Rules Lawyers Must Die!

I hate rules lawyers. If you know what I’m talking about then you probably hate them too, If you don’t, then you will. I have no idea where the term came from, but it’s been around wargaming for a very long time.

A Rules Lawyer is a person who picks apart the rules to a game with the expressed purpose of finding a loophole that gives them a competitive advantage. That doesn’t sound too bad on its face, but a rules lawyer goes much deeper then that. They refuse to look at the intent of a rule but focus on the wording only. They confuse common sense issues and demand that the letter of the rule be followed. If they are unable to find a loophole to their advantage they try to stop others from doing something through the same type of literalistic interpretation.

Since the majority of rules are written by amateurs who love the sport/game and not technical writers errors are bound to exist. When faced with these errors normal people use common sense and an understanding of the overall game, intent or spirit to come to a conclusion that works.

Why are rule books so big? Rules Lawyers

Justice would be having all rules lawyers crushed to death under the weight of the tomes called rule books they forced to be written.