Ruleset 45

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Core Rules

Ruleset and Gamestate

This is the Ruleset for BlogNomic; all Workers must obey it. Section One consists of the "core rules" of blognomic, covering basic proposal mechanics; Section Two contains the rules of the current dynasty; and Section Three contains the glossary, which exists solely to clarify the remainder of the ruleset. Rules may be referred to by their type and entire number or type and name. (e.g. This Rule may be referred to as Rule 1.1 or the Rule entitled “Ruleset and Gamestate"). If a Proposal refers to a Rule by number and that Rule has been renumbered since the Proposal posting, that Proposal does nothing if enacted.

The Ruleset and Gamestate can only be altered in manners specified by the Ruleset.

No Rule may contain a provision that bars itself from being altered and/or repealed. If at any moment a Rule exists or is altered in a manner that renders it to contain such a provision, the entirety of that Rule shall be considered void and with no effects on the Gamestate. The provisions on this paragraph supersede any text in a Rule.

Spivak pronouns, as defined in the Glossary, shall be used whenever a Worker is referred to.

Admins may correct obvious spelling and typographical mistakes in the Ruleset at any time.

Workers

Anybody may apply to join BlogNomic (if e is not already playing) by registering at http://blognomic.com via the Register link in the sidebar, and then making a post announcing eir arrival. An Admin will add em to the roster in the sidebar, at which moment e becomes a Worker.

A Worker may leave the game at any time by posting an entry to the BlogNomic weblog requesting such an action. A Worker may only change eir name as a result of a proposal approving the change.

Some Workers are Admins, responsible for updating the site and the Ruleset, and are signified as such in the sidebar. Workers who wish to become Admins shall sign up with a username for the Ruleset Wiki, and submit a Proposal to make themselves Admins. Existing Admins may be removed from their posts by Proposal, CfJ, or voluntary resignation.

Some Workers are Idle, and shall be marked as such in the sidebar. For the purposes of the Ruleset, excluding Rules 1.1 and 1.2, Idle Workers are not counted as Workers. Admins may render a Worker Idle if that Worker has asked to become Idle or if that Worker has not posted a entry or comment for more than 7 days. Admins may de-Idle a Worker at eir request - the Worker's personal gamestate retains the values it had immediately prior to eir going Idle. If one or more values would be undefined, it is set to the value new Workers receive, if such a value exists.

A single person may not control more than one Worker within BlogNomic. If anybody is suspected of controlling more than one Worker, then a Proposal may be made to remove any number of such Workers from the game, and to bar the perpetrator from rejoining.

Proposals

Any Worker may submit a Proposal to change the Ruleset or Gamestate, by posting an entry in the "Proposal" category that describes those changes (unless the Worker already has 2 Proposals pending that have not been self-killed, or has already made 3 Proposals that day).

Proposals can either be Pending, Enacted, or Failed. When a Proposal is first put forward, it is considered Pending.

Voting

Any Worker may cast eir Vote on a Pending Proposal by making a comment on that entry using a voting icon of FOR, AGAINST or DEFERENTIAL.

If the Worker who made a Proposal has not cast a Vote on it, eir Vote is counted as FOR. If a Worker casts more than one Vote on a Proposal, only the most recent of those Votes is counted. If a Worker leaves the game or goes Idle, eir Vote no longer counts. If a Worker votes against eir own proposal, that vote may not be changed. This is referred to as a Self-Kill.

A vote of DEFERENTIAL is a vote of no opinion, or of faith in the decision of the CEO. The vote will count as the same as the CEO's vote. The CEO cannot cast a vote of DEFERENTIAL. If there is no CEO, a vote of DEFERENTIAL counts as an explicit vote of abstention.

Enactment

The oldest pending Proposal may be enacted by any Admin (and the Ruleset and/or Gamestate updated to include the specified effects of that Proposal) if either of the following is true:-

  • It has a number of FOR votes that exceed or equal Quorum, has been open for voting for at least 12 hours, and has not been vetoed or self-killed.
  • It has been open for voting for at least 48 hours, it has more than 1 valid vote, more than half of its votes are FOR, and it has not been vetoed or self-killed.

The oldest pending Proposal may be failed by any Admin, if any of the following are true:-

  • It has enough AGAINST votes that it could not be Enacted without one of those votes being changed.
  • It has been open for voting for at least 48 hours and half or fewer of its votes are FOR.
  • It has been open for voting for at least 48 hours and has fewer than 2 valid votes.
  • The Worker who proposed it has voted AGAINST it.
  • The CEO has voted to VETO it.

Whenever an Admin marks a proposal as enacted or failed, e must also mark eir name, and report the final tally of votes (or the fact that the proposal was self-killed or vetoed).

Calls for Judgment

If two or more Workers actively disagree as to the interpretation of the Ruleset, or if a Worker feels that an aspect of the game needs urgent attention, then any Worker may raise a Call for Judgment by posting an entry in the "Call for Judgment" category. If the Worker wishes, e may post anonymously by choosing "Call for Judgment" from the Author drop-down menu on the OPTIONS tab. The post shall go on to describe the issue, and measures that shall be taken to resolve it.

All Workers may add votes of agreement or disagreement in comments to this entry, using appropriate voting icons (a Worker's later votes overriding eir earlier ones). Unfailed CfJs continue until they reach a quorum of FOR votes, a quorum of AGAINST votes, or if there is no hiatus going on, until four days have passed, and if there is a hiatus going on until two days have passed. After this time, if more than half of the cast votes are in favour, the Gamestate and Ruleset shall be amended as was specified. Otherwise, the CfJ fails. A Failed CfJ has no further effect.

A Worker may choose to make a Call for Judgment a “Time Freeze” as well by putting the words “Time Freeze” in the CfJ’s title. If e does so, e may not post the CfJ anonymously.

When a Time Freeze is posted, the game goes into Hiatus, if it hasn’t already. During this time, the only game actions that may be taken are those covered by Rules “Workers”, “Calls for Judgment”, “Gamestate Tracking” and “Victory and Ascension”

If the CEO or any 3 other Workers make comments to a Time Freeze that include the VETO icon, then that Time Freeze is no longer considered a Time Freeze (but it is still a Call for Judgement), and provided there no other DoVs or Time Freezes pending, the Hiatus ends.

When a Time Freeze is resolved, provided there no other DoVs or Time Freezes pending, the Hiatus ends. Otherwise, the Hiatus continues until there are no pending DoVs or Time Freezes.

Gamestate Tracking

Proposals, Calls for Judgment, and other official posts, as well as specific gamestate information, shall be tracked by the BlogNomic blog at http://blognomic.com. Any Worker may post to the blog at any time, but may only make official posts to the blog when the Ruleset allows it. Posts following the format specified by a rule are considered official posts.

If no Worker has commented on it, an official post may be altered or removed by its author; otherwise this can only be done as allowed by the Ruleset. The Admin processing an official post is allowed to append to the post to reflect its new status. Anything appended to a post in this way must be placed in the Admin field of the post, and the post's Status must changed to reflect its status.

A non-official post may not, through editing of the blog or otherwise, be changed into an official post, with the following exception: Whilst a non-official post has been posted for less than five minutes and has no comments, the author may change the categories as e wishes.

Voting and comments are accessible through the link at the bottom of every post.

Specific parts of the Gamestate data shall be tracked by the Generic Nomic Data Tracker at http://blognomic.com/gndt/generic.cgi?nomic=blog. Any Worker may update any Worker's data via the GNDT, whenever the Ruleset permits it.

All updates to the GNDT are logged - if a Worker feels that an alteration goes against the Rules (as they were at the time of the alteration), e may simply undo the effects of that alteration. If such an undoing is disputed, a Call for Judgment shall be raised.

Workers shall be assigned a password for the GNDT when they join the Nomic.

Dynasties

BlogNomic is divided into a number of Dynasties. Each Dynasty is headed by a single CEO, and is named according to the number of Dynasties they have headed (eg. "The First Dynasty of Myke").

The CEO may vote to VETO any Proposal.

Victory and Ascension

If a Worker (other than the CEO) believes that e has achieved victory in the current Dynasty, e may make a post to the Blognomic weblog in the Declaration of Victory category, detailing this.

Upon doing so, the game immediately goes into Hiatus, if it hasn't already. During this time, the only game actions that may be taken are those covered by Rules "Workers", "Calls for Judgment", "Gamestate Tracking" and "Victory and Ascension".

Every Worker may respond to an active DoV saying whether or not e believes the poster has achieved victory in the current Dynasty (using the FOR and AGAINST icons).

The Declaration of Victory may be resolved after 24 hours, or after 12 hours if the CEO has voted on it. Upon resolution, if a Quorum of Workers have voted on the DoV and more than half of those votes were in favour, then the DoV passes - otherwise the DoV fails, and if no other DoVs or Time Freezes are still pending, the Hiatus ends.

When a DoV passes, all other active DoVs are failed, and a new Dynasty begins with the Worker who made the DoV as its CEO. (That Worker may pass this role to another Worker at this point, if they wish.) The Hiatus continues until the new CEO posts an Ascension Address to the BlogNomic weblog - this shall specify the CEO's chosen theme for the new Dynasty, and may optionally include a proclamation that any number of Dynastic Rules will be repealed, and that any keywords will be replaced with new theme-appropriate terms.


Dynastic Rules

Wage

Each Worker has a currency value "Wages" tracked in the GDNT. The default value for Wages is $50.00. If Wages ever drops to, or below 0, the worker is considered fired, and has all GDNT values reset to their default values.

Net Worth

Each Worker has a currency value "Net Worth" tacked in the GDNT. The default value for Net Worth is $0.00. If Net Worth ever drops below 0, a worker may make a post to the main blog page with the title "Declaring Bankrupcy" and reset all GDNT values to their default values.

Patent Rights

When a Worker creates a Machine Part, that Worker then owns the Patent Rights to that part. When the Machine has moved from a Stand By state to a Running state and just before the machine goes back to a Stand By state, and if the Worker's part works correctly at least once, the Worker who has the Patent Rights gains $5 to eir Net Worth once per running of the machine, regardless of how many times the part was used. Due to the Machine working properly, the company is becoming more profitable and the company will award a bonus of $1 to all management staff for every part that is patented that works correctly. A Worker may gain the $5 for every part e has Patent Rights too.

Wages earned from Patent Rights are updated in the GDNT before the machine enters the Stand By state. This avoids a loop that would start the machine running again from the update of the GDNT.

Working Correctly means that the initiator requirements were met and the effect caused at lease one (1) other part to meet its initiator requirements.

Paychecks

Employees of Goldberg Technologies receive weekly paychecks for their hard work. Therefore, each Worker may occasionally add an amount to eir Net Worth equal to eir Wages, but only if they have made a proposal or taken any action from a subrule of Rule 2.4 in the last week.

Buyout

If a Worker has a Net Worth of at least $500, e has accumulated enough money to make a highly leveraged buyout of the company. If e chooses to do so, e must make a story post describing eir takeover. E has then achieved victory.

To encourage cooperation between Workers, any Worker with a positive Net Worth may give any positive amount of eir Net Worth to another Worker. This cannot reduce eir Net Worth below 0.

The Machine

A Rube Goldberg machine or device is any exceedingly complex apparatus that performs a very simple task in a very indirect and convoluted way. The Workers of Goldberg Technology are responsible for creating such a machine.

Parts

There exists a wiki page Machine Parts which contains a list of all current Parts of the Machine. The order and contents of this list are considered part of the Gamestate (and thus may not be modified except as permitted by the Ruleset). Each Part has the following information:

  • Name: The name by which the Part is referred (and any abbreviations by which it may be referred).
  • Creator: The name of the Worker(s) considered responsible for adding the Part to the Machine.
  • Initiator: The requirements that must be met for this Part to take effect.
  • Effect: A description of changes to the Gamestate (other than the Ruleset and any statistics tracked in the GNDT) that will be given effect upon the Initiator requirement or requirements being satisfied. Particular effects may be conditioned upon the existence of particular Gamestate circumstances (such as, for example, particular Parts having particular Locations or States).
  • Size: The number and orientation of Workbench Squares that this Part would occupy if placed on the Workbench. (Examples: 1x1, 3 wide by 2 high). The number of Squares must be a nonnegative integer. If the size is unspecified then the size is 1x1 (i.e., one Square).
  • Possible States: A description of the possible states the Part may be in. If appropriate, a description of the order in which the Part advances States may be included.
  • State: The current State of the Part (which must always be one of the possible States described in the previous bullet-point).
  • Default State: A Constant which is the same as the State of the Part when it is first added to the Machine.

Workbench

The Workbench is a grid of Squares consisting of 6 rows labeled "A" through "F" (with A at the bottom) and 8 columns labeled "1" through "8" (with 1 on the left). Individual Squares in the Workbench are thus identified "1A" (at the lower left and so on through "6F" at the upper right). There exists a wiki page Workbench which describes the location of all Pieces on the Workbench. The contents of this list are considered part of the Gamestate (and thus may not be modified except as permitted by the Ruleset).

Workbench Squares are considered "adjacent" if their positions on the Workbench grid are adjacent. For example, Square 1A is adjacent to Squares 2A and 1B, but not adjacent to any other Squares. The terms "above" and "beneath" may also be appropriately used to indicate Workbench Squares that occupy a position in the same column as a given Square.

In order for a Part with nonzero Size to become part of the Machine, in addition to any other criteria that a Part must meet, that Part must be placed in vacant Squares in the Workbench. If a Part has 0 Size, then this requirement does not apply.

Two or more Parts may not occupy the same Square. Placing a Part in the Workbench is accomplished by indicating which column (or adjacent columns, if the Part is more than 1 column wide) the Part is dropped into. The Part then drops down to the lowest vacant Squares in that column. For example, if the Workbench is empty and a 1x1 sized Part is dropped in column 3 then the Part falls down to Square 3A. If another 1x1 sized Part is then dropped in column 3 it falls down to Square 3B. If a 2-wide by 1-high Part is then dropped in columns 3 and 4 then it falls down to Squares 3C-4C.

Parts "fall down" to the lowest vacant Squares in the Workbench columns that it occupies, but without changing its shape. Thus, for example, if the Workbench is empty except for "PART-A" (a 1x1 sized Part located at Square 3A), "PART-B" (a 1x1 sized part located at Square 3B) and "PART-C" (a 2-wide by 1-high Part located at Squares 3C-4C), and PART-B is destroyed or removed from the Workbench, then PART-C will immediately "fall down" and change its location to Squares 3B-4B. "Falling down" happens whether the Machine is Running or Standing By, and notwithstanding anything to the contrary in the "The Machine in Action" rule, occurs immediately upon the condition for "Falling down" occurring, and before any further Machine running steps may occur.

The Square or Squares on the Workbench occupied by a Part may be referred to as that Part's Location. A Part that is not on the Workbench does not have a Location.

The Machine in Action

At any given time, the Machine is considered to be either "Running" or "Standing by". At the moment this paragraph is added to the Ruleset, the Machine is Standing by.

When the Machine is Standing by, it becomes Running if any of the following occur:

  • The order or contents of the list of Parts on the "Machine Parts" page change (including the addition or removal of a Part).
  • The location of a Part on the Workbench changes
  • A Worker is added to or removed from the list of Active Workers in the blog sidebar.
  • A Proposal becomes Enacted. In this case, the specified effects of said Proposal occur before the Machine becomes Running.
  • A value which the Ruleset requires to be tracked in the GNDT changes.

When the Machine becomes Running, the following steps take place, in order:

  • Step 1 - If any Rule other than this Rule requires changes to be made to the Gamestate, those changes are made as usual, until no such changes are required. (If there is an infinite loop within the Ruleset itself, no out will be provided, of course. Don't let that happen.)
  • Step 2 - If the location of each Part on the workbench and the state of each part on the "Machine Parts" page is identical to any previous iteration of Step 2 since the machine was most recently Standing By then the Machine becomes Standing by, and any remaining steps are not performed.
  • Step 3 - If no requirements for the Initiator of any Part are satisfied, then the Machine becomes Standing by, and any remaining steps are not performed.
  • Step 4 - The parts on the Machine Parts page are examined in order from top to bottom and left to right. The first part, if any, whose Initiator conditions are met has its Effects carried out as indicated. If this has no effect on the state of the Machine or any part thereof, repeat this step starting from the position of that part.
  • Step 5 - Repeat Steps 1-5 in order, until a Step indicates that remaining steps are not to be performed.


Position

Each Worker has a value "Position" tracked in the GDNT. This Position is tracked by a 3 letter abreviation and is chosen from the list below. A worker may occasionally change eir position to any position other than the CEO. Each Position has the following attributes:

-Position Acronym-

  • Name: The full name of the Position
  • Job Type: Either Labor or Management
  • Job Requirements: What activities the person with this Position may perform

Any worker with a Management Position may Occasionally make a Story Post to the main page with the title "Restructuring" which contains proposed changes to the list of Current Available Positions. All workers with a Management position may vote FOR or AGAINST the Restructuring by making a comment with the appropriate icon (with their latest vote overriding any previous votes). If a majority of workers with a Management position vote FOR the Restructuring, it is enacted and its proposed changes to the list of Current Available Positions are made. If this is not true after 48 hours, or if a majority of workers with a Management position vote AGAINST the Restructuring, or if a Worker with the CEO position has VETOed the Restructuring, then the Restructuring fails.

There exist a wiki page Created Pieces which contains a list of pieces that have not been added to the machine. Any Entry to this page must be a Part and contain all the information that they have, as well as the date which the part was added to the Created Parts page.

Current Available Positions:

GWF

  • Name: General Workforce
  • Job Type: Laborer
  • Job Requirements: If they have not done so within the last 48 hours. Workers with this position may add a single entry to the created pieces page. Upon doing so E must post a Story Post explaining eir action within 48 hours or the entry will be removed.

EGM

  • Name: Engineering Group Member
  • Job Type: Laborer
  • Job Requirements: A Workers with this Position may occasionally make a Story Post "Building the Machine" with a list of Pieces from the Created Pieces wiki page. Each Worker may vote on this Story Post, and if a Majority of Workers with this Position vote FOR the Parts in the post, any Engineering Group Member may add them to the Workbench.

QCC

  • Name: Quality Control Clerk
  • Job Type: Laborer
  • Job Requirements: Any Worker that has this Position may occasionally remove a single entry from the Parts section of the Machine. Upon doing so E must post a Story Post explaining eir action with 48 hours or the Part removed from the Machine will be added again.

MDM

Name: Moral Department Management

  • Job Type: Management
  • Job Requirements: Any Worker that has this Position must make all posts and proposals using one of the following poetic forms: Haiku, Lymeric, or Sonnet.

HRM

  • Name: Human Resources Manager
  • Job Type: Management
  • Job Requirements: Any Worker that has this Position may Occasionally make a Story Post to the main page titled "Pay Day" or "Raise". If the Worker makes a Pay Day Post, every active Worker may increase their Net Worth by their current Wage within 72 hours of the Story Post. If the Worker makes a Raise Post, the text of the Post must include the name of every worker and a number between -10 and 10 if the worker has a Laborer Position, or between -30 and 30 if the Worker has a Management Position, ex. John: -1 (It is recommended that these raises reflect how well that Worker has performed the Job Requirements of eir current Position). The CEO may then vote FOR or AGAINST the "Raise" post. If the CEO votes AGAINST, the CEO may lower the Wage of the Worker that posted the "Raise" by up to 10. IF the CEO votes FOR, then the CEO shall adjust the wages of each worker by the number listed next to eir name.

CEO

  • Name: Chief Executive Officer
  • Job Type: Management
  • Job Requirements: Only the CEO can hold this position, and may at any time switch from this position to any other position, or vice versa. A Worker with this position may take actions as though e holds any other position, and may cast a VETO on any Restructuring post.

Glossary

This is always at the end of the Ruleset. Its only effect can be to clarify ambiguity.

  • It is noted that where a Proposal would amend the effects of Proposal Enactment, this does not apply to its own enactment unless explicitly stated (eg. a proposal proposing that enacted proposals earn their writer a banana when enacted would not earn a banana for its own writer, when enacted).
  • Rules which trigger upon the Enacment or Failure of a Proposal are the responsibility of the Admin who Enacts or Fails it.
  • Appropriate Icons: For use in voting, a check box http://blognomic.com/images/vote/for.gif shall represent a vote FOR, an X http://blognomic.com/images/vote/against.gif shall represent a vote AGAINST, an I http://blognomic.com/images/vote/imperial.gif shall represent a vote of DEFERENTIAL, and an Imperial Seal (currently http://blognomic.com/images/vote/seal.gif) shall represent the Imperial Veto.
  • The "subject" of a blog entry is the part of the Title of an entry which is after the first colon. If the Title does not contain a colon, then the whole Title is the subject. Any entry whose subject is "" (i.e. an empty string) is not valid.
  • "Posts" and "comments" refer only to those made to the BlogNomic weblog at blognomic.com
  • A keyword defined by a rule supersedes the normal English usage of the word. A keyword defined in this glossary supersedes that defined by a rule. (eg. A rule specifying "Bananas are Blue" cannot be overruled by posting a dictionary definition or a photo of a banana, and a rule specifying "every day is Sunday" will be overruled by the glossary entry below.)
  • Unless otherwise specified, game variables defined to hold numeric values can hold only non-negative integers, and any action that would set those values below zero instead sets them to zero. Any situation which would require a roll of DiceX when X is zero or lower always yields a value of 0 unless stated otherwise.
  • Unless otherwise specified: When “X” is a number, to spend X of a numeric value “V” means to subtract X from V (i.e. replace V with V-X); no action may be taken which requires spending X of a numeric value when the subtraction would result in a number which is illegal as a replacement for that value (e.g. if the value represents a variable which is restricted to non-negative integers, but the subtraction comes up negative).
  • Superficial differences between the spelling of geographic versions of English, e.g, British English, American English and Australian English shall be construed as irrelevant for the purposes of play.
  • Gamestate is defined as any information which the Ruleset regulates the alteration of, such as Workers' names and the blog colour scheme.

Typographic Conventions

  • Italicized text is not considered part of the ruleset and may be used to clarify rules with examples, notes, and flavor text. For example, this italicized text provides an example of the use of italicized text.

Timespans

  • References to "a day" (as an entity rather than a duration, eg. "Sunday") refer to that day in the timezone of the BlogNomic blog, which is considered to be GMT for all purposes.
  • References to a "week" refer to the period of time between the start of a Monday and the end of the following Sunday.
  • All references to time must be either specific or defined within the ruleset to be considered achievable in the gamestate. Abstract concepts of time (e.g. "dinnertime", "twilight") cannot be achieved until they fulfil one of these criteria.
  • An action which may be taken 'often' may be taken once per day, but not more than once every six hours.
  • An action which may be taken 'occasionally' may be taken once per week, but not more than once per twenty-four hours.

Keywords

  • Quorum is equal to half the number of Workers, rounded down, plus one.

Dice

References to "YDICEX" refer to Y X-sided dice. To roll dice, post DICEX in the comments field of the GNDT, replacing X with the number of sides on the die you wish to roll.

Spivak

  • The Spivak pronouns used in Blognomic are:
    • Subject case: "e";
    • Object case: "em";
    • Possessive Adjective case: "eir";
    • Possessive Pronoun case: "eirs";
    • Reflexive case: "emself".

IEEE

  • The IEEE auxiliary verbs used in Blognomic are:
    • Is required to: "shall";
    • Is recommended that: "should";
    • Is permitted to: "may";
    • Is able to: "can".