$Id: rules.txt,v 1.18 2000/07/31 13:22:14 bjharris Exp $

		 The Current Ruleset For Chiark Nomic
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			   Immutable Rules
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  Rule 101
  Obey The Rules
  
All players must always abide by the current ruleset in its explicit
format, as interpreted in accordance with currently existing game
custom.

  Rule 102
  The Speaker and Voters
  
A Player is either a Voter or the Speaker; no Player may be both at
the same time. There will always be one Speaker.

  Rule 103
  Nature of Players
  
A Player is any person who is registered as a Player. No person may
register as a Player more than once concurrently. A person who is not
a Player and owns a chiark account may register by emailing the
Speaker and indicating their wish to register. A Player always has the
option to deregister and leave the game.

  Rule 104
  Rule Change Defined
  
A rule change is either (a) the enactment, repeal, or amendment of a
mutable rule, or (b) the transmutation of an immutable rule into a
mutable rule, or vice versa. A proposal consists of exactly one
proposed rule change.

  Rule 105
  Adopting Proposals
  
All proposals made properly shall be voted on. Three conditions must
be satisfied for a proposal to be adopted: (1) Quorum is achieved; (2)
the required number of votes is cast for the proposal; and (3) either
the prescribed voting period has elapsed or all Players have voted. A
non-adopted proposal with an elapsed voting period is defeated.

  Rule 106
  Changing the Rules
  
When a proposal is adopted, any rule changes it contains take effect.
No rule change may have retroactive application.

  Rule 107
  Numbering Schemes
  
Each rule has a cardinal number. Each proposal has a cardinal number,
as assigned by the Speaker. The first proposal shall be number 301,
each proper proposal shall receive the next successive cardinal. The
cardinal number of a rule enacted by a proposal is the cardinal number
of that proposal.

  Rule 108
  Making Proposals
  
The proper way to make a proposal is to email it to the Speaker. The
Speaker must distribute each proposal to all Players, at which point
its prescribed voting period begins. Voters may vote either for or
against any proposal during its prescribed voting period by emailing
the Speaker.

  Rule 109
  Mutable/Immutable Inconsistencies
  
In the event of conflict between a mutable rule and an immutable rule,
the mutable rule is wholly void and without effect.

  Rule 111
  At Least One Mutable Rule
  
There must always be at least one mutable rule. The adoption of rule
changes must never become completely inpermissible.

  Rule 112
  Permissibility Of The Unprohibited
  
Whatever is not otherwise explicitly prohibited or regulated by the
rules is permitted and unregulated, with the sole exception of
changing the ruleset, which is permitted only when a rule or set of
rules explicitly or implicitly permits it.
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			    Mutable Rules
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  Rule 110
  Winning The Game
  
The way to win the game may not be changed from achieving n points to
any other method. However, the value of n may be changed, and rules
that establish a winner when play cannot be continued may be enacted
and (while mutable) be amended or repealed. The winner of the last
game shall become the Speaker for the next game.

  Rule 201
  Proposal Conditions
  
Quorum is half of all active registered players. The required number
of votes for a proposal is two-thirds of the legal votes cast on it.
Each player has exactly one vote on each proposal. The prescribed
voting period is seven days.

  Rule 202
  Scoring for Proposals
  
When a proposal becomes adopted, those players who voted against it
receive 5 points each, and its author also receives 10 points. When a
proposalbecomes defeated, its author loses 10 points.

  Rule 203
  Required Number Of Points
  
The winner is the first Player to achieve 200 points, and to have at
least 20 points more than any other Player.

  Rule 204
  Resolving Conflicts
  
If two or more mutable rules, or two or more immutable rules, are in
conflict, then the rule with the lowest cardinal number takes
precedence. However, if at least one of the rules in conflict
explicitly says that it defers to or takes precedence over another
rule (or type of rule), such provisions shall determine precedence if
a consistent interpretation results.

  Rule 205
  Invoking Judgement
  
Any Player who has a query about the laws and their interpretation may
email a statement to the Speaker to incur a Call For Judgement (CFJ).
The speaker must distribute each CFJ to all Players.

  Rule 206
  Selecting A Judge
  
When a CFJ is incurred, the Speaker randomly selects a Voter to be
Judge. The Player selected has 3 days in which to notify the Speaker
of their acceptance or refusal, or else lose 10 points and be deemed
to have refused appointment. If a Judge refuses appointment, a further
random selection is made from the remaining pool.

  Rule 207
  Delivering Judgement
  
A Judge shall post their official Judgement within 3 days of accepting
their appointment. A Judge who fails this requirement is penalized 10
points, and then deemed to have refused their appointment.

  Rule 208
  Three Possible Judgements
  
There are only three possible Judgements: (1) True; (2) False; and (3)
Undecided. A Judgement may be accompanied by reasons and arguments,
but they will form no part of the official Judgement.

  Rule 209
  Judgements Must Accord With The Rules
  
All Judgements must be in accordance with the current ruleset. When
the rules are silent, inconsistent, or unclear on the statement in
question, the Judge shall consider current game custom and the spirit
of the game in reaching a decision.

  Rule 210
  Status of Judgements
  
If a statement on which Judgement has been called is Judged to be
true, it becomes an explicit part of current game custom. If a
Judgement of true is overruled, then the relevant statement ceases to
be an explicit part of current game custom.

  Rule 211
  Overturning Judgements
  
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, then the
Judgement is overruled, and the Judge who made it is penalized 20
points.

  Rule 212
  Winning By Paradox
  
If the legality of some action cannot be determined with finality,
then a player may call for judgement on a statement to that effect. If
the statement is judged true, and the judgement is not overruled, then
the player who called for judgement is declared the winner of the
game. This rule takes precedence over every other rule for determining
the winner of the game.

  Rule 305
  Wording Rules Easier

Any rule which has an effect on a Player within some time of them joining
the game, or on joining the game, affects Players who were already Players
when the rule was enacted as if they joined the game at the point at which
the rule was enacted.

  Rule 307
  And you can call me Al

Every Player, within a week of joining the game, may choose for themselves
a pseudonym, which must be representable as a sequence of graphic
characters from the ECMA-6 International Reference Version, unique, and
not the same as the name or pseudonym of any Player other than themselves.

If a Player has not chosen a pseudonym by then end of this week then the
Speaker must choose one for them.

If a Player has a pseudonym then that is the only unambiguous way of
refering to that Player.

  Rule 309
  What week is it?

For the purposes of the game a calender week is considered to run from 6am
BST on Saturday morning until 6am BST on the next Saturday morning. "

  Rule 311
  Titles

Players may own Titles.  They may only acquire and lose Titles as
described by the Rules.  Unique Titles are a special type of Title.  If
any Player acquires a Unique Title, all other Players who own that Title
lose it.

When a Player has a proposal accepted, and have not previously had a
proposal accepted, they acquire the Title of Non-Newbie.

  Rule 316
  Some degree of reversability

A Player may at any point at which one of their proposals is still
available
for voting perform the action of repudiating it.

A repudiated proposal is immediately deemed to be defeated, however the
author of the proposal only looses half the number of points that they
would
usually loose in such an occurance.

This rule takes precidence over any rule specifying what happens when a
proposal is defeated.

  Rule 320
  A textual convention to make life easier

Any text between brackets '{}' is considered not to be part of the rules,
however it is part of the text of the rules, and should be maintained
along
with the rules.

It may be considered part of game custom.

  Rule 324
  A wider definition of 'person'

A person is either a natural person or an rule-described entity with the
'animate' attribute.

The animate attribute can only be given or removed from an entity as
described by the rules.

  Rule 325
  Slow Down and save the Speaker

It is not proper for a Player to submit a proposal if they currently have
ten or more proposals under voting consideration.

  Rule 329
  Point Transfer

A player may unilaterally gift some of their points to another player,
provided that (i) the player giving the gift does not finish the transfer
with a negative number of points, and (ii) the player receiving the gift
does not finish the transfer with more than 100 points.

  Rule 330
  Points Recovery

At the start of each calendar week, any player who has a negative number
of points gains 10 points, or the number of points needed to increase
their score to -1, whichever is smaller.

  Rule 331
  Order of points

Players may only lose and gain points as prescribed by the Rules.

  Rule 334
  Inactivity Considered Harmful

Players may place themselves in Coventry by emailing the Speaker,
optionally specifying a date of return.  A Player in Coventry may not
vote.  A Player in Coventry leaves Coventry on the date of return (if
specified), or two days after emailing the Speaker indicating they are
leaving Coventry, in either case not less than 7 days after entering
Coventry.  Any player not in Coventry who votes on no proposals during a
calender week is penalised 5 points at the start of the next.
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