spoon-discuss: On win conditions

[Rob Speer <rob@xxxxxxxxxxxx>]

I would like to say that, having achieved it, I don't like the 20-rule
requirement to win, for various reasons.

1. Firstly, this rule seems to have no purpose except to separate out an elite
class of Nomic players who have been around long enough to own 20 Rules. I
think that if a newbie can manipulate the game as well as a seasoned player,
more power to him. Additionally...

2. Counting Rules in the winning requirements is rather like double-dipping.
Rules already allow you to change the game to a form that you like better. A
strategic Nomic player would also make sure that Rules subtly increase eir
chance of winning, so there is no need to define Rule ownership as a
_requirement_ of winning, especially since...

3. Rules are a very arbitrary count. As I demonstrated with "cards", you can
make seven Rules with one Proposal with no difficulty at all. A restriction
like having 10 proposals passed (since the last win or since player creation)
would be more reasonable, but...

4. Having two separate winning conditions screws with the strategy of winning.
I almost blew my chance to win by making the Pooker proposal too soon, when I
didn't yet have 20 rules, and having it _require_ an automatic Showdown. The
result would have been that I would have more than 500 points (unless I chose
to take less, but then I wouldn't get away with that plan a second time), but
less than 20 rules. If that had happened, my hope of winning would essentially
lie in starting with a new Player. It only makes sense that no player who has
more than 500 points will ever get to create a rule.

In fact, I could only meet the 20-rule requirement either because it's
extremely difficult to keep track of who owns which rule, and thus nobody could
tell which rule would be my 20th, or because nobody believed there was any way
for me to get 500 points.

I think that the resolution to all of these flaws in the winning requirement
would be to eliminate the 20-rule stipulation, and make the minimum Adopted
Proposal Award something high like 20. This would reward contributing to the
game, even if you make entirely altruistic Proposals with no ulterior motives.
This would also make objects such as the Stamp of Failure and Extra Votes less
obscenely expensive. The winning score should then be set to 1000 because of
the inflationary effect of the above.

-- 
Rob Speer