Re: [s-d] Draft proposal: Legally binding contracts

[Antonio Dolcetta <antonio.dolcetta@xxxxxxxxx>]

Andreas Domfors wrote:
> As this is my first piece of legislation, I'm open to suggestions.
> This might lead to some more book-keeping for the administrators, but
> I think it can have some creative applications.
> 
> Create a new rule called "Legally binding contracts"
> {{
> There exists a type of Game Documents called "Contracts". Contracts
> consist of the following:
> * statements regarding the future state of the game which are
> collectively known as Trigger Statements.
> * a Transaction [[ see Rule 1-16 ]]
> Any Outsider can Submit a Contract [[ see Rule 1-11 ]]. Initially, the
> Contract is owned by its creator. The owner of the Contract may do the
> following Game Actions:
> * give the Contract to another Outsider.
> * destroy the Contract.
> If at any point in the game, the Trigger Statements are fulfilled, the
> Outsider that created the contract automatically submits the specified
> transaction as a Game Action.
> If multiple Contracts should trigger at the same NTime, the shortest
> Contract (comparing the number of textual characters in the Game
> Document) will be triggered first. In case of a tie, the Administrator
> chooses the order that the Contracts trigger in.
> }}
> 
> This mechanism is more general than the commercial transaction defined
> in "Crazy Eddie's House Of Fun". As an example, for a simple currency
> exchange, Player A would create a contract specifying "Player B has
> given me 5 mackerel" as the trigger. The Transaction would be "give
> Player B 3 emps". Player A gives B the Contract, and B in turn gives A
> the payment.
> 

This is nice, but I don't understand what the "giving" part means.
As a question, would this work ?

suppose i create a contract:
{{
trigger: a player gives me 10 mackarels
transaction: i give that player 5 emps and destroy this contract
}}

If I read it correctly I don't have to "give" this to anyone for it to work.
if iI wanted it to work only for player A giving me mackarels i would 
have written:
{{
trigger: player A gives me 10 mackarels
transaction: i give player A 5 emps and destroy this contract
}}

also I wonder if this can be extended to provide for auctions. B Nomic 
ebay anyone ?


> A few thoughts:
> * Would it be useful to let any Game Object create Contracts? Though
> that would require a few rule changes to allow non-Outsiders to take
> useful Game Actions.
that's always a fun thing, if it was for me I'd try it out with players 
first, but that's just me.

> * Would it be useful to be able to submit secret contracts directly to
> the administrator?
I'm against secret contracts, see 
http://www.nomic.net/~nomicwiki/index.php/MousetrapThesis
http://209.85.129.104/search?q=cache:biIK5tBqmSEJ:www.nomic.net/~nomicwiki/index.php/MousetrapThesis+agora+nomic+thesis&hl=en&gl=uk&ct=clnk&cd=2
(this is the google cached version of the file, nomic.net appears to 
have mysql problems, Joel ?)

other random thoughts:
Why do you use Outsiders instead of Players ?

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