On Wed, 2021-10-06 at 11:48 -0700, Kerim Aydin via agora-discussion wrote: > One subject of conversation on discord this month has been what should > inactive players be allowed to do in general (thinking mostly about > minimally-present people) and also what limits there should be to > act-on-behalf. This parallels what happened with zombies in 2018, when > act-on-behalf was powerful enough that nerfing was needed. > > Have compiled a list of *potential and existing* nerfs to both > act-on-behalf and inactivity - hoping for discussion of what should/should > not be on this list?
One thing we probably need to think about first is how this interacts with Promises. The original intent of Promises was as a currency which was inherently backed by something, but few people seem to use them as that in practice. That use would be destroyed if inactive players' Promises couldn't be cashed, but allowing them to be cashed would be a workaround for most of the suggestions here. I guess you could make the "act on behalf" prohibitions also act as prohibitions on things that a promise could do. That would sadden me a little, because the equivalent of an "I become inactive." promise (which I simulated using contracts back before promises existed) was my #1 favourite currency at Agora, being generally useful in a wide range of situations (and generally acting to the benefit of the recipient without being significantly detrimental to the author); my usual modus operandi was to purchase them in advance and then cash them all at once to reduce the number of people who were blocking a "be the only X" victory condition. (This was generally to the benefit of the players who had offered them, because for the players that I didn't have a deal with, I needed to use more destructive methods, such as blotting, to get them out of the way.) Maybe a good middle ground is to allow inactivation on behalf, but not activation? (Also, maybe bring Win by Clout back? It seems difficult but potentially achievable under the current ruleset, and would grant extra uses to both of the "minor" types of Card. Maybe I should proto that, although not today as I'm about to go to bed.) -- ais523
