102 All members of Outpost Gallifrey Forum are Potential Players in PTomic. A Potential Player may become a Player in PTomic either by posting in the Thread a request to join the game or by taking part in a Move (by submitting a Proposal or voting in a Referendum). In either case, they become a Player with effect from the beginning of that first post. A Player immediately ceases to be a Player if they post a request to leave the game or if they have not during the present or previous Game taken part in any Move by submitting a Proposal or voting in a Referendum.
103 PTomic consists of a number of consecutive Games. A Game consists of a number of consecutive Moves. A Move consists of three stages: a Proposal, a Debate, and (unless the Proposal is withdrawn) a Referendum, in that order and with each stage beginning immediately when the previous stage ends.
104 Any Player or Potential Player may submit a Proposal, by posting in the Thread a proposed new Rule, repeal of a Rule, or amendment to a Rule.
105 The purpose of the Debate is to identify possible ambiguities or paradoxes or any problems with the wording of the Proposal. The Player who submitted the Proposal may terminate the Debate at any point by posting in the Thread a final version of the Proposal to be voted on and a statement to the effect that the Referendum has begun. If, twenty-four hours after the Debate begins, the Player who proposed the Proposal has not formally posted a final version and announced the beginning of the Referendum, the Referendum begins immediately and automatically, and the Proposal is voted on in its original version. The Player who proposed the Proposal may also withdraw the Proposal before the Debate ends by posting to that effect in the Thread: in this case, the Move ends immediately.
106 During a Referendum, any Player or Potential Player may vote once either for or against the Proposal by posting the word 'FOR' or 'AGAINST' in the Thread.
107 If one hour after the Proposal at least three votes have been cast, the Referendum ends. Otherwise, the Referendum continues until twenty-four hours after the Proposal. If at least three votes have been cast at the end of the Referendum, the Referendum is considered quorate. Otherwise, it is considered inquorate.
108 The result of the Referendum is 'UNDECIDED' if the Referendum was inquorate, or if the Proposal was withdrawn by the Player who proposed it. Otherwise, it is 'ACCEPTED' if a simple majority of legal votes were in favour of the proposal, and 'REJECTED' if they were not. If and only if the result is 'ACCEPTED', the proposed Rule change is included in the Ruleset immediately with effect from the end of the Referendum.
109 At the beginning of each Game, each Player has 0 points. Each Potential Player, on becoming a Player, is assigned 0 Points.
110 Following the declaration of a result of a Referendum, Points are awarded, thus: If a Proposal is accepted, each Player that voted against the Proposal gains 10 Points, and the Player who submitted the Proposal gains a random number of Points between 1 and 10 inclusive. If a Proposal is rejected, the Player who submitted the Proposal loses 10 Points.
111 The first Player or Players to have at least 100 positive Points is or are declared the winner(s) of the Game. When this happens, a new Game is begun. All Rules and Proposals retain the status they had at the end of the old Game.
112 If a Player believes that the Rules are such that further play is impossible, or that the legality of an action cannot be determined with finality, or that an action appears equally legal and illegal, then the Player may invoke Judgement on a statement to that effect. If the statement is judged 'TRUE', then the Player who invoked Judgement is declared the winner of that Game, and the Game ends with no provision for any further Games. This Rule takes precedence over every other Rule determining the winner of the Game.
113 Whatever is not prohibited or regulated by a Rule is permitted and unregulated, with the sole exception of changing the Rules, which is permitted only when a Rule or set of Rules explicitly or implicitly permits it.
114 All Players must always abide by all the Rules then in effect, in the form in which they are then expressed in the Ruleset. No Rule may impose any requirement or penalty on anyone who is not a Player. This Rule takes precedence over all other Rules.
115 A Player always has the option to forfeit the Game rather than continue to play or incur a game penalty. No penalty worse than losing, in the judgement of the Player to incur it, may be imposed.
116 The adoption of Rule changes must never become completely impermissible.
117 No Rule change may take effect earlier than the moment of the completion of the Referendum that adopted it, even if its wording explicitly states otherwise. No Rule change may have retroactive application.
118 If two or more Rules conflict with one another then the Rule with the lowest ordinal number takes precedence. If at least one of the Rules in conflict explicitly says of itself that it defers to another Rule (or type of Rule) or takes precedence over another Rule (or type of Rule), then such provisions supersede the numerical method for determining precedence. If two or more Rules claim to take precedence over one another or defer to one another, then the numerical method again governs.
119 If Players disagree about the legality of an action or the interpretation or application of a Rule, then a Player may invoke Judgement by posting a request for it in the Thread. When Judgement is invoked, the Secretary selects a Judge and announces them in the Thread.
120 If Judgement was invoked by a Player other than the Secretary then the first Judge to be selected is the Secretary. Otherwise, they are a randomly selected Player. In all cases, if a Judge beyond the first must be selected to judge a statement, they are a randomly selected Player. Any Player selected to be Judge may not be the Player most recently selected as Judge for a given statement, nor may they be the Player who invoked Judgement.
121 The Judge delivers a Judgement in accordance with the Rules within twenty-four hours of the Judge being announced, by posting the Judgement in the Thread. The Judgement is either 'TRUE', 'FALSE', or 'UNDECIDED'. It may be accompanied by reasons, which do not form part of the Judgement. If the Judge fails to deliver a Judgement within twenty-four hours, they lose 10 Points and a new Judge is selected.
122 One Player is designated Secretary. The Secretary of the first Game is deced. In subsequent Games, the Secretary is the winner of the previous Game or, if there was more than one winner, a randomly selected Player from among the winners of the previous Game.
123 In addition to all the rights and responsibilities of a Player, the Secretary has several additional responsibilities:
- The Secretary makes the first Proposal of the Game.
- The Secretary maintains a record of the current Ruleset, and a list of all current Players and the number of Points each active Player has, and makes them available to the other Players either continuously (through a link from the Secretary's signature) or when requested by a Player.
- The Secretary calculates the result for each Referendum and announces it officially by posting it in the Thread.
- The Secretary consults a random number generator whenever a random selection is required by a Rule. Furthermore, the Secretary provides pictures of fungi and of tea when these are demanded by other Players.
- The Secretary gives each Proposal a number for reference. The numbers begin with 201, and each Proposal receives the next successive integer, whether or not the Proposal is accepted. When a Proposal is accepted, the new or newly amended Rule (if any) is given the number of that Proposal.