BlogNomic: The First Dynasty of Desertfrog

For suggesting in rule text that a proposal is toxic if it “did not fit with his plans for the dynasty”.

I really don’t think Emperors should have any “plans” for dynasties beyond their first proposal. A potentially quorum-pleasing idea shouldn’t be shot down because it didn’t match up with a thought the Emperor hadn’t shared or articulated.

Or even a thought that they had shared and articulated. If one player wants to repeal a core mechanic or retheme the game, and if a quorum agree, the Emperor is welcome to vote strongly against and explain their objections, but should respect the majority.

as per Kevan

  as per Kevan

Hmm, I doubt we could have a fast-veto thread without me getting involved. (Unless I didn’t notice it.) I still read BlogNomic from time to time, even though I rarely participate (I hardly even have enough time for Agora, which is slower by a factor of 7 or so.)

I still think there should be no stigma attached to a veto; if a proposal is terribly bad, it should get voted down naturally. Therefore, a veto means that the proposal is (in the Emperor’s view) bad for the dynasty, but not obviously so. This normally indicates being subtly broken (such as interacting badly with another proposal), or causing problems for reasons that aren’t public (such as not being about Gourmet Drag Racing on Mars), or being biased towards the larger faction in a dynasty with factions, and one where the smaller faction are trying to keep their identity secret.

That said, the problem with this proposal is that it implies that this dynasty is one in which there is significant hidden Emperor-privileged information, which doesn’t obviously seem to fit the theme. Perhaps the theme should be clearer, if that’s the case.

(Probably the correct fix is to reverse the veto into a reward for this dynasty, specifying that the Emperor can fast-veto a proposal if it’s being voted down due to being too creative. That would address Bucky’s concerns as well as Kevan’s.)

I did in fact publish a set of plans for the dynasty here: http://blognomic.com/archive/dynastic_direction1

As far as I’m concerned, that ‘plans for the dynasty’ clause applies only to that post, the general theme in the ascension address (AI-controlled shuttles near Jupiter), and the first proposal.

I don’t think going against those plans should ever be grounds for a veto. Even if you’d proposed Hiveminds and we’d voted for it, a player saying “actually, maybe we could be rogue AIs instead” a week later and proposing to replace the Hivemind rule shouldn’t be vetoed because this “didn’t fit with the Emperor’s plans”.