# Synchronous Respect Tree V1

- **Version:** 1.0
- **Created:** 2026-01-09
- **Previous version:** https://www.notion.so/Synchronous-Respect-Tree-game-29598113d82b8044a5e4f622b02aeda3

## Purpose

Synchronous Respect Tree (SRT) is a lightweight game that helps a community:

- Select **topics** to prioritize in discussions;
- Select **contributions** to prioritize outside of discussions;

The game has 2 stages and runs for 1 week.

## Proposal types

### Topic Proposal (TP)

Topics to focus discussions on.

A TP can be:
- A proposal to pass.
- Something to discuss without passing anything.
- Concrete agenda (plan) for a meeting

### Contribution Request (CR)

A request for specific type of contributions that individuals or sub-groups can do alone without coordinating with the whole group.

Some of examples that could be a CR:
* A task
* Request for research
* Request for proposals
* Request for donations
* A question to answer;

CRs can also be a step in creating proposals to pass in meetings:
- Week 1 (game week): someone creates a CR to request research / drafting work.
- Week 2: Person A works on that research;
- Week 3 (game week): Person A presents the result as a TP for event of this week;

## Schedule

### Stage 1: proposal creation

- **Who:** any respect-holder with at least **55 Respect**.
- **What:** create TPs and CRs.
- **Lasts:** 3 days
- **Output:** two lists of proposals:
- List of TPs
- List of CRs

### Stage 2: proposal evaluation

- **Who:** respect-holders.
- **What:** vote on the proposals created in Stage 1 using two separate polls:
- One poll for TPs
- One poll for CRs
- **Lasts:** 3 days
- **Output:** results from the two polls;

## Recommended application
* Play this game before the meeting to inform topics and agenda items for the meeting;
* Play Respect game [^3] in order to evaluate and incentivize contributions (especially answers to contribution requests) and participation in this game;
* After playing this take at least 1 week break before playing again, in order to:
* Reflect on this game and prepare improvements;
* Provide space to work on contributions answering contribution requests;
* Provide space to prepare quality Topic Proposals and Contribution requests for the next session of the game;

## Changes from previous versions

These are the main changes from the original SRT [^1]:

- The game runs for **one week (not two weeks)**;
- Only 2 stages (propose and evaluate);
- There are **no sub-topics** (maximum depth of a tree is 1).
- During the week of the game, participants propose and select (side by side):
- Topics to discuss / pass in the meeting.
- Contribution requests to work on outside of meetings.

## Rationale

This version is informed by findings from the previous iteration [^2] and is designed in a way so that we could start playing with it using the tools we already have.

### Separating proposal creation from evaluation

In most implementations of polls the creator of a poll determines all the options. This is undesirable for decentralized organizations like fractals. We want to have polls where every respect-holder has proposing power.

Now if we would have a polling app that would allow adding options during the poll, we could do everything in one poll. But we don't have such an app, so that's one of the reasons we do proposal creation and voting as separate stages.

But one of the things we've learned from the previous version of the game [^1] is that this separation might have some additional benefits [^2]. For one it allows people to review all of the options before voting. If people would be able to create and vote at the same time they might often vote with incomplete information. Also it would enable last minute proposals to sneak in and win, which is not fair to people who have been preparing their proposals in advance.

Second, it creates a rhythm in the community and engages community throughout the week. If one poll would allow creation and voting at the same time, people would innevitably end up creating proposals last minute. Now we have a nice rhythm, that leaves space for creating as well as reviewing ideas of others:
1. Propose until the deadline to propose;
2. Review and compare;
3. Vote;
4. Make decisions in meeting;

[^1]: https://www.notion.so/Synchronous-Respect-Tree-game-29598113d82b8044a5e4f622b02aeda3
[^2]: https://hackmd.io/@sim31/srt-v0-retro
[^3]: https://github.com/sim31/frapps/blob/ff6b3602c12da1e4ed7a6fbae87f3ed8234056fc/concepts/respect-game.md