1. Global Rules

1.1. Conduct

All players are asked to behave in a humane way towards other competitors, and to any member of the administration team; treat others as you would like to be treated! If a player is found guilty of misconduct by an administrator, they may receive penalty points. Also, teams risk league kicks, bans and expulsions from ESL competitions.

1.2. Matches, competitions, meetings

In all competitions there should be a fair playing field for all players.

Every encounter, whether a Gather, ladder match or other competition must be played according to the rules until it is complete and the result on the ESL page entered, or at events the result sheet is completed. Any encounter that did not take place, should be deleted. Matches will be played only by admins to delete exceptions. Matches that did not take place will be considered fake matches and will be punished.

1.3. Game / client

In general, all programs which are not part of the original game, including custom-data and modifications, are not allowed in any ESL game. All external voice programs are allowed (e.g. Teamspeak, Ventrilo etc.). Scripts and changes to the game's configuration are allowed, unless they are partly or completely forbidden by the league specific rules. Programs that provide an advantage during game play (e.g. drivers that allow the removing of walls) are forbidden. Any programs that change the game itself are forbidden.

1.4. Game Coverage

The ESL reserves exclusive right to the coverage of Electronic Sports League matches. This includes all forms of transmission, including IRC Bots, Shoutcast-streams, HLTV and ESL-TV Broadcasts. The Electronic Sports League can assign the coverage rights of a match or of several matches to a third party or to the actual players themselves. In this case, terms and conditions would have to be arranged with the ESL management before the match.

In general, the ESL will contact any player or team if they wish to broadcast one of their matches. If no contact is made, individual players are allowed to arrange their own broadcasts. Should the game take place on a server that ESL administrators have no direct access to, it must be made sure that enough slots are available for the according clients.

1.5. Internal Texts

All texts written in either protest or support tickets, or written by the administrators to members of a certain league or tournament, cannot be published without the permission of the Electronic Sports League.

1.6. Cheating

All forms of cheating in ESL matches are forbidden and will be penalized by the Electronic Sports League.

Players found cheating outside of the ESL may be barraged on the ESL depending on the evidence available. Note, we do not accept publicly submitted demo or screenshot evidence in these cases.

Should it become known to the ESL administrators that any form of cheating was used to the advantage of a player or a team during an ESL match, the ESL reserves the right to punish them to the full extent of the rules available. By breaking any rule a player risks being barred or completely excluded from a specific league or from all leagues. This also includes their team.

1.7. Teams and Players

1.7.1. Player Registration

An ESL Account can only be created if the user is at least six years old. When registering, each player must provide an up-to-date and correct email address and it is the player’s responsibility to keep this up-to-date. To play in a ladder, a method of contact (an IRC channel or an ICQ number) must be available and visible to all users in your player profile. Each player in the ESL must only have one account! If a player can not access his account and then creates a new one, then he/she must write a support ticket explaining in detail the reason for not being able to access the account.

Also, the permanent residence must be chosen according to the country he/she is currently living in. Should the country differ from his/her nationality, the player can add an additional flag in the setting.

1.7.1.1. Nicknames, Team Names and URL Aliases

We reserve the right to edit Nicknames and/or URL aliases, if they fail to comply with the following requirements.

Nicknames/aliases are forbidden if they:

• are protected by third-party rights and the user has no written permission
• resemble or if they are identical to a brand or trademark, no matter whether it has been

registered or not

• resemble or if they are identical to a real person other than themselves
• use names of Turtle Entertainment products
• resemble or if they are identical to the names of Turtle Entertainment employees
• are nonsense

In addition to the above, any nicknames/team names/aliases that are purely commercial (e.g. product names), defamatory, pejorative, offensive, vulgar, obscene, anti-Semitic, inciting hatred, or offending against good manners are forbidden. Using alternative spelling, gibberish or wrong spelling in order to avoid the requirements mentioned above is illegal. We reserve the right to extend, change, exchange or delete these rules if necessary.

1.7.1.2. Player photo

A player's photo must clearly show the face of the player, for adding anything else (graphics, other people, other parts of body, etc.) please use the logo function. The photo must always be up-to-date, manipulation of your appearance is prohibited. For anything else please use the gallery. Photos with weapons are not allowed!

1.7.2. Teams

A team's name does not have to be unique, but the ESL reserves the right to refuse clans with the same or similar names as a well-known clan (e.g. If you named your team “Schroet Kommando" or “Schroet Commando” etc, that would not be allowed).

Names which are restricted by law will not be accepted and will be deleted and punished with penalty points if found. Also, names which go against all forms of etiquette and good manors will not be accepted.

If a team deletes its account because of a certain amount of active penalty points and registers a new account, the penalty points will be transferred to the new account if the team rejoins the same ladder. Furthermore 1 additional penalty will be added for the attempted deception.

The logo must represent the team and have some reference to the team's name or to the team's short handle. Copyrighted logos, or logos which go against etiquette and good manors will not be accepted.

1.7.2.1. Inactive/honorary players and barrage

Players who are marked as inactive, honorary or have an inactive barrage are allowed to play.

1.7.2.2. Changing team names

A team can change its name at any time. This also applies when a team is restructured.

Changing a team's name in order to fool other teams is forbidden. Extremely long names, or consistent changing of team names is prohibited and can be punished with penalty points.