| STA AA Rules |
I. Introduction
II. Disclaimer
III. Admins
IV. Entrance Requirements
V. Foreign Teams
VI. Member Expectations
VII. Player Expectations
VIII. Rescheduling
IX. Voice Communication
X. Player Conduct
XI. Divisions
XII. Cheating/Exploits
I. Introduction
STA is a system of organized leagues, for various games, all run by individual administrators. All STA leagues operate under the same basic tenets of order, logic, equality and fairness. STA does not profit in any way by clan participation.
The STA-AA league was created to provide a fun yet computational environment for all clans in the America's Army (AA) community. It also provides a unique alternative to other AA leagues and ladders currently active in the community.
STA is NOT a ladder, this is a league and this respective league is for America's Army.
II. Disclaimer
STA reserves the right to modify the following rules as necessary. When a new rule is added, or a current rule modified, a news article will be published on the STA-AA homepage. However, teams should still check the rules on a regular basis and prior to every match to ensure they are in complete compliance. Claiming lack of knowledge of a rule will not be considered justification for non-compliance. Rules are marked with an update date and a subsection of these rules logs changes and additions to assist in this capacity. These rules are guidelines by which the league operates to ensure a fun and even playing field for all teams. At all times, these rules are subject to interpretation by STA-AA admins. While STA strives to provide the most comprehensive rules possible, not every scenario can be anticipated. Those matters are left to admin desretion based on the spirit of these rules.
III. Admins
A lot of time and effort goes into administering and maintaining this league. STA-AA admins do this for their enjoyment and for the benefit the community. They spend their free time presenting this league without any monetary compensation.
Admins WILL be treated with respect at all times.
Admins are expected and required to do the following:
1. Provide a fun, competitive, and fair atmosphere for teams.
2. Act in a professional, neutral, and unbiased manner at all times on matters associated with the league.
3. Remove themselves if a dispute arises involving or potentially impacting their team. Other admins must resolve the issue.
4. Be available on league nights to assist teams with their matches. Admins are available on Internet Relay Chat (IRC) in #sta-aa on irc.gamesurge.net approximately 30-45 minutes before default match time. Admins on duty on match nights wear an "OnDuty" tag on their nickname. Admins are also available on non-match nights on a time-available basis.
5. Monitor matches when requested by teams. At least two admins are required to monitor STA playoff finals.
In addition to IRC, admins can also be contacted in the following manner:
TheMedic
• Email: Arthur@adcantu.com
• AIM: jabv11
• MSN: jabv2@hotmail.com
• YIM: jab_v
IV. Entrance Requirements
To be admitted into STA-AA, teams are required to complete the STA-AA application form, which can be found off the Web site (http://base.sta-league.org/aa/). When joining, teams must have the following minimum requirements:
1. At least 5 members on the roster.
2. A team name and tag.
3. At least 2 forms of communication (e.g. Web site, IRC channel, ICQ, email). IRC is required. A team Web site is preferred.
4. Team captain/contact must supply a valid e-mail address that is checked daily.
Once admitted into the league, teams must maintain the above minimum requirements to maintain eligibility. Teams that are unable to meet these minimum requirements will be marked as inactive until met. In addition, teams must have 6 active members in order to be scheduled for match play.
V. Foreign Teams
Foreign teams are welcome to join STA-AA as long as they adhere to league rules. All matches must be played on North American servers. Match times are still to be played at default times unless other arrangements have been made with the opposing team and an STA-AA admin. No exceptions.
In addition, it is understood that foreign player’s pings on North American servers may be rather high, and they accept this as a consequence of participating in this league. Disputes with regard to ping imbalance from a foreign team will in general be disregarded.
VI. Member Expectations
One of the main tenets of STA and STA-AA is to provide teams and their players with a professional, logical, systematic approach to online gaming.
STA recognizes the wide spectrum of players that play under its banner and we understand that there can be conflicts between players of varying levels of maturity and intellectual development. It would be a grossly inappropriate and inaccurate to apply stereotypical filters to membership (such as age), so the only filters we have, as administrators, are the team leaders themselves.
With that said, the following are expectations for team captains/contact and players:
VII. Player Expectations
Each team must have at least 1 team captain/contact. The maximum number is 2. Team captains/contacts must:
1. Be fully familiar with all STA-AA rules. Much like in real life, ignorance is not an excuse.
2. Be easily accessible not only to other team leaders but also to STA-AA admins. Team captains/contacts are required to have a valid email address that is checked regularly. Contact must also be possible through IRC—either through the team’s IRC channel or by idling on IRC in #sta on irc.gamesurge.net.
3. Keep current on issues as provided by the STA-AA Web site (http://base.sta-league.org/aa/). This includes news features, rule changes/updates, and schedules.
4. Be responsible for the conduct of their team. Team leaders may be held accountable for the actions of their individual team members. Furthermore, leaders are responsible for educating their team members on the STA rules of conduct and any other pertinent information.
5. Team leaders are responsible for keeping their rosters as listed on the STA-AA Web site up-to-date. (e.g. team contact information and player names/guids).
Because of these responsibilities, team captains/contacts are also acknowledged as worthy of respect and shall always be dealt with in an appropriate, respectful manner throughout the STA-AA community.
VIII. Rescheduling
If asked to reschedule by a team, you must give that team a response at least 24 hours before the default match time. In particular, the response may not be on the day of the match. This also means that reschedule requests cannot be made on the day of or the day before the match so as to allow the other team 24 hours to answer.
If a match is rescheduled and a team reaches forfeit conditions such as due to absence of members et cetera, then that team does not get the option of rescheduling the match again and the offending team receives a forfeit loss.
IX. Voice Communication
Use of communication programs such as the in-game voice communication (e.g. Ventrilo, Teamspeak, Roger Wilco) is acceptable and encouraged in STA-AA. Ghosting (e.g. Giving game play information to live players by a dead player) is not allowed. STA-AA Admins may sit in on Voice Communication servers during game play at their discretion.
X. Player Conduct
STA-AA strives to provide a venue for fun yet competitive play and prizes sportsmanship above all else. Teams and members that do not display proper sportsmanship towards other teams will be considered for expulsion. Activities that would warrant this consideration include excessive chat spamming and abuse (in-game), and public defilement of other teams. Any abusive, racist or vulgar remarks used in chat during matches are grounds for expulsion by STA-AA. Screenshots must be provided as proof taken from at least 2 members of the match.
This rule may apply to any electronic communication and through any medium that involves a member of STA-AA and any other member of STA-AA or its admins. This is, except in the most extreme circumstances, restricted purely to official league business. Official league business includes administrative duties and matches, and encompasses pre-match, match, and immediate post-match communications. Most other activities will fall outside the jurisdiction of STA-AA.
STA-AA forums are also held to these standards. Forums are a place to share information, opinions and interact socially. Accusatory and inflammatory remarks will not be tolerated. Inappropriate posts will be deleted, edited and or locked. Further disciplinary action may be taken for frequent offenders which may ultimately affect their respective team’s status.
Team leaders are held DIRECTLY RESPONSIBLE for the actions of their team members. If a member of their team is found to be guilty of a violation of sportsmanship STA-AA admins will deal directly with that team’s representative, who is expected to immediately meet with his/her player about the incident.
XI. Divisions
-Objective-
Objective game play will consist of teams of 2, 4, or 6. The main focus of objective game play is completing objectives as defined in the ROE for the specific America's Army map. During objective game play, frags are not taken into account except for when the objective is to eliminate the enemy team. In this case, individual frags will not determine the winner, but the elimination of the entire enemy team.
The challenged team will have the choice of map. The challenger will have choice to play assault or defense (ambush/escort, attack/defend, etc). One 7-round match will be played in this configuration. Another 7-round match will then be played, teams switching sides. At this point, should one team have won both 7-round matches, that team will be determined the winner. If each team has won one 7-round match respectively, then a third 7-round match will be played. The winner of this third match will be awarded the win. In the event of a tie, the tied match may be replayed immediately using the same configuration.
-Combat-
Combat game play will consist of teams of 2, 4, or 6. The main focus of combat game play is accumulating frags. During combat game play, objectives are not taken into account towards a win. A team will be designated the winner of a 7-round match if they have the most collective frags.
The challenged team will have the choice of map. The challenger will have choice to play assault or defense (ambush/escort, attack/defend, etc). One 7-round match will be played in this configuration. Another 7-round match will then be played, teams switching sides. At this point, should one team have won both 7-round matches, that team will be determined the winner. If each team has won one 7-round match respectively, then a third 7-round match will be played. The winner of this third match will be awarded the win. In the event of a tie, the tied match may be replayed immediately using the same configuration.
XII. Cheating/Exploits
Internet gaming is plagued by an enormous population of irresponsible and value-less individuals who do not see the harm in introducing cheats, hacks, and spam into the community's consciousness. It is expected that no Team in STA-AA cheats. Cheats include, but are not limited to:
1. Any mechanism by which information that is not normally available to the player is obtained (e.g. aim proxy, RW eavesdropping, spec cheating, and observing LAN players).
2. Nuking, channel takeovers, spamming, crashing a match server, or any other form of denial of service (DoS) are also considered cheating.
3. Any setting within the game that exploits that is not common knowledge and would give an unfair advantage.
4. Any script that is used to change game/player settings in attempts to subvert equal and fair play (e.g. scripts that rapidly change timenudge settings)
5. Using game exploits is considered cheating. This includes general game bugs, and map specific bugs.
Common sense clause
If you have a question towards the legality of a possible exploit contact an admin as soon as possible to avoid being hit with infractions in the future. If a person is found to have used an exploit that gained them a large advantage they will not be able to hide behind "It wasn't stated as being an exploit in the rules", "I didn't know" or "other players are doing it". Spending hours upon hours searching for the next undocumented exploit that will gain you or your team an advantage in a match will no longer be a viable option. Players and teams will be held responsible for your actions when the exploit is found and a ruling is made on it. Punishment could vary and is completely at the admin’s discretion.
Precautions that can be taken by an STA-AA admin if individuals in a team have been suspected of cheating are:
1. Require both sides to submit in-game screenshots, demos, server logs, pbss, and ftp access during the match or at any time the STA-AA admins feel suitable.
3. STA-AA admins may request a copy of a cfg being used by a player.
4. STA-AA admins may also request a match is played or continued on a server of their choice where the admin has access to all these tools as well. Failure to cooperate will result in forfeit of the match.
If it is suspected that cheating occurs, notify an STA-AA admin with proof and the offending player(s)/team will be considered for expulsion. Proof may include demos, console logs and any other pertinent information and must be submitted within 48 hours of the incident. If a team claims that another team has cheated and cannot supply enough evidence to substantiate the claim the claim will be discarded. Spurious accusations of cheating will be considered a violation of proper conduct and action can be taken against the accusing team.
STA does not tolerate cheaters of any kind. Players found guilty of cheating will be banned
| Last Updated on June 1, 2006 |
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