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Being a Good Sport
If there are aspects of the formal systems of games that underlie the rules as they are expressed to players, there are also aspects of a game that lie beyond or outside the stated rules. These rules are rules of behavior that are implied but usually not explicitly stated in a game. Take a look again at the four "rules" of Tic-Tac-Toe.
Play occurs on a 3 by 3 grid of 9 empty squares.
Two players alternate marking empty squares, the first player marking Xs and the second player marking Os.
If one player places three of the same marks in a row, that player wins.
If the spaces are all filled and there is no winner, the game ends in a draw.
Does that really cover every possible rule of Tic-Tac-Toe behavior? Not really. There are other rules that players observe as well. In his essay "Life of Games," Stephen Sniderman points out one of these rules: the implied time limit between turns in Tic-Tac-Toe: Is there a time limit between moves? Normally, we both "understand" that there is, and we both "know" that our moves should be made within a "reasonable" time, say 20 seconds. If one of us takes longer, the other starts to fidget or act bored, maybe even make not-so-subtle comments, and eventually threatens to quit.Without having stated it, we have accepted a tacit time limit. And because we haven't stated it, it is fairly flexible and very functional. Suppose it is my turn and, no matter what I do, you will win on your next move. Couldn't I prevent that from happening, within the rules stated, by simply refusing to play? Nothing in the rules forces me to move within a particular amount of time, so I simply do not make my next move. Haven't I followed the rules and avoided losing? And yet, if you've ever played a game, you know that this strategy is almost never employed and would be completely unacceptable. Anybody who seriously resorted to such a tactic would be considered childish or unsportsmanlike or socially undesirable and would probably not be asked to play in the future. This behavior seems to violate some fundamental but rarely stated principle of the game without any of us ever having to discuss it.[2]
There are plenty of other "unwritten rules" besides the self-imposed time limit on turns. For example, it is generally agreed that players will play Tic-Tac-Toe in a way that allows them to easily make Xs and Os. This is why most games take place by marking a piece of paper instead of picking blades of grass out of a large section of land, or making chalk marks on the asphalt of a dangerously busy superhighway—the conditions of play in these cases would make for a nearly impossible game. Other unwritten rules assume that players will not tickle each other, hide the gameboard, or take other actions that prevent their opponents from taking a turn. These rules are implicit in some way in the four stated "rules." But if every possible implicit rule had to be listed, the list would be infinite. [>.
