Rules lawyer

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

A rules lawyer is a player in a game who for whatever reason attempts to use an often encyclopedic knowledge of the rules of a subject to gain an advantage, to annoy or to ingratiate himself with other players, to amuse themselves in a round of banter with others, or to test a rule's solidity.

Though the term originated among players of role-playing games, 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". This term may derive from the similar but older language lawyer, which comes from computer programming. Strategic use of parliamentary procedure might be a type of rules lawyering.

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