Rule 1: This is a game. This game is played only within this thread. A rule is a series of one or more statements in English. Each rule has a number. Rule numbers start with 1, and each new rule has a number 1 greater than the previously enacted rule. This game has a set of rules, consisting of Rule 1 and all the rules that follow it.
Rule 2: This game has a set of players. Before the posting of the set of rules, this set consists of Person. After that, it consists of every member of the Bay12 Forums that has posted in this thread.
Rule 3: "The state of the game" shall consist of the current set of players and the current list of rules, as well as anything added to this definition by a future Rule. The state of the game may not be altered in any manner not prescribed by the rules.
Rule 4: All players must obey the rules. That is, all players must, to the best of their ability, behave in such a manner that the rules are satisfied.
Rule 5: Any action or thing, whether actual or notional, that is neither explicitly mentioned in the rules nor otherwise brought into the game in a manner described by the rules is not a part of the game.
Rule 6: If a player has not posted in this thread for 1 week, they become idle, and are not treated as a player for any rule unless explicitly stated.
Rule 7: Any player may leave the game at any time by posting their intention to do so. This removes them from the set of players.
Rule 8: The players may change the rules by unanimous agreement from all non-idle players.
Rule 9: All future proposals must be numbered and bold.
Person
TopHat
MonkeyMarkMario
TinFoilTopHat
Gwolfski
Elephant Parade
As you can see, this is a game of Nomic. I've
created blatantly stolen assembled a more simplistic set of initial rules from various sources for this iteration.
You should note that turns are not a thing, so the game is live at all times. This is probably a terrible decision on my part, but I won't be participating in any position of power. My only responsibility? Update this post (and the one after it) as appropriate.
You should also note that all rule changes are currently only possible through unanimous agreement. I doubt anyone really wants that.
The idle system may be a good safety net to prevent deadlock, but its not perfect.
I recommend players focus their changes on rule 8, so that we all may choose a preferred method of changing the rules.
Aside from that, here's some guide lines to make the game probably more fun for all of us.
1: One thing to avoid is rules that involve grinding or other actions that are basically mandatory, even if they're technically optional. (Ex: Once a day, players can gain a point by saying "Banana".) I hope we at least learned something with the farming debacle from last game.
2: Try to keep numbers small. There's probably no good reason to start in the triple digits. Again, farming. There's nothing inherently wrong with numbers, even large ones, but use discretion.
3: Try to think of a goal for yourself and others to work towards. Multiple goals would be even better.
4: If things are stale and unworkable, don't be afraid to remove rules. The idea that "we put so much work into this, and I'd hate for it to be wasted" isn't really a tenable one. Change is a good thing sometimes.
5: Don't touch most of the really early rules without a good reason. This mostly refers to 1 through 5. "Then why have them at all" you ask? Because reasons. That's why.
6: Rule 3 technically allows for things not in this thread to become game state. I would not recommend this personally for obvious reasons, but I won't stop you. Its not like I have the authority to do so after all. In the event that we get close to reaching some sort of post per thread limit (unlikely), this (along with rule 1) should obviously be changed posthaste (pun intended).
7: There is currently no syntax to how rules are changed. All players must simply agree to a change. Consider quoting a change and posting "I agree", until a better system surfaces.