The Rules

The Game

101. Obey the rules — [Immutable] All players must always abide by all of the rules then in effect, in the form in which they are then in effect, and interpreted in accordance with currently existing game custom. The rules in the Initial Set are in effect at the beginning of the first game. The initial set consists of rules 101-117 (immutable) and 201-219 (mutable).

102. Initial conditions — [Immutable] Initially rules in the 100's are immutable and rules in the 200's are mutable. Rules subsequently enacted or transmuted (that is, changed from immutable to mutable or vice versa) may be immutable or mutable regardless of their numbers, and rules in the Initial Set may be transmuted regardless of their numbers.

109. Mutability inconsistencies — [Immutable] Mutable rules that are inconsistent in some way with some immutable rule (except by proposing to transmute the immutable rule) are wholly void and without effect. They may not implicitly transmute immutable rules into mutable rules and at the same time amend them. Rule changes that transmute immutable rules into mutable rules will be effective only if they explicitly state their transmuting effect.

111. Forfeiting — [Immutable] A player always has the option to forfeit the game rather than to continue to play or incur a game penalty. No penalty worse than losing, in the judgement of the player to incur it, may be imposed.

116. Permissibility of the unprohibited — [Immutable] Whatever is not explicitly prohibited or regulated by a rule is permitted and unregulated, with the sole exception of changing the rules, which is permitted only when a rule or set of rules explicitly or implicitly permits it.

202. Points — All players begin with 0 points. Points may not be gained, lost, or traded except as explicitly stated in the rules.

210. Conflict resolution — If two or more mutable rules conflict with one another, or if two or more immutable rules conflict with one another, then the rule with the lowest effective ordinal number takes precedence. If at least on of the rules in conflict explicitly says of itself that it defers to another rule (or type of rule) or takes precedence over another rule (or type of rule), then such provisions shall supersede the numerical method for determining precedence. If two or more rules claim to take precedence over one another, or to defer to one another, then the numerical method must again govern.

218. Duties as Speaker — In addition to duties which may be listed elsewhere in the rules, the Speaker shall have the following duties:

• maintain a list of all players and their current scores, and make such a list available to all players
• maintain a complete list of the current rules, and make such a list available to all players
• make a random determination whenever such determination is required by the rules

Winning

110. Winning the game — The state of affairs that constitutes winning the game may not be altered from achieving n points to any other state of affairs. The magnitude of n and the means of earning points may be changed, and rules that establish a winner when play cannot continue may be enacted and be amended or repealed when they are mutable.

Made mutable by Parry with proposal 303

203. When a player wins — The winner is the first player to achieve at least 100 points. If more than one player achieves this condition simultaneously, all such players win. When a game ends in this manner:

• The old speaker is revoked of his or her status as Speaker.
• The winner is named Speaker. If there are more than one winners, the old speaker selects the new Speaker from the winners.
• All players' scores are reset to 0 points.
• A new game is begun. All rules and proposed rule changes retain the status they had at the end of the old game.

219. Winning by paradox — If a player believes that the rules are such that further play is impossible, or that the legality of a move cannot be determined with finality, or that a move appears equally legal and illegal, then the player may invoke judgment on a statement to that effect. If the statement is judged True, then the player who invoked judgment shall be declared the winner of that game, and the game ends, with no provision for starting another game. This rule takes precedence over every other rule determining the winner of the game

Definitions

103. Speaker — [Immutable] The Speaker for the first game shall be Kyle Miller.

117. Player definition — [Immutable] A player is a registered member of the forum on the website http://nomic.kylem.net Players who have been inactive for 3 weeks may be forcibly unregistered by the Speaker unless the player gives reasonable prior notice of inactivity. The administrator shall have the ability to suspend citizen rights if he/she suspects the user does not correspond to a real person

201. Quorum — Quorum is defined to be 20% of the players at the beginning of the prescribed voting period for that proposal. If this is less than 5 players for quorum, then the quorum is 5. If there are fewer than 5 players, then quorum is 100%.

205. Prescribed voting period — The prescribed voting period for a proposal shall be one week, beginning at the time the Speaker distributes the proposal to all players.

208. Required number of votes — The number of votes required to pass a proposal is two-thirds of the votes legally cast within the prescribed voting period.

Proposed rule changes

104. Rule change — [Immutable] A rule change is any of the following: (1) The enactment, repeal, or amendment of a mutable rule; (2) the enactment, repeal, or amendment of an amendment of a mutable rule; or (3) the transmutation of an immutable rule into a mutable rule or vice versa.

105. Adopting proposals — [Immutable] All proposals made in the proper way shall be voted on. Three conditions must be satisfied for a proposal to be adopted: (1) quorum must have been achieved; (2) the required number of votes must have been cast in favor of the proposal; and (3) the prescribed voting period must have elapsed.

106. Proposals must be written down — [Immutable] Any proposed rule change must be written down before it is voted on. If adopted, the change must be guided by the proposal in its written form.

107. Proposal effect — [Immutable] No rule change may take effect before the end of the prescribed voting period on that proposed rule change even if its wording explicitly states otherwise. No rule change may have retroactive application.

108. Proposal numbering — [Immutable] The Speaker shall give each proposed rule change a number for reference. The numbers shall begin with 301, and each rule change proposed in the proper way shall receive the next successive integer, whether or not the proposal is adopted. New rules receive the number assigned to its corresponding proposal, with a decimal for further identification if the proposed rule change contains more than one new rule.

112. At least one mutable rule — [Immutable] There must always be at least one mutable rule. The adoption of rule changes must never become completely impermissible.

113. Rule changes that affect rule changing rules — [Immutable] Rule changes that affect rules needed to allow or apply rule changes are as permissible as other rule changes. Even rule changes that amend or repeal their own authority are permissible. No rule change is impermissible solely on account of the self-reference or self-application of a rule.

204. Making proposals — The proper way to make a proposal is to submit it to the "Proposals" forum. Only players may make proposals. Within one week after receiving proposals, the Speaker shall assign the proposals numbers and distribute them on the "Pending Proposals" forum.

209. When proposals take effect — An adopted proposal takes effect at the moment that the prescribed voting period ends.

Voting

206. One player one vote — Each player has exactly one vote.

207. Voting — Players may vote either for or against any proposal within its prescribed voting period. In order to be legally cast, the vote must be cast on the proposals corresponding poll page by the end of the prescribed voting period. Any player who does not legally vote within the prescribed voting period shall be deemed to have abstained.

Decision making

211. Invoking judgment — If players disagree about the legality of a move or the interpretation or application of a rule, then a player may invoke judgment by submitting a statement for judgment to the "Judgments" forum. When Judgment is invoked, the Speaker must, as soon as possible, randomly select one player as Judge and reveal the Judge's identity on the corresponding judgment thread.

212. Undecided judgment — If another judge is required for judgment, another judge must be selected as described by the rules.

213. Delivering judgment — After the statement to be judged and the identity of the judge have been identified, the judge has exactly one week to deliver a legal judgment. If the Judge fails to deliver a judgement within this time, the judge is penalized 10 points and a new Judge is selected. A judgement is delivered by submitting that judgment to the statement's thread on the "Judgments" forum.

214. Three possible judgments — There are only three possible legal judgments: (1) True; (2) False; or (3) Undecided. The judgment may be accompanied by reasons and arguments, but such reasons and arguments form no part of the judgment itself.

215. Judgments must accord with the rules — All judgments must be in accordance with all of the rules then in effect. When the rules are silent, inconsistent, or unclear on the statement in question, however, then the Judge shall consider currently existing game custom and the spirit of the game in reaching a decision.

216. Judgments are not rules — If a statement on which judgement has been called is judged to be true, and that judgment is not overruled, it does not thereby become a rule, or any part of a rule. It merely becomes an explicit part of currently accepted game custom.

217. Overturning judgments — At any time in the week following the posting of a judgement of "True" or "False"", any player may propose that the judgement be overruled, i.e. changed to "Undecided". If that proposal is adopted, according to whatever rules are currently in effect for the adoption of proposals, then the judgement is overruled, and the judge who made it is penalized 10 points.

Side games

302. The Story — The Story is a pages on the wiki called "The Story". Players may append one sentence to the end of The Story with parenthetical documentation citing the player's username (for example, "The dog was red (Kyle)."). Citizens may not append more than one sentence to The Story in direct succession. A sentence must somehow conceivably relate to the current Story. Unrelated sentences may be deleted by any other citizen. The Story is completed when any player successfully appends the final sentence "The End." The rules of a normal sentence apply to this final sentence. When the story is ended, a new story can be started on the wiki page "The Story N" where N is the next free positive integer greater than zero.

Added by Kyle with proposal 302