God's Imitator

Yao Yuan continued, "As for the second point, it’s about the proposal on ’how to deal with the Imitator.’

"This proposal is just a preliminary idea and will definitely need thorough discussion, and we will vote on it only after the next game ends.

"Everyone, please take a quick look."

[Proposal 2: Add ’Community Trial Rules’]

[Community players can accuse another community player of being an ’Imitator’ in the case of ’providing clear reasons or evidence’.]

[The accused crime must be ’Imitator’ and not any other crime.]

[The community will commence a public trial, and after the discussion, all community members except the ’Accuser’ and the ’Suspect’ will vote: ’Guilty’ or ’Not Guilty’, and judgment will be carried out based on the following rules.]

[1. When ’Not Guilty votes ≤ 2 votes’, the player judged as the Imitator will be ’deprived of visa time (remaining 1 week) and expelled from the community.’]

[2. When ’Not Guilty votes = 0 votes’, the ’Suspect’ will suffer immediate death penalty within the community.]

[3. When ’Not Guilty votes ≥ 7 votes (more than half)’, the ’Accuser’ will suffer repercussions, dependent on the ’Guilty votes’ count.]

[When ’Guilty votes ≥ 2 votes’, the ’Accuser’ will be ’deprived of visa time (remaining 1 week) and expelled from the community.’]

[When ’Guilty votes = 0 votes’, the ’Accuser’ will suffer immediate death penalty within the community.]

The content of these two proposals isn’t much, each written on a separate page.

The page for ’Community Speech Rules’ contains only five or six simple lines, which everyone doesn’t spend much time on.

However, the ’Community Trial Rules’ nearly fill a page, and most players reveal shocked expressions, repeatedly reading to confirm details.

He Qinyun said, somewhat shocked, "False accusation penalty? How come there is such a rule?"

Yao Yuan evidently anticipated everyone’s reaction and explained patiently.

"I think, no matter the specifics of the ’Community Trial Rules’, one point must be a consensus among all community players:

"This is a very extreme rule, and it also must face extreme limitations.

"The disposition towards the ’Suspect’ must be sufficiently cautious, and the action of ’accusation’ must be equally strict.

"Initiating a trial is an extremely serious accusation; if left without limitations, players might easily find some dubious evidence due to personal conflicts and stage mutual accusation farces.

"Although such farces wouldn’t lead to any serious consequences, they would seriously damage the community atmosphere.

"Although the proposal of ’Community Trial Rules’ represents us taking a step with no other choice, it doesn’t mean we should let the community slide into an irretrievable abyss.

"More often, this rule itself is merely a deterrent against the Imitator.

"Just like in reality, the death penalty is a punishment that only comes into effect under extremely harsh conditions, and its major significance lies in deterring criminals, making them fearlessly committing atrocious acts."

Yao Yuan paused briefly, then continued, "Simply put, there are multiple limitations to this proposal.

"Firstly, it must be an accusation of an Imitator; this proposal cannot be used to resolve any other crimes or conflicts.

"Secondly, very clear reasons and evidence must be provided.

"Lastly, the accuser must weigh beforehand whether they can obtain support from more than half of the players. If not, they risk facing the ’false accusation penalty.’

"——During voting, the accuser and the suspect cannot vote; normally, 12 people vote, and if the community happens to reduce members, the number would be even smaller.

"Expulsion from the community doesn’t directly cause player death, so the standard is relatively lenient; at least three players must support the ’Suspect’ so that they won’t be expelled from the community.

"Only under ’unanimous vote’ extreme conditions can immediate death penalty be implemented within the community."

He Qinyun questioned, "I’ve been wondering, is it necessary to include an immediate death penalty?

"If it just meant expulsion from the community, without killing within the community, wouldn’t it change the nature, perhaps being better?"

Yao Yuan pondered for a moment, "Are you sure that’s better?

"Assuming the suspect is indeed the Imitator, and he initially intended to kill us all, having the ability to do so.

"We go through great pains to uncover him, and unanimously vote him as the Imitator.

"Then we just send him to another community?

"Once he takes a breath there, stands firm, might he design lethal games against us again?

"Moreover, if the Imitator knows that exposure only leads to being sent to another community to start afresh, does he have any reason to fear?

"In that case, this proposal from the start would hold no significance.

"I think this is somewhat akin to the ’abolishing death penalty’ issue; there might be many reasons to abolish the death penalty, but keeping it only needs one reason: the deterrent effect of death is unmatched by any other method.

"In reality, abolishing the death penalty is not a good idea, but at least there’s ’life imprisonment without parole’ as an alternative punishment. However, in the community, we can’t do ’life imprisonment.’

"When truly facing that situation, apart from the death penalty, there’s no alternative."

He Qinyun nodded helplessly at the proposal in her hand, "Indeed."

Yao Yuan added, "If it isn’t a unanimous vote, the ’expulsion from the community’ punishment might be triggered.

"But if all visa time is deprived, it is essentially equivalent to death, so considering leaving the suspect with a week of visa time might be wise.

"This way, when he reaches the new community, he can participate in a game at the very least. If he earns visa time in that game, he might still survive.

"Or, if his eloquence and social skills are strong enough, he might garner help like loans from players in the new community.

"This is what I deem the most appropriate punishment while not involving death.

"Of course, if everyone agrees on ’eliminating evil to the end,’ giving no chance for retaliation, then... considering an immediate death penalty might be prudent."

The group temporarily fell into silence.

Huang Shengjie, somewhat irritable, said, "It feels so contradictory.

"On one hand, there’s the worry that killing within the community might create a slippery slope destroying the community’s baseline, and on the other hand, the fear that not killing the Imitator might plant seeds of revenge leading to retaliation."

Qin Cheng nodded, "Indeed, once this issue is raised, it’s bound to escalate into extreme tendencies.

"I do believe these two punishment measures are basically reasonable.

"Other measures would be simply all-kill or all release, which might spark even larger issues."

Ye Lin looked at other parts of the proposal and asked, "How to define the concept of ’clear reasons or evidence’?

"In other words, what kind of reason or evidence would be considered clear enough to initiate a trial?

"Who decides whether a trial is initiated? Do we conduct an extra vote?"