Urban Zone League Rules

1. Introduction
This league is for 5on5 Capture the Flag. We aim to have short seasons to keep it interesting for all clans involved. At the end of the season the 2 clans that ended highest in their group promote, and the last two relegate.

Urban Zone CTF league:
Divisions 01 - 08
Each division has a supervisor and possibly refereeing staff which are there to help teams in the division and deal with basic problems. All serious issues will be handled by the entire refereeing staff and/or admins. Based on available staff, the division supervisors will not be members of any of the teams in the division they supervise.

Points
Win = 5 points
Draw = 3 points
Loss = 1 point
No show = 0 points

2.A Signing Up
When the signing in period has finished the admins will place veteran teams in divisions according to their results from the previous season and new teams according to the admins’ best knowledge. Because one season does not take long, clans will promote/relegate relatively quickly - this will help achieve a level playing field within the respective divisions. All seasons of all divisions start at the same time, so new clans will have to wait until the season is over before they can start competing.

2.B Signing Up for Larger Clans
Bigger clans can have two teams competing in the league, as long as the teams consist out of unique players and bear names and clan tags distinct for each team (for example, abc1/abc2, def|/def||, xA/yA). Multi-clanning will NOT be accepted in this league and will result in punishment.

3. Planning matches
All matches should be played in the week they are allotted in and scheduled the week before. If this is not possible please contact division referees or supervisors. If the teams fail to agree on a specific time and date, division staff will attempt to facilitate an agreement or schedule the match for a fixed time and date which will be binding for both clans. Failure to show up and play in an admin set match will result in default loss.

4. Arranging Matches and Deadlines
All matches must be played before the end of the season or both clans get no points. If teams fail to schedule a match by Sunday midnight (CE(S)T), the match will be force-scheduled for the following Sunday or for another day and time that suits the one of the teams that is able to provide evidence of trying to schedule the match. Using the website scheduler is considered as decisive evidence and the match will be forced to the last known proposed date and time. In case neither of the teams use the scheduler, they may still plead their case by providing IRC logs (screenshots) of channel/private messages with time/date stamps and/or screenshots of system clock with time and date clearly showing, pm in the league website with a screenshot of system clock with time and date clearly showing, and screenshot of an email message to the team leader/war arranger/member of clan usually in charge of war arranging with time and date clearly shown. Any other evidence of trying to reach the other clan will be considered too, such as a forum post, ICQ message, msn message, etc. If you are having problems contacting the other clan, start logging all your attempts at trying to reach them and inform the league staff. Teams are allowed to reschedule a forced match BEFORE the forced match time for the forced week or the following week.

5.A Playing Matches
A match consists of 4 x 10 minute rounds, two in each map. Teams swap colors after the first round, which is done automatically by the league config. Team A has the right to pick which side they want to play first in team B’s map and vice versa. If in doubt as to which map is to be played first, the team which is listed first in the match description on the website picks the first map. Winner of a map is determined by the accumulated amount of caps from both rounds in that map. A map can end in a draw. In case of a draw in the first map, the winner of the match is determined by the result of the second map; if one team wins the second map then they will have won the entire match. If both teams win one map, it's a draw. If both maps end in a draw, the entire match is drawn. If one team wins both maps, they win the match.

5.B Map Choice
Maps choices are reported to the appointed referee or to the other team leader BEFORE THE MATCH. It is not allowed to change map choice during the game. Teams are only allowed to play maps allowed by the league.

5.C In-Match Server Owner Duties
If there is no referee present, the team leader of the team the server belongs to or any other member of the team with rcon creates a .txt file to record the IP addresses of all players connected in the following manner. When all players are connected, open the console. Type “/clear” to clear your console of previous information. Then “/rcon status” which will show you the IP addresses of all players connected. Finally, create a file with the information by typing “/condump XvsY.txt”. The file will be saved in your Urban Terror folder, not in the server. Only the status command is a server command - do not use “/rcon” with clear and condump. The text file is to be sent to the staff along with screenshots from the match.

5.D Timeouts
Each team is allowed two timeouts per match. Timeout called because of a technical problem concerning server or config is not counted as a timeout for the team if it proves to be valid. All players must join their teams during warm ups or timeouts.

5.E How to Deal with Captures during Countdown
IF a referee is not present: If a timeout is used during the first half of the map, the map must be reloaded before the second half starts. If a capture is made during countdown and stays displayed in the scoreboard only a referee may restart the map after notifying both teams. If no referee is present, the match continues and the staff are notified there is an extra capture in the score for one of the teams. We strongly discourage capturing during countdown.

5.F.1 Allowed Players
Teams may only have people in their line-up who are on the squad list of that clan. Different from other leagues, each team is entitled to more than one substitute, as long as the server allows it. Both teams should have the opportunity to have the same number of substitutes. Three substitutes is the maximum.

5.F.2 Extra Players, Substitutes and Spectating
Players connecting mid match without the referee being notified and without timeout being used will be kicked. A team whose player is connecting during a match must use timeout as soon as the player starts connecting.

No spectators are allowed on the server during the match unless they are staff of the league.

5.G.1 Number of Players
Each map must be played with 5 players on both teams. Playing with 4 players is allowed, the opponent is allowed to choose whether they want to play with 4 or 5 players and is allowed to bring in their fifth player into the game at any point. Timeout must be used when the 5th player joins. Matches played with less than four players are not allowed and will result in default loss for the team which is not able to produce the minimum number of players at the scheduled time.

In case the teams engage in a match despite not having enough players, the match will be considered invalid and will be replayed. In case one of the teams refuses to replay the match, the opposing team will be awarded a forfeit victory.

5.G.2 Staff Presence in the Server
Teams are not allowed to refuse the presence of Urban Zone staff - in this case referees and GTV - during their matches. Staff take priority over the teams' substitutes. Teams that actively prevent staff from observing their match (repeated kicking, ban) will lose the match in question by forfeit.

5.H No-Shows and Automatic Losses
The score of an automatic loss (for no show matches, not having enough players or other offenses) is 0 points for the offender and 5 points for the opponent. The opponent team will be rewarded with 15 captures for the match.

A no show match may be rescheduled if both teams involved agree. It must be rescheduled without undue delay and the new date reported to the staff. A match will be considered to be a no show if the missing team does not show up within 20 minutes of appointed time. A referee or admin must be called in case of a no show. If there is a delay in showing up for the match caused by objective circumstances, such as miscommunication about match server, the match may be delayed but not rescheduled. The appointed referee always makes the last call.

If both teams fail to show up for the match and they do not agree on a reschedule before an appointed deadline, both will be given a no-show and no points for the match.

5.I Servers
All league matches must be played in European servers; that includes Turkish servers. Teams can opt between playing both maps in one server, 1 map in one server and 1 map in another server, and playing their match in a league server. If one of the teams requests that a match be played in 2 servers, the request must be accepted, unless the teams agree to play in a server provided by the league. If teams are unable to agree on a server to play their match in, they report their conflict to the staff who will assign a league server where the match will be played. Once a league server is assigned, the entire game is played there.

5.I.1 Server Failure
If a match is interrupted by server restart, server failure or shutdown, or a similar occurrence affecting all players, only the current round shall be replayed. The score of already played rounds, if any, will remain unaffected.

5.I.2 Server Password
Server passwords are the team leaders' responsibility. If a referee is not present in the game, the server owner/admin (home team leader) shall create a unique password for the match and share it with the team leader of the opponent clan. Team leaders are responsible for providing their players with the IP and password for each game. If a referee is present, the referee will change the server password or use a unique password created for that particular match provided by the home team leader. In both cases, team leaders are responsible for players connecting.

5.I.3 Other Server Related Rules
Failure to comply with these rules in a timely and reasonable fashion within the game will be punished by a warning. Failure to create a unique password for the match resulting in an unwanted player connecting and disrupting the game in any manner will be punished by a warning to the home team (server owner). In matches not supervised by a referee, if an unwanted and unidentified player connects and disrupts the game in a major way, the current round shall be replayed. League staff are always to be consulted before replaying. Both team leaders (or representatives) must be present in the league irc channel during their teams’ war.

5.J League Config
All matches will be played with the uz5v5ctf.cfg executed!

A team using their server for a league match with the league config edited or the config not in use will be punished by a warning and the match will be replayed if the opponent requests a replay and if admins come to the conclusion that the configuration of the server rendered the match incompatible with league rules. If the discrepancies in the config are discovered during the first map, the map will be restarted and replayed with proper config settings.

5.K Match Channels
A match channel may be created by a referee to make communication before a match easier. If team leaders or team members are summoned by a referee to a match channel, they are obliged to comply. Noncompliance will be punished by a warning.

Teams may agree to create their own match channels.

5.L Penalties
If a breach of rules occurs during a match, the penalty will be made public in the match description section of the website. If evidence is available, it will be posted in the same place or made accessible in some other form, with reference to its location in the match description section.

The number of captures for each match will remain unchanged. Teams may lose score points as punishment. Points will be retracted from matches the punished offenses occurred in or from matches closest to the time of point retraction. All such point retractions will be made public in the match description section for the match they were retracted from.

Penalties related to teams and players will also be recorded in the “Banlist”.

5.M Allowed Maps
Matches may be played on the following maps:
ut4_abbey
ut4_abbeyctf
ut4_algiers
ut4_ambush
ut4_austria
ut4_casa
ut4_crossing
ut4_elgin
ut4_harbortown
ut4_kingdom_rc6
ut4_mandolin
ut4_maya
ut4_offshore
ut4_oildepot
ut4_orbital_sl
ut4_prague
ut4_ramelle
ut4_riyadh
ut4_sanctuary
ut4_sliema
ut4_suburbs
ut4_subway
ut4_swim
ut4_thingley
ut4_tohunga_b8
ut4_tombs
ut4_toxic
ut4_tunis
ut4_turnpike
ut4_uptown
ut4_village

5.M.1 Map Exploits
It is forbidden to use map exploits during matches. Map exploits are generally defined as:
- accessing places with missing textures/abuse of missing textures
- abusing obvious bugs in clipping
- accessing places that require stacking of two or more players
In case it is not clear whether a place in a map is to be considered to be a map exploit, a decision will be met by UZ staff.

6. Submitting Match Results
Team captains or trustees have to upload results (score and screenshots) directly in the MEDIA section of their match. Condump file with player information is to be sent to league@urban-zone.org with the match date and clans involved clearly stated in the subject (example: May 20, xY vs. Yz) or shared with one of the admins.

7. New Players and Transfers
Each player is allowed one transfer from clan to clan per season. Each team is allowed one transfer from another clan in the league per season. Each transfer must be completed 24 hours before the player in question plays or subs for the new team. Each such transfer must be reported to league admins.

Multi-clanning is not allowed and the punishment is suspension of the player from the current season upon first warning and ban from the league upon second warning. Warnings are cumulative. New players may be added throughout the league without limits. Each new player must be added to the squad list before he appears in a league match. Aliasing to cover up multi-clanning will be punished as multi-clanning when discovered.

When a clan currently involved in the league dies out and the league staff is informed of this fact by a team leader or a trusted person, players of such team who transfer from clan to clan after the league staff had been notified are considered to be new players and the one transfer rule does not apply to them.

8. Roster and Aliases
Teams may only have people in their line-up who are on the squad list of that team. All players on the line-up MUST be registered and their profiles linked to their team. (NOTE: only the roster in this site counts, no other leagues or clan websites) IF they are not, the clan will get -1 point for each player that is not in the squad list. Player using an alias not listed in the OTHER column of team info of the clan the player is playing for is considered not to be on the squad list. Each player is allowed one official alias. All aliases must be entered before the player engages in a match. Player names must not be changed during matches. Players are only allowed to change names during the warm-up periods of maps as long as that change involves changing from an alias into a roster name. A player must finish a match with the name he started the match with (not including non-roster aliases).

8.A Player Names
Different transcriptions of player names are allowed as long as those are easily recognizable, for example Max = m@x = |/|@X. Lower case or uppercase letters may be used freely. Abbreviations of names are discouraged. All names not easily recognizable or abbreviations will be considered as aliasing and penalized accordingly. The acceptability of individual name variations used ingame will be voted upon by the refereeing staff if an aliasing issue is raised. The simplest way to avoid problems is not to experiment with player names in league matches.

8.B Clan Tags
All players in a match must wear their clan tag.

9. Division Scoring
Teams collect points according to the table in the Introduction. In case of a draw in the final results in the division, the winner of the teams' mutual game wins. If the teams drew their match together, the clan with the highest net amount of flags captured will win.

9.A Dead Teams - Scoring
If a clan dies during the season the following procedure will be adopted:
If the clan has 3 and more unplayed matches, all scores from matches this clan took part in will be removed as if they had never been played. If the clan has one or two unplayed matches, the remaining opponent(s) will be awarded default victories.

10. Warnings
Less severe offenses in general will be punished by a warning. Warnings will cumulate during each season. Two warnings will result in the loss of one point. Two more warnings (4 warnings in total) will result in the loss of another 5 points. Two more warnings (6 total) will result in removal from the league for the rest of the current season and for the duration of the following season.

11. UAC2 and Demos
Players are given two possibilities: they can choose to play with UAC2 or upload demos after each and every match in the Media part of the match menu. ALL players must record demos, regardless of UAC2. In case UAC2 fails during the match, the player is required to upload his/her demo. Demos of players using UAC2 are to be made available for download upon request.

A missing demo is a full demo not recorded or not uploaded. A partial demo is a demo with only a part missing; the staff will determine how grievous the missing part is and whether the team and/or player should be subject to rules applying to missing demos.

The first missing demo will result in a forfeit loss for the team and a one-week suspension for the player. The second missing demo will result in a forfeit loss for the team. If a player fails to upload his/her second demo, the player will be banned. A third missing demo will result in the team being removed from the league.

Admins and teams may and will request demos of players playing with UAC2.

All demos must be provided within 7 days of the match through the match media section and tagged with the proper player name.

11.A Challenging for Suspicious Behavior - Teams
We do not have the manpower to have referees for all matches in this league, so we will rely on demos and screenshots. Players are required to store their match demos till two weeks after the completion of the season (e.g. season ends on March 01, demos need to be available till March 15). Team leaders or captains need to be able to provide screenshots from their matches throughout the duration of the season.

If a clan suspects that there was a cheater playing for the opponent, there is only one correct course of action: contact one of the league admins or referees in IRC or by email. If asked to submit a questionable issue by email, the complainant must comply. In no case are the complainants to accuse their opponents of cheating, whether during game play, in forums, or in other public areas. Public accusations may be punished by a warning.

Since clans now have access to information from UAC2 and some demos, each clan is free to review their opponents’ demos. Clans will still have two official challenges for each season. A challenge is when you contact an admin to check a demo of ONE specific person of a clan. If a challenge is correct (I.E. a cheater or someone misbehaving is found) the clan will keep that challenge, but if it is incorrect the clan will have lost one challenge.

11.B Challenging for Suspicious Behavior - Staff
Admins are entitled to request and/or review demos even without clans challenging individual players. Teams and players must comply with all demo requests. If a demo of a player using UAC2 is required, team leaders or war arrangers will be notified of such a demo request and they are in turn responsible for notifying their player(s). The admin(s) will go through the reviewed demo from beginning to end.

11.C Demo Upload
All demos are to be uploaded to individual match pages in the MEDIA section. Each demo must be tagged with the correct player’s name. Fake demo upload may be and will be punished. DO NOT RENAME YOUR DEMOS!

11.D Cheater Penalties for Players and Clans
If a member of a clan has been found guilty of cheating during the league, all other wars that the cheater was present in, be it substitute or player, will be counted as a default loss (0 points) and the opponents will get full 5 points. The cheater in question will be banned from the league for life. If a clan has been found guilty of having two cheating players they are removed from the league for life, too.

Any player found guilty on the basis of their demo is entitled to a second opinion by the UAA (www.urtadmins.com).

11.E Cheating in Other Competitions and Public Servers
Urban Zone adopts bans for cheating from the UAA and Clanbase. Players may ask for additional revision of adopted bans which will decide whether the ban will be upheld or removed. Until a decision has been made, all bans remain in effect. Bans from other competitions and sources will only be adopted after revision.

Players caught cheating elsewhere are banned for life, as if they cheated at Urban Zone. Teams are punished by a ban after several of their players have been caught cheating outside the league.

Point retractions under these circumstances are considered case-by-case.

12. Conduct and Sportsmanship

Clans are expected to conduct themselves with sportsmanship in game. Excessive use of foul language and spamming in game will not be tolerated and may be cause for disciplinary action. If a punishable offense against sportsmanship occurs, it will be punished by a warning for the team involved. Verbal abuse, personal attacks and any other kind of excessively impolite behavior toward any member of the refereeing staff will be punished by a warning for the team whose member engages in this kind of behavior. The seriousness of the offense will be voted upon by the refereeing staff.

If an admin/referee or their clans are involved in a challenge or investigated issue, the admin/referee will not take part in the decision-making concerning that issue.

Problems not tackled by these rules will be dealt with by the admin staff by general vote or by vote between the head admins.


NOTES
*All gender reference is general and applies to male as well as female players, hermaphrodites, eunuchs, and otherwise genitally mutated human beings. Wink