This page is for people once they’ve become players. To become a player, look at the joining page.

Please keep in mind that Agora is always changing, and this page may become outdated. If you notice anything that doesn’t seem right, please contact the Webmastor to update it.

Please also keep in mind that this list is non-exhaustive, and only the rules can provide a full list. This is simply some ways to get your foot in the door.

Things to Do Right Away

Give Yourself a Welcome Package by simply saying (in Agora-Business) “I award myself a Welcome Package.” This gives some starting items to new players. At the time of writing, it includes a “stamp” and some “spendies”. Keep reading to see what to do with these. See Rule 2499 for more details on Welcome Packages.

Things to Do Regularly

Vote on proposals. You can’t vote on proposals that were being voted on before you joined, but whenever new proposals are distributed, you can vote by replying to the distribution message and stating how you vote on each one. Your options are FOR, AGAINST, PRESENT, endorse (any player or officer), or any conditional vote that could be reasonably resolved. See Rules 2127 and 2528 for more info

Ask questions. A little confused? Ask other players in the chat or on the mailing lists. Very confused, or think you see something no one else has noticed? Call for Judgment! This results in a judge being assigned and determining the result. You can do so by saying “I CFJ: [statement]” on Agora-Business. Please only do so for direct gameplay questions where you genuinely think both TRUE and FALSE are possible results.

Use your spendies. Each month, everyone is given 20 Spendies that can be used to buy stamps, gain radiance, and other things. In your first month, you’ll only get 10. At the end of the month, they all disappear, so use them wisely and use them quickly!

Goals/Ways to Win

There are usually several ways to win Agora at once. Winning does not stop or interrupt overall play. The winner gets awarded the Champion Title, may become Speaker of Agora (a largely honorary role), and play continues.

Achieve a high score. This is a competitive type of win. The first player to have over 100 points can win by announcement, which also sets eir own score to 0 and sets everyone else’s scores to half eir current value. Points are gained by paying spendies, cashing in stamps, or winning contests. Score is defined in Rule 2656, but search the rules for all the ways to gain points.</p>

Gather everyone’s stamps. Rather, gather as many unique stamps as there are active players. By spending all of them, you get to earn a win! This tends to be a long-term semi-competitive goal, spanning a couple years depending on your determination.

Collect all the ribbons. This is a long-term noncompetitive goal, often spanning multiple years. Ribbons are special awards for meeting certain conditions, and collecting all the different ribbons allows you to Raise a Banner, which trades out your collection for a win! Ribbons can be gained from things as simple as getting your proposal adopted and things as complex as writing a Thesis. The full list is in Rule 2438, and you can see current ribbon holdings in the Tailor’s report.

Things to Do When You’re More Comfortable

The following things can be a little tricky and frustrating at first, so don’t feel pressured to do them until you’re really interested. And with all things, feel free to ask for help and more info.

Submit proposals. When you are ready and have an idea, submit your own proposals! This is how we shape the game into what we want it to be. You could try to fix something broken, clarify something confusing, or even sneak a loophole into the rules. (Be careful with that last one&emdash;if it’s all you do, people will start getting suspicious.) You can ask for advice on how to improve your proposals in Agora-Discussion or any Foreign fora. When you’re ready, send your proposal to Agora-Business with the statement “I submit the following proposal: [proposal]”.

Run for office. Agora is maintained by Officers, who keep the game information up to date and perform regular game actions to keep everything running. Officers often get small benefits for their work, but are largely doing so out of love of the game and wanting to share the workload. If you see an unfilled spot, or someone struggling to fill multiple offices at once, don’t be afraid to jump in.