RTS-League: Clan Leagues for Strategy Gamers

1: Basic Idea

RTS-League is based on the idea that fun and fairplay come before competition. Therefore these rules are limited to only those most necessary to ensure smooth play and to prevent or decide possible disputes. In all cases, the League Staff will have the final decision.

2: Clans

1. A Clan is a group of players (minimum of 6 ACTIVE) that are registered with this website, preferably with a publicly accessible website and/or forum.
2. Clans will be divided into regional divisions, as Battle.net does not currently allow for cross-regional play. Accordingly, each regional division of the clan must have at least 6 active players. Clans that have multiple regional divisions may use the same Operator for all regions they participate in.
3. The official language of the league is English. All Clan Operators must be able to speak English fluently. All posts in other languages will be deleted, and the Staff will not tolerate the use of any online translators.
4. We do not strictly define clan structure, as varying situations exist. We do, however, REQUIRE that each player be a member of the Clan for whom he is playing. Guest players are strictly forbidden. The League Staff reserves the right to exclude any individual from competing if we believe the intent of this rule has been violated.
5. Admission into the League is handled through a formal application process. At the beginning of each season, interested Clans will be given the opportunity to apply for admission through a signup thread in the official League forums. The League Staff will assess each applicant and admit those clans which it deems qualified for participation in the League.
6. Participation in the League is free for all Clans. Operating costs (website, etc.) are paid by the members of the League Staff and/or donations.

3: Players

1. All players in the league must be adults in their country of residence. Minors over the age of 13 are eligible to play only with the express permission of their parents.
2. All members of a Clan, including applicants, are eligible to play for the Clan. However, all players must be listed in the official Player-List—with their corresponding Player ID Number—in the RTS-League Clan Profile. Each Clan is solely responsible for maintaining their own Player-List before, during, and after each Season.
3. Any individual who has played for one Clan during a Season may not play for another Clan during the same Season.
4. The Player-List is to be submitted at the beginning of the Season. Changes can be made at any time; however, new players can only play after a waiting period of seven days (one week), starting from the day they are added to the Player-List. The same applies with name changes.
5. If a Clan uses a player that is not listed and eligible, they will receive an Administrative Loss for each game in which the ineligible player participated.
6. "Smurfing," in any form, will not be tolerated. Players are required to use their own nicknames. Using "borrowed" nicknames (even if they are from the same Clan) is not permitted. The League Staff reserves the right to exclude any individual from competing if we believe the intent of this rule has been violated. In addition, a Clan may be forced to forfeit any games in which a "smurf" nickname was used.
7. A player may represent the same clan in multiple regions, but only if he personally owns a separate account in each region. Using a clanmate's account for this purpose, even with the owner's permission, will result in an Administrative Loss - see Rule 3.6, above.

4: The League Staff

1. To make RTS-League successful, we are dependent on the assistance and support of all participating Clans. The League Staff is grateful for suggestions and constructive criticisms; we will consider all suggestions with a private vote of all League Staff members.
2. The League Staff, in its sole discretion, makes all decisions regarding the acceptance or exclusion of applying Clans, disputes related to the outcome of League matches, and all other issues relevant to the operation of the League. At present, the following persons belong to the Staff:
   • Pedestrian
   • BlackAdder
   • Patjuh
3. For future Seasons, the composition of the League Staff may change without notice.
4. Members of the League Staff will be excluded from participating in any decisions directly involving their own Clans.

5: League Operations: Format & Scoring

A. Divisions

1. Each Season begins with the formation of divisions, where each division consists of at least 5 and at most 10 Clans. There is no promotion or demotion through the divisions; instead, they function separately. After the regular season, the top teams in each division advance to the Playoffs, where an overall champion is determined (See below, Rule 6).
2. The duration of a Season depends on the size of the divisions. Over the course of a season, Clans will play one Round against every other clan in their division.

B. Match Format

1. Each Round lasts one week, and consists of three Matches between members of each Clan:
   • A 1v1 Match between players of any skill level;
   • A 1v1 Match between players of Platinum or lower rank; and
   • A 2v2 Match, where each team has at least one player of Platinum or lower rank. Note: these do not have to be the same two players that compete in the 1v1 Matches.
2. All Matches will be played on Sundays at 19 GMT.
3. Each Match will be played as a Best-of-Three series between the players.
4. The side with the lowest-ranked player may select the Map for the first Game of each Match. For every following Game, the losing side may select the Map. No Map may be played twice during the same Match.

C. Scoring, Results & Tables

1. Generally, the following points are awarded for each Match that is won or lost:
   • Win = 3 points
   • Normal Loss = 1 point
   • Administrative Loss = 0 points
2. In Matches where a Platinum or lower-ranked player is required, a Clan may choose to substitute a Diamond level player instead. If this occurs, however, the Clan will receive 1 less point than the normal result (2 points for win, 0 points for loss).
3. Additionally, a Clan will recieve +1 point for posting its starting lineup each Round prior to the deadline (see Rule 6.A.4, below).
4. As a result, a Clan can earn a maximum of 10 points per Round (3 points x 3 Match wins, plus 1 point for posting the starting lineup).

6: Scheduling: Lineups, Games, & Replays

A. Starting Lineups

1. Each week before 12 GMT on Sunday, the Clan Operator must provide a lineup of "Active" players who will participate in the upcoming Matches. The list must be posted in the Official Forums, and must indicate the match in which each player will participate (upper-level 1v1, lower-level 1v1, and/or 2v2).
2. A Clan may not use the same "active" lineup in two consecutive rounds – at least one player must be different than the previous week.
3. If an Active player fails to arrive for the Match, any eligiple player on the Clan's roster is eligible to play instead.
4. If a Clan posts its lineup before the deadline, and the listed players actually participate in the assigned Matches, that Clan will receive +1 point in the standings (see Rule 5.C.3, above).
5. If a Clan fails to provide a player list by 19 GMT on Sunday (gametime), and a Match is not played as a result, the Clan will automatically receive an Administrative Loss.

B. Playing the Matches

1. When arriving to play a Match, each Player must be logged on to RTSL's IRC channel: #rtsl.sc2 on GameSurge
2. If the lineup has not been posted, or if a Reserve player will be used, that player must be logged into the IRC channel and announce his intention to play the Match. The annoucement must occur before 19:20 GMT, or an Administrative Loss will be awarded.
3. To prevent excessive waiting, the deadline to begin a Match is 19:20 GMT.

C. Posting Replays

1. All replays must be posted without delay using the Clan Operator Panel.
2. The replays from each Match are posted by the winner—every replay must be posted. For example, if a Round is split 1-1, each Clan uploads the replays from the Match that they won.
3. Operators must fill out the forms carefully and correctly, because this is the only way the rankings are updated. Failure to upload a game for an excessive length of time after it was played is qualification for an Administrative Loss.

7: Playoffs

A. General Format

1. At the end of each Season, the top Clans in each division will advance to the Playoffs. The Playoffs consist of a single-elimination, "knockout" style tournament to determine an overall champion.
2. Each Playoff Round (except the Finals) will be played as a Best-of-Three Matches format. Each Match is a Best-of-Three games, using the same format as the regular Season.
3. The Finals will be played as described above, except that the format will be Best-of-Five Matches. The first three Matches will follow the same format as the regular Season. The fourth Match, if necessary, will be a 1v1 (any skill level). The fifth Match, if necessary, will be a 2v2 (both players of any skill level).
4. For the first game of each Match, the player from the higher-seeded Clan may choose the Map. For every following Game, the loser of the previous Game may choose the Map. No Map may be played twice during the same Match.
5. The winner of each Playoff round is responsible for uploading all of the replays using the Clan Operator Panel.

B. Determination of Playoff Participants

1. The top two Clans in each division with the most points at the end of the regular season are guaranteed to advance to the playoffs. In addition, depending on the size of the League and the number of divisions, the League Staff may select a number of "wild-card" Clans to fill out any remaining spots in the Playoff bracket.
2. If there is a tie between two Clans in the same division, only one of whom can receive a playoff spot, a one-Match tiebreaker, using a Best-of-Five format, must be played to determine the winner.
3. If there is a tie between two or more Clans competing for wild-card spots, the playoff participants will be selected based on a random drawing.

C. Seeding

1. Clans in the Playoff bracket will be seeded from highest to lowest based on the following criteria:
   1. The place they achieved in their division (1st, 2nd, 3rd, etc.)
   2. The number of points earned during the regular season.
   3. If two or more Clans are still tied after applying the factors above, the seeding order will be determined by a random drawing.
2. If there is a tie between two clans in the same division, both of which have already secured playoff spots, the following criteria will be used to determine which Clan will receive the higher seed:
   1. The outcome of the Head-to-Head matchup during the season.
   2. The outcomes of the matchups vs the highest ranked common opponent during the season.
   3. Repeat the previous step using the next highest common opponent until a discrepancy is found.
   4. If a winner still can not be determined, the outcome will be decided by a coin flip.
   * Note that Administrative Losses and Misses are NOT factored into tiebreaker decisions because they have already been penalized and included in the current point totals.

8: Game Settings

1. All games must be played with the latest official StarCraft 2 patch released by Blizzard Entertainment.
2. Settings:
   • Category: Melee
   • Game Speed: Faster
   • Selectable Maps: Any official Blizzard-designed 1v1 map may be chosen. Blizzard-designed 2v2 maps are allowed for 2v2 games. Custom maps are allowed only if they have been explicitly approved, in advance, by the League Staff.
   • Handicap play and Free for all are not permitted.
   • The use of any kind of cheats, hacks, etc. is not permitted and will be punished severely.

9. Drops and Forfeits

1. In the interest of fair play, clans may not "forfeit" any matches, or otherwise agree to a result without playing the games. All matches must be played out to their full extent. Leaving during the progress of a match, with insufficient reason, is also prohibited. Violation of this rule results in a Miss for the offending team.
2. If a Clan leaves or is removed from the League during the Season, each game they played will become an administrative win for the opposing team, regardless of the actual result. The rest of their scheduled games will be treated as byes, with the opposing teams automatically receiving administrative wins.
3. If a Clan does not finish a season for any reason, they will not be accepted for participation in the following season.

10. How to Deal With Problems

A. Handling Lag:

1. Any Players foreseeing lag problems should turn all graphics options to the lowest possible settings before the start of a game.
2. If a game begins to lag badly, pause and try to fix any possible problems. All players should turn down graphics settings to the minimum. Players should close all outside applications that might slow performance. If one Player deems the lag playable, and does not want to restart, the game must be continued. If a Clan Operator suspects an opponent is "laming" by choosing to play through terrible lag just to annoy or force a resign, they should play out the game, then report it to the League Staff.
3. If one Player is clearly winning when the lag begins, they can opt to post the game for an administrative decision rather than restart or continue. Any admin decision in this case will be final.

B. Handling Drops:

1. If a player's connection aborts before 10 minutes game-time, the game must be restarted. However, if a Player is clearly winning at the time of the disconnect, the game can be posted for an administrative decision. If the game is dropped again by the same Player, they will receive an administrative loss.
2. If a player's connection aborts after 10 minutes game-time, the game is lost by the Player who disconnected. However, if the disconnected Player is clearly winning at the time of the disconnect, the game can be posted for an administrative decision. Alternatively, the game may be restarted at the discretion of the League Staff.

C. Handling Map Bugs:

1. If a serious map bug—distinct factors that would adversely affect one Clan outside of their control—is discovered in the first 5 minutes of the game, a Clan may demand a restart. The recorded game must be submitted to the League Staff for verification. If no such bug existed, or if it is determined that the restart was demanded for other reasons, the Clan will receive an Administrative Loss.
2. If a map bug is discovered after 5 minutes, the game may not be restarted on account of it.

D. Endgame "Draw" Situations

1. A draw occurs when neither player is capable of producing units that can kill his opponent's remaining units/buildings, and therefore neither player is capable of achieving a victory without the other player resigning.
2. If an end-game situation occurs that both players agree is a draw, the game should be replayed.
3. If a player feels that a draw situation has occurred, but the other player refuses to agree, he may choose to resign and post the game for an administrative decision. If the Staff determines that a draw situation existed, the player posting the game will receive an administrative win; if no draw existed, the player posting the game will receive an Administrative Loss.

11. Observers

1. All members of the League Staff must be allowed to observe any game of their choosing. Officially announced casters must be allowed to observe the game they are scheduled to cast. Non-compliance may result in a penalty to be determined by the Staff.
2. No one is allowed to observe a league game other than the individuals stated above. If anyone in a league game is found observing, both clans will receive an appropriate penalty, as determined by the League Staff.

If you have any questions about the rules, please feel free to contact a League Staff member at any time. Good luck and have fun!