Citizen Initiative - Starting the Game (AKA Creation Day) Act of 4000 BC

Version 2
Section 1
Whereas the citizens desire their world to be created, and

Whereas creating the game is independent of the meta-game, and

Whereas all game startup options can be decided regardless of the state of other citizen decisions,

We, the citizens of <insert nation name here> resolve to create our world by


Section 2
The player who will act as Creator shall be chosen in the following manner:

• Nominations shall be held lasting 2 days.
• A single-choice, private poll of all citizens who accept the nomination shall be held, lasting for 3 days.
• The player with the most votes is selected as Creator of the Game. If two or more players are tied for the most votes, the tie shall be resolved in favor of the 1st accepted nomination.

Section 3
The Creation player shall create the game, taking and posting screenshots of the starting options and position. The game shall be immediately saved without making any moves, and uploaded for discussion.

Section 4
Any citizen(s) may post a thread containing game startup options, as instructions to the Creation player. If there is a dispute between conflicting opinions about the selected startup options, the latest valid poll on an option shall prevail. If there is no valid poll concerning an option, and no clear citizen input, the "out of the box default" for that option shall be used.

An example of an option with clear citizen input that has not been separately polled is the use of Lock Modified Assets, which will be on according to overwhelming comments in favor of this option in the discussion thread.

Section 5
The selection of a Creation player shall not affect or infringe upon that player's ability to hold or perform the duties of any other office.

Section 6
The provisions of this initiative for selecting a Creation player shall be null and void, and substituted by the provisions of any other initiative making such a provision, if such initiative takes effect prior to March 1st 2007 at 00:01 GMT.

In simple language:

We'll select a player to create the game. That player will create the game on or after March 1st, at a time of the player's choosing. Citizen input can and should be taken into account. The traditional creation day chat will be used. If rules are passed which supercede the method of choosing the player to create the game, those rules will prevail.

Change activity:
Version 1.0, first draft posted.

Version 2.0 (significant revision)
- Adjusted for "on or after" language to allow movement of creation day to a weekend if the citizens want that.
- Removed specific dates and shortened duration of choosing creation player. This is a one-shot duty and doesn't need the stricter election requirements for a full term.
- Added language to handle Lock Modified Assets, and any other options which are decided without polling.
- Added (GMT) to the date to create the game to preclude someone in a + timezone from starting too early.

Looks good.

Best regards,

Looks good to me, just one nitpick:
This:

DaveShack said:

Section 6
The provisions of this initiative for selecting a Creation player shall be null and void, and substituted by the provisions of any other initiative making such a provision, if such initiative takes effect prior to March 1st 2007 at 00:01 GMT.

Click to expand...

implies that

DaveShack said:

Gathering on March 1st 2007, at a time to be decided by the player acting as creator

Click to expand...

cannot be prior to March 1st 00:01 GMT. since there are players on quite different time zones than GMT I would suggest to write it in there to avoid even the slightest possibility of the Creator to decide to start the game at 23:01 GMT on February 28th (this would already be March 1st here in Germany for example )

this seems more than reasonable...
cant wait for march 1st

One more thing

This:

DaveShack said:

If there is no valid poll concerning an option, the "out of the box default" for that option shall be used.

Click to expand...

precludes "LockModifiedAssets" - it has not been polled, is not the default setting, yet there seems to be consensus on it. So it would be good to reflect your stated opinion on it here

DaveShack said:

Lock Modified Assets is the only "extra" option with enough support to even be polled, so let's assume it is on and anyone who disagrees can come forward asking for a poll (or posting it themselves).

Click to expand...

Have we decided on the version? If so could someone daveshack like create a practice game so i (and others) can try to play it, there by seting our version correct. THANKS!!!!!

What about rather than elected a creator. We get anyone who wants to run for the position. and Randomise the winner. This is a one day office. It could be fun.

March the 1st is a Thursday and many people work. If you want a good gathering in the chat for this, a weekend may be better.

Sounds good. Let's get the game going

Furiey said:

March the 1st is a Thursday and many people work. If you want a good gathering in the chat for this, a weekend may be better.

Click to expand...

That's a good point, though it will be hard to please everyone. If we did proceed with creation on Thursday, then that weekend would be great timing for the first real play session.

Still, maybe this should say "on or after".

Section 1
Whereas the citizens desire their world to be created, and

Whereas creating the game is independent of the meta-game, and

Whereas all game startup options can be decided regardless of the state of other citizen decisions,

We, the citizens of <insert nation name here> resolve to create our world by


Section 2
The player who will act as Creator shall be chosen in the following manner:

• Nominations shall be held lasting 2 days.
• A single-choice, private poll of all citizens who accept the nomination shall be held, lasting for 3 days.
• The player with the most votes is selected as Creator of the Game. If two or more players are tied for the most votes, the tie shall be resolved in favor of the 1st accepted nomination.

Section 3
The Creation player shall create the game, taking and posting screenshots of the starting options and position. The game shall be immediately saved without making any moves, and uploaded for discussion.

Section 4
Any citizen(s) may post a thread containing game startup options, as instructions to the Creation player. If there is a dispute between conflicting opinions about the selected startup options, the latest valid poll on an option shall prevail. If there is no valid poll concerning an option, and no clear citizen input, the "out of the box default" for that option shall be used.

An example of an option with clear citizen input that has not been separately polled is the use of Lock Modified Assets, which will be on according to overwhelming comments in favor of this option in the discussion thread.

Section 5
The selection of a Creation player shall not affect or infringe upon that player's ability to hold or perform the duties of any other office.

Section 6
The provisions of this initiative for selecting a Creation player shall be null and void, and substituted by the provisions of any other initiative making such a provision, if such initiative takes effect prior to March 1st 2007 at 00:01 GMT.

In simple language:

We'll select a player to create the game. That player will create the game on or after March 1st, at a time of the player's choosing. Citizen input can and should be taken into account. The traditional creation day chat will be used. If rules are passed which supercede the method of choosing the player to create the game, those rules will prevail.

Change activity:
Version 1.0, first draft posted.

Version 2.0 (significant revision)
- Adjusted for "on or after" language to allow movement of creation day to a weekend if the citizens want that.
- Removed specific dates and shortened duration of choosing creation player. This is a one-shot duty and doesn't need the stricter election requirements for a full term.
- Added language to handle Lock Modified Assets, and any other options which are decided without polling.
- Added (GMT) to the date to create the game to preclude someone in a + timezone from starting too early.

Proposed Poll

Shall the "Starting the Game Act" be enacted?
Yes / No / Abstain, 4 days, public. Enacted if number of yes votes more than number of no botes.

Just to follow the game, if needed:

Please, what is "Lock Modified Assets"? And what to do to have/do/configure

it, if necessary?

My thanks in advance.

btw Will Lock Modified Assets exclude Mac-users?

It's a game startup option which doesn't require anyone else to do anything unless they have installed "my documents\my games\smc4\CustomAssets" mods. If anyone does have such mods, we can come up with fairly simple instructions to allow them to have their mods and still play the DG using alternate directories.

Lock Modified Assets has the following effects:

• World Builder is disabled
• When opening the save, the game files in use must match the versions in use when the game created. In practice this means that custom mods installed in the "My Documents" path may not be used, and the main game files may not be changed.

Generally speaking, it prevents unintentional and most forms of intentional cheating.

There is still time to discuss and poll this option. At this point a separate thread would be a good idea, if there is dissent on using it.

dutchfire said:

btw Will Lock Modified Assets exclude Mac-users?

Click to expand...

No, that was specifically tested and documented in the "HoF Mod" thread.

Furiey said:

March the 1st is a Thursday and many people work. If you want a good gathering in the chat for this, a weekend may be better.

Click to expand...

Just to note, we have a new time zone date here in the US (and Canada, I think). It's gonna be confusing!

I would suggest putting, not only GMT, but EST/EDT. Once, I nearly played a turnchat because I got GMT confused, since there were a few people in the chatroom, and no DP (back then, we had a chain of command).

Chieftess said:

Just to note, we have a new time zone date here in the US (and Canada, I think). It's gonna be confusing!

I would suggest putting, not only GMT, but EST/EDT. Once, I nearly played a turnchat because I got GMT confused, since there were a few people in the chatroom, and no DP (back then, we had a chain of command).

Click to expand...

Easily Accessable GMT clock. (FYI, UTC is essentially GMT)

http://www.time.gov/timezone.cgi?UTC/s/0/java

EDIT

Here's a non-Java version, which tells you the exact time (UTC) at the time you load the page, in case the Java one doesn't work.
http://www.time.gov/timezone.cgi?UTC/s/0

And Here's a third one that counts with the time.
http://wwp.greenwichmeantime.com/

Sounds good to me, I'm ready to vote in favor.

Since we seem to be passing sufficient laws, and conducting elections in plenty of time to start, this resolution won't be needed.

Thanks to all who commented.

So, what are we going to do about starting the game?

Let the Chieftain (Ice) or the first DP (me) set up the game anytime tomorrow?

Settings:
Leader: Random
Opponents: Random
Climate: Temperate
Sea level: Medium
Game Speed: Normal
Size: Standard
Difficulty Level: Prince
Map Script: "Normal" Continents
Barbarians: Normal
Lock Modified Assets

Anything else?