Steve Smith
Moderator Emeritus
After seeing some recurring questions regarding HP Service Rifle, CMP Rimfire Sporter, IDPA, and a few others, I started thinking about why rules are the way they are.
Rules make the game, the game does not make the rules.
Consider the birth of a new sport. How do you define it? If it starts at a kitchen table amongst friends, would not each person have their own vision of how the game should be played? Allow those folks to spread the news about the new game, and arrange a "match" and see what happens. Anything short of a three ring circus would be surprising. The "founders" of the game forgot something...rules! In order to define what the game IS, you have to write rules about it.
At what point does the game change?
Let's say your rules committee finally comes around to your way of thinking. You are now allowed to have basically an IPSC Open gun. This is pretty cool, you say. Years pass, and someone else thinks that having a conventional "looking" pistol is just too draconian. "Why can't I make my Open gun look like a space gun? It fits my hand better?" Eventually the rules committee sees it his way and now everyone wants to have space guns. Soon enough, people begin to wear a Buzz Lightyear outfit while shooting IDPA and the game turns into more of a costume party than anything else. Sort of a modern day Cowboy Action shoot, except that the Cowboy Action types are playing within THEIR rules, too.
So, where do we stop?
At what point do we say, "Here is where the intent of the game ends?" That's pretty subjective, isn't it? If every person who competed answered that question, you'd have 5000 answers. Luckily, you have a rules committee. People with the unenviable duty of telling you "no" every time you want to change something. People who are more than happy to be the punching bag for your rules rants. Like it or not, these people are the ones that keep your precious game from turning into something completely different. Remember, your small change in the rules seems insignificant, but in the big picture, all the little changes could completely change a sport that neither you, nor anyone else that you know would enjoy.
Why do the rules have to be so strict and draconian? Because it's the only way to keep a sport going.
Rules make the game, the game does not make the rules.
Consider the birth of a new sport. How do you define it? If it starts at a kitchen table amongst friends, would not each person have their own vision of how the game should be played? Allow those folks to spread the news about the new game, and arrange a "match" and see what happens. Anything short of a three ring circus would be surprising. The "founders" of the game forgot something...rules! In order to define what the game IS, you have to write rules about it.
At what point does the game change?
Let's say your rules committee finally comes around to your way of thinking. You are now allowed to have basically an IPSC Open gun. This is pretty cool, you say. Years pass, and someone else thinks that having a conventional "looking" pistol is just too draconian. "Why can't I make my Open gun look like a space gun? It fits my hand better?" Eventually the rules committee sees it his way and now everyone wants to have space guns. Soon enough, people begin to wear a Buzz Lightyear outfit while shooting IDPA and the game turns into more of a costume party than anything else. Sort of a modern day Cowboy Action shoot, except that the Cowboy Action types are playing within THEIR rules, too.
So, where do we stop?
At what point do we say, "Here is where the intent of the game ends?" That's pretty subjective, isn't it? If every person who competed answered that question, you'd have 5000 answers. Luckily, you have a rules committee. People with the unenviable duty of telling you "no" every time you want to change something. People who are more than happy to be the punching bag for your rules rants. Like it or not, these people are the ones that keep your precious game from turning into something completely different. Remember, your small change in the rules seems insignificant, but in the big picture, all the little changes could completely change a sport that neither you, nor anyone else that you know would enjoy.
Why do the rules have to be so strict and draconian? Because it's the only way to keep a sport going.
