[spoon-discuss] Re: [Spoon-business] Foreign affairs

[Wonko <dplepage@xxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Quoth Baron von Skippy,

> It occurs to me that the Ministry of Foreign Affairs hasn't produced any
> results. Now, when things seem extraneous in B Nomic, we either get rid of
> them or make them bigger. I like the latter choice here for two reasons.
> One, there's promise for Foreign Affairs - it's not a bad idea, just an
> undefined one. Two, other than InterNomic, which I think is a different
> scenario anyway, no one's ever done something like this. That said...

Of course, before the Hindenburg, nobody had ever built a hydrogen blimp out
of extremely flammable materials and flown it in dry weather... :)

Is the Ministry of Foreign Affairs still active? I've never heard a report
from it, and Athena hasn't posted anything at all lately... is e still here?

> I propose:
> 
> {{
> __So what's a "Connection," anyway?"__
> 
> Create a rule:
> 
> {{
> __Diplomacy the Nomic Way__
> 
> The state of affairs between any two different games of Nomic is defined as
> one of the following:
> 
> A. Unknown
> If no contact has been made between two games of Nomic by a player empowered
> to make links between games, then the state of affairs between those games
> is defined to be Unknown.

A "player" of which Nomic?

> B. Apathetic
> If contact has been made between two games of Nomic and no other definition
> of the state of affairs between those games applies, the state of affirs
> between those games is defined to be Apathetic.

Affirs?

> C. Cordial
> If two Nomic games have made contact and begun Trade, but have not Allied,
> then the state of affairs between those games is defined to be Cordial.
> 
> C.1. The Suber
> In order to initiate Trade, both Nomic games trading must set an exchange
> rate between their currencies and the universal currency. The universal
> currency is the Suber, a quantity of which is written as xS, where x is the
> number of Subers, and the exchange rate is calculated by the formula 1S =
> x/100 points, where x is the number of points needed to win in the Nomic
> game in question and "points" refers to the points or dominant scorekeeping
> unit of that game. [[For example: 10 B Nomic points = 1S, because 1000/100 =
> 10.]]

If'n yer gonna define the exchange rate between any given currency and the
Suber, you probably shouldn't say that the Nomic games must set an exchange
rate themselves... And what about Nomics with multiple currencies (like us),
currencies that can't be used to win the game (like BNS), and Nomics with no
dominant scorekeeping unit/no way to win based on any currency?

> C.2. Trade
> In order to trade items between two Nomics, both rulesets must first be
> compliant with the item to be traded. Rules defining purchasable items can
> be created by the Administrator at the request of one player, without a vote
> being taken. When a purchasable item is purchased by a player who is not a
> player in the game that created the item in the first place, the proceeds
> from the sale of that item are converted to Subers and given to the game
> that created the item, for distribution according to their ruleset.

The Admin can define Purchasable Items with just one player asking? So if I
decide that there should be a Staff of "Wonko and Dave Get Dictatorship",
which immediately confers upon Dave and I the power to arbitrarily change
the state of any Nomic game containing one, Dave just has to say, "Yeah,
sure, whatever." and every Nomic involved will become my toy? Interesting...

> C.2.1. Copyrights
> Purchasable items may be copyrighted as products of a certain game. Rules
> defining previously copyrighted items may not be created in other Nomic
> games unless by the procedure described above.

I'm not sure I follow... so if Agora decided to invent Gnomes, they wouldn't
be able to because... our ruleset says they can't?

> D. War
> If two Nomic games have made contact and either game has agreed under the
> terms of its ruleset to declare War on the other, the state of affairs
> between those games is defined to be War.
> 
> D.1. Declaring War
> Any Nomic game may at any time declare War against any other Nomic game by
> having a player empowered to make links to other Nomic games state that War
> has been declared in the appropriate forum of the game they wish to declare
> War on.
> 
> E. Alliance
> If two Nomic games have made contact, are both at War against a common enemy
> game, and have agreed to Ally against said enemy, the state of affairs
> between those games is defined to be Alliance.
> 
> F. Uber-precedence
> This rule takes precedence over all rules in all rulesets of all active
> Nomic games.

This is probably illegal, possibly paradoxical, and definitely impossible -
the rules of B Nomic only govern those who have consented to be governed by
our rules; we cannot force anything upon the players of another Nomic. It
also declares that it takes precedence over itself... that's bad.

> }}
> 
> Create another rule:
> 
> {{
> __B Nomic-specific diplomacy__
> 
> A. Declaring War in B Nomic
> The Ambassador is empowered to declare War if 2/3 of all players declare in
> a public forum that they support a War with the same other game of Nomic.
> 
> B. Copyrighted Items of B Nomic
> The following items are copyrighted purchasable items of B Nomic:
> Gnomes defined in B Nomic rule 441
> Grid Objects defined in B Nomic rules 301, 550, 705, 950, 1075, 1266, and
> 1268
> Alcoholic Beverages defined in B Nomic rules 498 and 1081
> [[I may have forgotten something, but I need to sleep now, so if I did,
> point it out or the commie bastards in other games are liable to pinch it.
> Or not.]]

So any other active game can 'buy' these, but somehow they can't seem to
create 'em themselves?

*** Off in Agora ***

Agoran 1: Hey, I know! Let's create Pan Galactic Gargle Blaster Gno- *erk*
Uggghhhhhhhh *sound of corpse hitting floor*

Agoran 2: What just happened?

Agoran 3: E tried to propose a copyrighted item!

Agoran 2: What, you mean we can't?

Agoran 3: Nope, it's illegal. B Nomic says so!

Agoran 2: So we couldn't even propose to, say, invent the
Sledge-O-Ma-GAAAAHHHHH!!!! *sound of player's head exploding*

Agoran 3: Whoops.

Agoran 4: Uh, you guys wanna stop doing that before I'm the only one left?

Agoran 3: Hey, I know, why don't we copyright rules?

Agoran 4: Hmmmm......

*** Elsewhere, on the Grid ***

Wonko: Wow, these copyrights sure work well! We've saved six different
products from nasty foreign competition!

Baron: Yeah, now we just need to add a rule that- *pop*

Glotmorf: Hey, where'd the Baron go?

Wonko: I don't know... e was right over there just a moment ago...

bd (in distance, to Athena): I was thinking, what if we made a rule that
*BLAM*

bd's corpse: *thunk*

Wonko: Glotmorf, something just landed in the mud behind me. Do I really
want to turn around and see what it is?

Glotmorf: Probably not; it's kind of ugly.

Wonko: Ah. I, uh, don't suppose we could, uh, get a new rule or something in
prohibiting that sort of *FOOMP*

*** Back in Agora ***

Agoran 3: Haha! Our copyrights have destroyed them utterly! MWAHAHAHAHAHA!
MWAHAHHAHAHA!

Agoran 4: Dude, Nomicron already patented evil laughs.

Agoran 3: What? No! NOO! NOOOOOOOOOOOOOoooo *gurgle* *blub blub blub*

> }}
> }}


Overall, I think this is a really good idea, but I'm not sure it really
ought to be put within the scope of our game. Perhaps if an outside
organization were set up, which B Nomic just happened to be the first member
of? Any Nomic could join the organization, provided that they agreed to be
bound by its rules; perhaps certain items could be designated as officially
sanctioned for trade by the organization, and a panel of citizens from the
various Nomics would be in charge of deciding what objects should be
added/removed, and who should control the copyrights. And hey, if anyone
with Administrative skills and a yearning for complicated work came along,
the thing could blossom into a full-fledged InterNomic, except more
interesting.

-- 
Wonko

_______________________________________________
spoon-discuss mailing list
spoon-discuss@xxxxxxxxx
http://lists.ellipsis.cx/mailman/listinfo/spoon-discuss