[David Brinza]

Because many of the rules of FIRST regarding construction of the robot would be difficult, if not impossible, to enforce (i.e. use of items fabricated or software developed outside of the build season or fix-it windows), teams are bound by an honor code to comply with these rules.

As Jane says, it's about integrity. Certainly, a team can choose to violate some of the rules and nobody else would know. When the team's captain and mentor signs the robot inspection form at a competition, they are asserting their compliance with all of the rules.

Some people might live with misrepresenting their compliance with all of the rules because they think some of them are "dumb". In reality, these folks are hurting themselves and the rest of the FIRST community. If a team needs to cheat to achieve victory, then that victory is hollow and diminished. I don't think any FIRST team wants to have "clouds" hanging over their achievements, so the honor code largely succeeds in FIRST.

Honor code is an important part of the culture of FIRST. If that changes, the spirit of FIRST will suffer.