Quote:
Originally Posted by Varyon
There is, of course, a distinction between people who honestly believe their interpretation of the rules is correct and will argue the point, even to the detriment of their own character, and those who purposefully try to twist the rules (or selectively pick rules) that specifically benefit their character, even to the detriment of the party (and table as a whole). I would not be surprised at all to find that the former (which I tend to be much more similar to) are often somewhere on the autism spectrum, while the latter are often somewhere on the sociopathic spectrum, but I've seen "rules lawyer" used to refer to both.
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Where I entered the hobby, we used "rules lawyer" specifically to mean a person who engages in twisting the rules for the gain of their character or to serve their personal sense of fun, regardless of the loss of time or goodwill around the gaming table. By analogy to actual lawyers: The kind of lawyer who goes into law for the money alone, ready to argue anything for anyone if it pays well, rather than the kind of lawyer who goes into law out of an interest in justice or public service. We called the latter "rules geeks," usually.