: Updated 30th May 2002

Rules can categorise what clans can and cannot do, but they can’t express the spirit we hope the league will be played in. We started this league in the hope that it would be recognised as a "good" competition - one where clans were courteous to each other, played fair, played hard, and enjoyed the experience. We want everyone to enjoy their games, and that means we expect clans and players to be respectful and treat others with consideration. The clans we remember most fondly are those that showed a sense of sportsmanship and tried to be fair at all times; and we hope that Vitality will be as much about restoring that sense of fair play as it will be about winning games.

One final note about these rules: it is your responsibility to know them. Ignorance of a rule is not an excuse for breaking it.

League Format
Each clan will play one game per week, unless they have a bye that week.  Games are played over two rounds of the same map.  The overall result of the game is decided on caps; in the event of a draw a third round of the map will be played to decide the winner, this is done by the golden cap rule. Additional rounds will be played as necessary; at the end of the game there must be a winner If one clan cannot field enough players the other clan is not obliged to even the numbers up, and may play with the full amount if they decide to (although many clans will chose to play with even teams for the sake of sportsmanship). Each round consists of 5 minutes prematch and 20 minutes playing time.  Games must be played On a weekday - Monday to Friday at anytime.

Divisional Placement & Movement
When a clan enters Vitality they will be placed into a division the admins feel they will be at home in; this decision will be based on past results in other leagues, reputation, and from speaking with the clan leader. Only under exceptional circumstances will a clan enter directly into the top division. If a clan feels they are clearly in the wrong division (whether placed too high or too low) they may speak to the admins about it, and may be promoted/demoted accordingly. Because of the ongoing nature of Vitality, divisional placements are not static; clans can be promoted or demoted at any point. This will lead to fluid divisions, but the number of clans moving will not be great enough to feel disruptive to the clans involved.

General explanation of the league
The league is split into divisions. In each division there will generally be a "Title Holder", who are the current leaders of the division. Below them, the rest of the division is ordered on their current divisional win/loss streak - so a clan with a +2 streak will be placed above a clan with a +1 streak.

Each week there will generally be a Title Match and a Title Shot Match, as well as regular games.  The Title Match is between the current Title Holders and the winners of last week's Title Shot.  The winners of this game become the Title Holders for that week. The winners of the Title Shot Match go through to play the Title Holders next week.

Clans are chosen for the Title Shot mainly on their current winning streak - clans who've won the most consecutive games will generally be chosen. The rest of the division will be paired off against opponents of a similar streak. Note that fixtures will be set to try to ensure clans don't face the same opponents for at least 2 weeks following their last meeting.

Sometimes a clan may be asked to take a bye and not play that week. This will only happen if the division has an odd number of clans, or one clan requests a bye. In this case their win/loss ratio and win streak will obviously stay the same.

In case a clan cancels their game, they will get a default loss. This means  a 10 - 0 loss on both maps. The opposing clan will get a bye. If a clan gives multiple defaults in a
certain period of time, they will be removed from the league. This will be decided by the admins.  If a clan know that they won't be able to get a team for the upcoming week, they can request for a bye.  Bye's must be requested prior to the upcoming weeks fixtures being posted.  You will only get a bye if the admins think the reason is valid. A valid reason can be exam periods etc.

Promotion to a higher division
There are generally 2 ways to get promoted to the next division:

1. Become Title Holders, then defend your title for the 2 upcoming weeks.
2. Get your wins/losses difference for the current division to +5. (this doesn't ensure promotion, we will look at the divisions above/below to see if space is available)

Once promoted you will enter the new division with a win/loss difference and streak of 0.

In the case of the Title Holders being promoted, this will obviously leave the Title position empty the following week. In this case there will be no Title Match the next week, and the winners of this week's Title Shot get a bye. They will face the winners of next  week's Title Shot match the week after in the Title Match. The rest of the division will continue as normal.

Demotion to a lower division
When clans are promoted it may be necessary to demote clans to balance the divisions. Generally the clan with the worst losing streak will be demoted. Note that clans will not be demoted within their first 3 weeks in a division. Clans may also ask the admins to drop to a lower division if they feel they are placed too high; this will be discussed
before anything is done.

Servers & Settings
Each clan will have their choice of server for each round. Note that this is not an excuse to force your opponents to play on a poor server; clans are expected to be considerate and to try for a fair, even match. If a suitable "neutral" served can be found it may be preferable to play both rounds there. Of course this means that clans should have easy access to a server for Vitality games.  In the event of a draw, the clan with the highest ranking has choice of server for round 3.  If additional rounds are required then server choice rotates between the clans.  All servers must have the correct map version (correct map is deemed to be the one linked to from the Vitality5vs5 map page) and must use the supplied vitality5vs5.cfg.  Failure to use the correct cfg could result in the transgressing clan having an automatic loss placed against them.

Please note that servers must be able to reasonably handle the bandwidth for a full 10 player game, and must provide reasonable connections to your opponents. Vitality admins have final authority on what is reasonable. If you have a server where regular complaints are made about its performance you may be asked to find another server for use in Vitality.

You are strongly advised to arrange servers with your opponent in good time for your match, i.e. 2 or 3 days previous to the match date. If you can not come to an agreement over servers then please come and speak to one of the admins in #vitality-5v5. Please note it is not acceptable to come and ask the admins to find you a server 10 minutes before the game starts. Please get in touch with us as soon as possible if you have any problems.

Match Play
Clans have 15 minutes after the arranged time in which to join the server. Failure to do so will result in a default loss, except under exceptional circumstances (exceptional circumstances will be decided on an individual basis by the Vitality admins, and may include things like major network outages for a majority of your clan. One or two players being unable to connect is not an exceptional circumstance).

In case of a draw after 2 maps a 3rd map will be played in golden cap mode. Meaning first team to cap wins. This goes on forever until one team caps.

Only clan leaders (or one spokesperson) should use messagemode1 during the game unless unavoidable (calling someone a **** is not unavoidable). Excessive mm1 usage may result in a default loss or harsher penalty, up to and including expulsion from the league. Proof in the form of a server log, series of screenshots, or demo must be provided to a Vitality admin.

Clans must ensure that the Vitality 5v5 Config (Found Here) is running on there server when playing in a Vitality 5v5 game.

Clan Members
We will not tolerate mercs, ringers or multi-clanners. Loose definitions are:

Merc: Someone brought into the clan to play one game. A merc is not a "member" of the clan in the real sense. This term includes players who switch clans frequently,
and may apply to players who join a clan to play in Vitality, yet play in other competitions for another clan. This term also includes triallists.

Ringer: Someone pretending to be someone else. This term applies to anyone faking another player for whatever reason.

Multi-clanner: Someone who plays for two clans within Vitality. Note however that we do not encourage players to join a clan purely to play in Vitality if they play for
another clan in other competitions.

Punishment for a first offence will be forfeiting all matches the offending player took part in and a two-week suspension from the league. A second offence will result
in expulsion from the league.

Every player taking part in a Vitality game must register with the site. It  is the clan leader’s responsibility to ensure that all of their players are registered with the site and marked as a member of the clan. It is the player’s responsibility to ensure their details, including WON ID, are kept updated. Any player taking part in a Vitality game who is not registered with the site will be considered a merc and the clan will be punished accordingly.

Clan & Player Behaviour
It is expected that all members of clans within Vitality treat each other, and the admins, with respect.  Arguments are inevitable, but personal or excessive abuse will not be tolerated.  Racism, sexism or similar forms of prejudice will be dealt with severely. Behaviour such as nuking, ping flooding, IRC channel takeovers, server crashing etc. is not permitted, and Vitality admins will take any necessary action against people involved in such  activities.  Cheating will not be tolerated in Vitality. Cheating includes, but is not limited to, the use of wallhacks, aimbots or similar programs. It also covers some uses of console commands, such as the old third person cheat. It does not include console commands such as altered FOV, removing weapon models with r_drawviewmodel etc. There is not an exhaustive list of permitted and banned console settings; if in doubt ask a Vitality admin, do not assume that because something is not explicitly banned you cannot be penalised if it is found to be a cheat. Cheating players will be banned from the league, and their clan will be heavily punished.  There are a number of bugs in the Half-Life engine, and a number of exploits possible. Use of such bugs (e.g. the nail-bomb bug) and exploits (e.g. exiting the monkey_l water) is not permitted. Clans using an exploit will lose the match by default; clans using these exploits on two occasions will be expelled from the league.

Note that players found cheating in other leagues, or on public servers, Will be banned for 7 matches, and if there is a second offence they will be banned indefinately.

Players and clans are warned not to accuse anyone of cheating or exploiting without proof.  Proof can be in the form of screenshots, demos and/or server logs. You should present your proof, together with an explanation of events, to a Vitality admin. You should not make public accusations and flame people.

Failing to show for a game will result in a default loss, and will be noted. Failing to show for several games will result in expulsion from the league. If you require a bye week (a week without playing) you should note this on the website some time before the week starts. Clans playing in a title match/title shot match cannot request a bye.

As in everything else, the decision of the Vitality admins is final. Decisions will be on a case-by-case basis. The Vitality admins will always strive to give fair judgements based on the facts of the particular incident.

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