status: https://faculty.washington.edu/kerim/nomic/cases/#3527
(This document is informational only and contains no game actions).
============================== CFJ 3527 ==============================
ais523 has 0 shinies.
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Caller: omd
Judge: V.J Rada
Judgement: FALSE
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History:
Called by omd: 19 Jun 2017
Assigned to V.J Rada: 19 Jun 2017
Judged FALSE by V.J Rada: 21 Jun 2017
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Caller's Arguments:
First of all, does 0.5 count as an "amount" per Rule 2483?
If so, Rule 2483 purports to decrease my balance by 0.5 and increase
ais523's balance by 0.5, which in both cases would mean setting
balance to an impossible value. Does that trigger this clause from
Rule 2162?
If an instance of a switch would otherwise fail to have a
possible value, it comes to have its default value.
...Or does "No other values are possible for instances of that switch",
also from Rule 2162, simply forbid the change altogether? (Rule 2162
has precedence over Rule 2483.)
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Caller's Evidence:
On Mon, 2017-06-19 at 18:23 -0400, omd wrote:
> I pay ais523 0.5 shinies.
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Judge V.J Rada's Arguments:
Can a decimal amount of Shinies be transferred? I find that it cannot. The
word "amount" is ambiguous enough for other considerations to come into
play, and the intent of the rules, other clauses in the ruleset, and
consequences all point towards an interpretation that only integers can be
transferred. I find this CFJ false.
This CFJ comes from omd, who attempted to give 0.5 Shinies to ais523
and called for judgement on whether ais523 had 0 Shinies. His legal
theory was that because decimals are an impossible value for Balance
Switches, ais523's Switch would reset to its default: 0. However the
threshold question is, can this decimal transfer have any effect?
"Any player CAN pay Agora, any other player, or any organization any
amount by announcement, unless it would make eir own balance
negative.", states rule 2483. Is a decimal quantity an amount? Because
amount is undefined, I look to the ordinary meaning. It is clear that "an
amount of money" includes any number of parts or subparts of monetary
units, but "an amount of coins" implies an integer of coins, not half a
coin. Shinies are like coins. The ruleset cabins Balance Switches to
only integers and no other value. Others have proposed a different
physical analogy. Balance Switches are like the switch on a radio: it's
a knob but it only changes at integers. Whatever the analogy
preferred, the words "an amount of money" is more naturally interpreted
as an integer amount.
The consequences of allowing players to transfer to other players non-
integer amounts of money would be disastrous. It is very probable
(although I do not decide it) that a player would be able to immediately
null another player's balance with such a transfer. A financial system
open to such mischief would be a great shame. Additionally, allowing
decimals could open the way to more complicated mathematical
constructs, which would be a nightmare to track if it worked.
This trick also has, as far as I know, no support in game practise, at
least in the current economic system.
For the foregoing reasons, the transfer between omd and ais523
never occurred. ais523 has (I believe) 66 shinies, the judgement
is FALSE
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