Re: spoon-discuss: Time travel?

[Wonko <dplepage@xxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Quoth Dan Waldron,

>> As for setting the clock to nweek 2, Mr. A would probably veto it
>> because it'd mess up his database.  I'd add my objections because of
>> my own database.  The rules may not care overmuch, though there's the
>> nyear rule to consider.
>> 
>> Why would you want to set the clock back to nweek 2?  So that the game
>> doesn't feel ancient?
> 
> Oh I'm not seriously suggesting this, folk.  This is definetly out there
> on the probably-not-possible-but-fun-to-think-about edge.  Actually, I
> have a feeling that you folks consider plenty of my legitimate proposals
> to be out there too, but this one is especially distant.
> 
> If we were to set the clock back to nweek 2 then presumably the rules as
> of nweek 2 would be in effect.  Am I right in assuming that only players
> who had not voted in the first nweek 2 would be allowed to vote?  Would
> all of our attributes be set back to their nweek 2 values or would we have
> to specify that somewhere else if we wanted it.  Would players who had
> joined since nweek 2 be booted, since, presumably a demonstration of
> intent to be a player has no effect before it is submitted?  And then when
> we get to nweek 3 would all the real changes we made in nweek 2 be
> automatically be made or would we have to propose them all over again?
> 
> I am tempted to propose something like a weakened form of the relativity
> proposal.  Time could move at different rates for different players,
> probably done by changing the number of ndays in the nweek.  The Admin
> wouldn't have to work ahead though.  Basically if a player got to the next
> nweek before the Admin, the Admin wouldn't be able to recognize eir
> actions until e know if they are legal under the new rules.  This time lag
> might be some sort of handicap for players who write too much--a little
> like Entropy is now.
> 
> That said, i'm not actually a big fan of entropy and given the choice I
> would probably prefer to squish it and not worry about syllables..

I actually think that setting the Clock to nweek 2 would do very little. The
way the Clock's phrased makes it so that it doesn't control time, just
record it. If we set the Clock to nweek 2 at the end of nweek 17, we'll
still be in nweek 18 of the game, the Clock will just be wrong.

-- 
Wonko