Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP Posting-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site umcp-cs.UUCP Path: utzoo!watmath!clyde!floyd!harpo!seismo!rlgvax!cvl!umcp-cs!israel From: israel@umcp-cs.UUCP Newsgroups: net.games Subject: Re: Nomic Message-ID: <6440@umcp-cs.UUCP> Date: Thu, 5-Apr-84 17:23:03 EST Article-I.D.: umcp-cs.6440 Posted: Thu Apr 5 17:23:03 1984 Date-Received: Sat, 7-Apr-84 05:43:47 EST References: <1088@dartvax.UUCP> Organization: Univ. of Maryland, Computer Science Dept. Lines: 28 A Net-wide version of Nomic was tried on the Arpanet, but I think it died. We tried one here at the Univ. of Maryland, and it went for about eight months, but it too diedf from lack of interest. In particular, we found that it was too hard to get rules passed. We were playing with thirteen people, and it is very hard to get that many people to agree unanimously on something. We also found that the rules were not conducive to playing an extended time game over net-mail, and that was part of the problem. For example, one of the rules states that a vote isn't complete until all game participants have voted, and that left open the possibility of someone stonewalling the game by not voting. To play a net-wide game, I would suggest that a modified set of rules be used instead. By the way, I have the complete set of rules on-line, and would be glad to mail or post them if people are interested. For those who don't know, Nomic comes from the latin word "Nomos" which means "of the law". It is a meta-game in that it has a set of rules that govern play, but play procedes by trying to modify that set of rules (which would then take effect and govern the rest of the game). Interesting ideas come from this, including thinking about how to change to rule-set to the rule set of Monopoly (or some other game), while obeying and remaining consistent with the current set of rules. -- Bruce Israel University of Maryland, Computer Science {rlgvax,seismo}!umcp-cs!israel (Usenet) israel.umcp-cs@CSNet-Relay (Arpanet)