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"What is Nomic?" That is a surprisingly difficult question mostly because, like ice-cream, there are many different flavors with various appeal. However, like ice-cream, they all have one thing in common--no, not cold milk--all Nomics are a game where the rules dictate how the players may alter the rules.
I should say that again, just to make sure it sunk in: Nomic is a game, where the rules dictate how the players can change the game into anything, but in an organized fashion. Thus, although most games of Nomic start out as a sort of let's-play-senator game, it can quickly become anything imagined by the players: Monopoly, Pictionary, or even a twisted game of intrigue and murder.
"This game sounds boring", I hear you exclaim? Well, for some people it is. But for others it is a hoot. The most important thing to remmber is that every game is different, partly because it adapts to the play style best suited for the players. For example, some games can be dry and critically reasoned, while others are full of lively debate and political meanuvering, while yet others can be downright full of crazy-fun insanity. Anyway, I'd say that the most ardent fans are people who like logic and reasoning puzzles, language and semmantic analysis, and good ol' political meneauvering.
A Little History For Those Who Care About Such Things
(This is stolen from Peter's site, if I recall.)
The original Nomic was created by Peter Suber and was popularized by Douglas Hofstadter. It was invented in 1982, and appeared in Scientific American (where it was published in Hofstadter's column, "Metamagical Themas" in June of 1982). Since then, many variations of Nomic have appeared throughout the world (and in many languages). A search of the internet will return many games in which have flourished beyond their original boundaries of rule making. Many are entities in which players have "physical" forms in the game world, which is more like a country in an alternate reality than a game. In fact, the country analogy is great for Nomic, since Nomics have even been known to stage "military" conquests against eachother. In most Nomics, coups are also a common goal for many players.
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(c)2005, Jeff Reinecke. |