Rules, rules and more rules!

Today we had an interesting lecture about rules. The rules in life and the rules in games. Firstly, how do we define a rule? As suggested in class, is it a constraint which we must adhere to or its it a proposed idea which we have the option to follow? I think it depends on the context of the rule. There are rules in life or rather laws, such as the laws of physics which give us no choice in whether to follow or not. They are what they are and that is that.

Then there are government laws. These are laws which were created to aid the running of the country in a successful way. To outline what is acceptable and what is not in society. These are rules which if broken have consequences.

Is this the same for rules in games? Depending on the game, do the rules have to be followed, or can they be broken and if they are broken, are there consequences? I could spend all day giving examples of the different types of rules in games, ones which have to be followed and ones which don't. But for now I am going to move on to another point brought up in class, which is are/can all rules be defined before the game begins? Or are there rules which the player imposes on themselves?

We discussed the game of tic-tac-toe to examine this point. The game rules usually state:
1. Game is played on a 3x3 grid
2. Chose to be X or O, players take alternating goes
3. First player to get 3 of their pieces in a row (horizontal, vertical, diagonal) wins.
These are the rules, but what happens if during one players go, they never make a move, how does the game continue? There is no rule to state that the player must make a move on their turn or by a certain time. Yet, this does not mean that because the rule is not stated that the game is never completed. It seems that the rule of 'on your go you must place make a move' is enforced by the player themselves. This is one rule I myself have made before beginning a game. I will not have discussed this rule with my opponent although they too seem to follow the same rule. It does not seem possible to create a rule for every situation which may arise during the playing of a game. These rules are somehow formed by the player either before or during the game.

Before our lecture I never thought about these subconscious rules we make. I just assumed that the rules of the game that we defined were the only rules. It is interesting to see that we ourselves, whether it is common sense or something totally different, define our own rules. Without these rules would we be able to complete the games? Or run the country? Or do anything else which rules are needed for?