Code of Conduct

Purpose

This Code of Conduct exists to ensure a fair, respectful, and enjoyable experience for all participants. As adult competitors, we expect players to uphold the highest standards of integrity, sportsmanship, and professionalism throughout the weekend.

1. Sportsmanship & Respect

While toxic behavior is common in our community online, let’s strive to do better in person: Treat all players, officials, and spectators with respect. Harassment, bullying, abuse, or discriminatory behavior—whether verbal, written, or physical—will not be tolerated.

Practice good sportsmanship. While healthy competition is encouraged, good sportsmanship is essential. Win or lose, please strive to do so with dignity. Excessive taunting, gloating, or inflammatory behavior is prohibited. While a little is normal in our community, let’s keep it within reason.

We are all here to have a good time, connect with others, and be competitive; please be considerate of others.

2. Fair Play

No cheating or exploiting of any kind. We will be following the KTP rules wherever applicable including using Nein’s CVAR checker on all LAN servers.

As such, the use of third-party software, scripts, exploits, or tampering with the game files, outside of the approved files submitted to LAN organizers prior to the tournament, is grounds for immediate disqualification.

3. Conduct During Matches

Follow all match rules and schedules. Be on time and ready to play. Chronic lateness may result in penalties, outlined below, including game forfeiture. Group stage schedule will be posted prior to the tournament and knock-out stage prior to leaving for the day on Saturday. Be responsible for your team and know when your matches will take place.

In order to ensure the tournament runs on schedule, matches will begin no later than 10 minutes after their scheduled start time, regardless of how many players are present.

The scheduled start time may be adjusted throughout the day to accommodate delays in previous matches. The 10 minute countdown begins from the most recently updated scheduled time.

If a team does not have all its players ready by the match start time, they have the following options:

Begin the match with the players they have.
Use a ringer, if approved by both team captains and a LAN staff member.
Forfeit the match. However, a LAN staff member must confirm the forfeit with Shmaltz before it is allowed

Be mindful of noise levels and behavior. Keep noise at a reasonable level to ensure everyone can enjoy the gaming experience.

“Stream sniping”, as in the use of information not available to players within their, or their teammates’, PoV which gains them an unfair advantage is prohibited. Credible instances of this taking place can result in a forfeit of the match.

The communication tool chosen by the tournament officials, TeamSpeak, will be the only allowed communication tool. Using any other tool outside of TeamSpeak, or in-game voice, is prohibited.

Follow instructions from the Tournament Staff who will endeavor to ensure that everyone has a good experience and to maintain order.

Respect tournament officials. Their decisions are final.

Players will be required to use the alias they signed-up with, or some variation therein. Aliasing is prohibited.

4. Conduct Outside of Matches

Outside of matches, available PCs can be claimed and used at will for other activities. However, be aware that PCs are not permanently assigned so please be respectful of other attendees and allow others a chance to use the PCs.

Since we are adults, we will not set time limits for PC use but instead, use your best judgement. However, Tournament Staff will intervene, if necessary, to free up PCs for others.

5. Equipment and LAN Etiquette

Participants are responsible for handling equipment with care. Please take care of shared equipment and respect the venue. Let’s treat the space responsibly.

Be accountable for your own equipment. Neither the LAN Center nor Tournament Staff will be responsible for any lost or stolen items. It is suggested to bring a tote or box of some kind to store your peripherals when not actively using a PC.

Clean up your area after your use of a PC, this includes leaving for an extended period of time so that others may have a chance to use a PC if you are not. If you’d like to leave your peripherals at a specific PC, ask Tournament Staff before doing so.

Be respectful of, and do not tamper with, others’ equipment.

Use the network responsibly.

Please do not abuse bandwidth or download anything illegal.

Report any damaged or malfunctioning equipment to Tournament Staff immediately if you encounter any issues.

While we will have admin access to PCs, please limit any changes made to the PC to only those necessary for your peripheral use and all changes are subject to review by Tournament Staff. No unauthorized software or hardware modifications or tools will be allowed, this includes “Snap Tap” or other 3rd-party crosshair tools, such as monitor cross hair. If you're unsure, ask an official before making changes.

6. Substance Use

While we are here to have a good time, please try to maintain control of yourself when consuming substances. Excessive rowdiness can result in expulsion from the LAN for the remainder of the day.

The LAN center has banned smoking inside. Please respect their rules.

While vaping is allowed by the LAN center, please be considerate of others and keep excessive vaping outside.

7. Penalties for Violations

Lan admins reserve the right to issue the following based on severity and frequency of misconduct:

Verbal or written warnings
Match or round forfeiture
Temporary or permanent removal from the tournament
Ban from future events

8. Agreement

By participating in this tournament, you agree to abide by this Code of Conduct. Ignorance of the rules is not a valid defense. Let’s work together to foster a competitive but respectful community.