Tehm: Created page with "=Is It A Law Or A Feature Request?= After turning in the petition, the developers will classify it as a law or a feature request. The way we decide is simple, but subtle: there ..."

2015-09-14T22:51:08Z

Created page with "=Is It A Law Or A Feature Request?= After turning in the petition, the developers will classify it as a law or a feature request. The way we decide is simple, but subtle: there ..."

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=Is It A Law Or A Feature Request?=

After turning in the petition, the developers will classify it as a law or a feature request. The way we decide is simple, but subtle: there are things that real-world governments cannot do. If the petition asks to do something that a real-world government could not do, then it is not a law, it is a feature request. What follows is a short list of a few things that governments cannot do.

==Governments Cannot Grant New Abilities==

Imagine if the US Congress were to pass a law declaring that people can run faster. This would not suddenly enable Americans to run any faster. Here is a proposal that violates this rule:

Small and light buildings such as chests, forges, kitchens, tents, etc. should be relocatable by the owner. This would allow reorganization without destroying things.

Players do not have this ability, and governments cannot
grant abilities. Therefore, this petition is not a law, it's a
feature request. To rephrase: if there is some activity you would like to do in the game, and there is currently no way to do it, adding that ability is a feature request, not a law.

==Governments Cannot Conjure Knowledge Out Of Thin Air==

Imagine if the US Government were to pass a law stating that from now on, all Americans shall have the knowledge of any terrorists in their vicinity. Nothing would happen - governments cannot magically grant knowledge to their subjects. Here is a proposal that violates this rule.

Since this proposal grants people knowledge, it is a feature request.

==Governments Cannot Negate Challenges==

The Stranger has challenged Egypt - he has given us several tests, and dared us to try to accomplish them. If the government declares his tests "too hard" and substitutes easier ones, then we have not lived up to his challenges at all! If a law tries to simplify one of the tests, then that is simply a concession that we are too weak to do what he challenged us to do. Here is a sample law that violates the rule:

Each citizen will (automatically) send a personal messenger to their mentor to advise them of the completion of their mentor shrine. The mentor will receive an EgyptMail message telling them that the mentee has built them a shrine.

This violates the rule because it makes mentorship easier. Mentorship is intentionally hard - it's a test of character. Anything that makes it easier, or automates any part of it, is diluting the challenge. So this is a feature request, not a law.

=Current Petitions=
* [[Feature Request/petitions | Pharaoh's Favored]] - tehm

[[:Category:Feature Requests]]

Feature Request - Revision history

Tehm: Created page with "=Is It A Law Or A Feature Request?= After turning in the petition, the developers will classify it as a law or a feature request. The way we decide is simple, but subtle: there ..."