From: geoff@cs.monash.edu.au (Geoff Wong)
Subject: Players - Self Regulation.
Summary: A system (for mud etc) for players to regulate their own activities.
Keywords: nomic, law, rights
Organization: Computer Science, Monash University, Australia
Date: Tue, 12 Jan 1993 04:46:53 GMT

Often problems with players result in disagreements about "MUD policy"
which then draw in wizards/gods etc resulting in various
in-fighting etc; this seems to link in with players "rights" often too.
Anyway after a variety of ways of attempting to regulate policy
on Shattered World I have adapted a set of rules developed on the Nomic Server
for Shattered World. The adapted rules are given as a set of laws, they
are listed below. The laws are available for all players to peruse and
are very explicit about their application and how they can be changed.
Citizens (players who are registered as such; our policy is 1 person
per citizen) are in control of the laws themselves. These laws could also
conceivably be extended for wizards etc. 

This has 2 advantages; players are now responsible for interpreting game
"law" and policing themselves - so wizard/god intervention is not required.
Furthermore for those interested players it provides a game within a game
(The game of Nomic originally framed by Peter Suber). The laws also
contain a subset of "Common Law" for players not interested in the intricacies
of the law but need to know what "mud policy" is.

geoff
No change is stagnation. Stagnation is death.
---
Shattered World System of Law.
Developed from the Nomic Server Rules.
Originally Developed from the Nomic Rules written by Peter Suber.

Law 101. [immutable] Obey The Laws
All citizens must always abide by all the laws then in effect, in the
form in which they are then in effect, and interpreted in accordance with
currently existing custom.

***
Law 102. [immutable] Mutable/Immutable Laws
Until such time as they are legally transmuted, Laws 101-114 are
immutable, Laws 201-223 are mutable and Laws 301-310 are common.
Laws 301-310 are also known as "common law" and shall apply to
all players not just citizens; it is the duty of the citizens
(collectively) to effectively enforce the common laws.

***
Law 103. [immutable] What is a Proposal?

A proposal must propose one of the following:
a) The enactment of a mutable or common law,
b) The amendment of a mutable or common law,
c) The repeal of a mutable or common law,
d) The transmutation of a law between immutable, mutable and common.
e) The overturning of a judgement, or
f) A change in the game state which does not change any law.

***
Law 104. [immutable] Adopting Proposals
All proposals made in the proper way shall be voted on.  Three conditions
must be satisfied for a proposal to be adopted: (1) a quorum must have
been achieved; (2) the required number of votes must have been cast in
favor of the proposal; and (3) the prescribed voting period must have
elapsed.

***
Law 105. [immutable] Proposals Must Be Written Down
Any proposed law change must be written down (or otherwise communicated
in print media) before it is voted on.  If adopted, it must guide play in
the form in which it was voted on.

***
Law 106. [immutable] When Proposals Can Not Take Effect
No law change may take effect before the end of the prescribed voting
period on that proposed law change, even if its wording explicitly states
otherwise.  No law change may have retroactive application.
 
***
Law 107. [immutable] Numbering Proposals and Laws
Each proposal put on the voting notice board shall be given an ordinal
number for reference.  The numbers shall begin with 1000, and each
proposal shall receive the next successive ordinal, whether or not the
proposal is adopted.  Newly enacted laws receive the ordinal number of
the proposal that adopted them.  The ordinal number of a law is the
first ordinal number that was assigned to it, even if it is amended.

***
Law 108. [immutable] Common/Mutable/Immutable Inconsistencies
Mutable laws that are inconsistent in some way with some immutable law
(except by proposing to transmute it) are wholly void and without effect.
They do not implicitly transmute immutable laws into mutable laws and at
the same time amend them. Common Law which is inconsistent in some way with
any other law shall only be applied to non-citizen players.
Law changes that transmute the category of a law will be effective only if 
they explicitly state their transmuting effect.

***
Law 109. [immutable] Making Proposals
The proper way to make a proposal is to place it on the voting
noticeboard.  The prescribed voting period begins at the moment that the
proposal is placed on the voting noticeboard, and the proposal then cannot
be removed from the voting noticeboard until the end of the prescribed
voting period.

***
Law 110. [immutable] At Least One Mutable Law
There must always be at least one mutable law.  The adoption of law
changes must never become completely inpermissible.
 
***
Law 111. [immutable] Law Changes That Affect Law Changing Laws
Law changes that affect laws needed to allow or apply law changes are
as permissible as other law changes.  Even law changes that amend or
repeal their own authority are permissible.  No law change is
impermissible solely on account of the self-reference or self-application
of a law.

***
Law 112. [immutable] The Lifting of the Veil
Citizens may vote either for or against any proposal on the voting
noticeboard during the prescribed voting period.  Voting shall remain
secret until the close of that voting period.  Citizens who do not vote
within the prescribed period shall be deemed to have abstained.

***
Law 113. [immutable] Permissibility Of The Unprohibited
Whatever is not explicitly prohibited or regulated by a law is permitted
and unregulated, with the sole exception of changing the laws, which is
permitted only when a law or set of laws explicitly or implicitly
permits it.

***
Law 201. [mutable] Quorum
Quorum is defined to be 20% of the recently active registered citizens.
 
***
Law 202. [mutable] Recently Active Citizens

A registered citizen is recently active with respect to a proposal if he or
she has logged on to the game at least once in the two weeks before the
beginning of the voting period on that proposal.

A registered citizen is recently active generally with respect to the game
at a time, if he or she has logged into the game at least once in the
previous week.

***
Law 203. [mutable]  Required Number Of Votes
The number of votes required to pass a proposal is two-thirds of the votes
legally cast within the prescribed voting period.

***
Law 204. [mutable] One Citizen One Vote
Each citizen has exactly one vote.
 
***
Law 205. [mutable] The Prescribed Voting Period
The prescribed voting period on a proposal is seven (real life) days,
starting from the moment that the proposal is placed on the voting noticeboard.

***
Law 206. [mutable] When Proposals Take Effect
An adopted proposal takes effect at the moment that the prescribed voting
period ends.

***
Law 207. [mutable] Resolving Conflicts
If two or more mutable/immutable/common laws conflict with one another,
then the law with the lowest effective ordinal number takes precedence. 
If at least one of the laws in conflict explicitly says of itself that it
defers to another law (or type of law) or takes precedence over another law
(or type of law), then such provisions shall supercede the numerical method
for determining precedence.  If two or more laws claim to take precedence
over one another, or to defer to one another, then the numerical method must
again govern.

***
Law 208. [mutable]  Invoking Judgement
Any citizen who has a question or complaint about any matter concerning the
laws and their interpretation may place a statement on the judge's
noticeboard and call for judgement on that statement. No citizen
may have more than five calls for judgement pending acceptance by
judges.

***
Law 209. [mutable] Selecting a Recently Active Judge
When Judgement has been called for, a Judge is randomly selected from
among the other recently active registered citizens. The citizen selected has 3
(real) days in which to accept or refuse the appointment by posting to the
judge's noticeboard.  Any citizen who does not respond to selection in 3 days
shall be penalized monetarily (the amount is at the discretion of the
Chief Judge), and is deemed to have refused appointment.  If a
selected citizen refuses appointment, then a further random selection is
made from the remaining pool. In the case where there is no remaining
pool it falls to the Chief Judge to pass judgement.

***
Law 210. [mutable] Delivering Judgement
Having accepted the appointment, a Judge has exactly one week in which to
post an official Judgement.  A Judge who fails to deliver Judgement within
that period shall be penalized monetarily (the sum at the discretion
of the Chief Judge).
 
***
Law 211. [mutable] Three Possible Judgements
There are only three possible Judgements: (1) True; (2) False; or (3)
Undecided.  A Judgement may be accompanied by reasons an arguments, but
any such reasons and arguments  form no part of the official Judgement
itself.

***
Law 212. [mutable] Judgements Must Accord With The Laws
All Judgements must be in accordance with all the laws then in effect.
When the laws are silent, inconsistent, or unclear on the statement in
question, however, then the Judge shall consider currently existing game
custom and the spirit of the game in reaching a decision.
 
***
Law 213. [mutable] Judgements Are Not Laws
If a statement on which Judgement has been called and that Judgement is not
overruled, it does not thereby become a law, or any part of a law.
It merely becomes an explicit part of currently accepted game custom.

***
Law 214. [mutable] Overturning Judgements
At any time in the week following the posting of a Judgement,
any citizen may propose that the Judgement be overruled, i.e.
changed to "undecided".  If that proposal is adopted, according to
whatever laws are currently in effect for the adoption of proposals, then
the Judgement is overruled, and the Judge who made is penalized at the
discretion of the Chief Judge.
 
***
Law 215. [mutable] Registered Citizens
A citizen is any person who is registered as a citizen, the process
of registration shall be at the discretion of the administrators
of the game.  No person may register as a citizen more than once
concurrently; if a person is found to have more than one character
registered as a citizen they shall have all their characters removed
from citizenship and be barred from every taking up citizenship
for any of their characters.

Anyone is allowed to observe the game and participate in discussion of any
issue, but no person who is not a citizen may make a proposal, or vote on
any proposal, or call for judgement, or pass judgement. Anyone who is on
the game and not a citizen shall be regarded as a "player".
 
***
Law 216. [mutable] Maximum Two Proposals Per Citizen
 
At any time, no citizen shall have more than two proposals
up for vote on the voting noticeboard.
 
***
Law 217. [mutable]  Seconding Proposals
Before a proposal may be placed on the voting noticeboard, it must be
signed (also called "seconded") by another citizen.
 
The citizen making the proposal may ask any other citizen to sign his/her
proposal.  The citizen who is asked then has three options.  He or she may:
 
(a) privately refuse to sign.  No record is kept of the transaction.
(b) publically sign.  The signature indicates that the proposal has been
    examined and approved.
(c) publically refuse to sign.
 
Public refusals and signatures are appended to the proposal when it is moved
to the voting notice board.

***
Law 218. [mutable] Old Citizens

An old citizen is a person who has deregistered as a citizen, then
reregistered again, under the same or a different name than that
under which they were previously registered, within a 6 week period.

***
Law 219. [mutable]  Deregistration and Forfeiture
A citizen may not deregister himself or herself from the game, except by
forfeiting. When a citizen forfeits, he or she remains registered for a
length of time equal to the longest possible voting period on a proposal.
At the end of this time, he or she is deregistered.
 
During the time between forfeiting and being deregistered, the citizen may
not vote or make a proposal. The citizen automatically refuses any selection
for judgement.

If, at any time during this period, the citizen decides against forfeiting,
then these restrcitions are instantly revoked, and the deregistration
does not take place.

***
Law 220. [mutable] Undoing Laws Violations

If a statement claiming that a citizen's action, excluding the process
of judgement and the delivery of judgement, was in violation the laws is
judged TRUE, that move shall be undone, if possible and practical, as soon
as possible and practical.  The citizen shall be penalized at the discretion
of the Chief Judge.  No laws may be changed, repealed, or removed as a
consequence of this law.  However, if the legality of a proposal's enactment,
its vote, or the cirumstances of its
proposition are challenged before it is enacted, then that proposal may not be
enacted until the question of legality is resolved.

If the judgment is challenged and successfully changed to "undecided,"
then the citizen regains any penalty they have endured (if possible),
and may repeat the action, subject to the call of another judgment.

This law takes precedence over other mutable laws which would prevent the
illegal move from being undone.

***
Law 221. [mutable] Form of Amendments

Any proposal which amends any other proposal must:

(i) explicitly state which proposal it is amending, and
(ii) fully state the amended form of that proposal.

***
Law 222. [mutable] Chief Judge

An office shall exist, called "Chief Judge."  The
responsibilities of this office are:

(a) To ensure that an up-to-date record of the current laws,
    (the "Law Book") is maintained.
(b) To ensure that the updated record of the laws is made available
    to all citizens on a regular basis.
(c) To attempt, at the best of their ability, to enforce the Common
    Law over all players with The City.
 
This Law Book must be a faithful rendering of the current laws.
They do not constitute the actual "laws".

The Chief Judge must ensure that appropriate changes are made to the Law Book
whenever a proposed law change is adopted.  He or she must ensure that the
law change directions in the proposal are precisely followed when the
change is made.  Any disputes must be resolved by judgment.

The Chief Judge has the power to delegate (by form of a posted note)
other citizen to perform any of the above tasks; these citizens
must be willing to accept the appointment. When a citizen is delegated
to such a role they shall be known as "Deputies". The Chief Judge
may revoke such a delegation of responsibility at any time
(again by the form of a posted note).

In effort to achieve the goal of (c) Chief Judges and Deputies
shall be allowed to place "bounties" or rewards for the death
(or other punishment) of the offenders. They may also fine
offenders an appropriate sum or item.

The Chief Judge shall be appointed, with consent of the appointee, by the
maintainers of the game, and remains in office until he/she is removed from
office.  Although other laws or proposals may determine when a Chief Judge
may be removed from office, the office of Chief Judge may not be filled at
all times; these duties then fall to the maintainers of the game.

***
Law 223. [mutable] Laws for Officers
An incumbent officer is any player who has been appointed or elected
to an office specified in the laws.  A Judge is not an officer; although
the Chief Judge is an Officer.

The only way an incumbent official may be removed from office, except
as specified by the laws for that specific office, is if a player  (the
"challenger") makes a proposal to replace the officer with him or
herself.  This action constitutes "running for office."  The proposal is
voted on in the usual way, but the challenger may only replace the
incumbent officer if the proposal receives at least 2/3 of the votes cast
in the prescribed voting period.  Otherwise, the proposal is considered
to have failed.

An incumbent officer may announce his intention to resign at any time.
He or she must appoint a replacement.  The officer remains in office
until a replacement is found and accepts the appointment.  If an officer
resigns while a challenger is running for his office, the challenger
becomes the new officer.

***
Law 301. [common] The City

"The City" shall be an officially recognised term throughout the
law and shall apply to all regions within the bounds of Sanom City
and all places of residence and stores which sell and/buy goods.

***
Law 302. [common] Murder

There shall be no unlawful killing of players or humanoids by players 
within The City. Players and Citizens who have bounties on their heads
may be lawfully killed, at the discretion of the Chief Judge, within
the confines of The City.

***
Law 303. [common] Theft

The shall be no unlawful theft from living creatures with The City.

***
Law 304. [common] Obey the Law

All players must obey lawful directions from any Officers
of The City.

***
Law 305. [common] Demons

No demons of any kind shall be allowed within The City. Players
will be held responsible for demons they summon or lead into the city.

***
Law 306. [common] The Gods

Any words that The Gods, players who administor the game, speak shall
have the force of law.

***
Law 307. [common] Penalties within the Law

The law allows for a variety of legal penalties; including
monetary fine, confiscation of possession or property, one death,
power death, imprisonment, removal of citizenship (for citizens)
or other restrictions as specified by the Chief Judge.
Failure to accept a lesser penalty can lead to greater penalties
being imposed.


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