Editing Ruleset Submission Process (section)

== Step 1: Ruleset Submission ==

At some point soon after the previous numbered cycle ends, someone with initiative will create a wikipage where ruleset submissions will be collected (for example, [[Cycle 14/Ruleset Submissions]]) and the moderators will set a deadline.

=== Restrictions on submissions ===

In order to have your ruleset considered, we require '''a document containing mostly rule text that outlines most of the cycle's unique ideas'''. In particular, the ruleset need not include common definitions of things like proposals and items, ''unless the mechanics of those things work significantly differently in the proposed cycle than they have in previous numbered cycles.

The primary reason for this decision is as follows. The proposed ruleset will not become the initial ruleset as is, but after people have voted to select a proposed ruleset, the goal is for the final ruleset to be something that the voters will still agree that they voted for. Rule text can be adapted rather easily into a final ruleset simply by adding any missing components from previous cycles. '''We do not accept game concepts as ruleset suggestions''' because in the process of creating rule text from that concept, the community would have broad latitude to interpret how those concepts could be made practical, and in so doing stray from core concepts that may have attracted voters in the first place, therefore producing a final product that they do not feel they voted for.

'''Creating submissions by branching off from other rulesets is encouraged during this phase'''. Nomic is inherently collaborative, ever-changing, and run by the community, so variations are welcome. If you want to do this, though, copy the page and recreate it elsewhere, then add your changes on top of it. For the reasons mentioned above, a paragraph outlining a previous submission but with some minor changes is not a ruleset submission. That game has already been proposed with its mechanics and inner workings intact. ''If you want to change something on a level that may change how willing someone is to play that nomic, that needs to be a separate submission.''

=== Ruleset submission etiquette  ===

Please submit rulesets by posting your suggestion under its own heading on the cycle's ruleset submission page. If the document is short enough, feel free to include it in-place; otherwise include a link to ''a page in your userspace containing the document''. This means that the page will begin with "User:YourUsername" (i.e. [[User:Trungle/Branching Nomic]]). To create such a page, you can either type the name into the search bar at the top right then click the link that says "create this page", or you can replace the page title in the URL of your web browser with the name of the page you want to create.