Hi, everyone, your friendly neighborhood hosting sponsor here.

Dreamhost has notified its customers that they will be forcibly upgrading everyone to a minimum PHP version of 5.4 starting on Monday. The recent brokenness here of a few weeks ago was caused by their first attempt to do this, but that time was reversible; this time will not be. So, we’re going to have to upgrade our software this weekend.

Upgrading the main blog will hopefully not be a huge ordeal; I believe ExpressionEngine has a solid upgrade path to their most recent version, and I already have a license for it.

The larger problem is the wiki. A few other folks and I have talked about upgrading it sporadically over the years, but I never acted on it because it wasn’t terribly pressing. Now it is and I want to shoot my past self.

Our MediaWiki version is ancient, and it was, like, the last version before WikiMedia started implementing a consistent upgrade path. I believe the general consensus in the past was that the most efficient thing might just be to copy pages over manually from our current version to a new version installed next to it. But now this is complicated by the fact that the wiki will probably stop working on Monday. The path forward is probably to compile our own copy of PHP 5.2 and have the old wiki use it for the transition period. That’s going to be fun, but doable.

So, in addition to just informing everyone of all this, my purpose here is to ask when the best time this weekend would be for some hopefully brief downtime of the blog. Sunday night is probably the best time for me, but I’m flexible; if that’s a bad time for any current gameplay, I can start sooner.

I’ll be keeping tabs on this post, I’ll be on in the IRC channel all weekend, and I’m available by email at .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) .

Any input or suggestions are welcome. I’m very sorry this is so last-minute; if I’d paid more attention I might have started this sooner.

In the rule “List of Proxies”, change the text

The author of any pending proposal with at least two FOR votes on it, or any proposal that became enacted in the last 24 hours, may cause McGraft to attempt to take any rules-defined action.

to:

The author of any pending proposal with at least two FOR votes on it, or any proposal that became enacted in the last 24 hours, may cause McGraft to attempt to take any rules-defined action. If McGraft’s action affects any gamestate information, its author may not cause McGraft to act again for the same proposal. Players should record which proposal they’re using in a GNDT comment for bookkeeping purposes.

Tip: Markdown formatting seems broken, but if you write your post in Markdown elsewhere and use Markdown to generate HTML, formatting “None” (instead of “XHTML”) seems to work out quite well.

Amend Rule 2.2, "The Ball", to read:

There are N Balls. Some Players may have a Ball, tracked in the GNDT field "Ball" with a single "O". By default, Players do not have a Ball, tracked in the GNDT field "Ball" with a single "-".

Some Players may be Assisting, and by default are not Assisting: Assisting Players are tracked in the GNDT field “Ball”, with a single ":". When a Player gains a Ball, they cease to be Assisting, if they were Assisting.

If a Ball is Out of Play, any Player may roll DICEN, where N is the number of Players. On a roll of K, that Ball is given to the Kth Player in the GNDT.

If a Player with a Ball has no position, that Ball immediately becomes Out of Play.

The Balls are completely fungible. For example, if two players were to instantaneously trade Balls, the gamestate would not have changed.

Rename Rule 2.2 to "The Balls".

For each EVC, take the last line of the form "Balls: " followed by a single positive integer less than the number of players. Replace "N" in "There are N Balls" in Rule 2.2 with the median of the numbers in those lines.

In Rule 2.2.1, replace the middle paragraph with:

When a Player Kicks or Loses a Ball to another Player, ownership of that Ball is transferred to the other Player.

In Rule 2.6.1, "List of Proxies", replace "Shooting the Ball" with "The Method of Scoring".

In Rule 2.10, "The Method of Scoring", amend the last paragraph to read:

Immediately after a player Shoots, the Ball they had becomes Out of Play.

Amend Rule 2.11, "Offside", to read:

If a Player Kicks a Ball to a Player that is not in the same Position or an Adjacent Position to the kicking Player, then that Ball becomes Out of Play.

Amend Rule 2.15, "The Throw-in", to read:

If a Player who has a Ball has had it for the entirety of the previous 72 hours, any Player may transfer that Ball to their own possession.

One gripe I have with the current rules is that there’s nothing much to do if you don’t have the ball (hereafter, if you are a non-carrier). The ball acts like a mutex for play. One idea for changing this:

Allow players to set instructions, in some restricted language, in the GNDT (“Play”, maybe?), which take effect immediately upon their acquiring the ball (subject to some safety conditions, e.g. to prevent infinite cycles). This would give non-carriers something to do (prepare their Plays), but would still keep ‘actual’ play centered on the ball, leaving the mechanics for the ball unchanged. Surely ideas roughly like this have been tried in past dynasties? My gut says it’s unlikely to work well, but I’m not sure.

I guess that would be creating play for non-carriers by introducing a level of metaplay. There are probably simpler alternatives where we just create new (non-meta) play for non-carriers.

Thoughts?

I really haven’t been keeping up with this Dynasty, so I’m idling myself. Quorum remains four.

Add the following text to the end of the rule “List of Proxies”:

There is a Proxy named McGraft.  The author of any pending proposal with at least two FOR votes on it, or any proposal that became enacted in the last 24 hours, may cause McGraft to attempt to take any rules-defined action.

Set McDefense’s Position to Defense.

In Rule 2.3, change the text “A Player may change their Position” to “A Player who does not have the Ball may change their Position”.

Add the text “If the Player with the Ball has no position, the Ball immediately becomes Out of Play.” to the end of Rule 2.2.

Add the text “The Coach is considered to be a Player for this rule and its subrules.” to the beginning of the last paragraph of the rule “The Assistant Referees”:

Nomic^3 hasn’t done anything in the last couple of weeks and goes idle.  Quorum drops to 4.

Amend rule 2.3, "The Number of Players", by replacing "Shirt" with "Position".

Amend rule 2.4, "The Players' Equipment", to read:

Each Player wears a Shirt with a single number from zero to 99, the number being tracked in the GNDT field “Shirt” and defaulting to zero. If a Player is wearing a zero Shirt, they may change it at any time. No two Players may wear the same Shirt, unless they are wearing zero Shirts.

The Coach may also wear a Shirt with a number that is either zero, or 100 plus a number a Player might have; the Coach may change their Shirt at any time.

Remove the first paragraph of rule 2.11, "Offside".

Amend rule 2.1, "The Field of Play", to read:

Players may have Positions on the Field, tracked in the GNDT. By default a Player has no Position. If a Player has no Position, they may change their Position at any time.

The Coach may also have a Position, which they may change at any time.

Positions are ordered relative to each other and are associated with a Side. The Sides are Defensive and Offensive. The Positions, in order, with their Sides, are:

1. Goalkeeper (Defensive)
2. Defense (Defensive)
3. Midfield (Offensive)
4. Offense (Offensive)

Only one Player may have Position Goalkeeper.

Two Positions are Adjacent if they occur in adjacent items in the above list. One Position is Towards the Goal (respectively, Away from the Goal) from another Position if the first Position occurs before (resp. after) the second in the above list, that is if the first Position's index in the above list is less than (resp. greater than) the second Position's.

These properties and relations of Positions (Sides, Adjacency, Towards and Away from the Goal) can apply by extension to Players in the obvious way. For example, a Defensive Player is a Player with Position on Side Defensive, and Adjacent Players are Players with Adjacent Positions.

Amend rule 2.2.1, "Kicking the Ball" to read:

If a Player has the Ball, they may attempt to Kick the Ball by making a GNDT comment naming a Player (other than themselves, and who has a Position) to be a target Player and rolling DICE9. If the result of the die roll is less than 8, the Kicking Player has Kicked the Ball to the target Player. If the result is 8, the Kicking Player has Lost the Ball to a random Player who has the target Player’s position (excluding the Kicking Player). If the result is 9, the Ball becomes Out of Play and is removed from any Player’s possession.

When a Player Kicks or Loses the Ball to another Player, ownership of the Ball is transferred to the other Player.

When a Player Kicks the Ball, if they are not the Goalkeeper, they may become Assisting. If a Player Kicks the Ball to a Player Towards the Goal from the Kicking Player, the Kicking Player may cause all other Assisting Players to cease to be Assisting. The Goalkeeper may never be Assisting.

If possible, replace "Kick the Ball" with "attempt to Kick the Ball" in the rule "The Assistant Referees" and its subrules.

Set the Positions of all Players and the Coach to be the positions they had according to their Shirts immediately before this Proposal's enactment.

Add the following text to the rule “The Assistant Referees”:

A Proxy is a non-Player entity designated as such by the rules.  Each Proxy has its own GNDT row.  Proxies are considered to be Players for the purpose of other Dynastic Rules, except where they explicitly refer to non-Proxy players.

If a rule allows a Player to cause a Proxy to act, that Player can update the gamestate on behalf of that Proxy as allowed by the rules.  If a Player needs to make comments or GNDT updates on behalf of a Proxy, they must start the comment with “PROXY (X):” where (X) is the name of the Proxy.  Proxies cannot make blog posts.

The Coach may cause any Proxy to act at any time, and should do so to keep the game running smoothly.

Add a new subrule to that rule called “List of Proxies” and give it the following text:

There is a Proxy named McDefense.  If McDefense has the Ball, any player may cause McDefense to randomly choose Defense or Midfield player and Kick the Ball to them.  Any player may cause McDefense to roll and comment as required by the rule “Shooting the Ball”.

Set McDefense’s Shirt to a valid number to put it on Defense.

Amend rule 2.3, "The Number of Players", by replacing "Shirt" with "Position".

Amend rule 2.4, "The Players' Equipment", to read:

Each Player wears a Shirt with a single number from zero to 99, the number being tracked in the GNDT field “Shirt” and defaulting to zero. If a Player is wearing a zero Shirt, they may change it at any time. No two Players may wear the same Shirt, unless they are wearing zero Shirts.

The Coach may also wear a Shirt with a number that is either zero, or 100 plus a number a Player might have; the Coach may change their Shirt at any time.

Remove the first paragraph of rule 2.11, "Offside".

Amend rule 2.1, "The Field of Play", to read:

Players may have Positions on the Field, tracked in the GNDT. By default a Player has no Position. If a Player has no Position, they may change their Position at any time.

The Coach may also have a Position, which they may change at any time.

Positions are ordered relative to each other and are associated with a Side. The Sides are Defensive and Offensive. The Positions, in order, with their Sides, are:

1. Goalkeeper (Defensive)
2. Defense (Defensive)
3. Midfield (Offensive)
4. Offense (Offensive)

Two Positions are Adjacent if they occur in adjacent items in the above list. One Position is Towards the Goal (respectively, Away from the Goal) from another Position if the first Position occurs before (resp. after) the second in the above list, that is if the first Position's index in the above list is less than (resp. greater than) the second Position's.

These properties and relations of Positions (Sides, Adjacency, Towards and Away from the Goal) can apply by extension to Players in the obvious way. For example, a Defensive Player is a Player with Position on Side Defensive, and Adjacent Players are Players with Adjacent Positions.

Amend rule 2.2.1, "Kicking the Ball" to read:

If a Player has the Ball, they may attempt to Kick the Ball by making a GNDT comment naming a Player (other than themselves, and who has a Position) to be a target Player and rolling DICE9. If the result of the die roll is less than 8, the Kicking Player has Kicked the Ball to the target Player. If the result is 8, the Kicking Player has Lost the Ball to a random Player who has the target Player’s position (excluding the Kicking Player). If the result is 9, the Ball becomes Out of Play and is removed from any Player’s possession.

When a Player Kicks or Loses the Ball to another Player, ownership of the Ball is transferred to the other Player.

When a Player Kicks the Ball, if they are not the Goalkeeper, they may become Assisting. If a Player Kicks the Ball to a Player Towards the Goal from the Kicking Player, the Kicking Player may cause all other Assisting Players to cease to be Assisting. The Goalkeeper may never be Assisting.

Set the Positions of all Players and the Coach to be the positions they had according to their Shirts immediately before this Proposal's enactment.

In the rule “Challenges”, change the text

Then, any Admin may update

to

Then, the Challenge becomes Inactive and any Admin may update

Then change the text

The player must be the first player to have completed the task

to

The player must be the first player to have completed the task since the Challenge most recently became Active

Then, any Active challenges become Inactive.

Thanks for reminding me Bucky.

Sprucial

Sprucial has completed the passing challenge.  It’ll end as soon as the Coach gets around to it.

In the Rule ” The Method of Scoring”, change the text

any Player may comment

to

any Player or the Coach may comment

In Rule 2.10 The Method of Scoring, replace “Once at least 48 hours have passed since the Shooting Post, any Player may comment with the sum of the rolls from the shooter and the assisting players, along with the sum of the rolls from the goalkeeper and the non-assisting defense players. The first time this happens on each Shooting Post, the set of players whose rolls contributed to the larger sum all receive one score” with:-

Once at least 48 hours have passed since the Shooting Post, the Coach may comment with the sum of the rolls from the shooter and the assisting players, along with the sum of the rolls from the goalkeeper and the non-assisting defense players. Once at least 50 hours have passed since the Shooting Post, any Player may comment with the sum of the rolls from the shooter and the assisting players, along with the sum of the rolls from the goalkeeper and the non-assisting defense players. The first time a Player or Coach makes such a Comment on a Shooting Post, the set of players whose rolls contributed to the larger sum in the corresponding Shooting Post all receive one score

Idle me, please. I’m gonna be back eventually, but life is getting to me.

In Rule 2.10 The Method of Scoring, replace “Once at least 48 hours have passed since the Shooting Post, any Player may comment with the sum of the rolls from the shooter and the assisting players, along with the sum of the rolls from the goalkeeper and the non-assisting defense players. The first time this happens on each Shooting Post, the set of players whose rolls contributed to the larger sum all receive one score” with:-

Once at least 48 hours have passed since the Shooting Post, the Coach may comment with the sum of the rolls from the shooter and the assisting players, along with the sum of the rolls from the goalkeeper and the non-assisting defense players. Once at least 50 hours have passed since the Shooting Post, any Player may comment with the sum of the rolls from the shooter and the assisting players, along with the sum of the rolls from the goalkeeper and the non-assisting defense players. The first time a Player or Coach comments on each Shooting Post, the set of players whose rolls contributed to the larger sum all receive one score

In Rule 2.4 The Players’ Equipment, replace all instances of “Scoring post” with instances of “Shooting post”.

In Rule 2.10 The Method of Scoring, replace “Once at least 48 hours have passed since the Shooting Post, any Player may comment with the sum of the rolls from the shooter and the assisting players, along with the sum of the rolls from the goalkeeper and the non-assisting defense players. The first time this happens on each Shooting Post, the set of players whose rolls contributed to the larger sum all receive one score” with:-

Once at least 48 hours have passed since the Shooting Post, the Coach may comment with the sum of the rolls from the shooter and the assisting players, along with the sum of the rolls from the goalkeeper and the non-assisting defense players. Once at least 50 hours have passed since the Shooting Post, any Player may comment with the sum of the rolls from the shooter and the assisting players, along with the sum of the rolls from the goalkeeper and the non-assisting defense players. The first time a Player comments on each Shooting Post, the set of players whose rolls contributed to the larger sum all receive one score

I’m shooting

This post should be ignored.

Amend rule 2.2.1, “Kicking the Ball”, by replacing:

The number of times a Player has Kicked the Ball is tracked in the GNDT but remains at 0 unless a Challenge that includes the phrase “While this Challenge is Active, the number of times a player has Kicked the Ball is tracked in the GNDT” is active.

with:

The number of times a Player has Kicked the Ball is tracked in the GNDT but remains at 0 unless a Challenge that includes the phrase “While this Challenge is Active, the number of times a player has Kicked the Ball since the Challenge started is tracked in the GNDT” is active.

Amend rule 2.18.1, “Passing”, by replacing:

The first Player to have Kicked the Ball 5 times wins this Challenge.

with:

The first Player to have Kicked the Ball 5 times after this Challenge becomes active wins the Challenge.

If, at the time this Proposal was submitted, a Player has won a Challenge, make the unique minimal change to the Gamestate which revokes the Player’s Challenge victory.

Amend rule 2.3, "The Number of Players", by replacing "Shirt" with "Position".

Amend rule 2.4, "The Players' Equipment", to read:

Each Player wears a Shirt with a single number from zero to 99, the number being tracked in the GNDT field “Shirt” and defaulting to zero. If a Player is wearing a zero Shirt, they may change it at any time. No two Players may wear the same Shirt, unless they are wearing zero Shirts.

The Coach may also wear a Shirt with a number that is either zero, or 100 plus a number a Player might have; the Coach may change their Shirt at any time.

Remove the first paragraph of rule 2.11, "Offside".

Amend rule 2.1, "The Field of Play", to read:

Players may have Positions on the Field. By default a Player has no Position. If a Player has no Position, they may change their Position at any time.

The Coach may also have a Position, which they may change at any time.

Some Positions are Sided. Sided Positions are ordered relative to each other and are associated with a Side. Sided Players (Players having a Sided Position) are associated with their Position's Side.

The Sided Positions are, in order: Goalkeeper, Defense, Midfield, Offense. The backward order in this list is Goalward. The forward order in this list is Clearward.

Goalkeeper and Defense are associated with the Side Defensive. Midfield and Offense are associated with the Side Offensive.

Amend rule 2.10, "The Method of Scoring", by appending:

If the Ball is Out of Play and has not come into Play since a Shooting post has been closed, any Sided Player may trade Positions with any other Sided Player that has not Scored due to the most recent Shooting post.

Amend rule 2.2.1, "Kicking the Ball", by replacing:

If a Player Kicks the Ball to a Player with a lower Shirt number and a different Position

with:

If a Player Kicks the Ball Goalward

Set the Positions of all Players and the Coach to be the positions they had before this Proposal's enactment.

They haven’t posted or commented at all in the last week.  Quorum drops to 5.

In the rule “The Method of Scoring”, change the text

the Coach comments with the sum of the rolls from the shooter and the assisting players, along with the sum of the rolls from the goalkeeper and the non-assisting defense players. The set of players whose rolls contributed to the larger sum all receive one score;

to

any Player may comment with the sum of the rolls from the shooter and the assisting players, along with the sum of the rolls from the goalkeeper and the non-assisting defense players. The first time this happens on each Shooting Post, the set of players whose rolls contributed to the larger sum all receive one score;

In the rule “”, change the text

the Coach comments with the sum of the rolls from the shooter and the assisting players, along with the sum of the rolls from the goalkeeper and the non-assisting defense players. The set of players whose rolls contributed to the larger sum all receive one score;

to

any Player may comment with the sum of the rolls from the shooter and the assisting players, along with the sum of the rolls from the goalkeeper and the non-assisting defense players. The first time this happens on each Shooting Post, the set of players whose rolls contributed to the larger sum all receive one score;

In the rule “Kicking the Ball”, change the text

If a Player Kicks the Ball to a Player with a lower Shirt number, the Kicking Player may update the GNDT to change any number of Assisting Players so that they are no longer Assisting.

to

If a Player Kicks the Ball to a Player with a lower Shirt number and a different Position, the Kicking Player may cause all other Assisting Players to cease to be Assisting.

Change the contents of the rule ” The Method of Scoring” to

The number of Scores a Player has is tracked in the GNDT and defaults to 0.

The offense Player who has the Ball may Shoot by making a blog post (known as a Shooting post) entitled “Shooting.” For 48 hours after a Shooting post has been made, certain players may roll a die based on their role at the time the Shooting Post was made: The Shooting Player may roll a DICE5; any assisting player may roll a DICE15; the Goalkeeper may roll a DICE40; and any non-assisting defense player may roll a DICE6. Any Player who rolls a die for this purpose must post the result in a comment to the Shooting post along with a description of the player’s role in shooting (shooter, assisting player, Goalkeeper, defensive player). Such a comment is known as a Play. Once at least 48 hours have passed since the Shooting Post, the Coach comments with the sum of the rolls from the shooter and the assisting players, along with the sum of the rolls from the goalkeeper and the non-assisting defense players. The set of players whose rolls contributed to the larger sum all receive one score; if the scores are tied, no players receive a score.

Immediately after a player Shoots, the ball becomes Out of Play.

(As of the time this CfJ was posted:)

• Eritivus is not currently Assisting.
• Eritivus did not make a Play as an Assisting Player on the most recent Shooting post.

E shoots…

Amend rule 2.15, The Throw-in, to read:

If the Player who has the Ball has had it for the entirety of the previous 72 hours, any other Player may transfer the Ball to their own possession, optionally also giving the Player who had the Ball a zero Shirt.

Replace the text in rule 2.11 “Offside” with:

The Goalkeeper and Defense are considered Adjacent; Midfield and Defense are considered Adjacent; and Offense and Midfield are considered Adjacent.

If a Player Kicks the Ball to a Player that is not in the same Position or an Adjacent Position to the kicking Player, then the Ball becomes Out of Play and is removed from any player’s possesion.

Make Eritivus an Admin.

In Rule 2.4, “The Players’ Equipment”, replace

If a Player is wearing a zero Shirt, they may change it for any number not currently on another Player’s Shirt, by updating the GNDT to that effect.

with

If a Player is wearing a zero Shirt, they may change it at any time. No two Players may wear the same Shirt, unless
they are wearing zero Shirts.

Append the following paragraph to Rule 2.4, “The Players’ Equipment”:

Players with position Goalkeeper or Defense are considered Defensive. Players with position Midfield or Offense are considered Offensive.

Append the following paragraph to Rule 2.3, “The Number of Players”:

A Player may change their Shirt at any time, if doing so would decrease the magnitude of the difference between the numbers of Offensive and Defense Players.

If a majority of EVCs FOR (explicitly or implicitly) this Proposal contain “include Goalkeeper”, replace “Defense” with “Defensive” in the previously appended paragraph.

In the rule “Special Proposal Voting”, replace “an explicit vote AGAINST their own Proposal” with:-

a vote AGAINST their own Proposal (which is not in the form of a DEFERENTIAL vote)

In the rule “The Ball”, change the sentence beginning with “If the Ball is Out of Play” to read:

If the Ball is Out of Play, any Player may roll DICEN, where N is the number of Players. On a roll of K, the Ball is given to the Kth Player in the GNDT.

In the rule “The Ball”, change the sentence beginning with “If the Ball is Out of Play” to read

If the Ball is Out of Play, any Player may roll DICEN, where N is the number of Players, to give the ball to the Nth Player in the GNDT.

In rule 2.10, “Method of Scoring”, replace:

any non-assisting defense player may roll

with:

any non-assisting defense or midfield player may roll

In Rule 2.2.1 “Kicking the Ball” replace “If a Player has the Ball, they may Kick the Ball by making a GNDT comment naming a Player (other than themselves, and who has a Position) to be a target Player and rolling DICE3. If the result of the die roll is 1, ownership of the Ball is transferred to the target Player. If the result is 2, ownership of the Ball is transferred to a random Player who has the target Player’s position (excluding the Kicking Player). If the result is 3, the Ball becomes Out of Play and is removed from any Player’s possession.” with

If a Player has the Ball, they may Kick the Ball by making a GNDT comment naming a Player (other than themselves, and who has a Position) to be a target Player and rolling DICE9. If the result of the die roll is less than 8, ownership of the Ball is transferred to the target Player. If the result is 8, ownership of the Ball is transferred to a random Player who has the target Player’s position (excluding the Kicking Player). If the result is 9, the Ball becomes Out of Play and is removed from any Player’s possession.

In Rule 2.10 “The Method of Scoring:

Replace all instances of “DICE10” with “DICE15.”

After “Afterwards, the Ball is removed from the Shooting Player” add the phrase

and the Shooting post is considered closed.

In the rule “The Ball”, change the text

If the Ball is Out of Play, any Player may gain the Ball for themselves by updating the GNDT to that effect.

to

If the Ball is Out of Play, any Player except for the most recent one to have the Ball may gain the Ball for themselves by updating the GNDT to that effect.