And surely we don't have to repeat for the millionth time that while you have visions of how the game should be played, you can't implement them willy-nilly; you have to follows the rules of the competition you enter.
And I unquestionably did. I was 100% transparent about my actions, and the tournament organizer approved them as legal (or, in his words, non-DQ-worthy).
Legal is not the same thing as "I won't disqualify you for it". Come on now.
Anyway,, re-reading your posts, you are less agreeable than I had thought yesterday. So I'm going to lay out the argument, step by step, and you can tell me where you disagree with it, ok?
1. This was a tournament which qualified the winner for dominion nationals. (Ok, this isn't relevant, but I want to make sure you'll have something you absolutely can agree with).
2. The tournament was played on isotropic, on the internet.
3. There were rules to this tournament.
4. Special tournament rules were posted on the blog and in these forums.
5. Those rules include that the official point tracker was to be used, identical starting hands ensured.
6. Those rules do not state that the PCE can be used.
7. Those rules say that modifications to the rules may be made with the agreement of ALL participants.
8. We got into a situation where some kinds of negotiations were going on for the finals.
9. There were several parties privy to these negotiations, including you, me, theory, jtl005, and ednever.
10. After understanding what PCE did, both jtl005 and ednever stated preference that you do not use the PCE.
11. I made my claim very clear that I consider the PCE to be in violation of the rules.
12. theory asked you not to use the PCE.
13. theory later told you not to use the PCE - still before he outright 'banned' it.
14. Throughout this period, you made your intentions to use the PCE quite clear.
15. There is no codification of rules written up to supersede, on general grounds, the dominion rules, despite being specific rule adaptions for specific events.
16. Except insofar as expressly countermanded by specific tournament rules (including the mutual agreement clause), the rules of Dominion should remain in effect in this tournament, as there is no alternative objective baseline which is a rival to them AT THIS POINT IN TIME.
17. The rules of dominion do not explicitly allow for external memory aids.
18. Actions pertinent to a game, which are not expressly allowed by the game's rules, are implicitly prohibited by the game's rules.
19. PCE is relevant to the game.
20. PCE was not explicitly allowed.
21. PCE is ergo implicitly prohibited.
22. Rules are rules, regardless of whether or not they can be enforced. They may be stupid rules, or bad rules, but they are rules.
23. You agreed to the rules when signing up for the tournament.
24. The cooperation of all other involved parties clause cannot be invoked here, as there was at least one other involved party, namely myself, which did not agree with PCE use.
25. People ought to do what they agree to do, where possible.
26. Integrity is more important than possessions.
27. Breaking one's agreements violates that person's integrity, without some kind of extenuating change of circumstance between the time of making the agreement and the time at which the agreed upon action is to be undertaken.
28. A rule which there are no consequences for violating is nevertheless a rule.
29. The no memory aids rule is theoretically enforceable.
30. The root of your arguments, ethically, lies in your own, personal, relatively short-term self-interest, as you see it.
Which of these do you find problem with?