Bizarro World

”With the elite titles," he says, "if you make a mistake reporting something that is important to the community, it could have repercussions down the line. You don't want to treat it with an asterisk if it's tainted and just doesn't sit well." Mruczek says he's worried that the handling of the Wiebe record has set a dangerous precedent that could set back the community to the '80s, when people would claim records that were impossible to achieve. Twin Galaxies has long since abandoned its original verification process, which required a photo of the screen showing the high score and a signed affidavit from the player. Now, a player must videotape his or her game according to strict guidelines or perform the game live in front a Twin Galaxies judge.

I’ve been working on unpacking justice, one of my core values, in an attempt to understand why that value means so much to me.

I find rules to be so helpful in making sense of the world. If you know what the expectations are, then you should be able to understand what it takes to excel.

As I get older, I'm realizing that (a) that’s not always a true principle in practice, and (b) not everyone needs those rules to make sense of the world and get ahead in life.

Articles like this (legendary) profile on a Tetris world record holder make me really question my insistence on clearly defined rules.

Because when you think about it, what possible serious repercussions could happen if you botch the title of ‘Tetris world record holder’?