Upcoming eSports Rule Changes (in effect as of December 1st)

lord_farquad: After a lot of sleepless nights, caffeine and general tank destruction, we're proud to introduce the initial version of our new rules set for eSports events. As of now we plan to introduce these new rules as of 12/1/2012. We would appreciate your feedback on the new rule set. Keep in mind the rules are constructed to keep players safe, maintain a competitive environment, and allow adaptation to "loopholes" in the event of serious issues.
General Tournament Rules & Regulations:
To tournament participants: Please note that by participating in any World of Tanks tournament or eSports event, you agree to abide by any and all rule sets, tournament regulations, and official rulings.
To team captains: Please ensure you have read and fully understand the tournament rules. Note that team captains are held responsible for the conduct of any of their team members. Team captains are also responsible to ensure their tank lineup does not violate any of the tournament regulations.
Team names
Team names violating any game/forum rules, may result in immediate disqualification.
Participation RequirementsAll participants must log in to World of Tanks at least once before being able to register for the tournament.
Participation requirements differ for each tournament. Please read the respective tournament’s rules and conditions for further information regarding maximum number of eligible teams and participants. Disputes
Disputes that do not fall under the following guidelines or fail to include the following information may be immediately disregarded by the tournament staff.
Disputes may be filed for the following reasons:
Unsportsmanlike conduct (profanity, vulgar acts or statements, team or personal insults, etc.)
Racism
Disrespect of an Official, streamer or caster
Violation of general or specific tournament rules
Violation of forum or game rules Dispute must be emailed to tournaments@wargamingamerica.com
The email subject/title must include the name of the event followed by the word “Dispute” for which you are filing a dispute (ex. Skirmish XX Dispute, Veteran’s Challenge Dispute, etc.)
Disputes may only be filed by your team’s captain.
Disputes are due on the same day as the battle in question.
Opposing team captains will be alerted of the pending dispute once a dispute is filed.
A dispute rebuttal must be submitted by noon (12:00 PM) PST, prior to the start of the following round.
A resolution will be communicated with both involved team captains at least two hours prior to the start of the following round.
Publicizing disputes, prior to their resolution, is subject to penalties including, but not limited to:
Disregarding of the dispute
Immediate team disqualification
Removal of offending player from the event Disputes must include the following:In-game name of the player submitting the dispute
Name of the tournament the team is participating in
Names of both teams involved in the round
Reason for dispute: e.g. “I would like to report the team for using a tank that was not allowed, the StuG III.”
A replay of the match(es) in question
Remakes & Server Issues
If server issues arise, the battle will be rescheduled by the admin and the involved teams will not be disqualified.
Rescheduled battles will take place during the next available off day, or immediately if no off day is available
Other Warnings and Disqualifications
Keep in mind that all penalties may take into account the severity of the violation, resulting in more or less severe actions.Teams can receive a warning for unsportsmanlike conduct such as excessive use of foul language, griefing, racism, profanity, rude acts, vulgar acts, acts of belligerence, and disrespect of an official, streamer or caster.
Teams may immediately be disqualified for breaking any of the tier/point limits, or other rules on the tournament pages.
Team can receive a warning for other reasons decided by the tournament administration.
All warnings are final. A second warning for any other infraction of the rule-set is grounds for immediate removal pending an investigation by the tournament administration.
Teams can receive a disqualification if they intentionally use any prohibited bugs, exploits, hacks or are found to be utilizing unfair methods of competition by the tournament administration.
The tournament administration may adjust these rules during circumstances including, but not limited to, the following:
Tournament schedule does not allow adequate time for appropriate resolutions
A team violates any forum or game rules
A team member receives forum or game bans
Standard Tournament Settings (Settings changed only under special circumstances)
Game Mode: conditional
Team Size: conditional
Substitutions: Players may be substituted freely between battles within a round, but must be on the roster as of the start of the competition.
Victory conditions: conditional
Battle duration: conditional
Intentional draws: If a team captain suspects intentional draws to prevent both teams from advancing, a dispute may be filed.
Breaks: There will be a 2 minute break between battles within a round
Off days: conditional
Schedule: The schedule will be finalized at the close of registration, once the final team count has been determined
Restrictions: conditional
Variable Tournament Settings (The below settings may change with each individual tournament and will be announced with the start of registration).
Map(s)
Tier limits
Prizes
Game Mode
Team Size
Victory Conditions
Battle Duration
Restrictions
Before the Round
Players are recommended to be online 15 minutes before the start of the round.
Three reserve players are an available option to replace team members that do not show up for the tournament
If a team does not show up and ready for the battle by the scheduled time they will forfeit
If a team cannot provide the maximum allotted players for the battle, they may still attempt to win the battle with what they have.
During the Round
In case of an in-game dispute, ensure that replays are being saved to your replays folder.
If replays are not enabled at the time of the disputable incident, take a screenshot so that it may be reviewed as part of the dispute process.
Tier Limits and Restrictions
Point limits are the sum of tier points your team is allowed to field per battle (tanks = their tier in points)
Tier limits are normally a maximum; this means you may use any tank of that type under the tier limit.
Unless otherwise listed, the number of players per battle is a maximum. This means you can field fewer than that number (be aware that in some cases point penalties may apply).
eSports Team Ratings & Regulations
Overview:
The World of Tanks ELO system is designed to track team performance based on relative team rating, and event weight. This allows us to generate a competitive rating/ranking system to encourage competition between teams, while simultaneously adding a permanent component to tournaments (every tournament affects your rating permanently).
Basic Mechanics explanation:
The system compares current rating to an opponent’s rating. The system then calculates the relative chance to win for each team. Rating points increase/decrease based on actual performance compared to expected performance. This means a high rated team can win a round 3-1, but still lose rating due to the loss of a match, as they were statistically expected to win all of the matches.
Application RequirementsApplications must be sent to tournaments@wargamingamerica.com
Team Captain's In-game Name
Requested Team Name
A list of at least 5 eSports events in which you have participated, including links to your team in those events (Clan Wars and Tank Companies do not count)
Rating Rules & Regulations:Team captains must register their team in order to be rated. Registering team captains must meet the following requirements:
Have participated in at least 5 eSports related events (Tank Companies & Clan Wars do not count)
Have been a team captain in those 5 eSports events All newly registered teams will receive an initial rating of 1200
When a registered team competes against an unregistered team, the unrated team will be assumed at 1200
Captains who register a team name,must use that team name during any subsequent eSports events if they wish to earn a rating for that event (unregistered team names will not be tracked, regardless of the team captain).
Team captains may not register more than one team name.
Team ratings will be publicly listed at the end of each week.
Registered teams are required to include their current rating (as of that week) in brackets after their team name. Example: Team Wargaming [1492]
Registered teams that fail to include their team rating (in brackets) along with their team name will not be rated for the current tournament.
Rated teams involved in the following: unsportsmanlike conduct (such as excessive use of foul language, insults, etc.), griefing, racism, profanity, rude acts, vulgar acts, acts of belligerence, and disrespect of an official, streamer or caster, abuse of in-game bugs or exploits, violation of general tournament regulations and/or violation of tournament specific regulations, may be subject to penalties including, but not limited to, the following:
Immediate disqualification
Permanent team disqualification
Offending member(s) permanent tournament ban
Rating adjustments
Forum bans
Game bans