*EXERCISE* *EXERCISE* *EXERCISE*
For hypothetical discussion purposes only
It is not my turn.
Since I'm not doing anything today besides taking care of a sick person, and we're all waiting for the next turn to start, I started thinking about what kind of rule we need for maintaining the player list. Sounds simple, but gets complicated pretty fast, involving time limits, involuntary removal from the list, etc.
I hesitate to post it, because I'm not trying to tell anyone what to do, and another suggestion might work equally well or better. Maybe we could talk over what we envision, though.
Here's what I've got so far, for your entertainment.
List of Players
1. Definitions
1.1 The term “player” shall refer to any registered user of the MeFiNo wiki who is listed on the List for MeFi Nomic Of Players (LMNOP).
1.2 The term “temporary non-player” shall refer to any member of the MeFiNo wiki who is unable to participate, but wishes to rejoin at a later time. Temporary Non-Players shall not be considered "players" as referred to in the Rules.
2. Requirements
2.1 The LMNOP shall be maintained available for the reference of all MeFiNo members as a page on the wiki. The front page of the wiki shall contain a conspicuous link to the LMNOP.
2.2 The LMNOP shall consist of two sections: Players, and Temporary Non-Players.
2.3 The LMNOP shall initially list as players those MeFiNo members who have voted on a rule proposal or participated in the discussion forums.
2.4 All players must have an email address where they can be contacted in the event that they are holding up the game. This email address shall not be used for other purposes, except as specified in the Rules.
2.5 Temporary Non-Players do not lose their points, unless the current game ends and all points are reset to zero.
3. Restrictions
3.1 The LMNOP shall not be edited by any person, except as provided for by the Rules.
3.2 Temporary Non-Players may not vote. If the turn passes to a Temporary Non-Player, their turn is skipped.
4. Administration
4.1 Adding Players
4.1.1 Players may be added to the LMNOP at any time.
4.1.2 Any member who wishes to become a player may do so by stating their intention to play on the MeFiNo wiki. Any current player may make the required addition to the LMNOP, at which point the member becomes a player. No player is required to make the change to the LMNOP; therefore, if no player is willing to add the member, the member does not become a player.
4.1.3 Any member listed as a Temporary Non-Player may become a player at any time by editing the LMNOP to move their name to the Player section. A second player is not required for this action.
4.2 Removing Players
4.2.1 Any player may resign from the game by removing their own name from the LMNOP.
4.2.2 Any player may change their status from Player to Temporary Non-player by changing the LMNOP to move their name to the Temporary Non-Player section. If the player wishes, he may also include a “do not drop before” date by his name. If not specified, a “do not drop before” date of thirty days from the current date may be assigned by any player.
4.2.3 Any player who does not respond to a vote being called within 48 hours may be contacted at the email address specified in paragraph 2.4 above. If the player still has not responded by 24 hours after the notification email was sent, that person will cease to be a Player and become a Temporary Non-Player with a “do not drop before” date of thirty days from the current date.
4.2.4 Temporary Non-Players may be deleted from the LMNOP once their “do not drop before” date has passed. This action may be performed by any Player, but requires a majority vote of all players to approve.
All that "temporary non-player" business is for two reasons: 1) I don't think we should kick anyone out just for going MIA for whatever reason for a while (stuff happens), but I don't think we need to excessively hold up the game for them. 2) At some point I'm going to have to go to sea on a submarine for a while, and don't want to have to rejoin from scratch when I get back (selfish, I know).
I suppose we should also address the fact that since we don't have "surnames" IAW 201, we're using mefi usernames, and what to do about those that don't have them.
We could also keep score on the list of players, or we could keep it separately. We have no procedure for recording scores, only for generating them.
I would prefer removing the "drop" idea altogether. I don't see any reason we'd need to drop people from the LNP. If we did at some point, we could always amend this. 4.2.5 also conflicts with 2.5
Saying that NPs aren't players is problematic, because then basically none of the rules apply to them anymore. This could mean that if someone wishes to violate the rules in their favor, they could simply go non-player for a bit, do whatever, then re-add themselves. Perhaps instead, NPs could be not eligible to vote. Of course, this would require transmutation of 105.
3.2 is redundant in the current form. NPs are not players, and therefore are not eligible to vote. Also, since they are not players, they are removed from the order of proposing, so they wouldn't be able to propose anyway.
I would like to see something in here that disqualifies anyone not on the active player list from voting. It's implied, but not stated.
This rule seems like it would also suffer from problems similar to those that the early versions of 301 faced, namely that it is quite sweeping and may step on the toes of other rules.
Yeah, I suppose we don't need a way to drop anyone at this point. Eventually we might, but that could be quite a ways down the road. It would make things simpler without all that drop-date hoo-ha.
3.2 could be changed to just say that only people on the official player list can vote.
The language in this seems... awkward at times.
"shall be maintained available"
"the List for MeFi Nomic Of Players" (cute acronym, not worth the awful wording)
"still has not responded by 24 hours"
And it's overly verbose in general, IMO. I'd rather see this issue solved with one or two short, simple rules. You don't need to obsess over details quite so much -- we have judges for that. Complex rules are more likely to hamstring us.
Agree.
Valid criticisms. Just trying to throw out what the key concepts might look like. However,
We're getting hamstrung by judgment requests, so maybe some detail would be helpful.
Perhaps we could draft a rule that penalizes players (five points, say) for invoking judgment? That might discourage people from using the power so willy-nilly and disrupting the game. I dunno... I'll think about that. Point penalties aren't an ideal fix.
You can certainly think quietly to yourself about what rules you might want to enact but I don't really see the value in communally drafting rules. It's up to each player to make up their own mind what they propose at each turn, we can't force everyone into an agenda beforehand.
But then I hate being told what to do plus voting blocks or team efforts can easily become part of the game if others are less bolshy than I.
The rules do not say that you have to invoke judgment on every move that violates a rule. They merely say that you can invoke judgment.
So it would probably be better to invoke judgment only when you don't like a particular rule that has been approved. I personally can't see how refusing to move onto the next proposal benefits the game or a particular player (well at this stage anyway)
Way I see it, it's just advance discussion for when someone makes a proposal on the topic we know is going to come up, probably sooner rather than later. It's going to be discussed, why not now?
I tried to make it as clear as I could that I'm just shootin' the breeze here, just thinking out loud, and not trying to tell anyone what to do. Nor am I suggesting that I have the one true solution (or even that mine would necessarily work).
Just killing some time. Rule 116.
I had to look up 'bolshy.' I like it.
It's up to each player to make up their own mind what they propose at each turn, we can't force everyone into an agenda beforehand.
Ya think? No one is handing down decrees here.