ChessVote is a Web-based chess game where each move is decided on by committee.

The actual gameplay will follow the rules of chess; these rules simply govern the specifics of ChessVote's community move system.

The game's creator specifies the following information:

• A cosmetic name for the game
• The visibility type (public/private, restricted, etc) [Default: Public]
• Team affiliations
  • Any player may participate on both sides, pursuant to the rules below about waiting a certain number of moves [Default]
  • Specific team lists (either by enumerated list, or demographic properties)
  • “Bind on vote”, so to say, where any eligible player may only play a single color, and that color is decided when they submit their first vote
• Move window length [Default: 7 days]

When a game is created (either by a user or by the system), a notification appears on the dashboard of all eligible participants. If it's a private game (i.e. a specific list of eligible players), the system may notify in a more direct way (email, for example).

There is no difference in time limits and deadlines between the first move and any other move.

A move window begins when one of two actions happens:

• A new game is created
• The previous move window ends

When the move window begins, the game will wait the length of the window for a vote. When the first vote is received, the end of the move window is (permanently) set to that time, plus the length of the move window. If no vote is received during the length of the move window, then the first vote that _is_ received will immediately be used. However, if twice the length of the move window passes with no votes, the game is automatically adjudicated and closed.

Examples (all examples assume the move window is 7 days):

• If the first vote is received on day 3, then the voting window closes on day 10
• If the first vote is received on day 8, it is immediately accepted as the move and the voting window closes
• If no vote is received by the end of day 14, the game is automatically adjudicated and closed

From a technical perspective, although move window lengths will probably be specified in days in the UI, the underlying code will count the window in seconds. So, for example, if the first vote is collected at 3:57 AM on day 3, then voting ends at 3:57 AM on day 10 (and not, say, at midnight). The observation and vote submission UIs will show the end of the vote window with second accuracy, to avoid confusion with 11th-hour voting.

When the voting window closes (for whatever reason), the move is applied to the game, and any eligible players are notified that a new move window has begun. The dashboard is the primary notification method, but the system may also send out email notifications based on players' configured preferences. A player may choose to receive move window notifications for move windows in which he is not eligible to vote (the move notifications will contain the board position and updated PGN, which the player may want to receive).

• Public: Any user can participate in the game
• Restricted: Any user can observe the game, but only specific users may participate in the move selection
• Private: Only specific users may observe or participate
• Private Restricted: Only specific users may observe, and only a subset of those may participate

“Specific users” may be an enumerated list of usernames, or a demographic definition (“Europeans”) based on optional player-provided demographics.

User identities serve the following purposes:

• Prevents (some) ballot-stuffing
• Allows to coordinate legal voting (when you vote for move “2. … <x>”, you're not allowed to vote again until move “4. <x>”)
• Allows for (optional) notification info (email me when I'm eligible to vote on a move again)
• Allows for stat tracking (Player x picked the majority move 89% of the time)
• Allows for private games (only users on list X may vote, only users on list X may even see the game)
• If players enter optional demographic data, allows for “themed” matches (Europeans only, etc.)

People can still create multiple accounts (possibly by hand, if a CAPTCHA is used), and it's unfortunate but I really don't see a way around it. A StackExchange-esque reputation system could help a lot in this regard, but that only works if the site gets popular enough. On the bright side, if the site's not popular then ballot-stuffing probably won't be a problem. :)