I found this article on Black Sheep by Jamie Ott. I thought it was so fantastic I asked to repeat it here at the Shrine.

THE 10 RULES FOR BEING A GOOD SPORT

By Jamie Ott

So what does being a good sport mean? I’ve suddenly found myself thinking about it over the last couple of weeks. You see, I have a four-year-old son, who doesn’t like to lose. His mother and I decided that we should try to teach him what being a good sport means. Before we did that we had to define it for ourselves. So, being a 40K fanatic, I had an easy analogy to use. Along the way I came up with a few rules of thumb. So without further adieu, here are my ten ways for being a good sport.

1. Always play someone once. There are a lot of new players in the hobby everyday. Not everyone can paint a 2000 point Dark Eldar army in 48 hours. I’ve been working on my Ultramarines for four years. I still don’t have a Devastator Squad. I have just about everything else though, sometimes two or more squads of each. The point is, I was motivated to paint by the people I played. So if you play someone enough you should be able to shame him/her/it into getting to work. Personally, playing someone without a painted army doesn’t bother me; I just don’t see the point. There are many different volatile opinions on the subject though, I’m sure.
   
   
2. Always be on time. If you are like me (and anyone who’s married is), you’re running on a schedule. You’ve spent two hours begging, whining, huffing, puffing, cajoling, and finally bribing her into letting you go. It’s aggravating to show up and not be able to play because your opponent is late; it’s also just plain bad form. Unless your opponent IS your wife or Significant Other, then just keep your mouth shut and smile. (You’ll live longer that way, and just might see your Silver Anniversary.)
   
   
3. Always be prepared. Think ahead to what you are going to play. A good suggestion is to put the units you use regularly on index cards. This way all you need to do is take the units you want and you have the units points already calculated. It usually takes me five minutes to fine-tune my Space Marines, whereas most of my opponents who play almost everyday still take around fifteen. Like I said, I’m running on a tight schedule anything to speed it along is good.
   
   
4. Don’t argue the rules. This is something most of us do and it’s bound to come up during the course of a game. If something does come up, either compromise with the chowder-head you’re playing with or dice it out. You can always look it up later. Keep the game moving. (Schedule, schedule, schedule.) If you can’t come to an understanding, well, there are some people that might not be worth playing with. If it’s your wife, get a new hobby. I hear quilting’s nice. It’s supposed to be relaxing too, so you can quilt after you play your wife.
   
   
5. Don’t quit! If the hive-mind is getting collective butts kicked (nice play on words, huh?), don’t quit. I’ve seen many a game of 40K where the winner won because his/her/it’s opponent was overconfident in the 3rd and 4th turn of the game. I’ve also seen a player quit in the first turn because a certain Assassin had effectively pinned his whole army with one shot. That was due to bad deployment really, especially when he was playing Berzerkers. Quitting is one of the worst things you can do if you’re losing, it shows you’re a poor loser and you don’t even get a chance to take down a couple of his troops. In the end, it’s usually yourself you’re angry with, not you’re opponent and quitting gives your opponent a bad image of you. I once played a game against a friend whose force I totally wiped out, though he still came at me. He knew it was over for his army but he didn’t quit. He also won because he managed to achieve his objective, killing my HQ unit.
   
   
6. Don’t use foul language. Okay, if the game is really going bad you can mutter a few curses. Softly. Game stores tend to attract children, both old and young. You don’t wont those old guys in the Star Trek Tee shirts learning bad words, do you? I mean, what would their mothers think when they get home? Next thing you know they’ll be staying out after their curfew and getting jobs. [Shudder.]
   
   
7. Don’t gloat! The only thing worse than a sore loser is a sore winner! Okay, so your Guardian squad killed his Bloodthirster, just don’t rub it in. Instead, picture the ‘Thirster explaining to Khorne how he got his horns handed to him by a couple o’ fairies. On second thought, don’t.
   
   
8. Laugh. I think this says it all.
   
   
9. Always be polite to your opponents, no matter how badly the game is going. No one likes to play someone who’s rude because they’re losing, it’s even worse when they’re winning. We’ve all seen it, rolling twenty-seven shots with shootas, hitting and actually wounding twenty times. You think great! Then your opponent rolls. Eighteen saves! (Don’t laugh, it happened on Saturday!) Before you start to throw your really spiky bitz at him remember, luck usually evens out in the end. That and it’s not good to throw things at your wife.
   
   
10. ALWAYS shake hands. You don’t have to spit in them first though. This may seem to be somewhat redundant to some of you; it does to me too. This is probably the most important thing you can do, as it shows you’re a good sport. It also sets the example for new/younger players to follow. It plain just looks good, too.
    

By no means do you have to follow these rules, but if you follow just one let it be number ten. Once you start to do this the rest will follow whether you think about it or not. Next thing you know, there’ll be tea and crumpets in the 41st century (with a nod to my fellow listees.) As for my four-year-old, well we’re working on it, maybe I’ll teach him 40K.

Jamie Ott