6. GAMES ANDGUARDIANS
rules, laws and boundaries
Rules are fine, but they will only stretch so far. They have to
be based on shared values and consensus. Any rule without
widespread support cannot be enforced without a police
state. When rules are backed up by rewards and punish-
ments, these also need the broad support of the community.
Laws apply to everybody and local rules of conduct set
boundaries, they make choices easier and give some basic
guidance in unfamiliar situations. You need to know the laws
and customs of a foreign country, and the same principle ap-
plies when you enter any community or business. These have
rules of conduct, dress codes, ‘the way we do things around
here’ – and you ignore them at your peril. Some of these
rules may be open, pinned up on the wall or part of the job
description, but there will also be many informal rules that
you will only learn when you have worked there for some
time. Also, we set our own internal rules of conduct. These
may clash with the laws and regulations – for example traffic
speed limits are widely flouted and computer software is eas-
ily copied and often shared rather than bought. So, inside
legal and moral rules, we set many of our own boundaries.