencies, then the
first is said to Depend on the second.
/* Note that a proposal may contain text in addition to its list of
gamestate changes, but this text is generally ignored. It may be
unclear whether or not a particular part of the text is a gamestate
change; determining this is left to the Chairman and the justice
system. */
Submission and Revision
Any player may submit a proposal at any time, or may revise a Pending
proposal he owns by resubmitting it, unless a rule says otherwise. To
submit a proposal, a player need only specify its Body. He may
optionally also specify its Title, Conflicts, and Dependencies; if any
of these are not specified, they default to being empty.
The player who submits a proposal is known as the Proposal's Author,
and is said to own that proposal.
When a new proposal is submitted, it is assigned the Status Pending,
the Success state Undecided, and the Proposal Number null. The
Chairman must then assign it a new Proposal Number that is greater
than all previously used Proposal Numbers as soon as he can.
/* Note that this doesn't include other things called Proposal Numbers
from the distant past; the fact that five years ago there were
proposals numbered in the thousands is irrelevant. */
As a Game Action a Player may withdraw a proposal with status Pending
if they are the Author of that Proposal. A Proposal that is withdrawn
has its Status set to Historical and its Success state set to Lost.
Voting
The Voting Period for a given nweek, or just "Voting", is defined as
the period of time from the beginning of nday 9 of that nweek until
the end of that nweek.
At the beginning of each Voting Period, all Pending proposals become Open.
A Registered Voter is an Outsider that is allowed to vote on
Proposals. There is an Attribute Vote Power with a Scope of Registered
Voters, a Range of the nonnegative rational numbers, and a Default
Value of 0.
A Registered Voter may as a Game Action set their Vote Power to a
number lower than its current value.
A Registered Voter may submit a Vote on an Open proposal at any time.
The Vote must be one of the words FOR, AGAINST, or ABSTAIN; other
words are ignored.
The most recent Vote on a proposal by a Registered Voter is called
that Registered Voter's Final Vote on that proposal.
Tallying the votes
A Proposal's Stamina is equal to the sum of the Vote Power of the
Registered Voters whose Final Vote on that Proposal is FOR, plus the
sum of the Vote Power of the Registered Voters whose Final Vote on
that Proposal is AGAINST.
A proposal's Strength is equal to the sum of the Vote Power of the
Registered Voters whose Final Vote on that proposal is FOR minus the
sum of the Vote Power of the Registered Voters whose Final Vote on
that proposal is AGAINST.
When Voting ends, the following events happen, in order
* Each Open proposal with a Stamina less than the Quorum becomes Pending.
* Each Open proposal with positive Strength becomes Won; all other
Open proposals become Lost.
* Dependency Culling occurs (see below).
* Conflict Culling occurs (see below).
* Dependency Culling occurs again.
* All Open proposals that are Won Pass, in order by Proposal Number.
* All Open proposals become Historical
When a proposal Passes, its list of instructions is followed to make
the resulting changes to the game occur.
Proposals that do not Pass are said to have Failed.
Dependency Culling
When Dependency Culling occurs, every Open proposal is processed in
ascending order by Proposal Number. When a proposal is processed in
this manner, if it Depends on a proposal that is Lost, then it becomes
Lost itself. This process is repeated as long as there is any Open
proposal that Depends on a Lost proposal and is not Lost itself.
Conflict Culling
When Conflict Culling occurs, every Open proposal is processed in
descending order of Strength, and of Proposal Number when Strength is
equal. When a proposal is processed in this manner, if it is Won, then
every proposal that Conflicts with it becomes Lost.
Rule 2-3: Victory
Trophies are Game Objects. The number of Trophies held by a player is
known as that player's Win Count. Players may only receive Trophies in
accordance with this rule. Each Trophy has a description, which is a
block of text describing what the Trophy looks like.
Victory Conditions are Game Documents.
Each Victory Condition has four parts:
* A Trigger: The event that must happen to cause someone to win,
plus any required conditions on the gamestate.
* Victors: A clause defining which player(s) win.
* A Cleanup: A set of gamestate changes that happen when this
condition takes effect (presumably that make it so that the condition
is no longer satisfied).
* A Prize: A description of the Trophy that is awarded to each Victor.
If the events in a Victory Condition's Trigger happen, then that
Condition becomes Fulfilled, unless it already was. When a condition
becomes Fulfilled, its Victors are each awarded a Trophy with the
description given by its Prize, and then its Cleanup happens.
At the end of each nweek, every Fulfilled Victory Condition ceases to
be Fulfilled.
/* In other words, you can't win the same way twice in an nweek. */
Rule 2-4: Points
Any Game Object may have points. Points are Game Objects. The number
of points an object possesses may also be referred to as that object's
"score." An object's score cannot be less than zero.
Rule 2-5: Judgment
the Oracle
There exists a ministry known as the Ministry of Questions. The
Minister of Questions, also known as the Oracle, is responsible for
maintaining a Public Display of the current Consultations. There
exists an Object called the staff of ZOT. The Oracle holds the staff
of ZOT.
Consultations
Any player may as a Game Action submit a Consultation.
Consultations are Game Documents that contain a Question that is to be
Answered. The Question must be posed in such a form as to permit a yes
or no reply. Consultations may also contain:
* Reasoning, meaning text that clarifies the intent of the Consultation.
* the name of a Player that is to be considered as the Unbeliever
for that Consultation.
That player submitting the consultation will be known as Supplicant
regarding that consultation.
Consultations automatically gain a Consultation Number upon
submission. For each new Consultation, the Consultation number shall
be equal to 1 or, if such Number is already in use, to the greatest
existing Consultation Number incremented by one. The Oracle may
arbitrarily override the normal assignment of Consultation numbers,
and choose a number of his liking for a new Consultation.
A Consultation is in one of the states of Waiting, ZOTTED and
Pondered. A Consultation is initially Waiting.
ZOTTING
Upon submission of a Consultation the Oracle shall as a Game Action
select a Priest for that Consultation. Alternatively the Oracle may
wield the staff of ZOT and cause the Consultation to be ZOTTED, if in
his insight he considers the contained Question to be malformed,
ambiguous, irrelevant or otherwise unworthy. ZOTTED consultations have
no further effect.
The Oracle may also ZOT a Waiting Consultation if has not been
Answered yet and its assigned Priest requests him to do so. In this
case the Oracle is required to grant the request or immediately
reassign the Consultation to a new Priest instead.
Selecting a Priest
whenever a Priest is to be selected for a Consultation, the Oracle
shall select one between the eligible Players. All Active Players,
except the Supplicant, the Unbeliever if the Consultation names one,
the Oracle and Players that have already been selected as Priests for
that Consultation, are eligible for selection as Priests. If no Player
is eligible, the Oracle is automatically selected as Priest.
The Answer
The selected Priest shall find inspiration in his knowledge of the
Rules and, as a Game Action, Answer his assigned Consultation YES or
NO. The Priest may also submit his own Reasoning, explaining how his
mystical interpretation of the Rules has guided him in his Answer. If
he deems it necessary the Priest may also submit as a game action an
Oracularity detailing changes needed to correct the state of the game.
When a Priest submits the answer to a public forum that Consultation
becomes Answered. If a Consultation remains Answered for four full
Ndays (or Ndelays if the clock is off), it becomes Pondered.
For the purposes of answering Consultations the words "True",
"Affirmative" and "Correct" are to be considered synonymous with
"Yes", and the words "False", "Negative" and "Incorrect" are to be
considered synonymous with "No".
Automatic Reassignment
At the beginning of each nweek, if a Consultation is Waiting and has
not been Answered the Oracle shall select a new Priest for that
Consultation. In the event that the clock is off, every 10 ndelays all
Waiting Consultations that have not been Answered yet are reassigned
to a new Priest.
Overriding Consultations
When a Priest submits an answer to a consultation, within three ndays
(or ndelays if the clock is off) since its submission, any player
except the Unbeliever and the Supplicant may, as a Game Action, make a
Claim regarding the Answer and the Oracularity (if one exists). Such
Claims will ultimately state that the player believes the answer (and
Oracularity) to be Consistent or Inconsistent. If a Player submits
multiple Claims, only the last one submitted shall be counted.
At the end of the third nday (or ndelay) since the Answer has been
submitted the Oracle shall tally any such Claims. If there exist more
Claims of Inconsistency than claims of Consistency, the consultation
ceases to be Answered and becomes Waiting. The Oracle shall then
immediately assign a new Priest to the Consultation. The previous
Priest's answer and Oracularity (if any) is discarded.
Oracularities
As part of their answer a Priest may submit an Oracularity. An
Oracularity is a Game Document which includes a list of changes to the
rules and gamestate of B Nomic. By nature, an Oracularity is a
transaction and is implied to be enclosed in "BEGIN TRANSACTION" and
"END TRANSACTION" clauses.
If the answered question is in relation to an ambiguity in the rules,
the Oracularity should address that ambiguity by including changes to
the rules in question to clarify.
If the answered question is in relation to the validity of a Game
Action that has been declared invalid, and the priest determines that
action to be valid, then the Oracularity should include a list of
changes to current the gamestate to simulate what it might be if the
action in question had actually occurred.
If the answered question is in relation to the validity of a Game
Action that has been declared invalid, and the priest determines that
the action is indeed invalid, then the Oracularity may contain a
punishment for the player who performed that action in the form of a
gamestate change if in his opinion he deems that the player
intentionally attempted to perform an action that is in contradiction
to the rules.
When a Consultation becomes Pondered, if the answer for that
Consultation is the same as the answer originally supplied by its
Priest, then any Oracularity submitted with that answer is followed
and the gamestate and rule changes it calls for take effect.
Rule 2-6: Scoring
Whenever a Proposal becomes Historical,
* Each Player whose Final Vote on the Proposal was not ABSTAIN
gains 1 point.
* If the Proposal Passed, its Author gains 1 point for each Player
whose Final Vote on the proposal was FOR.
* If the Proposal was ever Won, its Author gains 1 point for each
Player whose Final Vote on the proposal was FOR.
* If the Proposal Failed and was never Won, then its Author loses 3 points.
Rule 2-7: Players May Vote
All Players are Registered Voters.
At the beginning of Ballotday, each Player who Gave his Allegiance to
a Faction during that nweek has his Vote Power set to 0. All other
players have their Vote Power set to 1.
Rule 2-8: Objecting
The Rules may explicitly require a specific type of action to be
performed "without N objections" where N is a positive natural number.
The phrase "without objection" is synonymous to "without 1 objection"
An action that must be performed without N objections occurs 2 ndays
after the nday the action was attempted if, and only if, N Players do
not object to the action. A rule may give a different time that must
elapse before a specific action occurs without objection, and in that
case, that rule takes precedence.
Objecting is a Game Action and must be performed in a Public Forum.
A Player may not object to an action he attempted to perform.
Rule 2-9: Supporting
The Rules may explicitly require a specific type of action to be
performed "with N supporters" where N is a positive natural number.
The phrase "with support" is synonymous to "with 1 supporter"
An action that must be performed with N supporters occurs after N
Players support the action. If the action does not receive the
required support 2 ndays after the nday the action was attempted, the
action shall fail and does not occur. A rule may give a different time
that must elapse before a specific action fails without support, and
in that case, that Rule takes precedence.
Supporting is a game action and must be performed on a public forum.
A Player may not support an action he attempted to perform.
Rule 2-10: Foreign Relations
There exists a ministry known as the Ministry of Foreign Relations.
The Minister of Foreign Relations, also known as the Ambassador, is
responsible for maintaining a Public Display of the status of B
Nomic's relationships with other Nomics and for relaying messages from
B Nomic to other Nomics.
Where an external Nomic's rules make it possible for B Nomic to
perform some action, the Ambassador may use that Nomic's mechanisms of
action to cause B Nomic to perform that action with 2 supporters and
without objection, unless the Rules of B Nomic provide for a different
threshold of support for a particular action.
Rule 2-11: RPG
There is an attribute "Hit Points" with a scope of all players, a
range of all non-negative integers, and a default value of 10. If a
Player's Hit Points would ever be set to a value less than 0, it is
instead set to 0. Any Player whose Hit Points equal 0 is considered to
be "Dead". All other players are considered to be "Alive". Each nday,
any living player whose hit points have been reduced shall recover 1
hit point up to their maximum number of hit points.
Rule 2-12: Levels
There is an Attribute, named Level, with a Scope of all Players, a
Range of integers between 1 and 10 inclusive. The value of Level is
determined by the Player's Points as shown below:
* Level 1: 0 <= Points < 6
* Level 2: 6 <= Points < 13
* Level 3: 13 <= Points < 20
* Level 4: 20 <= Points < 33
* Level 5: 33 <= Points < 53
* Level 6: 53 <= Points < 86
* Level 7: 86 <= Points < 140
* Level 8: 140 <= Points < 226
* Level 9: 226 <= Points < Heck of a Lot
* Level 10: Points >= Heck of a Lot
Section 3: General
Rule 3-1: The Temporal Prime Directive
No rule or game action may require or force any retroactive changes to
the game state. It is, however, permissible, to create rules or
perform otherwise-legal game actions that simulate retroactive changes
to the game state.
Rule 3-2: Disambiguation
No text in any Rule shall be interpreted as a specific Player's name,
unless that rule explicitly states that said text shall be interpreted
as a specific Player's name.
Rule 3-5: Active Players
The group of players that currently possess the Active property may be
called the Active Players.
At the beginning of each nweek, the players that voted in the previous
nweek gain the "Active" property, the players that failed to vote in
the previous nweek lose the "Active" property.
Rule 3-6: Enough
A Quorum is defined to be any number greater than half the number of
Active Players.
Rule 3-7: Official Quantities
For all game purposes the following phrases are defined to mean the
indicated numbers.
* A Few = 4
* A Handful = 6
* An nDozen = 11
* A Thirnight = 12
* A Confused Baker's Dozen = 14
* A Bunch = 24
* A Metric Bunch = 25
* A Lot = 63
* A Bucketful = 96
* A Metric Bucketful = 100
* A Heck of a Lot = 365
* A Hell of a Lot = 366
* A Truckload = 960
* A Metric Truckload = 1000
* A Zillion = 100 000 000
* A Bajillion = 100 000 000 000 000
* An Insane Number = The number of players in the game
Rule 3-8: Calendar
the ndays of the nweek have the following names:
nday 1 = Breakday
nday 2 = Winday
nday 3 = Mulberry
nday 4 = Tango
nday 5 = Corvette
nday 6 = Halfday
nday 7 = Joel
nday 8 = Rushnight
nday 9 = Ballotday
nday 10 = Teucer
nday 11 = Zarpint
nday 12 = Thirnight
nday 13 = Armageddon
Rule 3-9: Spelling
If the Rules contain errors of spelling, inconsistent capitalization,
or other trivial errors, any Player may as a Game Action and without
objection correct these errors by posting a Tidiness List on a public
forum.
A Tidiness List is a Game Document that lists spelling errors in the
rules, and the proposed corrections. The time limit on objections for
tidiness lists is set to five ndays.
/* for practical purposes it is allowed to actually go on and make the
changes to the wiki at the same time as posting the Tidiness List, but
please mark your changes clearly so that they may be reverted easily
*/
If the corrections in a Tidiness List take place the Player that
submitted the Tidiness List gains one point for every three errors
corrected. Tidiness Lists correcting less than three errors give no
points.
Rule 3-10 Currency
A "currency owning object", or COO, is a type of game object that can
own currency (also called "money"). All players are currency owning
objects.
The rule or rules defining a new currency will define an attribute the
scope of which is all COOs. The value of this attribute shows how much
of that currency the COO has.
A COO can give currency to another COO by a game action, as follows:
he specifies an amount (which cannot be greater than the value of his
currency attribute) and a currency; his currency attribute for that
currency goes down by the amount; the receiving COO's currency
attribute for that currency goes up by the amount.
If the COO has a non-positive currency attribute for a given currency,
then he cannot give that currency to another COO. If for any reason
the receiving COO's currency attribute cannot go up, or the giving
COO's currency attribute cannot go down, then nothing happens.
Players can, via game action, exchange points for currency. The rule
or rules defining the currency will set the exchange rate. The player
declares how many points he wishes to exchange (which cannot be less
than 0 or more points than he has) and the currency he wishes to
receive. He loses that many points and gains (exchange rate x points)
in the currency. If for any reason the amount of his points cannot go
down or the amount of his chosen currency cannot go up, then nothing
happens.
Rule 3-11 Mackerel
The default currency of this game is mackerel, also known as a mack
(singular) or macks (plural). This can be shortened to a lowercase m.
[[See below.]]
There is an attribute "mackerel": scope is all currency owning
objects; range is decimal numbers; default value is 50. The value of
this attribute should always be expressed starting with a lowercase m,
for example, m50 or m10.15.
The points -> mackerel exchange rate is 5.0 - that is, 1 point may be
exchanged for m5.
Rule 3-12 devices
A "device" is a type of game object.
A "device owner object", or DOO, is a type of game object that may own
devices. All players are device owner objects.
There is an attribute "device owner": scope is all devices; range is
all device owner objects. The default value is defined when the device
is defined. The "owner" of any given device is the value of the device
owner attribute of that device (that is, the owner is the DOO that the
attribute points to).
A device is either "unique" or "non-unique". There cannot be more than
one of each unique device in the game at any given time. When a
non-unique device is defined, the definition must state how many such
devices exist.
A device may have powers. Each power consists of an "effect" - what
happens when the power is used; "conditions" - things that must be
true for the effect to take place; and optionally a "trigger" -
something that must happen to trigger the effect. The rule or rules
defining a device detail the powers associated with it.
If there is any choice to be made about how a device is triggered or
what objects it affects then the owner and only the owner of the
device makes that decision; and must make it when it is triggered. The
rules must explicitly state the nature of the choice. If there is any
other ambiguity in the rules about how a power assigned to a device
works, then that power has no effect.
The owner of a device may transfer ownership to another DOO. If the
owner is a player, then this is done via a game action - the player
declares who/what the new owner is. If the owner is not a player, then
the rules must explicitly state under what circumstances ownership
changes and exactly what happens. In both cases the owner attribute
changes to the new DOO.
The owner of a device may destroy it by expressing the wish to do so
in a public forum.
A "blueprint" is a type of game object that has no powers, but
specifies a set of Attributes (except for device owner), Properties,
and default states that can be used to define a device.
A blueprint is either "unique" or "non-unique". A unique blueprint is
used to define a unique device, and ceases to exist upon definition of
said device. A non-unique blueprint is used to define a non-unique
device, and may be used repeatedly and indefinitely.
Price is an Attribute with a Scope of all blueprints, a Range of
nonnegative rational amounts of currency, and a Default Value of 50
mackerel.
Rule 3-13: Ceci n'est pas un titre
There is no Rule 3-13.
Rule 3-14: The Ministry of Goods
There exists a ministry known as the Ministry of Goods. The Minister
of Goods, also known as the Artisan, is responsible for maintaining a
Public Display of all currently existing devices and their Attributes,
Properties, and current states. In addition, the Artisan must maintain
a Public Display of all currently existing blueprints and their
Attributes, Properties, and default states.
The Artisan may, as a Game Action on behalf of the Ministry of Goods
and without 2 objections within 2 ndays, create a blueprint. The
Ministry of Goods may only create a single blueprint in a given nweek,
and can do so no later than Corvette [[nday 5]] of that nweek.
Any player with sufficient currency may purchase a device from the
Ministry of Goods. Upon purchase, a device is instantly defined based
on a blueprint designated by this player, who becomes the device
owner. The price, as specified by the blueprint in question, is
instantly subtracted from this player's currency.
To purchase a non-unique device, a player announces his intent via a
Public Forum, as a Game Action. The Artisan may, at any time and
without 2 objections within 2 ndays, alter the price of any non-unique
blueprint.
Any unique blueprint is put to auction immediately upon creation. Any
player, including the Artisan, may, as a Game Action, submit a
non-retractable bid via a Public Forum, specifying an amount of
mackerel. The highest amount of mackerel bid on a blueprint is its
price. Bidding ends at the start of Zarpint [[nday 11]], at which time
the unique device is purchased, if possible, by the highest bidder. A
highest bidder with insufficient mackerel may attempt to collect
sufficient mackerel during 1 additional nday, at the end of which
purchase occurs if possible. If he fails to collect sufficient
mackerel, his Voting Power is set to 0, he loses 25 points, and the
next highest bidder may purchase the unique device 1 nday later. If
neither of the two highest bidders successfully purchases the unique
device, or if such bidders do not exist, the unique blueprint ceases
to exist without device creation.
Rule 3-15: Pronouns
All personal pronouns shall be taken to refer to entities of any
gender or of no gender regardless of the purported gender of the words
used. Language intended to apply only to members of a specific gender
must explicitly say that it does so.
Rule 3-16: Message Of The nweek
There exists a unique Game Object called the Message Of The nweek,
also known as the motnw. The motnw has one Attribute called the
Message, with a Scope of the motnw Object, a Range of any string of
between 1 and 256 characters inclusive, and a Default Value of "This
space intentionally left blank".
The Registrar, as a Game Action with Support, may change the value of
the motnw Message, but cannot change the value more than once in an
nweek.
The value of the motnw Message Attribute should be prominently posted
on a Public Display. [[the main page of the B Nomic wiki is ideal]]
Rule 3-17: Threat Awareness
There exists a unique Game Object called the Threat Awareness
Flagpole. There exists an Attribute named the Threat Flag, with a
Scope of the unique Threat Awareness Flagpole, a Range of either "Pink
Ponies", "Polka Dots", "Setting Orange", "Jolly Roger", or "Black
Watch Plaid", and has a Default Value of Pink Ponies.
The Minister of Ministries is responsible for updating the Threat
Flag, as he sees fit, to notify players of the potential dangers to
the state and integrity of the Game. The Minister of Ministries, as a
Game Action, may change the value of the Threat Flag to either Pink
Ponies, Polka Dots, Setting Orange, or Jolly Roger, but shall not
change this value more than once per nday. A statement that says
"hoisting the X flag" is equivalent to saying "setting the Threat Flag
value to X".
The meanings of the Threat Flags, in order of ascending threat, are as follows:
* Pink Ponies: None (Nothing to see here, move along)
* Polka Dots: Low (Strange things are afoot at the Circle B)
* Setting Orange: Moderate (Something is rotten in the state of B)
* Jolly Roger: High (Find a helmet)
* Black Watch Plaid: Imminent (Put on the helmet)
If, at any time, there are two or more Panic Buttons that are On, the
value of the Threat Flag shall be set to Black Watch Plaid. If, at any
time, there are less than two Panic Buttons that are On and the value
of the Threat Flag is Black Watch Plaid, the value of the Threat Flag
shall be set to Jolly Roger.
Section 5: Factions
Rule 5-1 Agreements
An Agreement recognized by B Nomic is one that is between two or more
External Forces called Parties that explicitly describes:
* The parties to the Agreement.
* How it is possible to change which parties are part of the
agreement, if such changes are in fact possible.
* How any decisions that may need to be made on the agreement's
behalf will be performed, including how and if any changes to the
Agreement may occur.
In addition, an Agreement recognized by B Nomic must:
* Only have parties that have explicitly consented to being
governed by the Agreement, and must allow any such party to leave the
Agreement at any time.
* Have its Agreement publicly available in an easily accessible
manner to all Players, such as on a web page.
While Agreements that do not comply with this rule may be recognized
by other jurisdictions, B Nomic does not recognize them. However, an
Agreement does not have to have been intended to comply with this rule
in order to be considered recognized by B Nomic.
Rule 5-2 Factions
A Faction is an Agreement recognized by B Nomic that is a part of this
game. An Agreement recognized by B Nomic may join the game as a Game
Action if the following conditions are true:
* The Agreement is not already a Faction or Player
* There exists at least one Player of B Nomic who is a party to
the Agreement.
* The Agreement has decided, through its internal mechanisms for
doing so, to join B Nomic as a Faction.
A Faction may cease to be a Faction at any time as a Game Action.
A Faction automatically ceases to be a Faction if any of the following
events occur:
* The Faction ceases to be an Agreement recognized by B Nomic.
* The Faction ceases to have at least one Player of B Nomic as a
party to the Agreement.
* The Agreement has decided, through its internal mechanisms for
doing so, to cease being a Faction in B Nomic.
Rule 5-3 Factions May Vote
All Factions are Registered Voters.
At most once each nweek, between the start of Breakday and the end of
Rushnight, a Player who is a party to a Faction may as a Game Action
declare he is Giving his Allegiance to that Faction. Doing so
increases that Faction's Vote Power by 1.
At the beginning of each nweek, after Open proposals have become
Historical, each Faction's Vote Power gets multiplied by 3/4.
A Faction cannot become a Player, nor apply for Playership.
Section 6: Ministries
Rule 6-1: Ministries
A Ministry is a Game Object that can be assigned to at most one
Player. It represents the responsibility of that Player to keep
Players aware of the state of a particular aspect of the game, and may
also represent the power of that Player to affect the gamestate in
ways specified in the Ministry's definition. If a Ministry's defined
powers conflict with any other part of the Rules, the latter takes
precedence.
A Ministry that is not assigned to a player is Vacant.
The terms "post holder", "pot holster", "post holder designate", and
"Minister" refer to the Player in possession of a given Ministry. This
can be abbreviated "PHD".
Rule 6-2: Assigning Ministries
A Player may, as a Game Action, assign a Vacant Ministry to himself.
Rule 6-3: Resigning from Ministries
A Minister may Resign from his Ministry via Game Action. At that time,
the Ministry becomes Vacant.
Rule 6-4: Usurping Ministries
A Player may, as a Game Action and without 2 objections in 2 rdays,
Usurp a non-Vacant Ministry. In this case, the Ministry is no longer
assigned to the previous Minister and is assigned to the Usurper
instead.
Rule 6-5: Ministry Rewards and Vacating
At the end of each nweek, each player who is a Minister gains m50.
Then, all Ministries become Vacant.
Rule 6-6: Public Displays
A Public Display is a display of an aspect of the current state of the
game in a form easily accessible to all Players. Good Public Displays
can include the B Nomic wiki or posting on a regular basis to a Public
Forum.
Rule 6-8: The MetaMin
There exists a Ministry called the Ministry of Ministry, also known as
the MetaMinistry. The Minister of Ministry may be referred to as the
MoM, the MetaMin, or Kurt Gödel.
The MetaMin is responsible for maintaining a Public Display of all
existing Ministries, showing their names, responsibilities, and
current holders.
The MetaMin is also responsible for tracking and displaying any state
of the game that isn't covered by another Ministry.
Rule 6-9: MiniMinistries
A MiniMinistry is a Ministry that is not explicitly defined by the
rules. Any Minister of a MiniMinistry may be referred to as a MiniMin.
The MetaMin may create a MiniMinistry at any time, specifying its name
and its responsibilities. He may also dissolve any MiniMinistry at any
time.
Rule 6-10: Ministerial Obligations
A passed proposal can create an obligation for a Ministry to take some
specific action within its powers.
The MoM shall maintain a Public Display of any such outstanding obligations.
A Minister shall fulfill any such existing obligations on his Ministry
as soon as possible.
