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Follow the rules.
All players must always abide by all the rules then in effect, in the form in which they are then in effect. The rules in the Initial Set
are in effect whenever a game begins. The Initial Set consists of Rule 0 (sacred), Rules 101-119 (immutable) and 201-213
(mutable).
initial rule.
Initial mutability of rules.
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, with the exception of Rule 0, may be transmuted regardless of their numbers.
initial rule.
Definition of rule changes.
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.
[Note: This definition implies that, at least initially, all new rules are mutable; immutable rules, as long as they are immutable, may
not be amended or repealed; mutable rules, as long as they are mutable, may be amended or repealed; any rule of any status may
be transmuted; no rule is absolutely immune to change.]
initial rule.
Two decks of cards.
All rule-changes proposed in the proper way shall be voted on. They will be adopted if and only if they receive the required number
of votes.
[Yes, the second sentence of this rule may seem self-evident. But what if it wasn't that way?]
initial rule.
Eligible voters.
Every player is an eligible voter. Every eligible voter must participate in every vote on rule changes
initial rule.
No retroactive rules.
No rule change may take effect earlier than the moment of the completion of the vote that adopted it, even if its wording explicitly
states otherwise. No rule change may have retroactive application.
initial rule.
Numbering scheme.
Each proposed rule change shall be given a rank-order number (ordinal 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.
If a rule is repealed and then re-enacted, it receives the ordinal number of the proposal to re-enact it. If a rule is amended or
transmuted, it receives the ordinal number of the proposal to amend or transmute it. If an amendment is amended or repealed, the
entire rule of which it is a part receives the ordinal number of the proposal to amend or repeal the amendment.
Also, each rule shall be given a name.
[Note: the name of a rule does not necessarily relate to the rule. For example, Rule 104 in this game is named "Two decks of
cards", which only relates to the number 104.]
initial rule.
Transmutation
Rule-changes that transmute immutable rules into mutable rules may be adopted if and only if the vote is unanimous among the
eligible voters. Transmutation shall not be implied, but must be stated explicitly in a proposal to take effect.
initial rule.
Resolution of rules in conflict by mutability.
In a conflict between a mutable and an immutable rule, the immutable rule takes precedence and the mutable rule shall be entirely
void. For the purposes of this rule a proposal to transmute an immutable rule does not "conflict" with that immutable rule.
initial rule.
Winning ways.
The state of affairs that constitutes winning 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 (while they are mutable) be amended or repealed.
initial rule.
Losing ways.
A player always has the option to forfeit the game rather than continue to play or incur a game penalty. No penalty worse than
losing, in the judgment of the player to incur it, may be imposed.
initial rule.
It can't end like this!
There must always be at least one mutable rule. The adoption of rule-changes must never become completely impermissible.
initial rule.
Changing the rules that change the rules that change the rules...
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 or type of move is impermissible solely on
account of the self-reference or self-application of a rule.
initial rule.
These are ALL the rules.
Whatever is not 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.
initial rule.
How to get in.
In order to join this Nomic, a player must:
Post a message to the Message Board declaring himself or herself a member of this game. [This message must include a name by
which the player would like to be known.]
initial rule.
How to get out.
In order to leave this Nomic, a player must post a message to the Message Board to that effect.
initial rule.
Name of this Nomic.
The name of this Nomic is "Gnomic".
initial rule.
Voting against proposals.
If and when rule-changes can be adopted without unanimity, the players who vote against winning proposals shall receive 10
points each.
initial rule.
When rules take effect.
An adopted rule-change takes full effect at the moment of the completion of the vote that adopted it.
initial rule.
No more numbers, please!
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 ordinal number takes precedence.
If at least one 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 again governs.
initial rule.
Judgment.
If players disagree about the legality of a move or the interpretation or application of a rule, then the player preceding the one
moving is to be the Judge and decide the question. Disagreement for the purposes of this rule may be created by the insistence of
any player. This process is called invoking Judgment.
When Judgment has been invoked, the next player may not begin his or her turn without the consent of a majority of the other
players.
The Judge's Judgment may be overruled only by a unanimous vote of the other players taken before the next turn is begun. If a
Judge's Judgment is overruled, then the player preceding the Judge in the playing order becomes the new Judge for the question, and
so on, except that no player is to be Judge during his or her own turn or during the turn of a team-mate.
Unless a Judge is overruled, one Judge settles all questions arising from the game until the next turn is begun, including questions
as to his or her own legitimacy and jurisdiction as Judge.
New Judges are not bound by the decisions of old Judges. New Judges may, however, settle only those questions on which the
players currently disagree and that affect the completion of the turn in which Judgment was invoked. All decisions by Judges shall
be in accordance with all the rules then in effect; but when the rules are silent, inconsistent, or unclear on the point at issue, then
the Judge shall consider game-custom and the spirit of the game before applying other standards.
initial rule.
Another way to win.
If the rules are changed so that further play is impossible, or if the legality of a move cannot be determined with finality, or if by the
Judge's best reasoning, not overruled, a move appears equally legal and illegal, then the first player unable to complete a turn is the
winner.
This rule takes precedence over every other rule determining the winner.
initial rule.
Proposals.
Any proposed rule change must be posted to the Message Board before it is voted on. If adopted, it must guide play in the form in
which it was voted on.
Transmuted from Rule 106, 24 Jun 1999, by Mike.
A turn.
One turn consists of two parts in this order: (1) proposing between one and three rule changes and having them voted on, and (2)
subtracting 291 from the ordinal number of each proposal and multiplying the result by the fraction of favorable votes it received,
rounded to the nearest integer, and adding this number to the proponent's score. (This yields a number between 0 and 10 for the
first player, with the upper limit increasing by one each turn; more points are awarded for more popular proposals.) All a player?s
proposals for a given turn must be stated initially in a single post to the web-board. [This rule shall take effect in its amended form
at the start of the next new turn circuit.]"
Enacted as amendment to Rule 202, 25 Jun 1999, by Barnaby.
Rule 322
It is permissible for players to abstain from a particular vote. Any player can do this by stating that they abstain in the same way they would vote for or against a proposal. If a player does not state their abstention within a 72-hour period (as stated within rule 315), all calculations shall be made as if the player had abstained, but they will still receive any applicable penalties for not voting.
A rule-change is adopted only if the majority of non-abstaining eligible voters vote in its favour.
Precedent cases.
The decision of a judge shall be posted and declared as a new rule or as an amendment to the rule that is disputed upon. That rule will take effect after the completion of the judgement.
Enacted by Thomas, July, 20th 1999.
See that deck of cards over there?
At no time shall there be more than 52 mutable rules.
Amended by Mike.
Now, hold up one finger...
If not defined otherwise, each player has exactly one vote per turn and proposal.
Amended from Rule 207 by Thomas.
The 12(0) second rule.
While the game is in web mode, players shall not be allowed to vote on any "root" proposal within two minutes of its initial posting to the message board. If a player does vote within this period, their vote shall be ignored. Meta-amendments may not be voted on within 12 seconds of their posting, and the same penalties apply.
Enacted by Mike 20/21 July 1999.
What is e-mail?
In any case where the rules refer to eMail, e-mail, electronic mail, or any other abbreviation for electronic
mail as an acceptable method of communications, this means any tool, software, or module of
communication that allows to be recorded and subsequently posted to the messageboard. Posting, also via
eMail, shall be declared as the act of communication to all concerned players. The only exception is when
the rules refer to "e-mail mode" or "chat mode", which are not interchangeable.
A specific eMail module may only be used for secret voting or other actions requiring secrecy, if no other
player is able to intercept and read the postings.
[Secrecy is not required in chat mode]
Contingency trees
359. Contingency trees. (amends 356)
Players may designate that a given proposal will only take effect if a given other proposal is accepted or rejected. If the condition placed on the first proposal is not acheived, the player receives no points for these proposals. Players may make as many proposals as they wish, provided that no combination of votes on these proposals could cause more than the number of proposals allowed by Rule 304 to pass.
Proposed by Mike as P353, amended by Thomas to 356 and Mike to 359, 28 July 1999.
Internationalization.
The official language of Gnomic shall be US english.
Typing and syntax errors are allowed, as long as they do not seriously affect the gameplay or the understanding of a rule.
[La langue officielle de Gnomic soit l'anglais américain. Die offizielle Amtssprache von Gnomic sei US Englisch]
Enacted by Thomas, Wednesday, 28-Jul-1999 19:23:30 ET
Oppression, II.
The Voting Gnome always has a score of zero.
Enacted by Mike, 28 July 1999.
Redundant department of redundancy.
A player may not make more than one proposal in a given turn that is "the same". By "the same" it is meant that the two proposals, if both accepted, would be redundant with respect to each other. A player also may not make more than one proposal in a turn that is a direct amendment of the same rule.
Enacted by Mike, 28 July 1999.
Vowels, shmowels...
The shortest proposal (in total number of characters) that a Player makes in any given turn shall be counted to determine the number of each vowel that it contains. Define the maximum of these six numbers to be V, and the number of points that the proposal received P. If P/2 < V < P, the player shall receive a bonus of P - V points. If V < P/2, the player shall receive a bonus of 2(P - V) points. Proposals that simply repeal or transmute rules are not counted for the purpose of this rule.
Enacted by Mike, 28 July 1999, as amendment to Rule 353.
Judgement fees.
A player who wants to invoke Judgement will instantly lose 20 points. The player may then accuse or not any other player and argue his opinion as defined in rule 212. If the Judge agrees with him, the player will earn 30 points. If he accused a player, this player will lose 30 points.
None of these losses will apply if the player has got less than 30 points or if the loss would cause any other player to win the game.
Enacted by Thomas, Wednesday, 28-Jul-1999 20:01:40 ET
The voting gnome
If there are not enough active players in the game, a player known as the Voting Gnome automatically joins the game.
He will vote as last player as follows:
1) Post all votes on the message board in a single posting per proposal.
2) Add all digits in the time-stamp of that posting.
3) Take this number modulo 9.
4) If the result is odd, the Gnome votes for the proposal. If the result is 8, the Voting Gnome abstains. Else, the Gnome votes against.
This rule takes precedence over Rules 303, 335 and amendments.
Amended from 363 by Thomas
Time-Stamps
The Voting Gnome is only active during web-mode.
Enacted by Thomas
The true meaning of unruleworthyness.
Players are allowed to shout "UNRULEWORTHY!!!" at any current proposal, if this proposal would cause any player to win the game within two turns, or if this proposal is redundant with any existing or proposed rule except himself, or if it contradicts any of the current rules, or if it contradicts itself, or if is seriously unclear, or if would cause a major disadvantage to a certain player or group of players, or if could offend a certain group of players, or if it does not bring any new aspect to the gameplay. [Feel free to complete this list]
The proposal will then be repealed instantaneously.
Enacted by Thomas
Define people.
People (singular: Person) are a type of entity corresponding one-to-one to intelligent mental entities. Players are entities who have been declared Players according to the rules of Gnomic. Players come into existence by fiat of People, and go out of existence in the same manner. Players, and only Players, may make or vote on proposals or participate in other business of the game.
The only exception to this rule are bot players. A bot player is any player who joins the game by application of a rule.
Enacted by Mike and meta-amended by Thomas, 29 July 1999.
my loss is my game's life
A player may during his turn choose to lose nu points by stating:"I sacrifice lambda percent of
my score for the well-being of the game".
A player may during his turn make mu proposals,
where mu is (1+lambda/kappa)rounded down to the nearest integer.
Lambda may not be higher than the total points of that player.
Mu may not be higher than 3 regardless of the number of points sacrificed.
Nu shall be lambda percent of his score rounded up to the next integer.
Kappa is 2*Pi.
Created by zagarna and amended several times by Mike, Thomas, and Zagarna himself
Simple majority.
The phrase "simple majority" shall include the situation in which an equal number of players are for and against a proposal.
Enacted by Mike, 31-July-1999
Good bye, old friend.
The voting gnome will leave a game having the needed number of active players.
Enacted by Thomas
Meta-amendments.
When voting, a player may immediately propose an amendment on one of the current proposals. All players will then have to vote on that meta-amendment as if it were an actual amendment.
The meta-amendment will take effect instead of the original amendment if both the meta-amendment and the amendment it is about are adopted. Meta-amendments on meta-amendments and several meta-amendments on a single rule are allowed.
A player may not vote favorable on more than one meta-amendment of a certain rule or meta-amendment.
A rule won't take effect until all of its meta-amendments are voted on.
The player whose meta-amendment is adopted will recieve half of the points (rounded up to next integer) that are distributed to the player who proposed the amended rule. [No points will be subtracted from that players score]
No player may meta-amend his own proposals. If a player wishes to make a change to a proposal, he may do this by posting such a message, but the change is not given a new proposal number and it does not count as a meta-amendment for scoring purposes. All votes posted before the changes become invalid.
Amended by Mike & Thomas from rule 314.
Secrecy of voting
The player who makes a proposal or meta-amendment is implicitly assumed to vote favourable on that
proposal or meta-amendment unless explicitly stated in the same posting as the proposal or
meta-amendment. All other players shall be required to send their vote by e-mail to the player who made a given
proposal or meta-amendment. After all players have voted or 72 hours have passed, the proponent shall post
the votes to the message board. The votes will then be counted.
For that purpose, every player shall be required to post an email address with his game name. In order to avoid
the recognition by spamming bots, this address may contain artefact strings.
[Example: I usually post mine as thomas[at]hirsch[dot]org]
Proposed as Proposal 330 by Mike, meta-amended to 333 by Thomas and to 335 and 402 by Zagarna.
Integers
Integers.
In any rule that states that a player shall receive or be penalized by some non-integral number of points, the bonus or penalty shall be rounded to the nearest integer before the player receives it. A complex number is called "integer", when both its real and imaginary parts are integer. A non-integer complex number will have its real and imaginary part rounded separately.
Created by Mike and meta-amended by Thomas, 5 Aug 1999.
Greek natives
Players are also allowed to shout "UNRULEWORTHY!!!" at any proposal that is unnecessarily obfuscated.
Enacted by Thomas
Poverty level.
An inactive non-"bot" player having less than 80% of the minimum score and less than half the average score of all active players will automatically quit the game.
Enacted by Thomas and amended by Mike.
the fund
There shall be a player called "Fund for mental reeducation of formal logicians", whose name may be
abbreviated to "the Fund" or "FFMRFL". Upon the enaction of this rule, and at the beginning of all
subsequent games, he will have zero points.
The only action which this player is allowed to perform is receiving points. This player is not required to
do any actions normally required of players.
Every player who breaks a rule will give one point to this player.
This rule takes precedence over all rules which define the rights and responsibilities of players.
The Fund shall not be counted as an active player for the purpose of determining the number of active
players.
originally proposed by Thomas(409), reproposed by Zagarna(415) and meta-amended by Thomas(417) and Mike(419)
mommy!
When a proposal fails, the player who proposed it shall lose (omicron-291) * (alpha/nu) points, where
omicron is the number of the proposal, alpha is the number of voters voting against the proposal, and nu is
the total number of voters.
When a meta-amendment fails:
1) If it had a majority of votes and therefore would have passed if its parent proposal had passed, the
player receives no penalty.
2) If it did not have a majority of votes or otherwise would not have passed even if its parent proposal had
Call the level of the amendment kappa. (In other words, it is a meta^k appa amendment.)
Let f(x) = ceil(x/2) and rho = the result of applying f to omicron kappa times, where pi is defined as
above. [Halve omicron kappa times, rounding up each time.]
Then the proponent shall lose rho * (alpha/nu) points, where ceil(x) is the ceiling function and alpha and
nu are defined as above.
(previous history lost) amended by mike
the nature of hacks
All hacks must be specified as follows:
The player must state the number of the hack and of the rule that is being amended if applicable.
He must also state the title of the hack.
They must then either:
1) include the full text of the rule that they wish to create or amend, or
2) specify which section of the rule they wish to replace, and give the text with which it will be replaced.
Sections of the rule may only begin or end at sentence boundaries. The boundaries of the section must be
specified unambiguously, either by reference of words in the rule or by counting words, sentences, or
paragraphs within the rule.
Section 2 is only applicable for amendments and meta-amendments.
created by Mike(420) and meta-amended by Thomas
As if the ruleset hadn't been complex enough...
New proposals may also recieve a number rho+sigma*iota, where rho is the real part of the number of the last proposal ,sigma the smallest positive integer >0 not yet so assigned and iota is the imaginary number sqrt[-1]. The rule shall then be called a complex rule.
When proposing a rule, the proponent may choose freely if his rule is intended to be a regular or a complex rule.
No player is allowed to follow a complex rule.
This rule overrides partially rule 101 and amendments.
For the purpose of comparing the scores of players, the scores shall be converted to real numbers using the following procedure:
Let the player's score be alpha+beta*iota. Then the player's "real score" is sqrt((alpha^3)/abs(alpha) + (beta^3)/abs(beta)). If the number in the square root is negative, the player's score shall be zero.
Amended from 369 by Thomas
Hack, James Hack.
When joining, no player may choose a name that is mentioned in the current ruleset.
Enacted by Thomas
Score updates
Score updates.
After a players turn, this player has to post a score update that informs all other players about all scores
and penalties made during this turn, the current score of all active and bot players and the current number
n, the winning threshold as defined by rules 112 and 310.
Created by Zagarna II and hacked by Thomas(429) and Mike(430)
Oppression III.
Points owned by bot players do not count when determining the value of the number n, the winning
threshold as defined by rules 112 and 310.
Created by Zagarna II(426) and amended by Mike(431)
Emergency break.
An exception state may be invoked at any time. All active players must agree on its invokation.
During the exception state, any player may at any time perform a turn, turns may overlap.
The ruleset will not be altered during the exception state, all changes will be registered and performed with the ending of the exception state.
The exception state ends when all active players agree to let it end.
This rule takes precedence over the rule called 'order of play'.
Enacted by Thomas
Meta nomenclature
The word "proposal" identifies only proposals made by a player during his own turn as a part of his initial post. Meta-amendments of meta-amendments are excluded from this definition.
The word "meta-amendment" identifies any amendment to a proposal made following rule 401 (and amendments)
The word "hack" identifies both proposals and meta-amendments.
The word "rule" defines only already enacted rules.
The word "amendment" defines only proposals about amending any existsing rule.
Amended from 418 by Thomas
Chat
At any time, the players may decide to move the action of the game from the Message Board to a chat room or eMail communication. The action will move to a chat room or e-mail if and only if all active players make a post to the message board affirming that they would like to move the game to the specified medium.
The web, chat, and eMail-based states shall be referred to as respectively "web mode", "chat mode", and "e-mail mode."
When the game is in "chat mode", the following rules shall apply:
Secrecy in voting is inactive for the duration of chat mode.
A turn shall occur as follows:
The player whose turn it is posts his proposals to the medium or to any other method agreed upon by the players.
A general discussion period of reasonable length is held to discuss these proposals. Meta-amendments may also be posted at this time.
Voting takes place on each proposal in turn. If a player wishes to propose a meta-amendment, they may do so during the voting for a given proposal or within a reasonable time after the completion of all votes.
If at any time not all of the game's players are present in chat mode, chat mode shall automatically switch back to "web mode". A player may declare himself "inactive" in chat mode if he wants to leave the chat for a while. In this case, the game will not revert to web mode.
Chat mode shall also automatically end if no player has made any statements related to the game for a period of fifteen minutes. In this case, the game shall revert to web mode.
When the game is in "eMail mode", the following rules shall apply:
All messages that would be posted to the message board in "web mode" are to be posted to all active players. After the completion of the turn, relevant changes have to be posted to the message board or the current ruleset.
E-mail mode shall end if any player posts a message to the other active players stating that he would like to return to web mode.
Enacted and amended several times by Mike and Thomas, 20/21 July 1999 as hack 347. Amended by Mike to hack 437, 23 August 1999.
The ancient gnomic mines.
There shall be an entity called 'The Ancient Gnomic Mines' (also called 'gnomic mines' or 'Mines').
For each hack, the gnomic mines will yield nu entities called 'Voting Gnome's. (or 'Gnome's)
If there are more than two players in the game, nu is equal to zero, else nu is 3-psi, where psi is the number of players.
Each Voting Gnome is allowed and required to vote on its proposal. The vote is not finished until the respective gnome(s) have casted their votes.
The first Gnome will vote as follows:
1) The number sigma shall be the sum of all digits in the time-stamp of the proposals posting.
2) Mu is sigma modulo 9.
3) If mu is odd, the Gnome votes for the proposal. If the result is 8, the Voting Gnome abstains. Else, the Gnome votes against.
All following Gnomes will replace step 2) as follows:
2) Upsilon is the number that the previous Gnome knew as Mu. Mu is upsilon + 1 modulo 9.
If there are less than three players in the game, all proposals must be posted in separate postings.
Since gnomes do not like sunlight, a Gnome will creep back into the mines after having casted his vote, cursing the idea of leaving his home and all those greek letters.
Enacted by Thomas.
Found a fund again.
There shall be the 'Fund for mental reeducation of formal logicians'. It has a score, being 0 initially.
A player who tried to break a rule will give it 1 point.
Enacted by Thomas.
A turn.
Players shall alternate in alphabetical order by their 'name' as declared upon joining the game, taking one whole turn apiece. A player may choose to pass his turn by posting a message to this effect. Parts of turns may not be omitted. All players present at the beginning of a game begin with zero points.
If a player joins the game while it is in progress, they shall begin play with one-half the average score of the players in the game at that time, unless this would give them more than 80% of the current minimum score. In this case, they will receive 80% of the minimum score. If the previous two sentences yield a score of less than
zero, the player shall begin with zero points. All scores will be rounded to next integer.
Amended from 326 (A turn/Mike, Thomas) by Zagarna II
Winning thresholds
The value of the number n, the winning threshold, shall be the greater of:
a) 100
b) 2/p times the sum of the score of all the active players in the game, where p is the number of active players, and negative scores are considered zero.
Enacted by Mike as an amendment to Rule 310, 23 Sept 1999.
More Letters
Any proposal that contains at least three greek or hebraeic letters in its text, used to represent numbers, shall receive a bonus of sigma * 2 ^ gamma / 100 points, here sigma is the score that the proposal would receive without any bonuses and gamma is the number of distinct greek or hebraeic letters in the text.
If gamma > 7, the player shall receive a bonus of delta points instead of the above, where delta is 2*sigma.
If two letters are bound by the rule to stand for the same numerical value, then only one of them counts.
Greek letters are defined as: members of the set {alpha, beta, gamma, delta, epsilon, zeta, eta, theta, iota, kappa, lambda, mu, nu, xi, omicron, pi, rho, sigma, tau, upsilon, phi, chi, psi, omega}.
Hebraeic letters are defined as members of the set {aleph, bet, gimel, dalet, he, waw, sajin, chet, tet, jod, kaf, lamed, mem, nun, samech, ajin, pe, zade, kof, resch, shin, taw}.
The use of pi to represent 3.14159... is counted as using a Greek letter numerically.
Amended from 394 (Greek Letters) by Thomas.
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