Here's an idea I had as a way to a) shake things up in a way that's
likely to lead to lots of interesting CFJs for the next few months (I
came up with it after reading the CFJ archives for cases that looked
interesting), and b) let us experiment with mechanisms for awarding
Radiance that don't need a whole proposal cycle to go through.
The basic idea is to reintroduce the idea of artificial / legal-fiction
persons, but this time, instead of treading back over the old ground of
"let's let players create new persons that they have control over more
or less at will", the new persons are created with 2 Agoran Consent and
are effectively "powered by promises", so everyone knows what the new
persons will and won't do, and any abusive or unfair design can be
objected to. (Using Promises rather than having things happen
platonically makes things easier to track, as the Raybots won't do
anything unless someone cashes the promises.)
In addition to being powered by promises, they serve as a source of
Radiance, being created with some and being able to transfer it to
other players. So the basic economic idea is that if you have a good
Radiance award condition in mind, you can try it out without needing to
go through a whole proposal cycle, and it disappears naturally after
paying out a certain amount of Radiance so there isn't too much cost to
experimentation. In addition to the economic side of things, I'm hoping
there'll be a lot of gameplay simply stemming from trying to create
weird situations, e.g. can we get a Raybot to play the game as a semi-
autonomous player (with the only human action being to cash its
promises when they become cashable)? Could we get one to win? Could we
(and should we) get one to do the duties of an office?
{{{{
In rule 869, amend
{{{
Rules to the contrary notwithstanding, no other entities are persons.
}}}
to
{{{
No other entity can be a person, unless explicitly defined to be so by
a rule with power at least 3.
}}}
[Makes it possible to create legal-fiction players again.]
Create a new power-3 rule, "Raybots":
{{{
A Raybot is a type of entity that has been created using the process
described in this rule. Raybots CANNOT be created except as specified
by this rule, and entities that came to exist by any other means are
not Raybots.
Raybots are persons. Raybots are created with their Citizenship switch
set to Registered and their Radiance switch set to 40. Raybots agree to
abide by the Rules.
Motivation is an untracked Raybot switch whose possible values are
texts, and whose default value is "I deregister."
A player CAN create a Raybot with a specified Motivation with 2 Agoran
Consent, unless a Raybot with an identical Motivation was created
within the previous 14 days, and SHOULD specify a name for the Raybot
when doing so.
If, for any given Raybot, at least one of the following conditions is
continuously true for at least 10 seconds, that Raybot ceases to exist:
* e is not a player, and/or
* e is not the creator of any currently existing Promises, and/or
* eir Radiance is 0.
When a Raybot is created, it grants the Library a promise, becoming the
creator of that promise, and whose text is that Raybot's Motivation.
Raybots CANNOT support or object to tabled actions. The voting strength
of a Raybot on an Agoran Decision is 0.
Players SHALL NOT cause Raybots to perform ILLEGAL actions.
}}}
[The basic mechanic: Raybots are created with 2 Agoran Consent, and act
only as a consequence of players cashing their promises. The idea is
that the Motivation – the initial promise – will specify everything
that the Raybot can do, probably by creating more promises. The
Motivation is untracked because it has no effect beyond the Raybot's
initial creation.
Being players, Raybots are (under this version of the proposal) tracked
by the Registrar. It doesn't seem like that should be enough additional
work to require a new officer?
Raybots are made unable to support/object/meaningfully vote as a
precaution, in order to prevent them being used to flood our consensus
mechanisms if someone finds a way to mass-produce them.
The starting value of 40 Radiance is a guess.]
In rule 2618, amend
{{{
A consenting player CAN, by announcement, grant a specified entity a
promise, specifying its text and becoming its creator.
}}}
to
{{{
A Raybot or a consenting player CAN, by announcement, grant a specified
entity a promise, specifying its text and becoming its creator.
}}}
[It's an interesting philosophical question as to whether Raybots can
consent to things, so avoid the issue by making it possible for Raybots
to create promises by announcement even if they don't consent to them.
For what it's worth, rule 2519(3) means that the Raybot probably is
consenting, but it's better to make it clear.]
Create a new power-1.5 rule, "Raybot Transfer":
{{{
A Raybot CAN spend a specified amount of radiance to grant that much
radiance to a specified player.
A player CAN spend a specified amount of radiance to grant that much
radiance to a specified Raybot.
}}}
[Allows Raybots to transfer radiance, meaning that players can gain
radiance by cashing a Raybot-created promise. The cashing conditions of
those promises can therefore be used to define Radiance-gaining
conditions. Because this draws from the Raybot's radiance supply, such
conditions are experimental/temporary.]
In rule 2659, amend
{{{
For each person there is a corresponding type of stamp.
}}}
to
{{{
For each non-Raybot person there is a corresponding type of stamp.
}}}
and
{{{
Any player CAN win by paying N Stamps, where N is the current number of
active players and each specified Stamp is of a different type.
}}}
to
{{{
Any player CAN win by paying N Stamps, where N is the current number of
active non-Raybot players and each specified Stamp is of a different
type.
}}}
[Prevent Raybots from being counting towards Stamp victories, as they
would badly unbalance them if created in number.]
}}}}
I'm interested in feedback about both the general idea, and the wording
of the proposal to implement it. I am encouraged that, despite being an
apparently major mechanic, it doesn't add much text to the rules,
because it's mostly building on what's there at the moment.
--
ais523
