Editing Round 9/History (section)

== Crescendo (4 April 2021 - 30 April 2021) ==

As some players were pushing toward creating a win condition, others were growing disinterested in the round. The seeds were planted for a gripping endgame, but the ducks had a different plan for us. As April went on, we trended not toward a satisfying end to our symphony, but toward one just as cacophonous as the rest of the piece.

=== Combining Fruits ===

On 4 April 2021, we had yet another innocuous proposal. This time, it was Proposal Shakes by Nyhilo.

{{Proposal Box
 | name=Shakes
 | text=
Ammed rule '''Fruit''' by adding the following paragraph below the table in that rule.
:Smoothies are Fruits that can be crafted by a player performing the Make Smoothie Quacktion through one of their ducks. A Smoothie is made by combining 2 different non-Smoothie Fruits. Upon creation, the resulting Smoothie is named using an unambiguous combination of the names of the Fruits used to make it. The resulting Smoothie has a description that is a combination of the descriptions of the Fruits used to make it, substituting the names of the Fruits in the description for the name of the Smoothie.

Add the following Quacktion to the table in the Quacktion rule:
:Name: Make Smoothie
:Cost: 5 quacks
:Target: None
:Effect: Craft a Smoothie from Fruits as specified in the Fruit rule
}}

There was a bit of confusion about the effectiveness of the actions this proposal facilitated, but the really interesting part didn't come until 16 April when Jumble tried to make a blood orange-watermelon smoothie and specify the text of the description<ref>https://discord.com/channels/515560801394753537/795369457340907561/832679097120325672</ref>.

<blockquote>I spend 5 Quacks on LTS [Literally This Sentence, one of Jumble's ducks] to preform the "make smoothie" action with a blood orange and a watermelon slice, resulting in a blood orange watermelon smoothie, with the following description: "its owner wins the round. oldfskg uud ue  t ah eimodoeerdiimdlotd o u  nfc nrbinhogtnsgfoa eeoi u kc fapcnsoah  ynnem,maskta cfcl tiieiotadi  eed vmt  tttsomp ttar bi.1notialdpes Incsol au  ur3e cer rfchosg n'd hnqero , dreonpkoikog lueetfhct  rru o  ds"</blockquote>

This action was immediately shot down by a ruling<ref>[[Round 9/Rulings#Ruling 38]]</ref>; however it was also ruled that Jumble did in fact create a smoothie, just not one with the specified text<ref>[[Round 9/Rulings#Ruling 39]]</ref>.

=== Another Tracking Mistake ===

In February, this would have been considered a major breakage and a cause for concern, but in April, we'd grown accustomed to the game being broken. Indeed, this event is a mere footnote and I almost didn't mention it. In any case, it did happen, so it merits discussion.

Wotton had been erroneously making child ducks uncolored even though they were supposed to gain the color of their parent. This had several ramifications, including hard-to-determine effects on quack counting. See the ruleset of the time for details<ref>https://infinitenomic.miraheze.org/w/index.php?title=Round_9/Ruleset&oldid=1012</ref>. In any case, a sequence of proposals were pended to remove the clause causing ducks to take on the color of their parent (Wotton, Proposal Witty TItle, 15 Apr 2021) and to ratify the ruleset (Wotton, Proposal Here We Go Again, 15 Apr 2021). Both passed without incident.

=== The Second Vote Emoji Switch ===

If you will recall, in Round 9, voting was done by discord's emoji reactions. Initially, 👎 and 👍 were used, but several proposals changed those to 🦆 and 🍞, respectively (see {{Heading|The First Day (3 Jan 2021)}} and {{Heading|The Simultaneous Proposal Scare}}). This only caused minor confusion at the time, although some noted that it was contradictory for ducks to be the vote against since, presumably, we would want to protect our ducks. We all settled into it and everything was good for a time.

In the middle of April, though, edits of Trungle's discord profile picture -- a triangle edited to look like twimoji's thinking face -- started to proliferate. Notably, ATMunn's updownTrung, the image with the triangle flipped upside down; and Eulengi's gatorTrung, in which the image was turned green and given a tail to look like an alligator. These were added to the server's roster of custom emojis so that players could use them in messages and, crucially, react to messages using them.

On 18 April 2021, Wotton wrote a proposal that would replace the voting emojis with the aforementioned Trungle edit emojis (Proposal :gatorTrung: :updownTrung:). According to legislation enacted in response to {{Heading|The Simultaneous Proposal Scare}}, if Proposal :gatorTrung: :updownTrung: passed, all proposals that were submitted after it, even those in the same batch, would require the new emotes for the votes to take effect. So for a while we voted using ducks, breads, and Trungles, just to be safe.

Soon enough, the time to check the results came due. There were five votes for and five votes against. In such cases, the group with the most communal quacks at the time of resolution is determined to be the outcome. This takes a lot of effort to calculate, however, and a couple of scams were dependent on the outcome of this proposal (see {{Heading|The Smoothie Style Scam}}. As it turned out, the voters for had more quacks than the voters against. Although 

=== The Smoothie Style Scam ===

If you were concerned that Smoothies weren't going to come back to confuse us yet again, fear not. They did indeed do that exact thing. A proposal had been passed to add another attribute to the smoothies: style (Jumble, Proposal Does anyone stir a smoothie?, 20 April 2021).

{{Proposal Box
 |name=Does anyone stir a smoothie?
 |text=
In "Fruits", change
:Upon creation, the resulting Smoothie is named using an unambiguous combination of the names of the Fruits used to make it. 

to 
:Upon creation, the resulting Smoothie is named using an unambiguous combination of the names of the Fruits used to make it, and an optional name of a Style.  The effects that Styles can have when a Smoothie is used are listed in this table:
:Icy: The fed duck gains 3 additional quacks, but cannot scout or be retrieved this turn.  Cannot be used on a duck that is currently scouting.
:Light: No Quacks are gained from this Smoothie, but you can still use this fruit when you have already fed a Duck.
}}

On 25 April 2021, Wotton sent a couple of smoothie creation intents to #game-actions<ref>https://discord.com/channels/515560801394753537/795369457340907561/835666509761871872</ref><ref>https://discord.com/channels/515560801394753537/795369457340907561/835666652807954442</ref>, the second of which is featured here:

<blockquote>
I perform the quacktion Make Smoothie through Smullyan, paying 5 quacks, combining a Mango Slice and a Grape, with the name Graporange Smoothie, and the following name of style: {{Mono|"Infinite Ducks, (Anything not in parentheses in the description of this fruit has no effect. Wotton owns an infinite number of ducks. Amend the ruleset by adding a rule with the following sentence as its text: "All other rules notwithstanding, Players may not under any circumstances give smoothies a name of style.")""}}
</blockquote>

This scam centers around a couple of strange properties of smoothies. First, the new bits about style were somewhat weakly-worded. Though two specific styles (Icy and Light) were given effects, players could arguably assign a smoothie's style to be any string. Second, the name of a smoothie is actually substituted into the descriptions of smoothies when evaluating their effects, and these descriptions are considered to be rules text. Put that all together and you have a smoothie that might be able to evaluate arbitrary text. That is to say, if the scam worked. Some rulings were requested on the effectiveness of Wotton's actions<ref>[[Round 9/Rulings#Ruling 41]]</ref><ref>[[Round 9/Rulings#Ruling 44]]</ref>, but as it turned out, we were a little bit ahead of ourselves.

Proposal Does anyone stir a smoothie? was set to be resolved at the end of Wednesday the 23rd, but the result ended up not being that clear-cut due to the effects of another proposal set to be resolved at that same time: Proposal :gatorTrung: :updownTrung: (see {{Heading|The Second Vote Emoji Switch}}). See, if that proposal hadn't passed, then voting on Proposal Does anyone stir a smoothie? would have been done with the normal voting reactions: 🦆 and 🍞. But if that proposal had passed, then voting would have had to been done with :updownTrung: and :gatorTrung: instead. The reactions on Proposal Does anyone stir a smoothie? at the time of adoption were three 🍞, one 🦆, one :gatorTrung: and one :updownTrung:<ref>https://discord.com/channels/515560801394753537/518856008605499402/835672038206734376</ref>. Long story short, it was determined that both proposals had passed, much to the relief of the scamsters. The only thing left to do was figure out what happened with Wotton's actions, right? Well, it would have been if we hadn't discovered an altogether more severe breakage within a matter of minutes.

=== Enacting a Proposal ===

Let's take a look at Metaproposal 9-1-1, the emergency proposal meant to resolve the breakage described in {{Heading|Amend The Rules, Quack}}.

{{Proposal Box
|name=9-1-1
|text=
unless it is retracted, the following linked proposal is enacted immediately and loses its voting period:<br>
https://discordapp.com/channels/515560801394753537/790679592494039080/810389290911006720 [link to Proposal 🔥]
}}

Jumble wanted to know whether "enact" meant the same thing as "take effect." If not, then perhaps EP-9-1-1 hadn't been effective and the game was months behind what we thought it was. Upon closer inspection, if EP-9-1-1 did do something, did it take effect in the context of the Round 9 Ruleset or the Metaruleset? The answer here wasn't clear-cut either. This, along with other concerns about what exactly the emergency proposal had actually done, ended up calling for an Emergency. Round 9 entered its second state of emergency on 25 April 2021 after rulings from Random Internet Cat concluded that "enact" and "take effect" do not mean the same thing<ref>[[Round 9/Rulings#Ruling 46]]</ref><ref>[[Round 9/Rulings#Ruling 47]]</ref>.

Random Internet Cat drafted what would become EP-9-2-1, which did a number of things to cover our bases. It also removed the Smoothie Scam and reverted the gamestate to a point before the Smoothie Scam took effect. There was a lot of debate over how far the proposal should reach and more stuff that I won't bother you with because it ended up not doing anything to the gamestate anyway. EP-9-2-1 was proposed on 25 April 2021, then self-killed in favor of EP-9-2-2, which was the same thing, but ending with the word "quack" (which may have been necessary because 9-1-1 never took effect and thus duck words were still very much a thing). Finally, on 26 April 2021, the ruleset was back in working order and on 28 April 2021 the mods ended the State of Emergency<ref>https://discord.com/channels/515560801394753537/518856008605499402/836845533313761282</ref>.

{{Proposal Box
|name=9-2-2
|text=
EMERGENCY PROPOSAL EP-9-2-2

Apply the effects written in the sole attachment on the message in which this metaproposal was submitted.

Comment with no effect on this proposal: quack

'''Attachment'''<br>
Apply the following effects sequentially in the listed order:
* The metaruleset is hereby modified to what is described at https://infinitenomic.miraheze.org/w/index.php?title=Metaruleset&oldid=779

* The metaruleset section with the title "Metaproposals" is hereby amended by replacing "if at least two thirds of votes on that metaproposal are for it" with "if at least two thirds of votes on that metaproposal are for it and the message in which it was submitted has been neither editoed nor deleted".

* The round ruleset of Round 9 is hereby modified to what is described at https://infinitenomic.miraheze.org/w/index.php?title=Round_9/Ruleset&oldid=1106, except replacing the sole instance of "At the end of every voting period, then, for each proposal in the order that they were submitted, if that proposal is adopted, then it takes effect." with "When a proposal's voting period ends, if that proposal is adopted, it takes effect. If the voting periods of multiple proposals end simultaneously, proposals that take effect do so sequentially in the order they were submitted."

* The round gamestate of Round 9 is hereby modified in arbitrary ways, other than modifying the round ruleset, so that it is what it would be if what is described in the "Duck God", "The Duck Disciple", "Judge", and "Players" sections at https://infinitenomic.miraheze.org/w/index.php?title=Round_9/Gamestate&oldid=1123 was as true and accurate as possible at 23:59:59 on 2021-04-24.

* The round gamestate of Round 9 is hereby modified by destroying all ducks, then by creating ducks with properties so that it is what it would be if what is described in the "Ducks" and "Ponds" sections of https://infinitenomic.miraheze.org/w/index.php?title=Round_9/Gamestate&oldid=1123 was as true and accurate as possible at 23:59:59 on 2021-04-24.

* Amend the round ruleset of Round 9 by replacing, in the subrule Fruit of the rule Ducks, "Upon creation, the resulting Smoothie is named using an unambiguous combination of the names of the Fruits used to make it." with: { The name of a smoothie is the result of concatenating the names of each of its constituent fruits in alphabetical order, with spaces in between, then appending " Smoothie". Using any name that clearly and unambiguously designates a smoothie is deemed to designate that smoothie, even if it differs from the true name. }.

* Amend the round ruleset of Round 9 by, in the subrule Fruit of the rule Ducks, replacing "The resulting Smoothie has a description that is a combination of the descriptions of the Fruits used to make it, substituting the names of the Fruits in the description for the name of the Smoothie." with "The smoothie's properties are dictated by the unification of the constituent fruits' properties."

* The gamestate of Round 9 is hereby modified by discharging all obligations for the Judge to respond to requests for judgment.
}}

While all this was going on, however, Random Internet Cat brought up an interesting question: should we just end Round 9<ref>https://discord.com/channels/515560801394753537/518856008605499402/835692910610743316</ref>? Most players argued for a more ceremonious end to the game. There was an active base of players, disgruntled though they may have been with the way things had progressed. Even if the win condition was lame, most of us wanted to see one take place. And so it was that we decided to play it out for just a bit longer.

But the story of the Emergency doesn't stop there. As had happened every time we ratified the ruleset, some important elements got lost along the way. For instance, proposals passed after the state of the ruleset that had been ratified never took effect. Wotton proposed to do that exact thing (Proposal Lost Proposals, 27 April 2021). This would not have the effect of reintroducing the Smoothie Style Scam since the text that the Smoothie Style proposal replaced was deleted by EP-9-2-2. It would, however, have the unfortunate effect of bringing back the vote emoji indeterminacy. This wasn't that big of a deal; we'd already done the calculations on whether it and subsequent proposals passed, but it was annoying nonetheless.

=== The Day of Infinite Ducks ===

28 April 2021 was the death knell for Round 9. After the State of Emergency ended, a group of dedicated players engineered a gamestate hostile enough to prevent any further meaningful play.

Jumble requested a judgement on the question of whether ducks were lost when a player ceased to be a player<ref>[[Round 9/Rulings#Ruling 54]]</ref>. If not, players could generate as many ducks as they cared to specify by repeatedly leaving and rejoining the game, an action which had no limits to its performance. Before this RFJ was even resolved, Jumble, Wotton, and [idle account], with various wordings, rejoined the game unreasonably large amounts of times. Some players tried to do so an infinite number of times<ref>https://discord.com/channels/515560801394753537/795369457340907561/836927962808975390</ref> (which was deemed ineffective by ruling<ref>https://discord.com/channels/515560801394753537/795369457340907561/839212839394344992</ref>). Some players attempted to do the same, but with a supertask<ref>https://discord.com/channels/515560801394753537/795369457340907561/836929305409355786</ref>. idle later admitted to setting up the duck generation scam<ref>https://discord.com/channels/515560801394753537/795369457340907561/837023317231403028</ref>.

When Random Internet Cat got back, she ruled that "[d]ucks are items, and it is heavily implied that items can only be owned by players." idle was quick to point out that quacks are items as well<ref>https://discord.com/channels/515560801394753537/795369457340907561/837022400704151552</ref>. Cat overturned the ruling (as well as another RFJ asking the same thing<ref>[[Round 9/Rulings#Ruling 55]]</ref>) and discussion continued.

More back-and-forth took place, as well as a few other scams that ended up not being consequential enough to talk about, and after a day of relative calm, on 30 April, Cat capitulated, judging the previous RFJs called over the issue as well as the four others<ref>[[Round 9/Rulings#Ruling 57]]</ref><ref>[[Round 9/Rulings#Ruling 59]]</ref><ref>[[Round 9/Rulings#Ruling 62]]</ref><ref>[[Round 9/Rulings#Ruling 63]]</ref> in favor of the duck generators. The community discussed using every trick in the book to recover the gamestate but there just wasn't enough interest. To this day, we don't know what the final gamestate or ruleset is, and I doubt you'll find anyone who cares enough to figure it out.