The Dojo

Rules & Infractions

Overview

This document takes effect as of the beginning of our second competition.

First, all of the rules in the traditional competitive ruleset (from ANSL) apply as the foundation.  A few changes exist for the Dojo, as our purposes differ in several major ways from Veteran NS.  If you already understand organized play, then you can skip the traditional competitive ruleset and the organized play quickstart guides.  If not, you may want to familiarize yourself, at least briefly, with the quickstart guide (especially if you don't want to read the full rules in their entirety) so that you'll know what to expect.

All penalties, as in any competition, may be accepted or denied by the opponent of the offending team.

:TRADITIONAL COMPETITIVE RULESET:
:ORGANIZED PLAY QUICKSTART GUIDE:

Below is what to expect beyond these guides, and is specific to the Dojo.




Notice: You do not need (nor are you expected) to read below this point unless you have a specific ruling which requires a great deal of precision in its interpretation.  Refer to the ORGANIZED PLAY QUICKSTART GUIDE above for a *functional* rather than *exhaustive* definition of our rules.

Please make all efforts to just Play The Damn Game.  Everyone (especially myself) hates rules lawyers.  These rules exist to give concrete tools for players to use to better understand how to play in our tournament system.  Better than any rule is Common Sense and Common Decency.  The overall objective is to have *fun* playing this *game* - take these items and use them, rather than being used by them.




Terms

Ringer: Temporary Player
Match Roster: At least 2 unflagged permanent team members, a maximum of 2 flagged permanent team members, and up to two ringers.  No combination of players may assemble more than two flags in any one team at a given time.
Game Loss: Automatic Loss Granted for the Current Half
Match Loss: Automatic Loss Granted for Both Halves, Even if the First Half Resulted in Victory
Disqualification: Automatic Loss and/or Removal from the Current Tournament
Ban: Automatic Loss and/or Removal from All Dojo Tournaments


Mission

The Dojo is a training and tournament facility for regular everyday Natural-Selection players, who are interested in learning the deeper aspects of the game, and playing in an organized environment.

While we at the Dojo feel strongly about playing one's best, it must be pointed out that the primary purpose of our program is not to achieve the best teams possible, but to facilitate organized play for regular people.

"Regular People" means new players, average pubbers, and other individuals who like to play NS, but who are turned off by the lack of co-ordination and general unreliability of skill or decent attitude in public play.  The unreliability factor exists in all servers, inherent in the nature of their being "public".

Because of this, certain rules must exist to prevent the median skill level from becoming prohibitively high, thereby turning off any influx of new "blood".  Additionally, some minor alterations have been made to better facilitate more fluid and cohesive activity among the teams.

Dojo-Specific Amendments to ANSL's Official Rules

1. Roster Regulations
Veteran: Any player may join a team.
The Dojo: After long deliberations, we've come to the conclusion that an acid test of some form is required to separate veterans from the regular everyday people who are interested in our program.  It's unfortunate that there's no way to concretely quantify aiming and ambushing, as those are the primary gamebreaking abilities that separate the two (this isn't an argument on what's important in organized play, it's a statement of what turns new players off to Veteran).
The purpose of having any roster regulations is to keep the median skill level of the environment high enough to make things interesting, but low enough so that it doesn't turn off prospective applicants to the possibility of future play, or encouraging their friends to try it as well.

1a. Roster Quotas
A team must present no more than two (2) flagged players in any match, including ringers, unless both competing teams agree and can present enough flags to prevent the offset between the teams' flag counts from becoming greater than 2.
Flags are considered to be on any players who (i) are not registered on :ANSL's roster:, (ii) or who have been manually flagged in the :flagged players list:, or who are otherwise difficult to identify - or any combination thereof.
The flagging system will come into effect upon the start of our second competition.  If you are flagged, it denotes a high ability of skill, and can be considered a special honor.  Being unflagged does not denote a lack of intelligence or anything of the sort, but rather that you fall into the "regular everyday players" category.  If it could go either way, you will probably be unflagged, so don't take it too seriously.
Penalty: Match Loss.  Repeated complaints of skill stacks, combined with inconclusive identities of ringers who were considered unflagged during the game, will result in a permanent ban for your entire team, from all present and future dojo activities, and I don't want to do that to anyone.

1b. Disputes
If you think an unflagged player is too good, and should be flagged, send me a link to a concise, streaming demo.  Downloadables will be ignored.  "unflag me!" messages will also be ignored.  The latter will be considered "The Hellabean Rule".
Penalty: --

2. Ringers
Veteran: Ringers are not allowed in matches.
The Dojo: Up to 2 ringers may be used in any match.  The ringers may not command, lerk, or fade.  The opposing team may choose to deny any ringer for any reason, but only if a feasible substitute is suggested.  RINGERS MUST BE CLEARLY MARKED with either an "|R|", "(R)" or the word "RINGER" in caps, followed by a trailing colon, at the beginning of their name, separated from the other characters by at least one trailing space.  If a team name is registered and active with one of these symbols, use the other.
Example: "RINGER: Radix /O>" or "(R) Radix /O>" or "|R| Radix /O>"

2a. Registration Requirements
No more than 2 ringers may be present at any one time, on a single team between the start of a half (after "ready") and that half's end.
Penalty: Game Loss

2b. Role Restrictions
Ringers may not gestate into lerk or fade.  Ringers may not be in the command chair for more than 30 seconds at any time.
Penalty: Game Loss

2c. Right of Refusal
Any team may refuse an opposing ringer for any reason, so long as a feasible substitute is suggested.
Penalty: To the team whose ringer refuses to leave: Disqualification

2d. Failure to Mark
Upon entering the server, a player has approximately 30 seconds to identify themselves as a ringer, and exactly one minute to change their name to reflect their status.
Penalty: If a team misrepresents a ringer, the opposing team may invoke their right of refusal, but with no requirement to suggest a feasible substitute.  If a ringer is denied in this way, it will continue to fill a slot on whatever team it was ejected from for the remainder of the half.

2e. Faulty Markings
DO NOT mark a player, for humor's sake or otherwise, as being a ringer if he is a member of the team or name him indistinguishably from his offical ANSL name (for example, in my case, RadiX is fine, Rdx is not).  The existence of a ringer system for matches creates a great deal of additional information to keep track of during a match, and while we believe it is worth the effort, extraneous additional obfuscation of rosters during play isn't helpful to anyone.  Please confine such humor to scrims.
Penalty:The misrepresented player may not play in the half.  A player has the same 30 second/1 minute grace period to identify themselves correctly as a ringer would have to designate themselves according to their status.

2f. Ambiguous Identity
If a ringer's identity cannot be determined by a lookup of the ANSL roster, they are considered flagged, and count against your team's "2 flags per match".
Penalty: An ambiguous identity counts against your team's flags.

3. Scheduling
Veteran: Schedules are not reported.
The Dojo: If a team wishes to announce their match casually and report it before the end of the first week, no forum-based scheduling is required. Otherwise, in order to allow for a more flexible scheduling system for all the teams, some acid test is needed to ensure that one or both teams are active, and will be playing their matches.  For this reason, schedules must be announced (in the forum section, to be added upon the start of our second tournament) within 7 days immediately following a pairings announcement.  Final match results must be reported no later than 14 days (2 weeks) after the announcement of a pairing.
For example, if a pairing was announced on Monday, the teams must announce their "play date" by Sunday, and have until the end of the next week to report their match.  Matches should be reported as soon as they are played, as a general rule.  If one team shows up at the designated time, and the other does not, it is counted as a forfeit.

3a. Announcing a Schedule
A schedule must be announced 7 days (at the latest) after every pairing that is granted to a team.  To announce a schedule, a team's captain, scheduler, or other officer must post a time and date under their team's heading in the "Match Scheduling" section of the forums.
Penalty: If a schedule is not announced in the time allotted, a warning will be given.  Each warning given reduces the number of allotted ringers a team may take advantage of by 1.  Warnings last for the duration of the current tournament and do not affect any other competitions beyond the scope of whatever tournament in which they were given.  If 3 warnings are received, the team will be disqualified.

3b. Reporting Match Results
The only system that will be accepted for reporting of match results is the official ANSL system at http://ansl.us - to report a result, a team's captain should go to http://ansl.us/teams.php and follow the match reporting links.  The section of the forums which is being used for match results will be gone by the start of our second competition, replaced by a scheduling forum.

3c. Forfeits
The primary goal of scheduling is to increase the clarity and obviousness of forfeit losses.  If one team presents a Match Roster at the designated time and date, and has a screenshot and demo recording of the instance, and if the opposing team has no such proof, the match will be counted as a forfeit.
Penalty: To the team who fails to present a legal team at the scheduled time - Match Loss (forfeit).

4. Ready Times
Veteran: Ready times are infinite.
The Dojo: As of the start of our second tournament, each team has 10 minutes to ready.

4a. Time Tables
Your team must ready within 10 minutes of the announced schedule date.
Penalty: If a team exceeds this time table, they will receive a Game Loss.

5. Overall Intentions & Themes

Overall I've enjoyed running things here, and that's thanks to you guys' attitudes and initiative.  Please remember that this isn't a "catch-all" document of "how to be a better baby ninja penguin".  It's just a set of tools.  By all means, put them to use, but don't spend much thought over them unless something terribly important comes up.  This is not an exhaustive guide on how to be a good player, nor is it intended to cover every possible detail of what you could do wrong.  You guys know basically how to play this game, and I hope that having a tool like this will make your overall experience more straightforward (and therefore, more enjoyable) than it otherwise would be.  If it's not covered in here, use your best judgment and make me aware of it if you think it deserves a section.

Closing Thoughts
Thank you for your interest and time spent making this program a success.  I hope you'll find these rules useful, fair, and well-thought-out.  If not, send me a reasonable argument in the form of a PM or other communication with what you think ought to be changed.  Your input is appreciated, even if it's not applied in the preferred form.