On Sat, 2017-11-18 at 10:32 -0800, Corona wrote: > Yeah, and there's the anti-ossification rule for the worst case. > By the way, could someone explain to me what is the distinction > between the possibility and legality of an action in Agora? From what > I gather, it seems to be that illegal actions can change the game > state if no one calls you out on it, is that right?
Impossible actions are ones that there's no point in trying to do because they fail and have no effect. (Under certain past rulesets, it was against the rules to attempt them, too, but AFAICT that isn't the case at the moment.) For example, attempting to rewrite a rule by announcement (without a rule specifically permitting you to) is impossible; you just can't do it. And obviously, it would be problematic if we did allow it to work, because then someone could change the rules to retroactively make their action acceptable; so we don't allow it at all. Illegal actions are ones that players are not allowed, according to the rules, to attempt; however, if they nonetheless try it, the action succeeds (and the perpetrator is likely to get punished). This is normally used to avoid having to rewind the gamestate in the case that an officer makes a mistake. For example, if the Promotor accidentally distributes a proposal that isn't pending, it's in the best interests of the game to allow the proposal to be enacted anyway, even if someone points the fact out; but e shouldn't have done that, and might receive a punishment (in the current rules, a Card) for it. -- ais523
