LAN-slide Competition Rules

1.0 DEFINITIONS
Admin Desk The name applied to the Tournament Registration / Sign Up desk and the team that manages tournament brackets, match progression and in-game team captain liaison.
Best of Three (3) A round that is played up to three times where the first team or player to win twice will be declared the winner of the tournament match.
Best of Five (5) A round that is played up to five times where the first team or player to win three times will be declared the winner of the tournament match.
Challonge A website that LAN-slide officially uses to manage our tournament brackets at http://challonge.com
Double Elimination A tournament style bracket where players or teams are eliminated from a tournament after two losses. The last player or team standing is declared the winner.
Event Coordinator A role appointed by the LAN-slide team to individuals officially in charge of decision making to any part of the event.
Game Match An individual game played from start to finish that achieves an outcome (e.g. first to 16 points).
Players An individual who attends LAN-slide for the purposes of playing games at an event.
Round Robin A tournament style where teams or players will play games in turn against each opposing teams or players.
Shoutcaster A game commentator that broadcasts an online game by providing running commentary.
Smurfing While LAN-slide is aware of multiple definitions for the term smurfing, this ruleset only refers to the tactic of playing for someone else drafted in the same tournament whether using someone else’s or your own account.
Team Captain This ruleset refers to Team Captains as the primary point of contact between the Event Coordinator and players in the captain’s team. Where the tournament is listed as a 1 v 1, references to “Team Captain” refers to the individual player.
Tournament Any bracketed competition that consists of a series of games to determine a winner in the format of N v N players.
Tournament Match The "versus" segment of a tournament bracket where one team or player versus an opposing team or player through a specified number of game matches to determine an overall winner.
Tournament Referee A role appointed by the LAN-slide team to individuals officially in charge of outcome-based decisions to an individual tournament.
Tournament Round A segment indicating progression of a tournament containing a number of (game) matches.

2.0 PLAYER ELIGIBILITY

  1. All players are eligible to enter any tournament provided they:
    • Have signed into the event by paying entry fees in full or otherwise surrendered an entry pass. Players are identified by wearing the event wristband;
    • Are not playing for another team or under another pseudonym in the same tournament;
    • Are not the allocated tournament sponsor or otherwise providing prizes for the tournament;
    • Are not an event coordinator for any part of the listed event;
    • Are not a listed tournament referee for the tournament;
    • Are not banned from attending LAN-slide events;
    • Are not banned from participating in LAN-slide tournaments.
  2. Additional rules may apply on a per tournament basis. Please refer to further sections.

3.0 TOURNAMENT STRUCTURE

  1. Where there is only one (1) team or player registered, the tournament will not be run.
  2. The default tournament format will be double elimination.
  3. When there's a large number of teams, the Tournament Referee may choice to run a staged tournament format.
  4. Any decision to change the default format will be announced during tournament briefing.

4.0 TOURNAMENT SIGNUP AND BRIEFING

  1. Team captains are required to register for a tournament on the challonge website and then check-in in person at admin desk on the day. Where the corresponding tournament is team based the team captain is required to create the team and each team member must join that team.
  2. Where the tournament is team-based, team captains are responsible for sourcing a full team including team substitutions as defined per individual game rules and on the registration system. LAN-slide will provide some services to assist before the tournament begins however there are no guarantees that a team will be formed. These services are:
    1. Over the microphone announcements immediately prior to a tournament briefing.
    2. Looking for team / player sheets provided at the admin desk.
    3. Event coordinators, at their discretion may attempt matchmaking where teams or players are known to require additional players.
    4. A final announcement during the tournament briefing will be made to find players.
  3. Tournament briefings are scheduled to begin no more than one (1) hour prior to the beginning of the first tournament round and scheduled start time except where the tournament start time is immediately after the allocated dinner break, the tournament briefing will begin immediately prior to the dinner break.
  4. Tournament briefings are open to all tournament players. Team captains must attend the briefing.
  5. Verification of signup takes place during the tournament briefing. Failure to attend as part of rule 4.4 could result in being disqualified or removal from the tournament draft.
  6. Tournament briefings are expected to run for up to twenty (20) minutes.
  7. Unless otherwise stated, the tournament draft is final at the conclusion of the tournament briefing.
  8. The tournament briefing will cover the following topics:
    1. The rules of the tournament including a reference to where you can find this ruleset.
    2. How score reporting and tournament progression works including the method of in-game chat to be used by team captains to communicate with the admin desk.
    3. How to set up the game lobby or how to locate a server including a reference to where game lobby settings can be found.
    4. Verification of prizes on offer including when they will be distributed.
    5. An opportunity for players to ask questions.

5.0 TOURNAMENT PROGRESSION AND SCORE REPORTING

  1. Tournament brackets will be registered and updated through the challonge website at http://lanslide.challonge.com.
  2. Unless otherwise advised, first tournament matches begin at the scheduled tournament start time.
  3. Where the tournament format is an elimination format, the tournament draft will be randomly seeded three (3) times before commencement of the tournament.
  4. Tournament match start times will be officially communicated to team captains via the following methods:
    1. Admin Desk to the in-game chat account supplied on the registration sheet.
    2. On-Ground Tournament Referees will communicate in person at the seat listed on the registration sheet. Generally this will only occur where confirmation of message received from the tournament captain per sub-section (a) has not been received by the Admin Desk.
  5. At the completion of the tournament match, the team captain must report outcomes to the Admin Desk by:
    1. Using the in-game chat account, or;
    2. Reporting in person.
  6. Prior to commencement of a tournament match, team captains must report their intention to begin to Admin Desk by:
    1. Using the in-game chat account, or;
    2. Reporting in person.
  7. Immediately following section 5.5, Admin Desk will update brackets accordingly.
  8. Immediately following section 5.7 where the team or player has progressed to a tournament match with an opponent not allocated, the team captain must make themself available to receive communication of the game match start time as per section 5.4.
  9. Immediately following section 5.7 where the team or player has progressed to a tournament match with an opponent already allocated, that tournament match will be scheduled to begin:
    1. No earlier than 15 minutes from the point of announcement, or;
    2. At the conclusion of the scheduled dinner break where the tournament match would otherwise end more than 15 minutes into the Dinner Break.
    3. Tournament referees have full discretion to delay the start of a tournament match.
  10. Where a team captain is not contactable by the tournament match start time allocated per section 5.9, one of the following outcomes will apply:
    1. The contactable team will be awarded the tournament match win.
    2. Where both team captains are not contactable, both teams will be disqualified from the tournament.
  11. Grand final round scheduling will be subject to a mutual discussion with both team captains. Where no mutual agreement exists, a 30 minute notice period will apply. Penalties per Section 5.10 will still apply.
  12. Tournament match scheduling will not occur during the dinner break except:
    1. Where the tournament match reasonably will have finished within the first 15 minutes of the scheduled dinner break.
    2. Where a competition is already significantly delayed.
    3. Where a mutual agreement by both team captains exists.
  13. Where pausing is supported in-game, the tournament match may be paused by any player due to the following reasons:
    1. A player has unintentionally dropped from the game;
    2. Where multiple players are experiencing server and / or network related issues;
    3. To raise a disputes per section 7;
  14. Individual client issues including but not limited to graphic, sound or input configurations are not suitable reasons to pause a tournament match per section 5.13.
  15. The player who initiates the pause per section 5.12 must give sufficient notice with the intention to resume to all players in the tournament match prior to resuming e.g. 'I am resuming the match in 15 seconds ' or 'I am resuming the match when the timer reaches 15 minutes'.

6.0 PENALTIES AND DISQUALIFICATION

Note: This section does not override event rules.
  1. The following severity levels can be applied to individual players and / or teams:

    1. Severity 1 – Tournament disqualification and future tournament ban.
    2. Severity 2 - Tournament disqualification.
    3. Severity 3 – Round disqualification.
    4. Warning – Low level penalty. Three warnings will result in an upgrade to Severity 2.
  2. A team or player is unable or unavailable to compete due to tardiness – Severity 3.
  3. A team or player is up to ten (10) minutes late to a tournament match – Warning.
  4. A team or player observes an oppositions screen (also known as screen cheating):
    1. Unintentional – Warning.
    2. Intentional – Severity 3.
  5. A team or player attempts to use any smurfing tactics – Severity 2 to all teams involved.
  6. A player uses a different account to the one specified per section 4.1 – Severity 3
  7. A team or player attempting to intentionally sabotage a tournament by altering server configurations, disrupting and altering network communications, disrupting internet connections, or otherwise exploiting any equipment provided by LAN-slide – Severity 2.
    1. Where the attempt is successful and culminates in a disrupted tournament – Severity 1.
  8. A team or player that intentionally sabotages another player’s ability to play in the tournament including but not limited to causing game account bans, altering an otherwise working PC into a non-working state, locking a PC out, causing temporary lockouts – Severity 2.
  9. A team or player uses an inappropriate and offensive name. – Warning.
  10. Any unsportsmanlike conduct including but not limited to trash talking, threats, racist slurs, sexist remarks, or anything deemed by the receiving party to be offensive or unwarranted. – Warning.
  11. A player that attempts to use any of the following to gain an unfair advantage:
    1. Using cheat codes – Severity 2.
    2. Using memory or hack programs, trainers, scripts, network packet inspectors, program debuggers or any other software that modifies standard execution of a game – Severity 2.
    3. The use of macros or programmable keys that automate a series of actions that would be unreasonable to perform – Severity 3.
    4. Any game options that enable automation based on the controller type – Warning.
    5. Any use of known bugs or game exploits that prevent an opposing team from achieving a successful outcome but:
      1. Does not change the outcome of a game – Warning.
      2. Does impact the outcome of a game – Severity 3.
    6. Any use of known bugs or game exploits that prevent an opposing team from achieving a successful outcome – Severity 3.
    7. Players within the same team switching accounts including but not limited to playing on behalf of another team member – Severity 3.
    8. Altering or removing textures via in-game configuration options or file modifications that would reveal information about an opposition including but not limited to removing bloom and smoke textures, enabling clear sight to your opposing team or players that would otherwise be obstructed without configurations set – Severity 3.
    9. Altering graphic quality including colour settings that would otherwise reveal information about an opposition that would otherwise not be discernible or available without those configurations – Severity 3.
  12. As an extension to rule 6.5, the use of any player not listed in the tournament draft including but not limited to online players – Severity 1.
  13. Any intentional disruptions to tournament progression before and during a match – Severity 3.
  14. "Catch All Clause" – Anything deemed by the tournament referees with the potential to:
    1. Provide a minor advantage – Warning.
    2. Provide a significant advantage – Severity 3.

7.0 DISPUTE RESOLUTION

  1. Any claims of hacking or cheating pursuant to section 6.11 must be reported to tournament referees after the tournament match has been paused and accompanied by:
    1. Reason of belief that the opposition is cheating;
    1. The advantage achieved by the opposition;
    2. A timeframe of when the cheating occurred;
  1. Any other disputes pursuant to section 6 excluding those outlined in section 7.1 must be reported to tournament referees after the tournament match has been paused with evidence supporting the claim;
  2. After a match has been paused and the game supports global chat, a message indicating a dispute is being raised must be posted immediately after pausing. The game must not be un-paused per section 5.15 until the dispute is resolved per section 7.5.
  3. Dispute claims that are not lodged in a timely manner may not be reviewed at the discretion of the tournament referee.
  4. Where the dispute is accepted by the tournament referee for review, the following procedure takes place:
    1. Both team captains will be asked to attend a meeting at the Admin Desk.
    2. A tournament referee will present the claim to the claimant and respondent.
    3. Where the tournament referee requires additional evidence, both parties are required to provide the necessary evidence in a timely manner.
    1. The tournament referee will review the evidence provided.
    2. Where the claim is genuine, penalties will apply as per section 6.
    3. Where the claim is inconclusive due to non-cooperation by the respondent, the claim will be treated as genuine per section (e).
    4. Where the claim is inconclusive due to non-cooperation by the claimant, the claim will be treated as frivolous per section (i).
    5. Where the claim is inconclusive due to insufficient evidence supporting the claim being available and does not fall under section (f), the dispute is considered resolved without further action.
    6. Where the claim is frivolous, sanctions against the claimant will be applied per section 6.13.