General Rules
Entry Criteria
Players must be signed up to the tournament to participate, an event ticket alone does not guarantee tournament entry.
If sign ups are closed, but the tournament hasn't started yet, it would be best to check with the admins to see if you or your team can still participate. For tournaments that start on a Saturday, then please check with the relevant admins to find out any specific information around sign ups or player/team briefings.
At least one member of the team must remain in thetournament Discord channel throughout the tournament times. discord.gg/epicLAN
Voice Communication
Either in-game or externally provided voice communications are permitted, such as Ventrilo, TeamSpeak, Mumble or Discord. Note that epic.LAN may not be able to provide these dedicated voice comms resources for all of those listed due to licensing restrictions, teams should be prepared to make their own voice communications arrangements. Locally hosted voice communication tools are recommended. We do not recommend using Skype, as this can have serious implications around the LAN Network (especially through DDoS).
Streaming
Under no circumstances are players allowed to stream their own matches. Only sanctioned casters/tournament administrators representing epic.LAN will be allowed to stream.
Player Names
Player names and images may not be offensive or crude.
If the match is being streamed by epic.LAN, players must use the nickname by which they are known to the community, or a recognisable approximation, to allow the casters to commentate and the spectators to recognise players.
epic.LAN reserves the right to alter potentially offensive or crude names without consent if displayed on stream.
Tie-Breaker Situations
Tie-Break situations may arise in the group stages when 2 or more teams are on the same level of points. In this scenario, there will be a process we will follow to determine which teams will navigate out of the groups. This will be done in the following ways across all our esport titles at epic.LAN:
- Round Difference
- Rounds For (if RD is exactly the same)
- Head-To-Head
If the two or more teams are still tied, then the following formula will be applied.
- Did the team beat the bottom team in the group? If yes, by what score?
If the score is the same against the bottom side in the group, then the admins will strip away that result and go through the other results using points 2 and 3 above to compare the sides.
If the teams are still tied after that (in a very rare scenario would that happen), then we will determine the team to go through by playing either a full map of a certain game (ie Dota) or a variety of Overtime rules that each game can apply. So for example, if it is a CS:GO tie breaker needed, then the two teams would veto and play overtime on that particular map. Whoever wins proceeds to the elimination bracket in their place.
Betting Website Featured Matches
epic.LAN is a place where we believe in competitive integrity and thus we actively persue the prevention of match fixing and throwing of matches to get extra income through a secondary route.
Any players who are participating in the tournament and bet against their own team and the proof is found through Tournament Admins, Betting website staff or Game developers, then they will be disqualified from the tournament, any prize winnings will be forfeit for the entire team. Additionally a 5 year ban from all epic.LAN Tournaments whether online or at LAN events will be sanctioned to the entire team.
All of these punishments can be ruled if a team was found to be drunk or under the influence of drugs which impeded their ability of playing with integrity and fairness for both sides involved. We expect teams to act in a professional manner when playing these games to an audience of potential thousands.
Game Developer Bans
In the extreme example that Game Developers have stepped in and stipulated a certain ban that is game wide (this includes Match Fixing and VAC bans specifically from Valve) then epic.LAN will uphold these bans on players. We do not condone cheaters, match fixing or any toxic behaviour of any kind. Players that are on any such lists are banned from competing in any epic.LAN sanctioned tournament (online or offline). For further information around punishment time limits, please see the bottom of this page.
We currently have a ban on players who do get VAC Banned on games like Counter-Strike:Global Offensive, these are reviewed case by case and the duration of the ban is detailed in the punishment section at the bottom of this page. Any player found with VAC Bans on their accounts (first or secondary accounts) will be added to this list and will be emailed as and when we find out such bans.
Cross Event Bans
On the rare occassion that our friends from ESL, GAME, Gfinity, FACEIT, Blink Dota, or theNUEL have banned players for any actions including (but not limited to) cheating, then we may review each of the cases they present and mirror such bans. We do not actively ban people as soon as these organisations do, however if they provide us with the means to review the evidence and we find it enough to fit a ban, then we will include that player or team on our ban list.
Abuse towards Admins
In recent events, admins have been subject to verbal abuse from players. For epic20 onwards there will be a new system put in. This system will be a three tier system, however we may escalate quicker if the situation is worse. If it's simple verbal abuse, you will be placed on a white card and escalated with each offense. If anything worse, admins will decide what sanction to give. epic.LAN Staff are here as volunteers, abuse towards them will not be tolerated and will be handled appropriately. Please note, admins will hold the key to when we issue these cards. This will be backed by the Tournament Director
WHITE CARD OFFENSE
Players who verbally abuse any epic.LAN Volunteer will be warned of this offense, and names of the offending players from the team they have come in from will be noted down on a document to keep tabs on.
YELLOW CARD OFFENSE
Players who verbally abuse or threaten any epic.LAN Volunteer will be defaulted either a map in a Best Of Series or a round in a particular match. The punishment will fall to the admins discretion.
RED CARD OFFENSE
Players who verbally abuse, threaten or get physical, will be placed on the Red Card, and will simply be disqualified from the tournament they or their team is competing in. This is a last resort, and will be actioned if the admins feel this is necessary.
Punishments
Here is a list of punishment time limits for bans we may decide to give out. Please bare in mind these are the absolute minimum of time we will give to each ban. Bans will be decided on a case by case basis and will be only used in the absolute neccessity of the LAN event and maintaining competitive integrity. For a full list of reasons we will use to ban, then you can read our Code of Conduct which is found on the epic.LAN Website.
- VAC Ban (or any Game Related Ban) - 2 years
- Cheating (found prior to event or at event) - 1 year
- Match Fixing - 5 years
- Drug use - 2 years
- Abuse towards staff - 1 year
- Violent Behaviour - 2 years
Cancellation of Tournaments
epic gaming Ltd. reserves the right to withdraw any tournament should there be an insufficient number of participating teams.
These rules are subject to change. The game admin and tournament team leader decisions are always final.