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RGL Global Rules Update, Discord Updates, and February Bans

   exa   - 3/4/2020
Currently, at the end of the regular season, if two teams are tied in match points, the following tiebreakers are used to determine the final seedings. If neither of the three methods below are applicable, there must be a tiebreaker match.


We will be updating the rules, so there will not be a need for a tiebreaker match. They are as follows:



Quality of Opponent / Strength of Schedule

Quality of Opponent or Strength of Schedule is used to determine the difficulty level of a team’s season to award the team with the toughest season the higher seed. This methodology is not only used in other leagues in TF2, it is also used in other eSports such as CSGO as well as sports such as chess and sports leagues like the NFL and NBA.

All the methods below require discarding the following before calculating the score for each respective method:

  • Discard invalid teams (dead, disqualified, etc.)
  • Discard forfeit, default, and bye week wins

This is done to create a fair and even baseline for both teams by removing wins against opponents that have not completed the entire season or by removing wins from games that were not earned by competing in a match.

Median-Buchholz

This method is utilized in Swiss System Divisions, and currently used by OzFortress. This method cannot be used in a Round Robin division due to teams playing the exact same teams, thus resulting in the same Median-Buchholz score.

Sum of the Total MP(T) of every opponent the team has played against after discarding invalid teams, as well as the best and worst opponent’s Total MP(T).

Calculate the Median-Buchholz:

1. Get the Total MPs(T) of all the opponents your team played a match against
2. Discard the Total MP(T) of the opponent with the highest Total MP
3. Discard the Total MP(T) of the opponent with the lowest Total MP
4. Add together the Total MPs(T) of the remaining opponents to get the Median-Buchholz
5. Team with the highest Median-Buchholz is the higher seeded team

Sonneborn-Berger

This method is utilized in the event Median-Buchholz results in a tie, it is also currently used by ETF2L.

Sum of the Total MP(T) of every opponent the team has beaten after discarding invalid teams.
Calculate the Sonneborn-Berger:

1. Get the Total MPs(T) of all the opponents your team played a match against
2. Discord the Total MPs(T) of all the opponents you lost a match against
3. Add together the Total MPs(T) of the opponents you beat to get the Sonneborn-Berger

Tiebreaker Score

This method is utilized if either of the methods above results in a tie.

Calculate the Tiebreaker Score:


Dead Teams in Round Robin Divisions

Should a team disband or be disqualified in a Round Robin division, all the matches the team played in will no longer play a role in their opponent’s Total MP(T). This is done to prevent issues where a team loses MP versus a dead team, but other teams receive full MP for bye weeks.


Update to Map Exploits



This will be added to the map exploits section of the rules.

Match Fixing



This rule will be added to the game integrity section of the Global RGL rules.

Clarification on Turn Scripts




This section of the scripts section will be better clarified here to include examples of what is not permitted.


Match Point System


This will be discussed in the Season 3 6v6 article.


Number of Non-NA players per roster



The rule of a cap on the number of non-NA TF2 players per RGL roster is a cap that has existed since the early beginnings of the league. There seems to be some misconceptions regarding this rule and the purpose of it. This will be better clarified and explained here.

  • Community Feedback

In the One-Day Prolander Cups and RGL Highlander Season 1, there was a lot of community feedback from players that expressed their discontent of cross-continental players participating in a North American league. Particularly with a class like sniper, having high ping created an environment that forced North American players to have to have to shift their playstyle. The combination of a high ping sniper being able to hit players around walls (from a player's perspective) and using net settings to abuse the hit registration of the game created an experience that was not enjoyable by the player base. This is displayed with an 81% approval rating of a restriction on non-NA players in the poll.

  • Issues of Skill Equivalency and Sandbagging

For players participating in our league, you may know that we have an "Admin Placement" division. This is for players who are above Open but might not be ready for Invite. This is a placeholder for the Intermediate, Main, and Advanced divisions. Instead of teams selecting their own divisions, teams will register, and admins will review their roster strength, logs and other factors to determine what division they should be placed into. The issue lies with players participating in regions, such as Europe or South America. Cross-experience becomes blurry, for example, where to particularly place players with SA UGC experience, as there is only one division that exists in that particular region. The possibility of placing a top player from South America or a player that may have a lot of experience from competitions in that region into a wrong division in RGL NA becomes a possibility. This is further pronounced by the past history of teams that intentionally sandbag by taking advantage of the lack of familiarity of player skill from other regions.

Work can be done to better understand how players from other regions compared to NA players. With most players opting to keep the current cap at 2 (evident in our surveys), the rule will stay in effect.

Probation Players


The probation rule exists where a team is capped at two probation players per roster. If you are not familiar with the probation system in RGL by now,


The probation system is a new system that RGL has implemented in 2020 after our recent ban wave. The purpose is to ultimately give players a second chance to participate in the league, given that they fill out the appeal form and can affirm that they will change their behavior for the better. Our course of action was taken primarily to alert specific players that their behavioral trends were not in-line with the kind of community we wish to foster inside of RGL. Other important information of note is that these ‘bans’ were not meant to serve as formal bans, but rather to act as a formal warning for the listed players. Placing players on probation is set in precedent with players that have had a history of harassment, using slurs/derogatory language on our platforms, and other actions that negatively push out players in our community.



This is an updated rule that is taking place entering RGL Highlander Season 5. With the cap on the number of probation players per roster, the intent is to separate players that have a history of harassment, using slurs/derogatory language on our platform, or have done egregious actions that push out players in our community. Allowing players with such a history to participate with each other seemingly does nothing to promote RGL's goals of fading this type of behavior out of our community if they continue to be an environment that condones it. It should be noted that a player can be removed from probation if they have an extended period of good behavior. This means that the individual needs to clearly show that they have improved or changed as an individual, receive no reports, and that they clearly understand our behavior policy and to not break it.


RGL Discord Updates


While many of our other departments with RGL have been updated or revamped the past month, our management with the Discord PUGs and who to contact regarding chat moderation is not as clear as it should be. It should be noted that we have spent ample time in the past month to discuss how the moderation team should be enforcing rules, ban/mute length, and how players are logged in the Discord. This section of the article will discuss changes to these areas that we will be making.

  • Discord Moderation & RGL PUGs Point Of Contact

It is evident that players that have had issues with being muted or banned in Discord often do not know who to contact. To remedy this, having a head Discord moderator (that we will direct people to) will now be done. In addition to this, the lengths of mutes will now be logged in the warning message. In our #information channels, we have also listed out the Discord moderator, darzie whose discord is WolfTeeth#6678.

Heaving a head PUG moderator to defer players regarding PUG ban and other PUG-related issues will only help to improve communication. Shaggy#5426 will also be listed as a contact in our #informations and #pugs channel.

  • PUG Runners and Moderation

It should be noted that PUG runners in the RGL Discord do not have access to moderation tools outside of their run pickup-games. This discrepancy needs to be cleared, as it has been a change that has been made ever since the merge of our Highlander and Main server that exists today. These PUG runners are not admins or staff, so if you have an issue with moderation, please contact WolfTeeth#6678.

  • PUG Rule Update

We will be reworking the teamwork rule as follows:



Mutes in the Discord have been updated to be mirrored for PUGs.


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. This form will be for appealing indefinite bans in RGL.gg.


Cheating


The following players have been caught cheating by the RGL Anti-cheat team and will be banned (cases that have been sent to us the last few days are currently in the process of being reviewed):

  • Silence - 1 Year / first cheating offense
  • snowy - 1 Year / first cheating offense
  • sarah - 1 Year / first cheating offense
  • Nierxi - Permanent - Continuous history of cheating on alternate accounts and multiple ban evasions.

The following are examples of some of many alternate accounts that the Nierxi has evaded and cheated in matches, as well as being vac banned on:


NOTE: Panic scripts or 180° turn scripts are not allowed and fall under the script abuse section of the RGL.gg Global Rules. If you are unsure whether a specific script is allowed, please contact an admin to clarify the situation before playing.


Alting


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



Probation


The following individual have been banned and placed on probation:

  • pant - Minimum 3 months - Individual gained control of another RGL player's computer and then repeatedly used racial slurs in the RGL Discord on their account.
  • RonnieJ - Minimum 6 months - Player harassment; continually distributing explicit images of another player.
  • skuar - Minimum 6 months - Use of racist and transphobic and excessive language during RGL scrim, while RGL banned. This is their 3rd offense, with an instance of a match ban evasion.
  • indra - Minimum 6 months - Excessive toxicity, racism, transphobia and homophobia. Due to this excessive and egregious nature of the players actions, they have been put on an indefinite ban with a minimum sentence for six months.
  • Little Nyar - Minimum 1 Year - The following individual disrespectfully and prematurely made fun of the death of an ETF2L league admin. This will be a mirrored ETF2L ban.
  • cyclopsguy - Minimum 1 Year - Created script bot to spam appeals form with appeals filled with racial slurs.

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

Update on players currently banned and on probation:

ekh0 - Minimum 6 months - The player manually changed their profile picture in RGL to an image with a racial slur (as well as used it during a match), and was previously banned for sending it to an admin. The player, during an official, made a personal attack against a player on the other team. Players who are on probation had to affirm that they'd change their behavior for the better.

Given these recent incidents, the players three previous bans, and that they are on probation. They have been put on an indefinite ban with a minimum sentence for six months. After the six months have elapsed, they can appeal to have their ban lifted, provided they can show that they've changed as a member in this community.


Harassment


  • berset - Continuous harassment of another player - 1 month
  • randyw - Derogatory/transphobic flaming; excessive toxicity in scrims - 1 month


League


The following individuals were involved in collaborating to disrupt/crash a RGL platform service and will be banned for a 1 month:



Sportsmanship and Spirit


The following players 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.

  • hump3 - Excessive toxicity in scrims - 1 week / First Offense
  • ghadilli - Antisemtic comments - 1 week / First Offense
  • jt - Using a racial slur in a match - 2 weeks / First Offense
  • Shredder - Changing team name to racial slur during RGL scrim - 2 weeks / First Offense
  • marco5 - Changing team name to racist name during RGL scrim - 2 weeks / First Offense
  • rvn - Use of racist slur on a RGL platform (Discord) - 2 weeks / First Offense
  • Manute "deadlyseed" Bol - Use of racist language during RGL scrim - 2 weeks / First Offense
  • hexx - Using a racial slur on our forums - 2 weeks / First Offense
  • mae - Using homophobic slurs during a RGL scrim - 2 weeks / First Offense
  • pengest - Using transphobic slurs in RGL-run PUGs - 2 weeks / First Offense
  • Gabino - Making transphobic comments in RGL Pugs - 2 weeks / First Offense
  • caboose - Toxicity and use of homophobic slur during RGL Scrim - 2 weeks / First Offense
  • golden - Using a homophobic slur in a scrim - 2 weeks / First Offense
  • Spark - Directed transphobic comments during RGL scrim - 4 weeks / First Offense
  • Dog - Use of racist aliases in a scrim and then changed the name as a targeted harassment of another individual - 4 weeks / Second Offense
  • god bless crack - Using a racial slur in a scrim; excessive toxicity - 5 weeks / Second Offense
  • Mdodo - Changing alias to racist name during RGL scrim, while they were banned for racist comments in a previous scrim - 6 weeks / Second Offense
  • nervig - Excessive toxicity and transphobic comments - 6 weeks / Second Offense


VAC Bans


The following accounts have 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.


Mirroring Bans From Other Leagues


It has come to our attention recently that players are not well informed on our mirroring of bans from other leagues, such as ETF2L, UGC, OzFortress, AsiaFortress, etc. Our rulebook makes it clear that RGL mirrors bans from other Competitive TF2 leagues, as noted below:

These bans are not new, players in the past have had their bans mirrored, for example:

  • ryry - ETF2L mirror ban in 2019
  • ZOOM - ETF2L mirror ban in 2018


Players are expected to verify the ban status of their players from other regions with admins. Going forward, should we catch players with bans in other regions, we will be mirroring their bans one-to-one. We will also be reverting any matches the players have participated in in order to uphold RGL’s competitive integrity.

An example of a mirrored ban that we have issued recently is as follows:

  • Toco - Mirror ETF2L Ban - Ban evasion, account sharing, and fraudulent actions.


Demos


The following player has failed to provide a requested demo. This is their first offense and will be a warning. Failure to submit a demo after subsequent requests will lead to bans.



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