{{Short description|Person who uses rules for their own benefit}} {{redirect|Wikilawyer|how the term is used on English Wikipedia|Wikipedia:Wikilawyering|selfref=yes}} A '''rules lawyer''' is a term used to describe a participant in a rules-based environment who attempts to use the letter of the law without reference to the spirit, usually in order to gain an advantage within that environment.<ref>{{cite book|last=Fine|first=Gary Alan|author-link=Gary Alan Fine|title=Shared Fantasy|publisher=University of Chicago Press|date=2002|pages=109–113|isbn=0-226-24944-1}}</ref> The term is commonly used in wargaming and tabletop role-playing game communities,<ref name="Beattie">{{cite journal|last=Beattie|first=Scott|date=2007|title=Voicing the Shadow: Rule-playing and Roleplaying in Wraith: The Oblivion|journal=Law, Culture and the Humanities|volume=3|issue=3|pages=477–492|doi=10.1177/1743872107081432|s2cid=144615842}}</ref> often pejoratively, as the "rules lawyer" is seen as an impediment to moving the game forward.<ref>{{cite book|last=Kaufman |first=Daniel|author2=Kestrel, Gwendolyn F. M. |last3=Selinker|first3=Mike |author-link3=Mike Selinker|last4=Williams|first4=Skip|author-link4=Skip Williams |title=Book of Challenges: Dungeon Rooms, Puzzles, and Traps|publisher=Wizards of the Coast|date=2002|isbn=978-0-7869-2657-2|page=123}}</ref> The habit of players to argue in a legal fashion over rule implementation was noted early on in the history of ''Dungeons & Dragons''.<ref>{{cite journal|last=Swanson|first=Mark|date=January 1979|title=Trapped: Four Years in the Gilded Hole|journal=Different Worlds|issue=1|pages=15–17}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.indie-rpgs.com/articles/20/|title= A Hard Look at Dungeons and Dragons|last=Edwards|first=Ron|author-link=Ron Edwards (game designer)|work=The Forge|access-date=2008-09-19}}</ref> Rules lawyers are one of the "player styles" covered in ''Dungeon Master for Dummies''.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Slavicsek|first1=Bill|author-link=Bill Slavicsek|last2=Baker|first2=Richard|author-link2=Richard Baker (game designer) |last3=Grubb|first3=Jeff|author-link3=Jeff Grubb |title=Dungeon Master for Dummies|publisher=For Dummies|date=2006|pages=135, 136|isbn=978-0-471-78330-5}}</ref> The rules of the game ''Munchkin'' include various parodies of rules lawyer behavior.
== Related terms ==
* In the US military, "sea lawyer" is used in the navy,<ref>{{cite book|last=Garner|first=Bryan A.|title=A Dictionary of Modern Legal Usage|url=https://archive.org/details/dictionaryofmode00garn_0|url-access=registration|publisher=Oxford University Press|date=1995|isbn=978-0-19-514236-5|page=[https://archive.org/details/dictionaryofmode00garn_0/page/512 512]}}</ref> and "barracks lawyer" in the army.<ref>{{cite book|last=Herbert|first=Don|title=63 Days and a Wake-Up: Your Survival Guide to United States Army Basic Combat Training|publisher=Basic Training Book|date=2007|isbn=978-0-595-42511-2|page=82}}</ref> * The term "language lawyer" is used to describe those who are excessively familiar with the details of programming language syntax and semantics.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://catb.org/jargon/html/L/language-lawyer.html|title=language lawyer|publisher=catb.org}}</ref> * On English Wikipedia, a "wikilawyer" is a contributor who attempts to use the wording of policies to win disputes rather than reaching the goal of the policy.<ref>{{cite book|first=Dariusz|last=Jemielniak|title=Common Knowledge?: An Ethnography|date=14 May 2014|page=98|publisher=Stanford University Press|isbn=978-0804789448}}</ref>
== See also == * Gaming the system * Letter and spirit of the law * Malicious compliance * Nomic
== References == {{reflist}}
== External links == * {{cite web|access-date=2005-12-30|url=http://ptgptb.org/0020/immoral.html|title=Immoral Gaming|work=Places to Go, People to Be|author=Alex Loke}} — Loke advocates Games Masters using rules lawyers to their advantage, by turning the other players against them. * {{cite web|access-date=2005-12-30|url=http://www.hoboes.com/pub/Role-Playing/RPG.html|title=What Should I Look Out For When I'm Playing?|work=What is Role Playing?}} — 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 * {{cite web|access-date=2005-12-30|url=http://www.nocturne.org/jason/mgs/rules_lawyer.php|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070927192829/http://www.nocturne.org/jason/mgs/rules_lawyer.php|archive-date=2007-09-27|title=The Rules Lawyer|work=Meta-Gaming Strategies}} — which lists the rules lawyer's two weapons as “an onslaught of evidence, textual readings, precedent, and reasoning” and the “dreaded filibuster”.
Category:Role-playing game terminology