Last modified: Mon 2/10/96 1700 PST
Players must agree on the ontology that will underlie their game. This is important both for effective communication through the medium of the Game and for the coherent maintenance of a Game Archive -- the extent to which Game ontologies are (partially) compatible determines the degree to which one game can be compared to another. Additionally, games committed to the Waldzell Canon Ontology provide the primary input for incremental development of the Canon and the associated Constructed Language (Conlang).
Note that there is no separate step for choosing players. This is done tentatively before the game starts, and is unequivocally established by the time all players have commited to a common ontology for the game.
Players agree on the order in which they will move. Since the zeroth-order game is played in only one round, the order of play may be of greater concern than in the higher-order games.
In a single round, each of the N players in turn makes N assertions within the constraints of the chosen ontology. Each turn is called a move. The game is complete after the one round, and zeroth-order play stops at that time, by definition. Any additional play from that point on would necessarily constitute higher-order play.
While the first assertion of the first move of a zeroth-order game is made simply by invoking two terms and stating the relation between them, all other assertions must be connected directly or indirectly to the first assertion -- and hence to each other. Two assertions are directly connected if they have a term in common. Two assertions are indirectly connected if there is a chain of directly connected assertions between them.
Due to the way assertions are interconnected by sharing common terms, it would be meaningless to introduce the same term twice in a game. Assertions which refer to a previously played term will simply use that term to anchor one end of the relation.