Rule 5E50
From B Nomic
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Rule 5E50: Operant Conditioning
The Beast
The Operantly Conditioned Beast (aka The Beast or The OCB) is an Outsider and a Player whose name is Fred. The Beast performs Game Actions in one of two ways:
- Any given Player may, once per nweek, as a Game Action with no objection in two rdays, cause the Beast to take a single Game Action.
- The Beast is also capable of causing certain changes to the state of the Game, which are specified in Tricks (which are Game Objects). Tricks are randomly performed on a fixed schedule (see below), and no Player may cause the Beast to perform a Trick as a Game Action.
The Tricks
All Tricks have a Response, a positive integer defaulting to 10.
As a Game Action, a Player may Reinforce the last Trick that has been performed, increasing its Response value by 1.
As a Game Action, a Player may Punish the last Trick that has been performed, decreasing its Response value by 1.
A Player who has Reinforced or Punished may not perform either of these Game Actions until the OCB next performs a Trick.
All Tricks have a Timing, either Anytime (default) or Voting.
At the start of each nday 1, 5, and 9, the OCB performs a single Trick, randomly selected from among existing Tricks. The probability that a specific Trick is selected to be performed is equal to the proportion of the sum total of all Response values represented by the Response value of that Trick. When neither a Voting Period nor a Particular Voting Period are in progress, Tricks with a Timing of "Voting" are not included in the selection process and may not be performed.
As a Game Action, with support and without objection, a Player may Teach the OCB a new Trick, defining the changes to the gamestate that its performance enacts and, optionally, its Timing.
A Trick whose Response value would become 0 ceases to exist.
The Ranger
There exists a Ministry known as the Ministry of Fauna. The Minister of Fauna, also known as the Ranger or Chuck Norris, is responsible for maintaining a Public Display of the OCB's Rule-defined attributes and of all Tricks as well as their Attributes.
Whenever the OCB is scheduled to perform a Trick according to the Rules, the Ranger is obliged to randomly select a Trick to be performed, in accordance with the probabilities above and having previously announced the mode and modalities of this selection to the Public Forum. If the Ranger fails to do so within 1 rday, any Player who is the first to do so may carry out this selection, provided e respects all associated requirements.
Talking to the Beast
The Ranger is presumed to have the power to talk to the Operantly Conditioned Beast. Any player obligated to send any communication to the Beast may fulfill this obligation by sending that communication to the Ranger instead.
