MeFiNo | The MetaFilter Nomic Game

Judgment: "ctmf must be purged" could have been skipped given the consent of a majority of players other than flatluigi. "Remove bonobo" could not have been skipped, unless bonobo had voted, or removed by other means, and even then would still have required the consent of a majority of players other than flatluigi to do so.

Commentary: First, let it be noted that I am intepreting "skip" to mean "proceed with calculation of points and beginning turn 309 without judgment being delivered on the previous two invocations." Second, although the question is now moot, with judgments having been delivered on the previous two invocations (so it is no longer even possible to skip them), this does not absolve me from my responsibility of delivering judgment.

Rule 212 specifies, "When Judgment has been invoked, the next player may not begin his or her turn without the consent of a majority of the other players." Interestingly, consent of a majority of players is required only after judgment has been invoked, not after judgment has been rendered. If a majority of players consent, the next player may begin his turn without judgment being delivered by the Judge. I note this is a potentially useful loophole: it could allow us to proceed with the game if a Judge fails to deliver judgment at all, whether due to merely disappearing from the game, or due to a perverse active refusal to deliver judgment.

As there is no other bar to proceeding related to "ctmf must be purged," it would have been possible to proceed with the game without judgment on that invocation, given the consent of a majority of players.

"Remove bonobo" is a different story, as rule 202 requires that voting comes before scoring, and rule 305 requires that all players vote. Given these, a mere consent of a majority of players to proceed without judgment would have been insufficient to actually proceed, as bonobo would still have been a non-voting player. (The language of rule 212, "the next player may not begin his or her turn without the consent of a majority of the other players," clearly establishes a necessary condition, but not necessarily a sufficient condition, to proceed.) However, if bonobo had voted, or been removed by other means (a second invocation to remove her, judged affirmatively), then scoring could have proceeded, and 309 commenced without judgment on the first invocation to remove bonobo, given the consent of a majority of players.

The question of whether the "consent" required to move on by rule 212 may be implicit has not been raised by this invocation, thus the Judge has no power to decide it here. (See the commentary on the Judgment of "ctmf must be purged" for the reasoning by which the Judge may rule only on questions placed before him.)

If only we could have Judge Chuck with us forever. I can only hope and pray that his successors will live up to his magnificent example.

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