Edge Magazine recently published “The Gamer’s Bill of Rights.” Inside, it had ten directives that gamers should expect from publishers or their fellow players. There were things like “Gamers shall have the right to return games that don’t work with their computers for a full refund,” “the right to demand that games be released in a finished state,” and “the right to frag out.” Alright, I made that last one up, but you get the idea.

When I read the article I thought, “what a novel idea!” To be honest, the ideas themselves weren’t revolutionary; the novelty was that somebody finally put it down in writing. Quite frankly, we should expect a better gaming experience, and when that doesn’t happen, we (as gamers) should be able to speak up and collectively say, “this is what we want; why didn’t that happen?” Buying a game with the tacit idea that it’s playable, but future updates will fix things like crashing, blue screens of death, and clipping bugs is simply silly.

(On a side note, my personal feelings about the article were made much stronger by a recent ordeal trying to install Mass Effect on my PC. The installation took several hours across a couple days (or else I might have chucked my PC across the room), and I was only able to get past the initial loading screen after I manually unzipped the whole game from the DVD. This is not what I call an optimal experience. Though I must admit, the 23-page thread on Mass Effect’s support forums did provide my misery with some company. I’m not sure whether that’s a good thing or not.)

Coming from a competitive gaming background, I couldn’t help but feel inspired. Maybe it’s just the recent news about politics getting to me, but I felt the need to add an amendment. Not because the original article was incomplete, but because competitive gamers, while included under the umbrella of “gamers,” have specific needs, too. A Competitive Gamer’s Bill of Rights? Count me in.

After exhausting seconds of intensive thinking, this is what I came up with. It is by no means a complete list—merely one man’s musings on things we should expect, or want, from the people that make the games, our fellow community members, and even ourselves. Some of these may be practical, others whimsical and unrealistic, but this is where my list starts.

If weapon prices varied, you'd see a lot more pre-game meetings -- and that's not a good thing, in this case.

1. Competitive gamers have the right to be recognized by developers...

As a general rule, when making a product you want to appeal to the largest group of people possible. When that conflicts with making a niche group happy, the majority rules.

At the same time, appealing to the masses and appealing to a niche market aren’t always mutually exclusive. There are ways to satisfy both. I can’t help but think of the days when Steam released the weapon market for Counter-Strike, and the gun prices fluctuated based on how many people bought them across all Steam servers. Originally, there wasn’t a command to play without the “feature.”

That’s a perfect example of adding something that recognizes the competitive community as an important subset of gamers, while still fulfilling whatever initiatives the company has. Fluctuating weapon prices is awful for competitive play, and it doesn’t take much thought to realize it. Adding a command (which they did in a later release) to disable that only gives people the option to play the game how they want to play it.

2. ... and, as such, have the ability to affect change.

This ties in with the last point, but it’s important for gamers to be able to affect change, as well.

Counter-Strike is, as of today, still on Steam’s best-selling list. The game was released when Bill Clinton was still in the Oval Office. In other words, competitive gamers take a game and we play it to death. We lose copies. Sometimes we get banned. We convince our friends to buy copies. Even though we’re a long way from the competitive community being big enough to drive a game title, I don’t think it’s unrealistic to say that our voices don’t matter. They do.

Or they should, anyway.

3. Competitive gamers shall not have to worry about being punished for being too good.

We’ve all had those moments when you’re in the zone. The fog of everyday life peels away to reveal the inner truth about whatever game you’re playing at the time. For one stretch of time, you can see the code of the Matrix, and things just start to make so much sense. The game is so much easier when I headshot everybody. Why didn’t I think of that before?

Basically, we’ve all been “on fire.”

These moments are generally followed by hacking accusations.

Sadly, that’s overstating things a little bit. Sometimes you don’t even need to be on fire to get called a hacker. Make one nice shot, lag a little bit, and all of a sudden you’re getting vote-kicked faster than a man with four cell phones at a movie premiere.

But it shouldn’t be that way. Everybody gets hot once in a while, or at the very least hits the incredible shot. We should be able to play without worrying about playing too well, as if there was such a thing.

(Note: you forfeit this right if you do, in fact, cheat. Just sayin’.)

It's a long, hard trip to get a whole section of fans cheering for you. And we all start at the same point.

4. Competitive Gamers shall have the right to play without being mocked or derided

There’s a fine line between trash-talking and flat-out being a jerk. In a competitive setting, it’s pretty easy to cross that line. We all want to win, and do so in such a fashion that everybody in the server will clearly recognize our superiority. We want our opponents (and teammates) to be breathless when we leave the game, wondering whether they just crossed paths with a gaming god.

But, there was also a time when you were learning the game—running out of bounds, crashing into walls, button mashing, or waving your gun in the air, walking, stopping, moving your gun, and then walking all because you couldn’t do both at the same time yet. We all had to start somewhere. Trash talking with a competitor? That’s fine. Verbally beating down a guy that’s clearly still learning the ropes? Not so much.

4b. This goes double for women.

This goes double for women, who often have to put up with the double-whammy of sexists that think women are naturally inferior at gaming, and fans that follow them from server to server or game to game.

5. Gamers should have the right to compete regardless of what platform they play on.

If it’s true that united we stand and divided we fall, game titles are most definitely falling. XBOX communities are separated from the PS3 communities, and both of those are unable to interact with PC communities. If one person plays CoD 4, and another person plays CoD 4, shouldn’t they be able to play CoD 4 together?

This isn’t the case and, sadly, it might never be that way. Somewhere down the road, though, we’re going to want to find out who the best gamer is in a particular title. Not the best player on PS3, or PC, or XBOX, but the best. Is that too much to ask?

6. Professional gamers have the right to take a break.

In the world of competitive gaming, tournaments and organizations often fight for prime calendar time. All the big LAN tournaments want to happen while college kids are out of school and able to travel.

This has the practical effect of having an almost year-round season in some games. If you’re not preparing for one event, you’re already playing in another. It’s hard to maintain that kind of schedule. Professional players in “real” sports sometimes take months off a time, and it’s not just when they’re rehabbing from Tommy John surgery. Everybody needs to recharge their batteries once in a while.

7. Professional competitive gamers have the right to be given what they’re promised.

This should basically go without saying, but all too often gamers are promised one thing (prizes) and given another (nothing).

We’ve made it through those times, but we shouldn’t have to. It’s bad for gaming when players don’t get paid, and it’s bad for the organizers, too. Nobody wins. There needs to be better awareness on the gamer’s side about procedures, rules, and timing, but it’s a two-way street that both parties need to walk down. The sooner that happens, the better.

8. Competitive Gamers shall have the right to enjoy their gaming.

This is something for every competitive gamer, professional or just beginning. Too often people get lost in the competition. It’s easy to do, because that’s what drives us. It goes without saying that competitive gamers seek the thrill of victory.

But sometimes our pursuit leads us astray. We become so focused on being technically proficient that we forget what made the game fun in the first place. Practicing and playing becomes a grind rather than a pleasure. At that point, every gamer should have the right to rediscover what made the game fun in the first place. Stop practicing your AWP and pick up a shotgun. Do a million laps on Nuremberg—while driving backwards. Do whatever it takes, because enjoyment is what everything else—leagues, championships, and spectating—is built upon.

Whatever you do, just don’t try to find that joy by installing Mass Effect on your PC. That path goes the wrong direction.