| STA UO Rules |
I. Introduction
II. Fundamental Rights
III. Player Expectation
IV. Eligibility Requirements
V. Rosters
VI. Sportsmanship
VII. Ringers
VIII. Cheating
IX. Dispute Handling
X. Season Format & Seedings
XI. Team -vs- Team Pairing
XII. Match Times and Rescheduling
XIII. Game Recordings
XIV. Match Play
XV. Team Inactivity
I. Introduction
STA-COD:UO was created for clans compete for fun and glory in the game of COD:UO. Please keep in mind that STA administrators sacrifice large amounts of their free time to maintain this league. They do so with zero monetary compensation, and completely for your own enjoyment. This is the framework for all rulings made in the league. The rules are also written under the assumption that they will be used in good faith by all parties involved, which sometimes is not the case. To this end, even if the rules for your particular league do not state it, administrators always have the final say on whether or not to apply a particular rule, or how it should be applied. They also may make rulings contrary to the written rules if the ruling serves the purpose of fairness and maintains the integrity of the league. This is not to say that administrators will go around randomly ruling on things depending on their mood for the day - admin abuse is taken seriously by senior administration and we never tolerate it. This does, however, give the admins some leverage so that their hands are not tied by a rule that did not take a certain circumstance into account when written.
II. Fundamental Rights
All STA leagues operate under the same basic tenets of order, logic, equality and fairness. Clans and their members are reserved the following rights:
1. Active league administrators who respect proper chain-of-command.
___For clan leaders:___
League administrators are required to make themselves accessible to clan leaders in a timely fashion so as to address all concerns, disputes, and queries seriously.
___For clan members:___
If any member of a clan within STA-CODUO requires contact regarding personal issues, they may approach an administrator directly. However all other operations, including official clan business, should be channeled appropriately through the team's listed contact. Administrators reserve the right to deny communication with clan members if its capacity is related to official clan operations.
2. Clans will not be penalized on unsubstantiated grounds.
To protect players from unsubstantiated accusations of misconduct, STA administrators will discard claims and accusations lacking in sufficient evidence. See *Section IX for more information.
3. Clans and their members have the right to a fair and just decision.
Under any circumstances that require a ruling by an STA-CODUO official, clans and their members have the right to a fair and just decision. At a minimum, clans are entitled to rulings whereby the active administrator is not directly affiliated (e.g. clanmate) with any gamers held subject under his or her decision.
III. Player Expectation
League members have certain responsibilities that must be fulfilled for the STA league to remain functional. Those responsibilities include:
1. It is expected that all clan members are fully familiar with the rules. Much as in real life, ignorance is not an excuse.
2. Clan leaders must be easily accessible. Email must be working and checked regularly. Contact must also be possible through IRC.
3. Clan members are expected to keep current with all changes posted on the website. This includes but may not be limited to: schedule updates, rule changes, and the latest news. The STA website is to be checked right before a night's match is scheduled to start.
4. All clan members are held responsible for the actions of their clanmates. The poor decisions of one member may in some circumstances place the entire team at risk, and so members are encouraged to educate their teammates on proper conduct and official STA rules.
5. Clans and their members are required to respect the rulings of an STA administrator. Attempts to denigrate an administrator may result in a suspension of your clan. All rulings are final.
6. You cannot lie to an admin. Intentionally misrepresenting your situation may be construed as a flagrant disregard for the rules and action will be taken in kind. All rule violators are normally given a chance to fess up. If hard proof of a violation is at hand and the culprit lies to the administrator to try and escape the situation, harsher penalties will be given.
IV. Eligibility Requirements
In order for a clan to participate in the STA-CODUO league, the clan must supply:
- Clan name
- Clan tag
- Up to date Roster with GUIDs
- IRC channel
- Clan Coordinator e-mail address
These requirements are non-negotiable. If your application contains inaccurate information or is missing key details, it will be rejected.
V. Rosters
All teams are required to maintain an updated listing of their roster during the season. This information must be located in the clan's profile page found on our website, and on this page all players’ GUIDs must also be listed. The rules below for player eligibility for rosters are also applied to GUIDs. Even if a player has been on the roster long enough, if that player’s GUID has not been submitted before the day of the match, that player will be ineligible to play in that match.
___Roster Locks:___
- additions cannot be made on the day of the match.
Four weeks before the playoffs , clan rosters will be permanently locked. After this date, any gamer not listed with their proper team with the correct GUID must wait until the next season to play.
Players must play using the names displayed on their team’s roster. If the offending team has a player that doesn’t use the correct alias and refuses to change said alias at the request of the opposing clan’s leader, then the match will result in a forfeit for the team with the offending player. If, however, the match commences with the offending player using an incorrect alias, the option for dispute on those grounds will be null.
VI. Sportsmanship
Persons who do not display proper sportsmanship towards others will be considered for expulsion. Activities that warrant such consideration include excessive defilement of other clans or incredibly virulent behavior in general in STA mediums or relating to the STA league.
Enforcement of this rule may apply to any communication medium involving members of STA-CODUO. Please remember that an entire clan can be held responsible for the actions of a single member, and so teammates should take all necessary action to keep each other in-line with expectations.
Any concerns regarding this topic should be filed as disputes, following the method described in the *Section IX. Remember that proof of misconduct will be necessary.
___In-game Chat (mm1):___
In-game chat (mm1) is allowed for all players as long as both teams show sportsmanship and agree to use mm1. If a captain of a team should at any time (before or during a map) decide to ask for "mm2 only", that request shall be immediately granted by both teams. When this request is made, mm1 will only be allowed for team captains (as shown on the STA rosters) while the map is under way. mm1 will still be permitted to be used by all players before the map, during warmups, during timeouts, and after the map has ended. Minor infractions of the mm1 rule will not neccessarily constitute a forfeit, but if the administrators see it as being excessive in quantity or content, and see it happening week after week, a team may be penalized. All communication is to be conducted in a sportsman like manner and showing obvious self constraint.
Note Bene: STA-CODUO is not in the business of censorship. The above rules are, except in the most extreme circumstances, restricted purely to official league business. This encompasses pre-match, match, immediate post-match communication, the STA forums, and other official STA channels of communication. Most other activities will fall outside the jurisdiction of STA-CODUO except in those cases which administrators warrant as being a flagrant derision of its members.
VII. Ringers
The league does not tolerate ringers/smurfers. A ringer is loosely classified as any person playing on a team for whom they are not eligible to compete with. The most common violation of this rule takes place when a gamer competes for a team whereby they are not listed on that team's official roster or a player is playing under a name on that team’s roster but not with a GUID that is on that team’s roster.
If a team plays with a player not on their roster, regardless if both teams agree that said player can play, the offending team will face punishment.
Rosters are not automatically accepted by both teams when the match starts, like server settings are. This can be disputed after the match.
Persons found to be violating this rule may face severe punishment for themselves and their clan(s), regardless of who was aware of what circumstances and when. Thus, STA-CODUO firmly recommends that clan leaders investigate all incoming members with intense scrutiny. Due to the fact that all offenses are different, the punishment for using a ringer will be different for each scenario. Common punishments involve the banning of the ringer and the team captain, a forfeit loss for the team, and a team suspension.
VIII. Cheating
Internet gaming is plagued by a population of irresponsible individuals who do not see the harm in introducing cheats, hacks, and spam into the community. It is expected that no clan in STA-CODUO cheat. Violations include, but are not limited to:
1. Aim Proxy (OGC)
2. Texture/Model/Map/Physics hacks.
3. Any type of unauthorized pak or file editing
4. Any mechanism by which information that is not normally available to the player is obtained. (e.g. VoIP and GTV eavesdropping)
5. Nuking, channel takeovers, spamming, crashing a match server, or any other methods of Denial of Service.
6. Any type of driver hacks (e.g. See through walls, ATi Smartshader effects, nVidia NULL functions) that causes the game to render improperly.
7. Any type of program (such as 3DAnalyze) running that causes the game to render improperly.
8. Any type of unauthorized utilization of in-game bugs.
9. Automated HUD item timing scripts, programs and proxies. These include VSE Timer and Deathmon. Stats of Terror is legal.
10. Any type of lag hacks including running P2P programs to artificially lag.
11. Exploit scripts* (ie: shooting, jumping, or centerview scripts that give a player an advantage).
12. Touch screen monitors or any other touch screen viewing devices.
The STA-CODUO league will only deal with violations that take place within the exact context of those events which fall under our jurisdiction. However, if a player is found out to commit these violations outside of league play and enough evidence is submitted so that the administrators can rule that that particular person was the one to make the offense without any reasonable doubt (demos, screenshots, witnesses, logs, GUIDs, IP addresses), then that person may be banned from league play for that particular season and the match will result in a forfeit for the offender's team. Any offense made outside of the league after the roster deadlines (if two divisions have different cut off dates, then this rule goes by the earlier date), or before a season starts, will warrant a ban for the rest of the current season and playoffs and the next season.
If a player is caught cheating in an official match for another COD:UO league or ladder, then that player will be permanently banned from the STA COD:UO league. This is not dependent on the administrators of the other leagues, and their ruling makes no difference in STA's ruling. The STA administrators must be able to make the decision themselves regarding whether or not the player was cheating, just as they would while deciding whether someone was cheating in an STA match.
If an active player is caught cheating in STA, another league, or on a public server, then demos may be reviewed from past STA matches to determine if that player was cheating in them. The team captains from those past matches must file a dispute to the administrators and provide all the neccessary information required in a standard dispute. If sufficient information is found, then the disputing team will receive a forfeit win for that past match while the offending team will receive a forfeit loss. Regular season match outcomes can not be changed once the first week of the playoffs's matches have been played. If this happens during the playoffs and forfeits are awarded for past playoff matches, then the matches affected by the outcomes of that match may be replayed. If a match is not affected or the same match-ups occur after the directly affected matches are replayed, then those identical matchups will not be replayed.
If something in your system setup generates false-positives with respect to screenshots or file scanning, contact an administration well before you play a match so the situation can be documented ahead of time.
If you suspect another clan of cheating or someone on your own clan of cheating, immediately contact an administrator for assistance in resolving the conflict. This process is further outlined in *Section IX.
___Kick Policy:___
STA now has a zero tolerance policy regarding hack violations relating to bindsrc, md5tool, cvar, and other general hack kicks. Every player is required to keep their system clean of hacks, other cheating files, or other cheating scripts, so be sure these things and your configuration file are completely clean. Do not accept files or configuration files from other players, and if you do, be sure to analyze them fully because you will be at greater risk to be kicked for violations. The following excuses will no longer be tolerated:
- The player was using someone else's configuration file that had hack cvars in it.
- The cvar or file was left over from an old hack.
- The hack was still running from another game/mod when the player switched into COD:UO.
- Someone else (such as a relative or friend) was using the hack.
- It was a virus/spyware/adware that put the file/cvar there or caused the kick in some way.
- Someone hacked into the player's computer and put the file/cvar there or caused the kick in some way.
IX. Dispute Handling
First and foremost, clans are encouraged to find mutually acceptable solutions without assistance from STA-CODUO officials. If this proves impossible, then the next step is to file a dispute.
All disputes must be filed no later than 6 hours from the beginning of the match in question. If more time is needed to gather demos and other evidence, than an extension of these 6 hours may be approved by the administrators during these first 6 hours. If no approval is given in this time, then assume the standard 6 hours. Do not submit your team scores if you intend to dispute, as a submission of scores is an acknowledgement that you accept the circumstances of the given match and its outcome.
Ideally, disputes can be resolved in real-time with the help of an onsite admin. Any team that needs to locate STA-CODUO personnel should log on to our #sta-coduo IRC channel, on either the "ETG" or "Gamesurge" network.
In the event of a dispute, a clan must submit a subpoena for review to the league. This subpoena acts as a precise representation of one clan's claim against the actions of their opponent. The contents of this dispute must be extremely detailed to even be considered for review. In particular cases where cheating may be involved, administrators will require timestamps for exact instances in which a transgression may have taken place. There are no exceptions to this standard and the league will not indulge half-measures in this regard. A clan has only two options; either file a comprehensive dispute, or don't.
:: The subpoena must include ::
1. Rule violated by opposing clan, as quoted from this document.
2. An exact description of how and when the rule was violated.
3. Extremely specific proof of the transgression in the form of: Server logs, chat logs, e-mails, demos, screenshots, or condumps.
Note: Disputes such as “They cheated” with no other information will not be taken seriously. The subpoena rules above must be followed specifically otherwise the dispute will be thrown out. If a team is found to be taking advantage of the dispute process by filing many unwarranted disputes, action may be taken against said team.
:: Disputes may end in one of the following manners ::
1. Discard; no action taken.
2. Replay; match must be restarted.
3. Positive; team who filed receives 3 points, other team 1 point.
4. Negative; claim reviewed but no action taken.
5. Forfeit; egregiously bad behavior from one or both parties prompts that the team(s) are/is awarded a forfeit, 0 points awarded.
It should be noted that in extreme circumstances, a dispute might end in the additional suspension of any guilty clan(s).
X. Season Format & Seedings
STA-COD:UO operates on a seasonal format. Scheduling for the regular season adheres to our specially created system, outlined in *Section XI. The rules specifically mention the format for the Rifles Only division.
___Seasonal Layout:___
- 10 weeks of regular season (could be more depending on the number of teams in the league)
- 2 weeks of playoffs (could be more depending on the number of teams in the league)
- Championship match
___Seeding Criteria:___
- Total Points
- Head-to-Head victories. (2-way ties only)
- Highest Round Differential
- Head-to-Head victories. (2-way ties after the first 3 criteria only)
- Most amount of cumulative "maps won".
- Head-to-Head victories. (2-way ties after the first 5 criteria only)
If teams are still tied after these 5 criteria, the playoffs will be delayed a week and these two teams will face off at the date and time that the playoffs were supposed to begin on a map that will be determined by the administrators.
___Playoff Seedings:___
The top 8 seeds after week 10 will move on to the playoffs. The playoffs use a standard bracket system.
First round: 1v8, 2v7, 3v6, 4v5.
Second round: Winner of 1v8 vs. winner of 4v5. Winner of 2v7 vs. winner of 3v6.
Final round: The remaining two teams play each other for the championship.
The team with the higher seed at the start of the playoffs will become the home team for each match in the playoffs. For example, if seed 8 beats seed 1, seed 8 would still be the away team when they play either seed 4 or seed 5 in the second round.
Note: We encourage the two losing teams from the round before the championship round to play each other for 3rd place whenever it is convenient for the two teams. This is not required, but it is seen as a positive thing for these two teams to do so.
XI. Team -vs- Team Pairing
Stronger Than All has employed a semi-swiss method for league scheduling. This specially designed system allows for artificial tiers with lots of exciting matches, while still keeping the league inherently porous.
___How It Works___
Win = 3 points.
Loss = 1 point.
Forfeit = 0 points.
Bye = 3 points.
1. Teams play each other only once, except perhaps seeds 5-12 after week 9.
2. Teams of varying points are placed into groups.
3. Teams receive a separate seeding for that particular group.
4. If the total amount of teams is odd, the lowest seed in the lowest group automatically receives a bye, under the assumption that the team hasn't already received a forfeit win or a bye.
5. Starting in the highest group, the top seed plays against the lowest seed in that group, which they have not already played against once before. The higher seed becomes the home team.
6. Once all possible match-ups have been made within a group, any team(s) still remaining automatically become the highest seed(s) in the next lowest point group.
7. Any team that registers for the league after the season has began is not eligible to receive a bye.
8. In week 10, Seeds #5-12 form their own grouping, and are paired regardless of potential repeat matches. The rest of the division follows the normal swiss rules. The rest of the teams play each other according to rules 1-7 as if seeds 5-12 were not there.
9. Seeds 1-4 will not be locked after week 9 and the scheduling will continue as normal for these seeds.
___Byes and Forfeits___
If a team receives a forfeit win, that team gets the 3 points for the win. In that week, the winning differential for all matches (that were not byes or forfeits) should be averaged together. The team that received a forfeit win should receive said differential. The team that receives a forfeit loss not only doesn’t get a point, but they get the negative differential of the week's winning differential average added to their total diffe ential.
Any team that receives a bye will get the 3 points for a win and 0 differential.
In the event of a match being partially played that resulted in a forfeit or one team being disqualified before or during the match, then the winning team will receive either the differential allotted during that match so far, or the average differential for all other teams, which ever one is higher. Said differential will be subtracted from the forfeiting/disqualified team.
Once the final schedule for a week is made, no more bye wins can be awarded for that week. If a team drops out, that team's opponent will receive a forfeit win. Schedules may undergo multiple revisions after they have been posted, so this only applies to the final schedule for a particular week.
___Null Matches___
In certain cases, the administrators may find it necessary to determine the outcome of a match to be "null". In this situation, a team will receive 0 points and 0 differntial.
XII. Match Times and Rescheduling
___Default Match Times:___ *Eastern Standard Time
Sunday, 9:00pm (yet to be determined)
___Late Matches___
All maps must be started by 11:30pm EST (unless both teams agree to play later), and any remaining maps have to be rescheduled to start within 100 hours after the scheduled start time of the original match. For this to be able to happen, the match has to have been started on time and at least 2 maps has to have been completed. The admins have to be informed of the new start date of the remaining maps, by both teams, within 6 hours of the original match’s scheduled start time. If the two teams can’t decide on a date and time within those 6 hours, then the remaining maps will start 72 hours after the scheduled start time of the original match. In the event of a holiday, the administrators will make a ruling on the start time if one is not already agreed upon within those first 6 hours by the two teams.
___Initial contact:___
Clans are expected to make contact with each other at least 24 hours prior to game time. During initial contact, server and match time information should be exchanged. Pings should be tested out on the servers chosen by both teams to make sure there are no problems.
___Rescheduling:___
Teams may reschedule a match for anytime between the day on which the schedule has been posted, and the day after the scheduled default day of match (TBD), so long as both teams agree to it and an admin consents. Once a match is rescheduled, it may not be rescheduled again. If no agreement is made, matches are to take place on the default day at the default time (TBD).
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.
Clans are responsible for having multiple means of contacting teammates, STA administrators, and also other clans. Server downtime for communication mediums such as IRC networks, e-mail, or Instant Messaging must be manageable by clans and their players.
XIII. Game Recordings
All players are required to record and save complete demos from every match. They must save these demos for the entirety of the season, whereby administrators reserve the right to obtain from the player a demo of any match, at any time, and for any reason. Failure to record demos will result in a penalty for the offender's clan. The minimum punishment will be a forfeit loss, with the possibility for additional action depending upon the circumstances at hand.
COD:UO requires you to type /record before every match
Every week, two random players from each team will be chosen to submit demos to the STA FTP. Further guidelines regarding this procedure can be found here. Any player who does not submit his or her demos will receive a forfeit loss for his or her clan, and possibly further punishment for said offender.
XIV. Match Play
___Picking Sides/Timeframe___
The "Home" team is the first clan listed on the schedule page. This team begins the game as ALLIED, and chooses the server for the first map. The "Away" team is the second clan listed on the schedule page. This team begins the game as AXIS, and chooses the server for the second map. Teams must swap sides between the first two maps. If TeamA chooses TeamB’s server as the server they would like to play on, TeamB has the right to decline that request.
Clans have 15 minutes after the scheduled match time to join the game server and "ready up". Please refer to the Between Map Time Limits rule in *Section XVIII below for more information.
All clans are expected to be ready to play at the default time. Clans should send a representative to the #sta-coduo IRC channel 30 minutes prior to the match, as to avoid disagreements and potential problems.
Finally, both clans should check server settings to verify that they are correct. If no objections are raised during this time, then neither clan may challenge the settings during or after the match. By joining the server and starting the match, you agree to the cvar settings as they stand.
Teams will play the first 20-minute half on either Axis or Allies. The home team (team listed first on the schedule) is Allies. At the half, the teams will switch and play a second 20-minute half with home team being Axis. At the end of the 2nd half, the team with the most total flag captures wins the match. If a match goes to overtime it will be a suddendeath overtime. First team to cap wins.
___Players___
Matches may be played with more than the default if both teams agree and the server can support it.
Each team must have at least the default minus 1 to play. Teams are prohibited from playing 1-man down if both teams have the default able players present. A team purposely playing a man down is considered unsportsmanlike. Failure to play with at least the default minus 1 players results in the offending team's forfeiture of the match.
___Models___
All players must use a default model. Any player caught with a enhanced model skin will be suspended/banned, and resulting team given a forfeit loss.
___Substitutions___
If a player drops unexpectedly, the team down in members has the right to sub another one in, in place of the dropped member.
___In Game Chat___
Each team will be responsible for a team captain. This team captain will be the head of each team, and they are to be the only ones communicating in game chat. Players on the same team are NOT allowed to globally chat, they are only allowed to chat in "team" during a match event.
___Intermission___
Each team has the right to have a 10 minute break after the first half of the match. If both teams agree to resume the match right after the first round, that is fine. PAM should take care of the "break" part. When both teams are ready to resume, just hit your "USE" key until your Ready Up.
___Score Reporting___
Scores must be reported within 6 hours of the scheduled match time, by both teams, unless a dispute is filed. We recommend you submit score reports immediately after the match is completed. A list of the players who have played in that particular match for a team (not subs) must be submitted in the comments section when submitting scores. If rosters are not submitted, there will be a 15 point or 15% differential deduction (which ever is higher) for the offending team.
Both teams participating in the match must report the correct scores of the match. A failure to do so can result in a suspension to the team captain. We know people make mistakes, so let’s try not to make it a habit. Contact an Admin and they can fix it for you.
___Exploits___
Any team taking advantage of a map exploit will result in an automatic forfeit loss, removal of suspension of teams/players. This can be found out by reviewing demos.
XV. Team Inactivity
A clan is marked for inactive status if any of the following conditions occur:
1. Clan has requested inactivity.
2. Clan has forfeited matches for two consecutive play weeks.
3. Clan has repeatedly not had the full amount of players available for matches.
Inactive clans are not scheduled for play. For a clan to become active again, it must meet the same criteria as those clans wishing to join the league anew.
| Last Updated on June 1, 2006 |
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