Rules for Amateur Competitions

General Rules Administration Participants and Commitment Communication Teams and Players Team size Registration Roster Changes Stand-ins Ingame Names Schedule Basics Match Times Reschedule Punctuality Hosting and Setting Lobby Hosting Spectators Server Location Game Settings Sides and Drafting Order Basics (NEW) Roster Check During a Game Pauses Disconnects Broadcasting Bugs Cheating Ending Rule Violation and Punishment Basics Possible Punishments Rule violations in other tournaments Prize Money Legal ProcessThe following rules apply for all Dota 2 competitions that are organized by Freaks 4U Gaming and open to the public to sign up and take part in.

General Rules

Administration

Everybody who is authorized by Freaks 4U Gaming to administrate the competition based on its rules and regulations will be called an "admin" in the following, the collection of all admins will be called the "administration". By attending the competition, participants acknowledge without limitation to comply with the rules and regulations and with the statements and decisions made by the administration. Every participant acknowledges the right for the administration to modify the rules and regulations for adjustments at any time without notice and if necessary overrules those to ensure fair play throughout the competition.

Participants & Commitment

Every real person - unless officially banned - with a valid steam account is allowed to participate in the competition and will be called "participant" in the following. Participants joining a team in order to fulfill the minimum required amount of team members will be called a "team" in the following. Every participant has to show the needed respect towards admins and other participants. Insults and unfair or disrespectful behaviour towards anyone are not tolerated and will be punished. Every participant must always have the newest version of Steam and Dota 2 installed and has to check for updates in time before each match. Unless a new version comes out right before the match, patching is not a valid reason to delay it. Every team accepts the official schedule of the competition and declares its ability to be available during these times. Every team and participant has to try to win every game at every stage of the competition. Purposefully losing for any reason is strictly forbidden.

Communication

All communication between participants and admins has to be in English language. All communication between opposing teams should run through the official competition website (e.g. Match comments). Any other form of communication may not be accepted as valid by the administration in case of conflict. The administration may only be contacted via support tickets. This helps admins to coordinate as a team and work faster on issues than with the help of other features. Any other form of communication may be ignored.

Teams and Players

Team Size

A Team has to consist of at least five (5) and at most ten (10) participants. Those persons will be called "team members" or "members" of the team in the following.

Registration

In order to sign up for the competition, a team has to fulfill all requirements the tournament platform forces. Team members can be removed or added during the league or league-like competitions as long as the minimum team requirements are met at all times.

Roster Changes

Only the person that is marked a leader can transfer their leadership to another person. The leadership can also be forcefully change if four (4) and at least 50% of the team decide on a new leader. This should be requested via support ticket

Stand-ins

Stand-ins are persons used by a team as a player during a match, without being an official team member. A stand-in may not be member of another team or have played a game for another team within the same or a higher stage (e.g. Open to Closed qualifier) of the competition. The maximum of stand-ins used by a team within one game is 2

Ingame Names

Each player should have a steam name that is similar to his joinDOTA account name during all games to be recognizable for the opponent. Stand-ins should be clearly marked as such.

Schedule

joinDOTA League! is excluded from this section of the rules. All schedule specific rules for jDL are states in the League Rules.

Match Times

The official schedule of the competition can be found on the individual competition rules and/or in an official announcement. This schedule includes the time of each match or of each round (in which case all matches of the round have that time as official match time). If a delayed end of a previous match prohibits a match to start on schedule, the match time is changed to 5 minutes after the previous match ends.

Reschedule

The change of a match time is only possible under exceptional circumstances and has to be confirmed by the administration.

Punctuality

If one team has not shown any sign of activity until 15 minutes after the match time, a default win should be requested by the other team via support ticket. An admin will then evaluate the situation and give a free win if necessary. If one team is active, but not ready to start the match until 30 minutes after the match time, the opponents should send in a support ticket

Hosting and Settings

Lobby Hosting

The team, who is shown first on the official match page has to host the lobby. If the lobby isn't hosted after 10 minutes, the second team has to do it. The hosting team has to write the lobby information such a name, password, server and gamemode in the match comments.

Spectators

Every person is allowed to join the game as a broadcaster or unassigned player, if both teams allow it. If one team asks a spectator to leave before or during the game, he has to do so immediately. Official broadcasters, joindota staff members, and anyone authorized by an admin, have the right to spectate any game without the agreement of the teams.

Server Location

The default server location is based on the region of the competition. Europe: Luxembourg Americas: US East Asia: Singapore A different server can be used when both teams agree on it or an admin insists on a specific server location.

Game Settings

GAME MODE - Captains Mode, unless stated otherwise by the individual competition rules Lobby Password: Must be set Server Location: See server location rules Lobby visibility: Public Enable Cheats: No Selection Priority: See Sides and Draft Order rules Penalty Radiant/Dire: No Penalty League: None Spectators: Enabled Dota TV Delay: 2 Minutes Pausing: Unlimited Series Type: Depending on the game mode Bot settings: No

Sides and Drafting Order

(NEW) The lobby owner sets Selection Priority to "Automatic (Coin Toss)". If for some reason this ingame function does not work, Selection Priority has to be set to "Manual".

One (1) game

The lobby owner chooses "heads" or "tails" for his or her team and tosses a coin using the "/flip" command in the lobby chat, once there is at least 1 player from each team in the lobby. The coin toss winner can then choose one of the four: First pick, Second pick, Radiant, Dire. The other team then chooses between the remaining two options.

Two (2) game series

At the start of the first game the lobby owner chooses "heads" or "tails" for his or her team and tosses a coin using the "/flip" command in the lobby chat, once there is at least 1 player from each team in the lobby. The coin toss winner (Team A) can then choose one of the four: First pick, Second pick, Radiant, Dire. The other team (Team B) then chooses between the remaining two options.For the second game the roles are reversed - Team B chooses between First pick, Second pick, Radiant and Dire and Team A chooses one of the two remaining options.

Best of three (Bo3)

At the start of the first game the lobby owner chooses "heads" or "tails" for his or her team and tosses a coin using the "/flip" command in the lobby chat, once there is at least 1 player from each team in the lobby. The coin toss winner (Team A) can then choose one of the four: First pick, Second pick, Radiant, Dire. The other team (Team B) then chooses between the remaining two options.For the second game the roles are reversed - Team B chooses between First pick, Second pick, Radiant and Dire and Team A chooses one of the two remaining options.For the third game a new coin toss will be done and the process from game 1 will be repeated.

Note:

If Team A chooses a side (Radiant or Dire), Team B can only choose the pick order (first or second pick.) Likewise if Team A chooses the pick order (first or second pick), Team B can only choose side (Radiant or Dire).

Roster Check / Lineup Check

Both teams are responsible for checking their opponent's roster before the start of the game. If a roster is found not valid according to the rules, then the team can refuse to start the game. As soon as the first creepwave spawns, the game is considered ongoing and protests about the roster are no longer accepted. Delays caused by invalid rosters are treated like any other delay and are covered in the Punctionality rules. However, every team has at least five (5) minutes to fix an invalid roster regardless of how much time is remaining.

During a game

Pauses

Each team has the right to pause the game for an acceptable duration. The game must not be resumed before both teams agree on it. When the number or the duration of breaks becomes too high or long, the administration may force the continuation of the game.

Disconnects

If a player disconnects, the game is to be paused instantly. Every single person has up to ten (10) minutes to reconnect to the game in total. If this time is passed, the opposing team may continue the game.

Broadcasting

Everyone, who is allowed to spectate according to the spectators rules is allowed to provide a video stream with a delay of at least two minutes. Broadcasters, who are not directly in the game, but instead use Dota TV to watch it, can stream without any additional delay as Dota TV already uses a delay of 2 minutes. Players may never watch or listen to any broadcast of a match they are playing.

Bugs

Abusing a bug is forbidden.

Cheating

The usage of any Dota-related tool aside from Steam during a match is strictly forbidden.

Ending

A game is finished, when an Ancient Fortress is destroyed, when the majority of a team leaves on purpose, or when the administration decides on it. A game is not forfeited, when a player types "gg" or "ff". Always wait for the ancient to be destroyed

Rule Violation and Punishment

Breaking the rules or ignoring the order of an admin may result in a punishment for the whole team or a specific player. Type and amount is chosen by an admin.

Possible Punishments

Draft Penality Loss of one game Loss of entire match Disqualification from the competition Ban from this and future competitions Prize money reduction

Rule violations in other tournaments

Heavy rule violations on external Dota 2 leagues or tournaments may also result in punishments for joinDOTA competitions.

Prize Money Distribution

All prize money transfers are handled via PayPal or bank transfer. Under certain circumstances a transfer via Western Union is also possible, but needs the approval of a Tournament Supervisor. Other payment methods are not accepted. The prize money will only be transferred to the team leader. The team leader has to make sure every member of his team will get his adequate percentage of the prize money.

Legal Process

Legal proceedings are not permitted.

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Last Update: February 13th, 2018