Date: Tue, 16 Sep 1997 10:40:18 +0100
From: Tournament Headquarters  (by way of Robert F. Heeter)
Subject: W2WT: Tutorial #6B - Remailer Etiquette and Rules Errors

Tutorial #6B - Remailer Etiquette and Rules Violation Penalties
[ This tutorial contains some recently-modified rules; read carefully! ]


*** REMAILER ETIQUETTE ***

This section summarizes how the Remailer is used as the PBEM interface:


(A) Language:

Because Warlords itself and all the tournament information are written
in English, we assume that all players have some way of reading email sent
in (reasonably generic) English.  So English is the best overall language
for all game email.  Allowing messages in another language would make it
possible for two players to communicate more-or-less secretly, and we
want to pick the best Warlords, not the best linguists.  To avoid
making games unfair for players who are not native English speakers,
though, Moderators will encourage diplomatic email to be written as
straightforwardly as possible.  And when you write your diplomacy,
remember who you are writing to, and make sure they can understand you!
Since this is a friendly tournament with players from age 8 and up,
we ask that everyone be polite and not use foul language.


(B) Non-Diplomatic Messages (Queries):

You can send as much non-diplomatic email through the Remailer as
you wish, including rules questions and general talk.  Use the "query"
or "noarchive" commands to send anything that doesn't belong in
the official game diplomatic history.


(C) Turn Report Format:

Turn Report messages should have at least one part, and possibly two:

1. (Optional) Role-playing and diplomacy:  This part can be colorful,
but the basic meaning should be clear to all players, particularly any
diplomatic parts.  Here you can write whatever you like, be in character,
have fun, and make us all laugh (or cry) at your exploits.
This part should generally come first, because it's the most fun.

2. (Mandatory) Basic Summary:  a simple summary of mandatory reporting
information, in a style like the "Report Template".  The summary allows
everyone to look up the key information without having to search the whole
role-playing message.  This part might spoil the suspense of the
role-playing part, so it can come last, or be split into "before" and
"after" parts with the roleplaying in the middle.  If complicated diplomacy
also occurs in the role-playing section, a quick summary might be good
to have in the summary section too.

We want to allow players to indulge themselves in their turn reports,
but we don't want to make it impossible for players with weak English
to follow what is going on!  When in doubt, be considerate
and keep it short, simple, and sweet!


(D) Play for Thyself:

You are expected to play for yourself.  Do not give or accept advice
from any other tournament player about any ongoing tournament
games - except by messages sent through the Remailer to players in
your own game.  Furthermore, as Bill Irwin put it in playtesting:

   >...when you get to turn 19 and 20 there are no allies.
   >It is every man, woman and child for himself!


(E) Do Not Rewrite History:

It goes without saying that falsifying messages is considered cheating.
Anything is allowed in your own diplomacy, but you are not allowed to
change what others have written or pretend to be someone else!


(F) Send Turn Report and Gamefile Together:

Remember to send your turn report at the same time you send your
gamefile!  Failure to send a turn report before the next player
moves is a major rules error.


(G) Replaying Turns:

Turns may not be replayed except to fix rules errors.
If necessary the players involved may need to retake their turns.
A game will never be backed up more than 1 full turn to fix a
rules error.  If you must replay a turn, first go to the Remailer and
reset the game to your turn.  This ensures that everything will go
smoothly when you send the corrected gamefile, and that you won't
accidentally use up someone else's turn, timeouts, etc.
(Alternatively, replay the turn very quickly and send it as a
"noarchive" message, which does not advance the turn in the Remailer.)


(H) Gamefile Transmission Errors:

Once you send a gamefile to the remailer, your turn is over.  If you
send an unplayable gamefile (wrong turn, wrong game, etc.), you are
charged with a rules error (since you could be trying to get extra
time for your move), the game will be reset to your turn, and you
must resend the correct gamefile within the new time limit.

If you send a gamefile which is playable but isn't what you meant to send,
the other players are still obligated to play it.  (The tournament is like
a card game - sending a move to the Remailer is like playing a card, and
once you've played a card, you can't take it back and play a different one!)
If you realize that you sent the wrong file (say a file from before the
move was finished), you *can* say in effect "Oops, I screwed up" and
re-send the gamefile if you wish, but only if:

* (a) the next player hasn't sent their turn through the Remailer yet,

* (b) no player has sent an "archive" (diplomacy) message since your
      turn report, and

* (c) the next player's standard turnaround time hasn't expired yet.

If you *do* re-send the gamefile, you will still be penalized with a
rules error - but it might be worth the price to save your hero!


*** RULES VIOLATIONS AND PENALTIES ***
[ This part of the tournament rules has been recently revised. ]

This section explains the different types of rules errors and how
to deal with them.

Any time you break a rule and someone else reports it before you do,
the moderator is required to count a rules error against you.
You get several mistakes per game, so accidental mistakes should not
hurt you.  But we don't want players deliberately abusing the rules,
so there is a limit on how many mistakes you can make before we assume
you're trying to cheat.

Rules violations now come in three distinct flavors:

(1) Simple mistakes.  These are minor errors which can be fixed
    (backing the game up a little if necessary) without affecting
    the course of the game after they are fixed.  These are things like
    minor turn report omissions, battle odds miscalculations, and the
    usual careless errors that we all make sometimes.  There is a limit
    on how many of these mistakes are allowed: 5 in Round A
    and 3 in each round thereafter.  There is no penalty for
    a simple mistake (just try not to do it again!).

(2) Major mistakes.  These are errors which cannot be fixed
    without affecting the course of the game.  The main example is
    when a player sends an illegal third diplomatic message.
    Messages cannot be un-sent, so this is a mistake that can't be fixed.
    (And if that third message explained to an ally how to win a key battle,
    it could really affect the game!)  Right now these mistakes are likely
    to happen just because players are still learning the rules.
    But once Round A starts, we will use these rules:

       * A major mistake is counted as a rules arror as in (1).
       * The penalty for the first major mistake is that your final
         reported army strength and gold are set to zero at the end of
         the game, causing you to lose out in most ranking tiebreakers
         at the end of the round.
       * Any subsequent mistakes result in the subtraction (at the *end*
         of the game) of one city from the your final city count,
         or one turn from the your survival time (if you were wiped out).
       * Any repetition of a previous mistake is a two-city penalty.
       * A third repeat of the same mistake is considered cheating.
       * If we notice the same "mistake" made in a later game, it may
         be counted as a repeat rules violation.

    [ The impact of these penalties will be more clear after Tutorial #7. ]

(3) Cheating.  These are rules "errors" which cannot be attributed to
    ignorance or stupidity, and must be intentional.  Examples are editing
    the gamefile, generating invalid battle reports (fudging the odds),
    and repeatedly making the same mistake as though one didn't know better.
    In this case the issue will be decided by all the moderators,
    and the penalty will be expulsion from the tournament and automatic
    rejection from future Warlords gaming activities.


The following etiquette applies to Rules Errors:

(A) Report Rules Errors:

If you catch a rules mistake, report it right away, unless you prefer
not to report it for some reason.  If you report your own mistakes before
anyone else does, you will not be charged with a rules error.  Remember
that you only get three errors per game (five in Round A).  After four
errors (six), we are prone to thinking that you're cheating, and you
may be ejected from the Tournament.  If it is a sensitive issue
(like cheating) and you want to remain anonymous, you can write directly
to your moderator rather than through the Remailer.  Please remember
that the only way to keep cheating out of the tournament is to check
everyone else's moves and trust *no one*, even (alas) tournament volunteers!
This is worth repeating:


(B) Don't trust your enemies!

You should check all statements made in the other players' turn
reports, especially the gold accounting, army movements, and battle
reports.  Everyone will be checking for cheats each turn, and if anyone
is caught cheating, they will be banished from the tournament in shame
and blacklisted from all of the upcoming Warlords play-by-email competitions.


(C) No Statute of Limitations:

There is no time limit on reporting rules errors or cheating.  Anyone
may protest anything at any time.  Rules errors must be caught before
the end of the game, but cheating can be caught even after a game is over.
In order to keep the game moving, though, only errors reported within
one full turn (after the sending of the gamefile in question) will be fixed.


-- Tournament Headquarters