Re: [spoon-discuss] The Game

[Bill Adlam <sagitta_elegans@xxxxxxxxx>]

Zarpint wrote:

> I would be up for totally wiping the Ruleset and replacing it with
> something
> really, really simple that doesn't require an Admin, vaguely
> resembling
> something like:
> 
> {{
> __Ruleset__
> 
> Change the Ruleset to the following:
> {{
> 1. This Game is C Nomic. The Initial Players are ..... A New Player
> may join
> by posting to the Forum. The Initial Forum is spoon-business.
> 
> 2. Any Player may propose a change to the Ruleset at any time
> provided e
> does not have a change pending. The change is assigned the smallest
> unassigned nonnegative integer. If more players agree to the change
> on
> the Forum than disagree, the change is made, and the Player making it
> is
> responsible for posting the new Ruleset.
> }}
> }}
> 
> We might need a little more than that, but the idea is to make it
> really
> minimalist to start.
> 
> Is there interest in something like this?

I too think it's time to restart, to create a new game purged of
administerium, but I'd prefer to incorporate as much of B Nomic into it
as we can.

I think we'll have problems distributing the gamestate by mail though,
since there are sometimes delays in receiving messages, leading players
to post contradictory updates.  As the gamestate becomes larger, it
will also be increasingly cumbersome to send and receive it by email,
and to check that it's correct.

Therefore I would prefer a server-based system, if we can build one or
borrow an existing one.  There would be a single log listing everyone's
actions, and the explanations behind them.  At a minimum, a signed-in
player would be able to describe an action, and then make a series of
changes to the gamestate, which would appear in a log something like
this:

Sagitta: I play Your Spoo Has Too Much Fleem on The Voice
Sagitta changes card8.location from "Sagitta" to "The Deck".
Sagitta: rolling for eir 1st card to discard (not really necessary as e
only has 2).  1 = lower-numbered card
Sagitta rolls a D2: 2
Sagitta changes card46.location from "The Voice" to "The Deck".
Sagitta: only 1 more card available to discard
Sagitta changes card12.location from "The Voice" to The Deck".
Sagitta finishes an action.

When a change is made (e.g. moving YSHTMF to the deck), a working copy
of the gamestate would be updated, but we'd also have a definitive
official copy.  Players can view the log and recognise all changes up
to a certain point (a 'finishes an action' point).  If e thinks
something is wrong, a player can dispute a change.  If a quorum of
players have recognised an action, and it is not disputed, and no
earlier actions are disputed, it propagates to the official gamestate.

If a dispute occurs, the standard dispute resolution procedure applies
[waves hands vaguely].  If the dispute is upheld, the action is
invalidated, and so are all later actions.  (This is partly because
they may now be illegal, but mainly because this makes it easier to
update the official gamestste - we just copy the last recognised
working gamestate.)

We should make sure the working copy doesn't get indefinitely far ahead
of the final one - say, by requiring the gamestate to be fully
synchronised at the end of each checking period.  In fact, we can get
by with only updating at the end of each checking period.

Anyway, what I'm proposing here would require:
1. a server storing 2 copies of the gamestate (in fact, we'd probably
keep a series of working copies, a new one for each unrecognised
action)
2. a way for players to log in
3. structure for storing the gamestate
4. a mechanism for manipulating the (working) gamestate, which logs the
changes unambiguously
5. a mechanism for recognising when actions have been
recognised/disputes resolved
6. a mechanism for updating the official gamestate
7. a mechanism for displaying the working and official gamestates
(probably web-based)

The difficult bits, I think, are 3, 4 and 5.  Does anyone want to share
any creative suggestions/mocking derision?

Sagitta


	
	
		
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