Codes of Conduct in Rule Books

Here's a thread I wrote on Twitter, having seen some discussion of why codes of conduct for games should written into their rule books, and (naturally) some push back on this:

Lately there's been talk of including a Player Code of Conduct in game rule books. I think that's a good idea, and I really need to add one to the Titanomachina rule book. Why? Here's a thread.

I used to play Warhammer, and if there was a problem with Warhammer it was the blind-dating, 'bring-and-battle' thing where people would show up to a store, agree to game, and then be pissy because the other person did it wrong (too hard, too soft, etc).

This also happened in leagues and among friends, where people assumed that if the rules did not specifically prohibit something, it was permitted. People would be annoyed because the game wasn't how they imagined it should be.

This is all quite aside from people being harassed or ostracized in public gaming spaces but, I think, strongly related. Because it was assumed people would just play nicely together when that is evidently not always the case.

Games like Warhammer require a whole lot of cooperation for players to be able to compete against each other. Rules for what material you can bring and how you can use it do not cover 90% of what goes on at a gaming table for the game to happen, let alone complete satisfactorily.

So far the rules for Titanomachina (on Tabletop Simulator) only tell you how to play the 'game.' In technical writing terms that is a defect, because a good manual (and a good rule book in my opinion) tells you why, and what to expect, as well as what to do if you want something.

When writing a manual one should always include an introduction to each section (and to the whole) including the PCO (Purpose, Context, and Organization) because users should not be left to guess how these things are meant to be applied and to what end.

Where Titanomachina is specifically an adversarial game, where players take the role of giant machines hell-bent on beating each other to scrap, players especially need reminding that the game is intended to be enjoyed by everybody at the table.

There's a 'mercy' rule in Titanomachina whereby the game ends if one player is too far ahead, but if someone walks into the game expecting an exploration of the game space while another is planning a mugging, both are going to have a bad time and both will rightly blame the game.

Which brings me back to codes of conduct regarding what is acceptable at the table. I don't want Titanomachina to become limited to cis-hetero white neckbeards, and associated with the kind of behaviour we (I'm a cis-bi white neckbeard) are prone to exhibiting.

Having a code of conduct in the rule book seems ideal for reminding all the chuds looking at the game that they can (a) go play grab-ass elsewhere, or (b) demolish the megalopolises of the future like civilized persons.