From: Aron Wall (aron_at_wall.org)
Date: Sun Mar 20 2005 - 21:05:45 PST
One full week has come and gone since the start of the round. No fantasy rules were submitted during this time. This raises the question of what happens in this circumstance--as far as I know a first in FRC history (please correct me if I am wrong about this since I have not paid much attention to the game for a great many rounds). This is my interpretation of the Regular Ordinances on the question. By RO #4 all FRC members besides myself were eligible for 7 days starting from the beginning of the round. They therefore have all become ineligible *simultaneously*. It follows that at no time was there exactly one member of the FRC eligible. RO #5 reads: "End of Game. If at any time after the seventh day of a round, there is only one person eligible to play, then (a) all current fantasy rules are repealed (b) the round ends (c) the sole remaining player is declared winner of the just ended round and becomes Judge." Now does the End of Game condition apply? In order for it to do so, there would have had to be only one player eligible to play at some time, which was not the case. I cannot consider "only one" to include the case of zero eligible players, since this would not be a natural interpretation of the language, and besides effect c presumes that there exists a "sole remaining player". So RO #5 does NOT come into effect. I therefore conclude that even though no players are eligible, Round 233 continues nonetheless, and lasts for all eternity, or until this circumstance is remedied by proposal. 233:1 attempts to circumvent this problem by redefining the notion of elapsed time in such a way that players are still eligible. This attempt fails. According to RO #1, "Fantasy rules shall have no effect on play except as provided for in the regular ordinances." Now eligibility is a function of gameplay controlled by the Regular Ordinances, and cannot be tampered with by the rules (except in the ordinary way that VALID and INVALID rules extend or reduce eligibility). And in any case, no fantasy rule can be allowed to circumvent the Regular Ordinances--this is the domain of Overrule Proposals or Amendments. In fact 233:1 and 233:2 are not even fantasy rules. "Only those persons eligible to play may post fantasy rules" (RO #3). I must interpret them as VOID, i.e. not really fantasy rules. As such they are neither VALID or INVALID, and recieve no style points. At this point the only way to save the FRC from death is by means of a Proposal, which either Overrules / Amends the RO's to allow a way out (RO #9), or changes my decision on the issue as delivered in this posting (RO #8). Aron Wall
This archive was generated by hypermail 2.1.5 : Thu Nov 24 2011 - 10:48 PST