[EStokely]

As a HS teacher each year I get new team members and each year we have to teach them about GP
"Why would we give our opponents a working motor?" type questions are addressed.
As are the cheating questions. "can't we add this after we are inspected?"
"Who will know if we spent 800 dollars on that part?" Etc.

The veterans and myself start by saying GP. And usually back up to explain GP.

We talk about a match a few years ago when our robot collided hard with our opponent and a rope came lose from our machine to entangle the other machine. We both pulled and tugged until we finally fell over while the other machine broke free. We knew we were in the wrong, that rope wasn't attached correctly and it was our fault. The refs deliberated for what seemed to be a long time when the head ref finally come over and told us we had been disqualified because of entanglement problem. While this was occuring the pit crew from my team was making sure we hadn't damaged the other teams machine. We use this story to help the newbies try to understand GP.

It is hard to define GP, some people will cheat in front of their grandmothers.

Ultimately I think GP means play by the rules because you respect the game and don't want to cheapen it.

As some one said above its the 21st century version of the golden rule.