Hello everyone! Here is the latest draft of my contracts proposal. I
plan to submit it this weekend, so I would appreciate it if people
would try to stick to small fixes. If anyone wants to help look it
over, prevent exploitable bugs, list problems, or tell me that they're
planing to vote AGAINST and why, I'd appreciate it.
For those who weren't around or want to see it again, here is my
statement from the first draft:
{{
I'm going to preface this by saying that my contracts proposal is kind
of long. It may take a few days for everyone to read through it and
stuff. It's long for several reasons. For one thing, it repeals about
as many rules as it creates. As I suggested, this is a consolidation
of the existing Agency and Organization mechanics, which means it
should be a net simplification, even though it doesn't feel like it.
It also adds in the whole new element that the thing is binding. At
some point we may be able to repeal pledges too, once everyone's used
to the new mechanics. Another reason is that I've littered the thing
with safety features. They're probably unnecessary, but better safe
than sorry.
A few design principles:
1. Contracts should be easy to use. The primary cause for the failure
of organizations was their complexity. You had to come up with a name.
You had to deal with member's budgets. You had to specify whether
things were "appropriate", without the ease of CANs and CANNOTs. You
couldn't specify SHALLs and SHALL NOTs.
2. Contracts should be powerful, but not too powerful. The primary
cause for the limited adoption of agencies was that you couldn't do
much with them. Yeah, sure, you can do CANs and CANNOTs now. That's
great, but the agency can't own assets, or create obligations, or even
have more than one "Director". There was only one agency (the PDA,
which I created to let someone else run Promotor temporarily) before
Free Agency passed, greatly expanding what you could do with agencies.
Now there are many of them, but they're still not as versatile as they
could be. It goes without saying that we would like to avoid
mousetraps or other scams too, so some limitations are necessary.
3. Reuse what worked. A lot of my new contract rules is drawn from the
successful parts of the existing organization system.
My proposal has three parts. Part 1 cleans up (tweaks and repeals)
existing rules. A lot of it is drawn from o's organization repeal
proposal, which I borrowed and then edited. Thank you, o. The second
part consists of new rules to create contracts. The third part
modifies the assets rule, both to conform with contracts and for some
general minor fixes of ambiguities that have been pointed out. Each
part has subheadings, which should hopefully make it easier to
read/not get lost in.
Without further ado, here is my draft proposal. Comments and concerns
appreciated, though please try not to complain about the length :).
}}
Here's a change-log, which may be somewhat incomplete:
- Extricability is defined in this proposal, but is only a definition with no
intrinsic effect.
- Various contract operations are constrained by sanity checks.
- Regulations are made binding on their promulgators so that they work
with the assets "bound by" restriction for recordkeeping, and because it seems
like a good idea.
- The Notary is given various throttling powers, to stop players from making
eir life hell. These have been chosen such that they shouldn't interfere
with the activities of the average player.
- Clearer guidelines are laid down for contract interpretation.
- Creating a contract is made restricted to stop the "agencies that create
agencies" thing. I'm getting bored of that pseudo-scam.
- The Notary is required to post eir full report weekly, as e probably
produces it from same source and differential reports aren't very useful.
- Changes are made to the spending definition, see the a-d thread
Affixed is the actual proposal text.
-Aris
---
Title: Contracts v3
Adoption index: 3.0
Author: Aris
Co-author(s): o, G., ais523, Gaelan, 天火狐, CuddleBeam
Lines beginning with hashmarks ("#") and comments in square brackets ("[]")
have no effect on the behavior of this proposal. They are not part of any rules
created or amended herein, and may be considered for all game purposes to
have been removed before its resolution.
# 1 Cleanup & Miscellaneous
# 1.1 Gamestate Cleanup
Destroy each organization.
Destroy each agency.
Destroy each contract. [Just in case.]
# 1.2 Organization, Secretary, and Economic Cleanup
# 1.2.1 Repeal Organizations
Repeal rule 2459 ("Organizations").
Repeal rule 2461 ("Death and Birth of Organizations").
Repeal rule 2460 ("Organizational Restructuring").
Repeal rule 2457 ("Lockout").
Repeal rule 2458 ("Invoking Lockout").
Repeal rule 2462 ("Bankruptcy").
# 1.2.2 Change Secretary to Treasuror
Amend rule 2456 ("The Secretary") by
* Changing its title to "The Treasuror", then by
* Replacing its text, entirely, with:
{{{
The Treasuror is an office, and the recordkeepor of Shinies.
The Treasuror's weekly report also includes:
1. the current Floating Value, and all derived values
defined by the Rules.
2. the list of all public classes of assets.
}}}
Make o the Treasuror.
Amend the following rules, in order, by replacing the word
"Secretary" with the word "Treasuror" wherever it appears:
* Rule 2487 ("Shiny Supply Level")
* Rule 2498 ("Economic Wins")
* Rule 2497 ("Floating Value")
# 1.2.3 General Economy Fixes/Cleanup
Amend rule 2489 ("Estates") by replacing the first sentence with:
{{{
An Estate is a type of indestructible liquid asset.
}}}
Amend rule 2491 ("Estate Auctions") by replacing its text,
entirely, with:
{{{
At the start of each month, if Agora owns at least one
Estate, the Surveyor CAN and SHALL put one Estate which is owned by
Agora up for auction by announcement. Each auction ends
seven days after it begins.
During an auction, any player or contract may bid a number of Shinies
by announcement, provided that the bid is higher than all
previously-placed bids in the same auction.
If, at the end of the auction, there is a single highest bid,
then the player or contract who placed that bid wins the auction.
The winner CAN cause Agora to transfer the auctioned Estate to emself
by announcement, if e pays Agora the amount of the bid. The person who
placed the bid SHALL see to it that this is done in a timely fashion.
}}}
Amend rule 2483 ("Economics") by replacing its text, entirely, with:
{{{
Shinies (singular "shiny", abbreviated "sh.") are an
indestructible liquid currency, and the official currency
of Agora. The Treasuror is the recordkeepor for shinies.
The Treasuror CAN cause Agora to pay any player or
contract by announcement if doing so is specified by a
another rule.
}}}
Repeal Rule 2485 ("You can't take it with you").
# 1.3 Agency Cleanup
Repeal Rule 2467 ("Agencies")
Repeal Rule 2468 ("Superintendent")
# 1.4 Define Extricability
[Note that I do not believe this section makes any substantive changes on its
own. Because of the volume of concerns raised about restricting by announcement
conditionals, this section only contains definitions.]
Create a new power 3.0 rule entitled "Conditionals and Extricability", with the
following text:
A conditional is any textual structure that attempts to make a statement
affecting any part or aspect of the gamestate (the substrate), or the
permissibility or possibility of any action affecting such a part or aspect,
dependent on the truth value or other state of a textual structure
(the condition). The condition is said to be "affixed" to the substrate
(inverse "to be conditional upon").
A condition is inextricable if it is unclear, ambiguous, circular,
inconsistent, paradoxical, depends on information that is impossible or
unreasonably difficult to determine, or otherwise requires an unreasonable
effort resolve; otherwise it is extricable. A conditional is inextricable if
its condition is inextricable; otherwise it is extricable. A player SHOULD NOT
use an inextricable conditional for any purpose.
An action said to be "subject to" a conditional if the possibility,
permissibility, or effect (depending on context) is determined by the
conditional. A value is said to be subject to a conditional of the the state
of the value is determined by the conditional.
Create a new power 3.0 rule entitled "Determinacy", with the following text:
If a value CANNOT be reasonably determined (without circularity or paradox)
from information reasonably available, or if it alternates indefinitely
between values, then the value is considered to be indeterminate, otherwise
it is determinate.
Amend Rule 1023, "Common Definitions", by (please note that these actions
are severable):
* removing the third item of the top level list; and
* renumbering appropriately.
# 1.5 Random Amendments
Amend Rule 869, "How to Join and Leave Agora", by changing its last paragraph to
read:
The Rules CANNOT compel non-players to act without their express or reasonably
implied consent. The rules CANNOT compel players to unduly harass non-players.
A non-person CANNOT be a player, rules to the contrary notwithstanding.
Amend Rule 2139, "The Registrar", by changing the sentence "The Registrar is
also responsible for tracking any switches that would otherwise lack an officer
to track them, unless the switch is defined as untracked." to read "The
Registrar is also responsible for tracking any switches, defined in a rule,
that would otherwise lack an officer to track them, unless the switch is defined
as untracked."
Amend Rule 2466, "Acting on Behalf", by changing it to read in full:
When a rule allows one person (the agent) to act on behalf of another
(the principal) to perform an action, that agent CAN perform the action if it
is POSSIBLE for the principal to do so, taking into account any prerequisites
for the action. If the enabling rule does not specify the mechanism by which
the agent may do so, then the agent CAN perform the action in the same manner
in which the principal CAN do so, with the additional requirement that the
agent must, in the message in which the action is performed, uniquely identify
the principal and that the action is being taken on behalf of that person.
A person SHALL not act on behalf of another person if doing so causes the
second person to violate the rules. A person CANNOT act on behalf of another
person to do anything except perform a game action; in particular, a person
CANNOT act on behalf of another person to send a message, only to perform
specific actions that might be taken within a message.
When an action is performed on behalf of a principal, then the
action is considered for all game purposes to have been performed by the
principal, unless a rule specifically states that it is treated differently
for some purpose, in which case it is treated as described by that rule.
Allowing a person to act on behalf of another person is secured at power 2.0.
This rule takes precedence over any rule which would prohibit a person from
taking an action, except that it defers to any rule that imposes limitations
specifically on actions taken on behalf of another person.
Amend Rule 2350, "Proposals", by appending the sentence "However, if a proposal
is submitted as an action on the behalf of a player, then the agent is the
author." to the paragraph beginning "Creating a proposal..."
[The below is needed to make regulations play well with the recordkeeping
restrictions of assets.]
Amend Rule 2493, "Regulations", by appending the following as a new paragraph
to the end of the rule:
A regulation's promulgator SHALL generally obey eir own regulations as long
as they are acting reasonably within their rule defined scope. E NEED NOT
follow any regulation constraining em to take or not to take some action with
to eir regulations, or any regulation constraining em to violate a rule.
# 2 Contracts
# 2.1 Core Contract Features
Create a new power 2.5 rule, entitled "Contracts", with the following text:
A contract is a textual entity, and the ruleset described entity embodied
therein. A document can only become a contract through the appropriate ruleset
defined procedures. Changes to the contracts text by rule defined mechanisms
(including those delegated to the contract itself) do not change the identity
of the contract.
If any change to a contract's text, internal state, or other properties would
cause them to be indeterminate, it is canceled and does not occur.
The following changes are secured at power 2.1: creating or modifying a
contract or causing an entity to become a contract. [Note that,
as a precaution, causing an entity to cease being a contract is not secured.]
The properties of contracts, as defined by other rules, include the
following:
- Parties, persons who agree to be bound by and assume powers under
the contract.
- The ability to be amended or destroyed.
- The ability to compel actions by their parties.
- The ability to allow persons to take actions on the part of their parties.
- The ability to define arbitrary classes of asset.
- The ability to possess and control assets.
Create a new power 2.5 rule, entitled "Parties to Contracts", with the following
text:
Contracts have parties, who are persons. The person(s) who create(s) a
contract is/are automatically a party/parties. Other persons CAN become
parties by announcement if the contract permits them do so. Parties can leave
a contract by announcement, ceasing being parties, if the contract permits
the to do so. A contract CAN expel a party or group of parties by
announcement, causing them to cease being parties.
It is IMPOSSIBLE, by any means, for a person to become a party to a contract,
for an contract to be created with a person as a party, or for an entity to
become a contract with a person as a party, without that person's clear,
willful consent. This rule takes precedence over any rule that might make
such a change possible. A person CANNOT act on behalf of a person to give
consent for the purposes of this rule.
Create a power 2.5 rule entitled "Birth and Death of Contracts", with the
following text:
A person CAN create a contract by announcement by spending 1 shiny, specifying
the contract's text. A person SHALL NOT create more than 3 contracts per
week by this method, and the Notary CAN destroy any excess (i.e. beyond the
3 permitted) contracts by announcement within 7 days of the contracts'
formation. The Notary CAN by regulation increase this limit up to a maximum
of 7; e CANNOT decrease it.
The person or persons who create a contract CAN and SHOULD also specify a
name for the contract; if e/they do/does not do so, the Notary CAN and
SHALL assign a name in a timely fashion.
A contract CAN amend, destroy, or retitle itself by announcement. A player
CAN amend, destroy, or retitle a contract without objection, even if its
text denies em the ability to do so. Players SHOULD only use this mechanism
to recover from situations where the contract is underspecified or has
unintended effects. The Notary CAN by regulation stop the same contract from
amending or retitling itself more than 5 combined times per Agoran day (or any
number higher than that); e CANNOT stop a contract from being destroyed, or
from being retitled or amended by any other means.
If a contract has fulfilled its purpose, does not specify any gamestate
affecting statements, or otherwise seems unlikely to be used, the Notary
CAN and SHOULD destroy it Without 2 Objections or with Agoran Consent. Any
player may destroy a contract with 2 Agoran Consent. Players SHOULD NOT use
the methods in this paragraph to further their private interests.
If the possibility of any action defined by this rule is indeterminate, or
is subject to a inextricable conditional, it is presumptively impossible.
# 2.2 Powers of Contracts
Create a new power 2.4 rule, entitled "Contracts as Agreements", with the
following text:
The text of a contract CAN specify obligations upon its parties. Parties to
a contract SHALL abide by its terms and SHALL NOT deliberately or negligently
breach them. The fact that the action described by the contract is in
violation of the rules is not a defense if the violative nature is
reasonably clear from its text. If whether an action is permitted or forbidden
by a contract is indeterminate or subject to an inextricable conditional,
it is presumptively permitted.
As an exception to the provisions of the previous paragraph and the
circumstances in which cards would ordinarily be appropriate, a person
awarding a card under this rule MAY and CAN validly consider the equitable
interests of justice and interests of the game, including the importance of
the observation of contracts, as a mitigating or aggravating circumstances
when awarding a card. Such a person MAY, CAN validly, and SHOULD also consider
the instructions of the contract or contracts in question when issuing a card.
Create a new power 2.4 rule, entitled "Acting on Behalf via Contract", with
the following text:
If a rule says that a contract CAN do something by announcement, it is
equivalent to saying that that any person CAN take that action by announcement
if the contract permits em to do so. A person SHALL NOT cause a contract
to violate a rule using this method.
If a rule specifies that a contract SHALL or SHALL NOT do something, each
party to the contract SHALL ensure that the contract respectively does
or does not do that thing.
The text of a contract CAN permit persons to act on behalf of a party or
group of parties. To do so, it must specify:
a. Which of its parties can be acted on behalf of;
b. What actions can be taken;
c. Who can take the actions; and
d. Any conditions or limitations upon the actions. Such limitations
and conditions CANNOT be inextricable, and if they are,
the actions CANNOT be used.
# 2.3 Contract Interpretation and Maintenance
Create a new power 2.6 rule, entitled "Interpreting Contracts",
with the following text:
A contract should generally be interpreted according to its text, including
any clauses giving directions for its interpretation or construction.
Additionally, justice, the intent of the contract's parties, and the factors
laid down in the first paragraph of Rule 217 should be reasonably applied when
interpreting a contract.
A contract is subservient to the rules. Although a contract may specify
obligations or powers beyond those created by the rules, a contract may not
override the rules: in particular, any provision of a contract that would
unreasonably violate an inalienable right of players and/or persons or
cause any rule defined statement about the gamestate or the possibility of
an action to become false is void and without effect insofar as it does so.
The following are protected actions:
1. Registering and deregistering;
2. Submitting, pending, or voting freely on a proposal, but only if the sole
effect the proposal would have if adopted is to create, modify, or destroy
a contract or group of contracts, or to cause an entity or group of
entities to become or cease to be a contract or group of contracts;
3. Destroying or amending a contract, intending to do so, and
supporting, objecting to, or resolving such an intent, except where the
mechanism for such destruction or amendment is created by the contract
itself, and creating a contract;
4. Making true statements about a contract;
5. Calling, judging, assigning, or freely discussing a CFJ;
6. Lawfully performing an official duty;
7. Objecting to or supporting an intent to perform an action while
speaker;
8. Using an executive order; and
9. Making, amending, revoking or calling in a pledge.
Rules to the contrary notwithstanding, a contract CANNOT compel, forbid,
or in any significant way alter, tamper with, or modify the performance of
a protected action. A contract CANNOT punish a player for performing or
failing protected action, or for doing so in a particular manner, except
where it would otherwise be ILEGAL. A contract also CANNOT enable a person to
do any of the things prohibited to the contract by this paragraph. Insofar as
a contract or a provision or clause of a contract contravenes the letter or
spirit of this rule, it is void and without effect.
Create a new power 2.4 rule, entitled "Sustenance Payments", with following
text:
The Notary CAN, once a month, cause each contract that owns at least
one shiny to transfer one shiny to Agora. E SHALL do so in the first week
of every month. If a contract does not own at least one shiny, and is
thus unable to make said payment, the Notary CAN and SHALL destroy
it With Notice. If a contract becomes and remains able to pay before its
destruction, the Notary CANNOT destroy it, and CAN and SHALL instead
collect the shiny.
The Notary CAN, by regulation, exempt a contract from the preceding paragraph.
E SHALL NOT do so unless the contract seems to be in the public interest of
Agora.
Create a new power 1.0 rule, entitled "The Notary", with the following text:
The Notary is an office, and the recordkeepor of contracts. The Notary tracks
contracts, including their name, text, and parties. The Notary also tracks
the list of private classes of asset.
The Notary's weekly report includes all information which e tracks as a part
of eir official duties. The Notary is ENCOURAGED to list changes to the
information e tracks in eir report.
Make o the Notary.
# 3.0 Asset Changes
Amend Rule 2166, "Assets", by changing it to read in full:
An asset is an entity defined as such by a (a) rule, (b) authorized
regulation, (c) group of rules/authorized regulations, or (d) contract
(hereafter its backing document), and existing solely because its backing
document defines its existence.
Each asset has exactly one owner. If an asset would otherwise
lack an owner, it is owned by Agora. If an asset's backing document restricts
its ownership to a class of entities, then that asset CANNOT be gained by or
transferred to an entity outside that class, and is destroyed if it is owned
by an entity outside that class (except if it is owned by Agora, in which case
any player CAN transfer or destroy it without objection). The restrictions in
the previous sentence are subject to modification by its backing document.
Unless modified by an asset's backing document, ownership of an asset is
restricted to Agora, players, and contracts. As an exception to the last
sentence, non-player persons are generally able to own assets defined by
a contract they are a party to, subject to modification by the contract in
question.
A contract's text can specify whether or not that contract is
willing receive assets or a class of assets. Generally, a contract CANNOT
be given assets it is unwilling to receive. If the contract is silent on the
matter, or if its willingness is indeterminate or the subject of a
inextricable conditional, the procedure to determine its willingness is as
follows:
1. If the contract appears to anticipate being given assets (e.g. by
authorizing parties to spend the contract's assets), then the contract
is willing to receive all assets.
2. Otherwise, it is unwilling to receive all assets.
The previous paragraph (including the list) notwithstanding, a contract
CAN be given 1 shiny a month for its sustenance payment, so long as
it never has more than 1 shiny at a time.
The recordkeepor of a class of assets is the entity (if any)
defined as such by, and bound by, its backing document. That
entity's report includes a list of all instances of that class
and their owners. This portion of that entity's report is
self-ratifying. Rules to the contrary notwithstanding, a contract CANNOT
oblige a person who isn't a member to record its internal state.
An asset generally CAN be destroyed by its owner by
announcement, subject to modification by its backing document. An
indestructible asset is one defined as such by it backing document, and CANNOT
be destroyed except by a rule, other than this one, specifically addressing
the destruction of indestructible assets or that asset in particular; any
other asset is destructible. In circumstances where another asset would be
destroyed, an indestructible asset is generally transferred to Agora, subject
to modification by its backing document and the intervention of other rules.
To "lose" an asset is to have it destroyed from one's
possession; to "revoke" an asset from an entity is to destroy it
from that entity's possession.
An asset generally CAN be transferred (syn. payed, given) by announcement by
its owner to another entity, subject to modification by its
backing document. A fixed asset is one defined as such by its backing
document, and CANNOT be transferred; any other asset is liquid.
To spend an asset is to pay or destroy it for the purpose of doing some other
action or fulfilling an obligation by announcement; if the action would not
be completed, the obligation would not be at least partially fulfilled, or
more of the asset would be spent than is needed to perform the action/fulfill
the obligation, then the attempt to spend fails. Whether the asset must be
spent or payed is determined by what is needed to perform the action. If
the entity defining or enabling the action does not specify which is
necessary, but merely that the asset must be spent, then it is transferred
(to Agora unless otherwise specified).
When a rule indicates transferring an amount that is not a natural number,
the specified amount is rounded up to the nearest natural number.
A currency is a class of asset defined as such by its backing document.
Instances of a currency with the same owner are fungible.
The "x balance of an entity", where x is a currency, is the number of x that
entity possesses. If a rule, proposal, or other competent authority attempts
to increase or decrease the balance of an entity without specifying a source
or destination, then the currency is created or destroyed.
When a player causes one or more balances to change, e is ENCOURAGED
to specify the resulting balance(s). Players SHOULD NOT specify
inaccurate balances.
Where it resolves ambiguity, the asset or currency being referred to is the
currency designated as "Agora's official currency", if there is one.
Amendments to a backing document shall not be construed to alter, transfer,
destroy, or otherwise effect any assets defined by that document, unless
that is their clear intent.
An asset or class of assets is private, rather than public, if it's
backing document is a contract.
