(Very Rough Draft of) An Internet Convention for the Conduct of Nomic War 

Posted by Doug Chatham on August 13, 1996 at 08:43:51

The Nomic FAQ mentions the interesting concept of war between nomics. A few
weeks ago, I decided to try to come up with a system that would allow for
nomics to fight each other. The result is the Internet 
Convention given below.

Note that this Convention provides
(1) a limited resource to fight with and over (the Conventional Votes)
(2) a way for partipicating nomics to hurt each other 
(3) incentive for recruiting new people

Unfortunately, I don't think regular nomics would want to adapt their 
rules to follow this Convention --- that is, people wanting to play this 
would probably have to create special nomics for that purpose.

Suggestions for improvement are welcome.

Here's the current text of the Convention:

The Internet Convention for the Conduct of Nomic War

The High Subscribing Nomics ("HSNs") listed below agree to explore the
possibilities of internomic war. In order to keep the fight civilized, 
the High Subscribing Nomics agree to obey the following Articles:

Article I: (Membership of an HSN) Only a human being may be a member of a
HSN. If a person is a member of one HSN, e shall not simultaneously be a
member of any other HSN.

Article II: (Conventional Votes and Universal suffrage) Every Monday at 
12:00 am UTC, each member of every HSN shall receive a ration of 
Conventional Votes (CVs). The number of CVs that a member gets shall be
determined by the rules of eir HSN. Each HSN shall initially set that 
number to be five (5) per player per week. A CV may be cast FOR or 
AGAINST any proposal made in any HSN. (Once cast, a CV may not be used for
any other purpose.)

Article III: (Conventional Votes are the only votes that count) The 
passage of any proposal shall depend only on the number of CVs cast for 
or against it. HSNs may not distinguish between votes cast by its 
members and votes cast by members of other HSNs.

Article IV: (Reasonable voting periods) The voting period on a proposal 
shall be no less than three (3) days and no more than fourteen (14) 
days.

Article V: (Right to make proposals): A member of any HSN has the right to
make proposals in any HSN and to have those proposals voted on.

Article VI: (Monitoring) In order to ensure all HSNs follow the 
Convention, there shall be a Monitor. All official actions (including 
voting and making proposals) by members must be reported to the Monitor.
The Monitor shall report all offical actions, except for individual votes,
to all HSNs. When e believes the Convention has been violated, the Monitor
shall report all details of this potential violation to all HSNs. The
Monitor is [name here].

Article VII: (Amendment) This Convention may be amended by a majority vote
of the HSNs. A HSN may cast a vote on such amendment only by passing a
proposal to cast such vote.

Article VIII: (Membership) The High Subscribing Nomics are listed here: 
[list of HSNs here]
A Nomic may become an HSN only by amendment of the above list.

Article IX: (Withdrawal) Any HSN may withdraw from this Convention by
passing a proposal to do so; if a HSN withdraws, the Monitor shall 
remove it from the above list. Also, the Monitor shall take the uncast 
CVs of the members of the withdrawing HSN and equally distribute them among
the members of the remaining HSNs.

Comments, anyone?

(PS: It could have been worse: I could have given in to the great 
temptation to insert references to _Dune_'s Great Convention and thus 
create a Dune Nomic. ;) )