LIFE, POLITICS, and GAME THEORY.
Basic premise:
If there are defined winners and losers, gameplay takes place at the limits of the game.
These limits can be physical, as in limited to the capabilities of the players and physics, or artificial, otherwise known as "rules."

This means competant players can be expected to do whatever is possible to maximize their odds of winning the game.
They try to score as many points as possible. They play their BEST cards. They pull their starters only when their lead is insurmountable.

Competant players play at the limits of the game - including the RULES.
If the rules say you can weight 205.5 to make weight, you will weigh exactly that to maximize your size advantage.
You put on the best equipment. You use the best gear you can afford.

The "RULES" are always a practical, not moral, matter in gameplay - if you care about WINNING.
That is to say, rules only exist if they can actually be enforced consistently, otherwise, the rule doesn't exist. If the rule is written but not enforced, it's not actually a rule.

For example, performance enhancing drugs might be formally "banned" but if you aren't testing for them, then they are allowed. If you are testing for them in a certain way, they are still allowed as long as the test can be passed.

This is just a new gameplay mode - scheduling your PEDs so that you can pass a certain test. The limit is not "NO DRUGS," the limit is the enforcement - the test. The cheater is the one who gets caught. Part of the game is finding out how to not get caught.

This is why Barry Bonds isn't a cheater. Literally every other player was sauced up, too. If he didn't take PEDs, all the others who did would have burried him.
The RULES are different than what is stated - they are always the limits of what you can do without getting caught.

Whenever you play a game with the technical possibility of ANGLE SHOOTING, assume it will be widespread and train yourself accordingly.
Playing MTG? Assume the opponent is always lying about the rules or is playing his mana incorrectly - if YOU don't catch it, the play stands.

Calling someone a "cheater" when he didn't get caught is just admitting you didn't properly understand the rules. You either need to change the rules (ENFORCED rules), or play the right game.

Game theory applies to a staggering abount of things in life - including war.
In war, you aim to destroy your enemy's capacity to fight. "Rules" of war only exist to frame the enemy as "bad" (because he gets caught and you don't), which is another game entirely.

Most lawyering involves procedural maneuvering - not what the "law" actually says. Ultimately, the law is what the outcome of the case says it is.
You pushe the rules in a trial - if you break procedure constantly and hope the other side doesn't object.
It's a game.

This also applies to politics.
Trump acted like a Democrat - he played by the same rules they did. They weren't used to it in 2016, so they pushed a different limit in 2020 - the limits of the very idea of an election. They even said projected what they were doing ahead of time.

So failure is on the Republicans - they were unwilling to enforce the stated rules, and that meant the other side played by the practical rules, which said they could stop counting votes, then "find" the exact amount of mail-in ballots they needed overnight.

And guess what? If they get caught after the fact, it doesn't matter, because those are the practical rules. Biden is in the office. And you can bet the party will help bail out anyone that gets busted for fraud to signal that their operatives should do the same next time.

So it all comes down to what the practical limits are - those are the real "rules."
If you want a great example, look at video game speedrunning.
Exploiting bugs is allowed and expected. "Cheating" is determined by the community based on what is reasonable.

If a human can't press the button that fast, it was cheating, and the record won't be posted.
If the footage looks weird, they assume you cheated.
If you blew the world record out of the water without finding a big new exploit that is duplicable, it's default cheating.

And the penalty for getting caught is usually exclusion from the community forever. basically even if you didn't cheat you won't be able to post another record again.