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A rules lawyer is a with others, or to test a rule's solidarity.

Though the term originated among players of Role-playing Game s, it can be used to describe people who manipulate the rules of any community or organization for personal advantage or pleasure. Variants such as "wikilawyering" (on a Wiki ) and Sea Lawyer (in the Navy ) are used in particular types of communities. When the rules being manipulated are those that ( Self-referentially ) involve the creation and modification of the rules themselves, this activity can also be referred to as "playing Nomic ".


DEALING WITH RULES LAWYERS

The ''Dungeon Master's Guide 2'',1 — tips for Dungeon Masters on how to deal with rules lawyers effectively during play a guide for the role-playing game '' Dungeons & Dragons '', provides Dungeon Master s (those running the game) with the following tips for dealing with apparent or ostensible rules lawyers:

  • Make clear the amount of rules discussion that will be allowed during a game.

  • Do not allow more than 1 or 2 minutes for a player to make a case.

  • Make it clear that all rulings during a session are final for that session, with no further argument allowed.

  • Explain that rules arguments slow down game play, and are no fun for other players to wait through.

  • Defer all appeals until after the session is over.

  • Require that appeals be in writing, such as via electronic mail.

  • Make it clear (in advance) that only one written appeal will be allowed.

  • Remember that rules lawyers are occasionally right.

  • Give arguments fair consideration, even if the player is annoying.


The ''Dungeon Master's Guide'' further recommends:

  • Remember that you are the arbiter of everything that happens in the game

  • Excommunicate disruptive players if they refuse to cooperate



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REFERENCES




FURTHER READING

  • 2

  • 3 — Loke advocates Games Masters using rules lawyers to their advantage, by turning the other players against them.

  • 4 — a description of two “rules-lawyer traps": always insisting upon following the rules and believing that there should always be a rule to cover every situation

  • 5 — which lists the rules lawyer's two weapons as “an onslaught of evidence, textual readings, precedent, and reasoning” and the “dreaded filibuster”.