J(18) 14.ii.98

Call for Judgement

• Puppets can exist
• All of the Puppets currently defined in the rules do not exist
• Puppets cannot exist

Explanation

By rule 113(0)

"A player always has the right to forfeit the game rather than continue to play".

By rule 473(0)

• A Puppet is a type of player.
• "The Actions of a Puppet are entirely accounted for by [its] set of Instructions".

The rule does not seem to explicitly allow or disallow a Puppet to forfeit the game. Certainly none of the Puppets existing so far can forfeit the game as their Instructions do not include this action, and their actions are governed entirely by their Instructions.

By rule 113(0), immutable rules take precedence and any mutable rule which conflicts with an immutable rule is entirely void. So is rule 473(0) entirely void, and are any of the rules creating Puppets entirely void?

Judgement

The Judge selected was Ian Collier.

Puppets can exist. There is no conflict between having the right to forfeit the game and not actually taking the right. A puppet's instructions may specify that it does or does not resign at particular times.