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<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
<head>
<style media="screen" type="text/css">
/* Thanks to Matthew James Taylor for CSS inspiration */
body {margin:0; padding:0;} /* IE... better to do this by hand */
h1 {margin-left:2%; margin-top:1em; margin-right:2%;
margin-bottom:0; padding:0;}
div.column {float:left; width:50%;}
div.column p {margin-left:4%; margin-right:4%;}
div.column ul {margin-left:4%; margin-right:4%;}
div.column h2 {margin-left:4%; margin-right:4%; margin-top:1.5em;}
#topimage {height:1px; float:right; margin-right:2%; overflow:visible;}
#topimage img {width:64px; height:64px;}
</style>
<title>Agora Nomic</title>
</head>
<body>
<div id="topimage">
<img src="coat_of_arms.png">
</div>
<h1>Agora Nomic</h1>
<div class="column">
<h2>Welcome to Agora!</h2>
<p>
Agora is a <a href="http://www.nomic.net">nomic</a>, a game in
which the rules can be changed as part of the gameplay itself.
The concept of Nomic, and an initial ruleset, was invented
by <a href="http://www.earlham.edu/~peters/hometoc.htm">Peter
Suber</a>, and published in
<a href="http://www.earlham.edu/~peters/writing/nomic.htm">an
appendix to his book <em>The Paradox of
Self-Amendment</em></a> in 1982; Agora started with a very
similar ruleset (adapted for play via email) on 30 June
1993, and since then has become one of the world's
longest-lasting nomics.
</p>
<p>
Over its history of over 22 years, Agora has seen over 7700
proposals, and over 1300 rules enacted; but rules are amended
frequently and repealed at much the same rate they are
enacted, meaning that
<a href="http://faculty.washington.edu/kerim/nomic/rkeep/current_flr.txt">the ruleset</a>
is often fresh and interesting for new and experienced players
alike, rather than continuously accreting rules until the game
becomes unplayable. Although the game has been won on over 60
occasions, it can continue on after a win, giving everyone a
chance to succeed (not that winning is easy; most months,
nobody accomplishes it). The course of the game is charted by
its over 3400
<a href="http://cfj.qoid.us">judicial
cases</a>, via which disputes are resolved.
</p>
<h2>Why Agora?</h2>
<p>
Agora is a relatively serious nomic; many of its players see
it as an experiment in philosophy, political science, and
group dynamics, rather than just a game; sometimes it acts
more like a country. It tends to be relatively conservative
as nomics go, in that major rules changes often take a while
to happen and are commonly debated in advance. Unlike some
other nomics, much of Agora's gameplay is concerned with the
proposals system and the rules themselves, with many wins
having been via exploiting loopholes in even long-standing
rules, just as other players prefer to win in the "intended"
fashion. However, it is not uncommon for substantial subgames
to be proposed, played for a while, and then repealed when
players bore with them.
</p>
<p>
On the other hand, Agorans tend not to be above silliness and
having fun; some players will do things just to see what will
happen, or to create unusual situations merely to observe the
resulting chaos. Agora occasionally experiments with
mechanics designed only to shake things up a bit (such as
randomized rule changes, or offices whose only job is to try
to repeal rules); and once
<a href="http://www.nomic.net/%7Enomicwiki/index.php/RishoAgoraWar">went
to war</a> over an insult that Agorans were "a generally
boring lot".
</p>
<h2>Other websites with historical records</h2>
<ul>
<li>
<a href="http://www.fysh.org/~zefram/agora/">Zefram's
archives</a> contain old rules, proposals, and mailing list
archives.
</li><li>
The <a href="http://zenith.homelinux.net/awj.php">Agoran Weekly
Journal</a> summarises events from 1997 to 2007, and may be
updated in the future.
</li><li>
Murphy's site also contains a <a href="http://zenith.homelinux.net/agora_acronyms.php">list of acronyms</a> used in Agora and a <a href="http://zenith.homelinux.net/agora_winners.php">list of wins</a>.
</li><li>
<a href="ftp://ftp.cse.unsw.edu.au/pub/users/malcolmr/nomic/articles/agora-theses/library.html">Blob's
Thesis Archive</a> contains theses about Agora or nomic in
general, published from about 1995 to 2001.
</li><li>
Andre has a
<a href="http://web.archive.org/web/20130115221259/http://www.win.tue.nl/~engels/stare.txt">list of
old CFJs</a>.
</li><li>
The <a href="http://agora-notary.wikidot.com/">Agora Notary
Wiki</a> hosted details about contracts from late 2008 to
early 2010 (and became obsolete when contracts were
repealed).
</li><li>
Finally, just for fun, oerjan took
<a href="http://home.nvg.org/~oerjan/agora-horoscope/">Agora's
horoscope</a>.
</li>
</ul>
</div>
<div class="column">
<h2>Thinking of playing?</h2>
<p>
As of August 2015, there are three mailing lists (see following lists for details) most players subscribe to:
<ul>
<li>
<a href="http://www.agoranomic.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/agora-business">agora-business</a>
(<a href="http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]/info.html">public
archives</a>) is the main forum used for the vast majority
of game actions, such as voting on proposals and new players
registering;
</li>
<li>
<a href="http://www.agoranomic.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/agora-official">agora-official</a>
(<a href="http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]/info.html">public
archives</a>) is used for official reports mandated by the
rules, like proposal distributions and reports of the rules
and list of players, and is a good place to check on the
current state of the game;
</li>
<li>
<a href="http://www.agoranomic.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/agora-discussion">agora-discussion</a>
(<a href="http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]/info.html">public
archives</a>) is the officially supported mailing list for
discussion about the game and things that go on there,
although it cannot be used for game actions (posting them to
agora-discussion by mistake is quite common!).
</li>
</ul>
</p>
<p>
There are also two backup lists,
<a href="http://www.listserver.tue.nl/mailman/listinfo/agora">tue</a>
and
<a href="http://yoyo.its.monash.edu.au/mailman/listinfo/nomic">yoyo</a>,
are used to continue the game if the main mailing lists are
down for whatever reason.
</p>
<p>
For more informal discussion, there is also an official IRC
channel, <a href="irc:irc.freenode.net/##nomic">##nomic on
freenode.net</a>
(<a href="http://webchat.freenode.net/?channels=%23%23nomic">web
access</a>), where several players of Agora (and other nomics)
tend to gather.
</p>
<p>
Although many players prefer to watch for a while rather than
playing (with Agora having attracted quite a sizeable list of
"Watchers", who sometimes join in discussion about the game
despite not playing), it's entirely possible to jump right in
and start playing. Before joining, you should probably read
the rules; the most recent rulesets can normally be found in
the agora-official archives, or
<a href="http://faculty.washington.edu/kerim/nomic/rkeep/current_flr.txt">online</a>.
Probably, you can join by simply sending a message to
agora-business stating that you register, although as always
in nomic, the rules are subject to change.
</p>
<h2>Other websites with current information</h2>
<ul>
<li>
<a href="http://cfj.qoid.us">omd's CFJ database</a> displays present and past Calls For Judgement and their results.
</li><li>
Agora also has
<a href="http://www.nomic.net/%7Enomicwiki/index.php/Agora">a
homepage at the NomicWiki</a>, which is sporadically
updated.
</li>
</ul>
</div>
</body>
</html>