Past articles:
January
February

RGL Staff Changes & Applications

• Micahlele will be resigning from their position as a Highlander Head Admin. WiLLmaTiC will be filling in their place and take over as the head admin for that format.
• DubThink, ZoomxZe, and Zan and will be stepping down from their positions as a Main, Intermediate, and Newcomer Traditional 6s admin respectively.
• asher and Constantly and will be stepping down from their positions as an Invite and Newcomer admin respectively.

We would like to thank them for their work and time spent volunteering and wish them the best of luck in their future endeavors. As a result of these staff changes, we are looking for mature, driven individuals who can help us continue to deliver a great platform to ever greater players.

• RGL Highlander will be opening up division administrator and moderator positions. If you are interested in working to help improve our formats, then we encourage you to apply.

If admin positions are filled, we may contact you to potentially join the staff as a moderator instead.

In addition to the above, we are also looking to recruit experienced and talented individuals in the following categories:

• SFM Graphic Designer - As an SFM Graphic Designer, you will be tasked with using Source Filmmaker and editing programs such as Adobe Photoshop to make high-quality posters, banners, and graphics for our social media channels. In-depth experience with SFM and post-processing required. Candidates will be asked to follow a similar editing style to our current banners.
• Guide Writer - As a guide writer, you will help with the RGL guides project. This may consist of helping with writing guides for new players, editing guides, tutorials, or doing voice-overs for videos. Players are recommended to have previous competitive experience at a high level or have played TF2 for a long time to help with producing these guides.
• Video Editor - As a video editor, you will be using programs like Adobe Premiere, Sony Vegas, and other software to help edit and produce videos on the RGLgg YouTube channel and clips to feature on our RGLgg Twitch channel, whether this is highlight reels, introduction videos, or frag clips.
• Voice Casters - As a caster, you will have to speak constantly through every cast, this requires you to have a microphone that can transmit your voice. The higher the quality of your microphone the better because this is what the viewers will be listening to.
• Camera Production - Being a cameraman requires having a fast and stable internet on a platform, you need to be able to stream at 720p 60fps (with a minimum of 7-8 Mbit) on any streaming service such as Twitch. Players are expected to have previous competitive experience at a high level or have played TF2 for a long time to develop a game sense to help with observing. A computer that can run TF2 at 60-100fps WHILE live streaming the games you will be observing is required as well.

Experience in these fields is preferred. If you have applied for any of these positions and have not received a response, feel free to apply again.

If you would like to apply, you can fill out a form

here

from there we will go through the submissions and potentially ask for a follow-up.

RGL Rules Tracker

RGL Rules Tracker

To help keep track of rule changes that may happen each month, a rule tracker document was created to make this easier. This currently only contains rule additions and modifications for the year 2021.

RGL Conduct Survey #4

You can view the full results of the RGL Conduct Survey #4 results here.



Due to the first question not having results be definitive enough, this will not result in a global rule change. It should also be clarified that once both teams are in the server is when the scrim starts, not when teams ready up for the context of logs.

Regarding the Invite player questions, a majority of players do agree that Invite players should be held to higher standards than the rest of the players in RGL. However, the bottom two results display that players believe that Invite players should not be held to a higher level of sportsmanship in public or private areas.

Here are some overall league actions that we have pursued and plan to continue to do for players:

• Improve our response system (i.e. warnings and more consistent process)
• For incidents that are considered "edge" cases, we want to be more proactive with issuing warnings. This is to alert the player of their behavior when it is reported by another individual and reviewed by the report team. Recently, we started issuing this on a player's discipline history, so this is more visible that this is being done, as opposed to having an admin reach out to the player individually in a DM.
• As a note with warnings, this is not done for every report. Formal warnings are only issued when the report does not fall under the guidelines for a league ban but is also in an area that the report team believes should not be discarded (no action).

Global Rule Edits

Starting this week, RGL will be adding a new allowed script to its cheating section in the ruleset. The following statement, written by the Anti-Cheat team, is meant to highlight this change and make it as clear and understandable as possible.

“In Section “[1003.3] - Game Exploits”, we highlight scripts that are allowed and those which are not allowed. We invite you to look at the image below for a reminder of scripts that are and aren’t allowed:

In the list of allowed scripts, a script that replaces all footstep noises with the default in-game footstep audio cues with the default in-game audio cue for stepping on metal surfaces(metal footsteps script), will be added to the list. While in theory, it does give a small (Emphasis on the “small”) advantage to players utilizing it, our AC team has decided to classify it as an allowed script for the reason stated below:

“The script we will be allowing in competition replaces a footstep audio cue with another in-game footstep audio cue that is already giving an "advantage" to players whenever they step on a metal surface within TF2. Valve added this metal footstep audio cue to give players the feeling of stepping on a metal surface and not to allow players to easily detect when a player is nearby using the metal footstep sounds. This is the biggest factor that came into making this decision. This script is packed by default in a lot of configs.

Keeping this in mind, the only exception we will be making is to metal footsteps, when left at its default settings. Any other changes to the sound settings of the footstep will fall under the existing "spy decloak / footsteps / ubercharge / etc" rule in Section “[1003.3] - Game Exploits” and no other audio cue replacements.

Due to the possibility of players attempting to use metal footsteps as a guise to cover up other ESP cheats, the metal footsteps script will be a **USE AT YOUR OWN RISK** script. Meaning that if RGL AC finds evidence of ESP cheats, after taking into account the potential usage of metal footsteps, players will receive a cheating ban.“

This being said, we would like to remind you of a few points regarding Audio and cheating in Team Fortress 2:

1. Third-Party Software to isolate specific sound ranges is still banned. If you want to have more information about this, refer to the last article about AC: https://rgl.gg/?a=1370

2. This change only applies to metal footsteps. Any other use of programs or scripts to raise audio of specific game sounds will fall under the regular spy decloak / footsteps / ubercharge / etc. rule in Section “[1003.3] - Game Exploits”.

3. If AC Staff determines that you are using ESP cheats, then you will receive a cheating ban and will not be granted a chance to appeal on the basis that you were using metal footsteps. Similar to our stance on audio equalizer under “[1003.1.2] - Usage of 3rd Party Software”.

[1010.2.5] - Casting the same match as RGLgg has been clarified to explain the purpose of the rule in the ruleset.


[1006.3.3] - Sandbagging and Class Restriction Guidelines has been added to our global rules. This was previously in our Class Restriction Guidelines article.


[1002.1] - Sportsmanship and Spirit has been updated to clarify that decals or cosmetic loadouts depicting hate symbols or hate group imagery are not allowed. For the initial rollout of this rule, first-time warnings will be issued.


[1009.3.3] - Ringers After Roster Locks is a rewritten rule regarding permanent ringers. Teams can ring players multiple times after roster locks, as long as it is approved by the enemy team.


[1002.4.9] - Offseason and RGL Platform Bans has been updated to be only a restricted role in the Discord server for players on league bans. This enables these players to still have access to the support channel to reach out to admins regarding their ban.


[1004.2] - Punitive Action toward Teams has been updated to clarify what major penalties do inside of the RGL system. A list of minor and major penalties has been added for visibility as well. Repeat offenses of the same team penalty (outside of recording demo checks) will now result in a major penalty. Please note that this is not a comprehensive list of all the rules that will elicit a team penalty.


[1006.4] - Roster Locks has been clarified that roster transactions that passed the roster lock deadline will not be approved. Teams should reach out to admins if they believe that they will miss the deadline, so an extension can be had.


[1010.1] - Casting Organizations has been updated to include an application form for organizations that wish to apply to be an RGL recognized casting organization.


[1010.2.4] - Invite Grand Finals Coverage has been clarified that this will be exclusively be covered by RGLgg.


[1005.2] - Region has been clarified to include which locations are the league's default region central server.


[1008.4.1] - Server Preference has been updated to reflect the [1005.2] - Region ruling.

Bans

These bans were enacted before the release of this article. If you would like to file a report, you can do so on our site here. Appeals can also be found on the same page.

NOTE: We only look at user-submitted reports. If you do not file a report, then there is a good chance that we have not seen it and are unable to deal with the situation.

Cheating

The following player(s) have been caught cheating by the RGL Anti-cheat team and will be banned:

• astre - Permanent / Second cheating offense

Ban Evasion / Alting

The following player evaded their ban by attempting to register their account onto a team in RGL, while their main account is actively serving a league ban.

• Aphla Gamer

The following account will be banned for being an alternate account to Aphla Gamer:

• Corporal Shephard

Alting

The following alternate account(s) have been caught connected to existing accounts in RGL by the RGL Anti-cheat team and will be banned:

• Rambo faster than scout
• Unknown

Probation

The following players have been banned and placed on probation:

• spunkie - 1-week - Violation of [1002.4.2] - Permanently banned players in a scrimmage. (3rd behavorial ban inside of RGL)
• adrenochromeADDICT - 1-month - Use of a racial slur during a scrim. (3rd behavorial ban inside of RGL)

Update on the player(s) that have been banned while on probation:

• rev - 8-weeks - Use of a homophobic slur during a scrim. (2nd ban inside of RGL, 1st while on probation)
• knife.in.spine.2009 - 3-months - Use of a homophobic slur during a scrim. (3rd ban inside of RGL, 1st while on probation)
• Nino - 2-Years - Disrupting a community-casted match. Transphobic and racist comments. (3rd ban inside of RGL, 2nd while on probation)

After the minimum period has been served, the player(s) can appeal to have the ban lifted if they can show that they've improved themselves and how they interact within the community.

League

• k lol - Violation of [1002.4.2] - Permanently banned players in a scrimmage. - 1-week
• hanfue - Assistance of [1007.2.3] - Fraud. - 1-month
• crab_f - Violation of [1007.2.3] - Fraud. Impersonating as a different player to bypass a formal class restriction. - 2-months
• chum - Posting NSFW Content to the RGL Forums. - 3-months
• yreb - Game Exploit - Sniper scope removal (2nd Offense). - 6-months
• Hana - Breaking RGL's player code of conduct. - Permanent
• rvn - Breaking RGL's player code of conduct. - Permanent

Sportsmanship and Spirit

The following player(s) have/had been suspended for 1-6 weeks for their usage of racist slurs, homophobic or transphobic language, excessive toxicity and flaming, or derogatory language on our platforms. Repeat offenders will get longer ban lengths.

• yreb - Use of a transphobic slur in a scrim. - 2-weeks / First Offense
• SmashGuy - Use of a homophobic slur during a scrim. - 2-weeks / First Offense
• oblivion - Use of a weapon with a racial slur during a scrim. Increased length due to being an Invite player. - 3-weeks / First Offense
• moxie - Use of a racial slur during an RGL match. - 2-weeks / First Offense
• degnan - Use of a homophobic slur during a scrim. - 2-weeks / First Offense
• Rene - Use of racial slurs on a RGL platform (Forums). - 4-weeks / Second Offense

Demos

The following player(s) have failed to provide a requested demo. The first offense during the regular season will be a warning. A second offense during the regular season or the first offense during playoffs will lead to suspensions.

• croops - Failure to Submit Demos: 2nd Offense // 2-weeks
• Ice - Failure to Submit Demos: 2nd Offense // 2-weeks
• leif - Failure to submit demos - Automatic 2nd offense (Offense occurred in a playoff match, see [1008.5] - POV and STV Demos) // 2-weeks
• gb - Failure to submit demos - Automatic 2nd offense (Offense occurred in a playoff match, see [1008.5] - POV and STV Demos) // 2-weeks
• SCARYCRAZYMANN - Failure to submit demos - Automatic 2nd offense (Offense occurred in a playoff match, see [1008.5] - POV and STV Demos) // 2-weeks
• glimmer - Failure to submit demos - Automatic 2nd offense (Offense occurred in a playoff match, see [1008.5] - POV and STV Demos) // 2-weeks

VAC Ban

The following account(s) has been banned for having VAC bans that may be affecting TF2. If you have a VAC ban for a game that is not TF2, please contact an admin to get the ban removed.

• i have dementia
• Galaxy
• t-dawg
• sandstorm

You can read further details and context about each of the player's bans by viewing their discipline history on their RGL profile.


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