As a reminder:
On... Sportsmanship
On... Scheduling Matches
On... Disconnecting and timing out drama
Basically: use VMs to communicate and schedule your matches, don't be a drama llama, submit your teams, and we'll get along fine.Note the sportsmanship infraction may be used liberally this SPL, and any unsportsmanlike conduct on the forums, in #spl / #pokemon / any of the semiofficial tier channels, or in opposing SPL team channels (I won't infract for you being a dick in your own SPL team channel unless the situation is so extreme I feel I absolutely have to make an exception (consider basically any masterclass interaction ever)), will be grounds for an infraction. We encourage you to play semi-aggressively, but don't be a Masterclass.
~ Aldaron
~ Aldaron
On... Scheduling Matches
I'm sure plenty of you have come across activity drama while scheduling matches. I'm here to reduce the arbitrary element associated with some of these decisions. It is entirely your decision to adhere to these STRONG RECOMMENDATIONS, but note that if you choose not to, I'll most likely ignore any pleading from your end.
YOU MUST ACTIVATE YOUR VM WALL IF YOU WISH TO PLAY IN THIS TOURNAMENT. THIS IS HOW ALL OFFICIAL SCHEDULING WILL BE HANDLED.
Once that week's thread is posted, you have up to 48 hours to contact your opponent ON HIS VM WALL and mention your timezone and exactly what dates, what time ranges you are available, and where you will battle. Note that the default accepted sim and server is the official server on Showdown/Smogon Tournament Server, or PO if you're playing an old gen. You must provide at least 3 different time ranges at least 48 hours from the timestamp of your message, with at least 2 that are 24-hours apart from each other. The minimum and maximum length for 1 time range is 30 minutes, and the minimum difference between the 3 required time ranges is 3 hours. If you give 3 time ranges that stick with this policy, you can give any additional time ranges at any time you please.
NOTE THAT THIS SCENARIO INVOLVES RESPONSE DYNAMICS; THERE IS SOMEONE WHO WILL CONTACT FIRST AND SOMEONE WHO RESPOND...THESE REQUIREMENTS ARE NOT FOR BOTH OF YOU TO ASSUME TO YOU CAN BE FIRST CONTACTS...WHOEVER CONTACTS FIRST IS THE FIRST, AND THE OTHER DEFAULTS TO THE RESPONDER. THIS SHOULD BE OBVIOUS BUT SOME OF YOU ARE DUMB.
Once your opponent has contacted you, you now have up until 72 hours after the week's thread has been posted (NOT after your opponent's message) to respond with times that are good for you. What this means is that if both of you spend the maximum time contacting and responding, you should have back and forth collaboration at a maximum of 72 hours after the round has been posted, with both parties given an additional 24 hours to prepare for the battle should it be scheduled as soon as required. If none of the opponent's proposed time ranges are good for you, you must respond with alternative time ranges.
The first opponent now has X hours to prepare for the battle (if the second opponent agreed to some time) or 24 hours to contact a TD if, for whatever reason, this second set of time ranges does not suit the first opponent. Note this should be an absolute last measure.
Once a time is agreed upon, please make a message on your opponent's VM wall between 10 minutes and 1 second before the agreed upon time and say you are ready to battle and then get to agreed upon location (regardless of whether or not your opponent sends you a response VM). Please protect yourself by making this message, as it makes decisions much easier. You will be required to wait for your opponent for the duration of the time range.
If neither of you contact each other before 48 hours after the thread has been posted, you're both opening yourself up to a potential no contest or substitution. If I look at the situation, I might just determine I'm going to no contest, or whatever based on however I'm feeling at that moment. Don't leave yourself and your team vulnerable to this.
Just because at anytime one of the responders does not respond within the given range does not give you automatic activity win credentials. If they don't contact at all on your VM wall up until 48 hours before the end of the round (note, I'm not going to take irc or sim messages as evidence due to how easily they can be doctored...so if you want to protect yourself, stick to the VM messages), then you obviously have activity win justification. You WILL contact your opponent in a timely manner. However, if they do contact you at all after the suggested response time and before 48 hours before the end of the round, you are required to respond before 24 hours before the end of the round with 2 1-hour time ranges at least 1 hour apart before the end of the round. The opponent, since he did not stick to the proposed response schedule, WILL BE REQUIRED TO PLAY AT ONE OF YOUR NEWLY SUGGESTED TIMES, so you have the advantage here. This obviously puts a bit of an emphasis on the last 48 hours of each round (as is standard operating procedure for most of our official team tournaments anyway), so I will try my best to keep the last 48 hours of the round as close to the majority of the weekend for as much of the world as I can.
If you follow all of these guidelines, you will a.) most likely get your match done with minimal issue or b.) protect yourself and your team from an undue no contest or activity decision. Yes, I hate activity decisions in official tournaments. Yes, I will do my best to prevent activity decisions in the playoffs (the qualifying round is fair game however and I will have no problem issuing an activity call here), but don't push your luck.
Here is an example of how following this would work:
Week 1 thread is posted June 7, 2013 at 12:00 AM. Its deadline is June 14, 2013 at 11:59PM. User A and User B are matched up. User A contacts User B on his VM wall on June 7, at 9:00 PM (47 hours after the thread was posted, so ok), and gives 4 time ranges: June 10, from 7:00-7:30 PM (22 hours after the timestamp of his message, which is only ok so long as at minimum 3 of the other proposed time ranges adhere to the requirements), June 11, from 9:00-9:30 PM (48 hours after the timestamp of his message, which is ok), June 12, from 6:00-6:30 PM (69 hours after timestamp of his message, so ok, but only 21 hours after the earliest time range that is 48 hours after the timestamp), and June 12, from 9:00-9:30 PM (72 hours after the timestamp, so ok, and 24 hours after a legal time range and 3 hours after another legal time range). The June 11 and both June 12 time ranges satisfy the requirements, so User A can propose his first June 10 time range as well. User B responds on June 10, at 8:00 PM (23 hours after User A contacted him, so ok), and picks June 11, at 9:00 PM to battle, which is ok because it is 24 hours after his own response.
You'll note I made most of my response ranges multiples of 24 hours, but also included 24 hours. This means I expect you to be able to check Smogon at least once a day. If that is not feasible, you put yourself at risk.
~ Aldaron
YOU MUST ACTIVATE YOUR VM WALL IF YOU WISH TO PLAY IN THIS TOURNAMENT. THIS IS HOW ALL OFFICIAL SCHEDULING WILL BE HANDLED.
Once that week's thread is posted, you have up to 48 hours to contact your opponent ON HIS VM WALL and mention your timezone and exactly what dates, what time ranges you are available, and where you will battle. Note that the default accepted sim and server is the official server on Showdown/Smogon Tournament Server, or PO if you're playing an old gen. You must provide at least 3 different time ranges at least 48 hours from the timestamp of your message, with at least 2 that are 24-hours apart from each other. The minimum and maximum length for 1 time range is 30 minutes, and the minimum difference between the 3 required time ranges is 3 hours. If you give 3 time ranges that stick with this policy, you can give any additional time ranges at any time you please.
NOTE THAT THIS SCENARIO INVOLVES RESPONSE DYNAMICS; THERE IS SOMEONE WHO WILL CONTACT FIRST AND SOMEONE WHO RESPOND...THESE REQUIREMENTS ARE NOT FOR BOTH OF YOU TO ASSUME TO YOU CAN BE FIRST CONTACTS...WHOEVER CONTACTS FIRST IS THE FIRST, AND THE OTHER DEFAULTS TO THE RESPONDER. THIS SHOULD BE OBVIOUS BUT SOME OF YOU ARE DUMB.
Once your opponent has contacted you, you now have up until 72 hours after the week's thread has been posted (NOT after your opponent's message) to respond with times that are good for you. What this means is that if both of you spend the maximum time contacting and responding, you should have back and forth collaboration at a maximum of 72 hours after the round has been posted, with both parties given an additional 24 hours to prepare for the battle should it be scheduled as soon as required. If none of the opponent's proposed time ranges are good for you, you must respond with alternative time ranges.
The first opponent now has X hours to prepare for the battle (if the second opponent agreed to some time) or 24 hours to contact a TD if, for whatever reason, this second set of time ranges does not suit the first opponent. Note this should be an absolute last measure.
Once a time is agreed upon, please make a message on your opponent's VM wall between 10 minutes and 1 second before the agreed upon time and say you are ready to battle and then get to agreed upon location (regardless of whether or not your opponent sends you a response VM). Please protect yourself by making this message, as it makes decisions much easier. You will be required to wait for your opponent for the duration of the time range.
If neither of you contact each other before 48 hours after the thread has been posted, you're both opening yourself up to a potential no contest or substitution. If I look at the situation, I might just determine I'm going to no contest, or whatever based on however I'm feeling at that moment. Don't leave yourself and your team vulnerable to this.
Just because at anytime one of the responders does not respond within the given range does not give you automatic activity win credentials. If they don't contact at all on your VM wall up until 48 hours before the end of the round (note, I'm not going to take irc or sim messages as evidence due to how easily they can be doctored...so if you want to protect yourself, stick to the VM messages), then you obviously have activity win justification. You WILL contact your opponent in a timely manner. However, if they do contact you at all after the suggested response time and before 48 hours before the end of the round, you are required to respond before 24 hours before the end of the round with 2 1-hour time ranges at least 1 hour apart before the end of the round. The opponent, since he did not stick to the proposed response schedule, WILL BE REQUIRED TO PLAY AT ONE OF YOUR NEWLY SUGGESTED TIMES, so you have the advantage here. This obviously puts a bit of an emphasis on the last 48 hours of each round (as is standard operating procedure for most of our official team tournaments anyway), so I will try my best to keep the last 48 hours of the round as close to the majority of the weekend for as much of the world as I can.
If you follow all of these guidelines, you will a.) most likely get your match done with minimal issue or b.) protect yourself and your team from an undue no contest or activity decision. Yes, I hate activity decisions in official tournaments. Yes, I will do my best to prevent activity decisions in the playoffs (the qualifying round is fair game however and I will have no problem issuing an activity call here), but don't push your luck.
Here is an example of how following this would work:
Week 1 thread is posted June 7, 2013 at 12:00 AM. Its deadline is June 14, 2013 at 11:59PM. User A and User B are matched up. User A contacts User B on his VM wall on June 7, at 9:00 PM (47 hours after the thread was posted, so ok), and gives 4 time ranges: June 10, from 7:00-7:30 PM (22 hours after the timestamp of his message, which is only ok so long as at minimum 3 of the other proposed time ranges adhere to the requirements), June 11, from 9:00-9:30 PM (48 hours after the timestamp of his message, which is ok), June 12, from 6:00-6:30 PM (69 hours after timestamp of his message, so ok, but only 21 hours after the earliest time range that is 48 hours after the timestamp), and June 12, from 9:00-9:30 PM (72 hours after the timestamp, so ok, and 24 hours after a legal time range and 3 hours after another legal time range). The June 11 and both June 12 time ranges satisfy the requirements, so User A can propose his first June 10 time range as well. User B responds on June 10, at 8:00 PM (23 hours after User A contacted him, so ok), and picks June 11, at 9:00 PM to battle, which is ok because it is 24 hours after his own response.
You'll note I made most of my response ranges multiples of 24 hours, but also included 24 hours. This means I expect you to be able to check Smogon at least once a day. If that is not feasible, you put yourself at risk.
~ Aldaron
On... Disconnecting and timing out drama
Ah, the big beefcake. I'm going to go ahead and put this out there: we reserve the right to judge any individual match on a case by case basis, regardless of assumed precedence set. If you don't like that, you are welcome to not play. Be aware of this.
Also, to protect yourself as much as possible from DCs and timer issues, play on Showdown (because it has an at least semi reliable system of rejoining after a DC) and make a gentleman's agreement to not hit timer and not be hour-a-move dicks.
That said, here is the main way we will probably handle DCs / timing out:
To handle all DC cases...you're gonna submit your teams before the match. Zebraiken and Aldaron, who are not playing nor affiliated with any team, will manage this team submission form. You don't have to submit, but if you do, you protect yourself from the opponent taking a win. If you do DC (and you can't rejoin the battle) and you haven't submitted your team, your opponent will have the right to take the win. Yes, I'll most likely make a judgment call if he is on his last turn with 1 Pokemon at 5% and paralyzed and with you at 6 100% health Pokemon, because the only way to lose this is to misclick multiple times. However, if you're at 6 100% Pokemon and your opponent is at last Pokemon 10% needing to crit flinch you 6 - 12 times for the win, I'll give him the win if you DC and haven't submitted your team.
I know people like Philip7086 will beg me "to use common sense for a judgment call" for all cases and I would normally agree, but I am giving you all a 100% out by allowing you to submit your team. Basically, submit your team, and protect yourself and your team from any and all DCs. It's a simple procedure that removes almost all subjectivity from a decision regarding a DC. Unlike with the scheduling restrictions, all you have to do is submit the team your are using at anytime before the match takes place, and you'll have 100% protected yourself. Read this rule and understand this now before you join the tournament. Since I'm stating this now, I'm basically going to ignore you if you DC, didn't submit a team, and "had a guaranteed win." Expect it. Also note that I'm going to let the PLAYER (not the team), decide whether he is going to take the win or go another route (replay same moves, replay different teams, etc.).
To further ensure no funny business, if, in the case of a DC replay, there is any concern from either party about funny business, both parties have the right to request a screenshot of the current Pokemon's stats in battle. This is irrelevant for Showdown as you can simply rejoin a battle there, but PO allows you to see the currently out Pokemon's stats if you scroll over it with your mouse. Just hit PrntScrn (windows) while scrolling over it if requested by your opponent, preferably with proof that it is a screenshot of that actual battle (consider including the opponent's request in the battle screen in the screenshot).
Regarding time outs, they are a bit more complex, specifically because some timeouts are due to DCs. The best we can do for this scenario is say that there is some number between 1 minute and 2 minutes (which we will not publicize) that we will set as a limit for timing out, and if you timeout with more than that limit time remaining, we'll assume it is a DC, whereas the opposite is a true timeout. A true timeout defaults to a loss, while the DC timeout is prone to the DC rules (did you submit or not).
~ Aldaron
Also, to protect yourself as much as possible from DCs and timer issues, play on Showdown (because it has an at least semi reliable system of rejoining after a DC) and make a gentleman's agreement to not hit timer and not be hour-a-move dicks.
That said, here is the main way we will probably handle DCs / timing out:
To handle all DC cases...you're gonna submit your teams before the match. Zebraiken and Aldaron, who are not playing nor affiliated with any team, will manage this team submission form. You don't have to submit, but if you do, you protect yourself from the opponent taking a win. If you do DC (and you can't rejoin the battle) and you haven't submitted your team, your opponent will have the right to take the win. Yes, I'll most likely make a judgment call if he is on his last turn with 1 Pokemon at 5% and paralyzed and with you at 6 100% health Pokemon, because the only way to lose this is to misclick multiple times. However, if you're at 6 100% Pokemon and your opponent is at last Pokemon 10% needing to crit flinch you 6 - 12 times for the win, I'll give him the win if you DC and haven't submitted your team.
I know people like Philip7086 will beg me "to use common sense for a judgment call" for all cases and I would normally agree, but I am giving you all a 100% out by allowing you to submit your team. Basically, submit your team, and protect yourself and your team from any and all DCs. It's a simple procedure that removes almost all subjectivity from a decision regarding a DC. Unlike with the scheduling restrictions, all you have to do is submit the team your are using at anytime before the match takes place, and you'll have 100% protected yourself. Read this rule and understand this now before you join the tournament. Since I'm stating this now, I'm basically going to ignore you if you DC, didn't submit a team, and "had a guaranteed win." Expect it. Also note that I'm going to let the PLAYER (not the team), decide whether he is going to take the win or go another route (replay same moves, replay different teams, etc.).
To further ensure no funny business, if, in the case of a DC replay, there is any concern from either party about funny business, both parties have the right to request a screenshot of the current Pokemon's stats in battle. This is irrelevant for Showdown as you can simply rejoin a battle there, but PO allows you to see the currently out Pokemon's stats if you scroll over it with your mouse. Just hit PrntScrn (windows) while scrolling over it if requested by your opponent, preferably with proof that it is a screenshot of that actual battle (consider including the opponent's request in the battle screen in the screenshot).
Regarding time outs, they are a bit more complex, specifically because some timeouts are due to DCs. The best we can do for this scenario is say that there is some number between 1 minute and 2 minutes (which we will not publicize) that we will set as a limit for timing out, and if you timeout with more than that limit time remaining, we'll assume it is a DC, whereas the opposite is a true timeout. A true timeout defaults to a loss, while the DC timeout is prone to the DC rules (did you submit or not).
~ Aldaron
---
the Alpha Ruiners (8) vs the Ever Grande BIGS (4)
ORAS OU: PDC vs
ORAS OU:
ORAS Ubers: steelphoenix vs
ORAS UU:
ORAS RU:
ORAS NU: Teddeh vs
ORAS Doubles: finally vs
BW OU: SoulWind vs
DPP OU: august vs
ADV OU:
GSC OU: idiotfrommars vs
RBY OU: Hantsuki vs
the Cryonicles (9) vs the Congregation of the Classiest (3)
ORAS OU: Living So Zambian vs
ORAS OU:
ORAS Ubers:
ORAS UU:
ORAS RU: 49 vs
ORAS NU: giara vs
ORAS Doubles: kingofmars vs
BW OU: Meridian vs
DPP OU: Go10 vs
ADV OU: Ojama vs
GSC OU: Picollo vs
RBY OU: Lutra vs
the Stark Sharks (8) vs the Indie Scooters (4)
ORAS OU: Inflikted vs
ORAS OU:
ORAS Ubers: Edgar vs
ORAS UU:
ORAS RU: blarajan vs
ORAS NU: The Goomy vs
ORAS Doubles: Zubat vs
BW OU: Conflict vs
DPP OU:
ADV OU: Kevin Garrett vs
GSC OU: M Dragon vs
RBY OU:
the Circus Maximus Tigers (6) vs the Firebot Falcons (6)
ORAS OU:
ORAS OU: The DragonKnight vs
ORAS Ubers:
ORAS UU:
ORAS RU: FAJI vs
ORAS NU: Soulgazer vs
ORAS Doubles: Biosci vs
BW OU:
DPP OU:
ADV OU:
GSC OU: Jorgen vs
RBY OU: Floppy vs
the Wifi Wolfpack (4) vs the Team Raiders (7)
ORAS OU: Tom Bus vs
ORAS OU: Mencemeat vs
ORAS Ubers: aim vs
ORAS UU:
ORAS RU:
ORAS NU:
ORAS Doubles: soul_survivor vs Mizuhime
BW OU:
DPP OU:
ADV OU:
GSC OU:
RBY OU: Raish vs
59/60 matchas completed
GL. Let me know if any of the above is incorrect. Submit your teams!
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