25 Unique Rules eSports Players Need To Follow To Compete
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We’ve always wanted to become professional gamers, that is, until we saw all these rules! Being in eSports can be a headache.
You Are Reading :25 Unique Rules eSports Players Need To Follow To Compete
With the rise of video games has come the desire to compete with one another. Competitive gaming is nothing new and it has had its ups and downs for many decades. At first, it started out as small hosted lans and from there, those same lans increased in size, and along with them, so did the prize pools they offered. Over time, many companies attempted to bring eSports to the forefront by broadcasting them on television. There were many failed attempts at this including the heavily funded Championship Gaming Series. As with most things, tournament organizers and business owners began to learn from their failures and with the existence of cheaper and better internet, they were finally able to make some headway.
In no time at all, they began to see a rise in interest whenever they would stream a tournament. They saw how fans in both South Korea and China would fill entire stadiums just to watch the best players play. Though the rest of the world wasn’t there yet, their increase in viewership from streams not only brought the broadcasting talent, but it also brought the sponsors that would help them to build and fund the venues. Pretty soon they were able to sell out entire venues just like the aforementioned countries and in no time at all they had sponsors fighting for position. That influx of money brought bigger prize pools and with them better players. Those same players secured contracts and created their own fan bases. All the success and all the money drove tournament organizers and governing bodies to create a list of rules and regulations that every professional player now has to follow.
25 No Hats Allowed
This one might seem strange for a different reason for most people. After all, for most of us, wearing a hat inside isn’t exactly something that we would do with any regularity. It’s for this reason that you may be asking yourself why exactly this particular rule is in place.
Issues began to arise when wearing sponsored hats while streaming became prevalent.
At first, many pros thought that the no hats allowed policy was to prevent them from showcasing their sponsors during events, but after a while, the true reason became known. As it turns out, admins had begun to discover that players were using hats to create a gap in their headphones. Why is this a problem? Well, professional players wear noise-canceling headphones to prevent them from hearing the audience or the announcers and in effect cheating through getting information they otherwise would not have. As you can imagine, this would give them an unfair advantage.
24 Signal Not Found
When eSports was still in its infancy it wasn’t uncommon to see players hooking up and charging their cellphones using the event provided computers. It made sense given that they had probably gotten in the habit of doing just that while practicing for long hours at a time. It allowed them to keep it on hand and charge it at the same time.
While organizers tolerated this sort of behavior for a while, things started to change once anti-cheat admins began looking into how hacks could be delivered. They quickly learned that players could easily download and run hacks from their phones without actually having it on the competition computer itself. This allowed them to cheat during a competition without leaving a trace of evidence that they actually had. In order to prevent this, they take the phones from the players and store them until the matches are over.
23 Peripheral Inspection
It’s understandable when professional gamers and casual gamers get upset at the prevalence of cheats. It can be very frustrating at times when you are simply trying to enjoy the game you love and attempt to get better. That being said, it is hard for any anti-cheat to keep up, especially when money is involved.
With the increase in prize pools, there has been a greater demand for undetectable competition cheats.
Despite the uphill battle, anti-cheat companies have started to employ former hackers to help them to combat the vulnerabilities within their software. This, along with player analytics, has helped them to slowly turn the tide in the other direction. While this is indeed the case, the advancement of technology in both mice and keyboards has made their job that much harder. To ensure fair play and prevent injection of hacks into keyboard or mouse software, they collect and inspect both before tournament play.
22 No Fraternizing With The Enemy
At pretty much every tournament, competitors are encouraged to engage in friendly conversation with one another. While they are free to talk amongst themselves during a tournament, there are a few things that are off limits. For starters, they are not allowed to talk about team strategy with other teams aside from their own.
Admins routinely monitor conversations to ensure that this isn’t occurring between teams.
This is because there are some teams that won’t face each other depending on their bracket, but those same teams may face a like opponent. In this way they can’t give each other pointers on how to beat an opponent that they are destined to face. Additionally, they can’t bring up weaknesses that they found in the opponent they faced even if they have been eliminated from the tournament themselves.
21 Always On Time
If you look at any eSports competition page you will quickly find out that they make it relatively easy to find the tournament schedule. This isn’t just to make it simple for viewers like you and me, but also to ensure that all teams know their schedule and adhere to it. While we can expect for them to start around that time, it is a bit different for the players.
Depending on the event and the rules, some teams are required to arrive more than an hour before their scheduled match time. This isn’t just to ensure that they have enough time to properly set up, but also so that they have enough time to go through a practice session if the event offers one. If a team shows up late the organizer can simply cancel the match and award a win to the opposing team. Even if a team shows up within the delay window they will be given a money loss penalty as a result.
20 Silence Is Golden
This particular rule must be very hard for professional gamers to get used to. After all, we are all used to typing in games when we have met our demise or during gameplay when we don’t want to disturb another player. Typing in-game is just something that comes naturally after playing so many years and it can be a hard habit to break.
Players are discouraged from typing at all, even during a live round.
This may seem like a silly rule at first until you consider the fact that teams have been caught using the opposing teams time out to discuss strategy amongst themselves in freeze time. In effect, they were gaining the benefit of taking a timeout without actually taking one themselves. Since timeouts are limited, this would give said team an unfair advantage. Even with the rule now in place, teams have still been caught doing so by admins.
19 For The Record
There are many pieces of information that can assist anti-cheat admins in finding out if someone is indeed hacking. While demos do tell these admins a lot, someone at a pro level is very good at hiding what they are doing and they understand very well what these same admins would be looking for.
For this reason, it can be easy for players to mask their hacks and make it appear as if they are playing legit when they are, in fact, not. It would be very easy for a player using wallhacks to simply call out where an enemy player was without anyone in the server appearing suspicious. This is why admins decided to make it a requirement that each team record their conversations. In this way, they can determine who made what call and use the information from the demo to see if it adds up.
18 Bring A Doctor’s Note
Nobody likes to lose and if they feel that someone has an unfair advantage, they might try to even the playing field by doing the same themselves. This doesn’t just come into play with cheats, but with medication as well. It has allowed players to gain an advantage without actually having evidence to the contrary.
Some have talked about banning the use of some items.
Even when medically necessary, many players felt slighted by those who took such medications during competition. This drove players to take the medications themselves to be on the same level of those who were taking them for legitimate reasons. It became such a problem in eSports that probes were launched into the practice and many players received bans as a result. Since that time, players are required to bring a list of all required medications along with a doctors approval.
17 Everything Is In House
If you’ve went to the movie theaters with any regularity then you no doubt know about the no outside food or drink rule. While it makes perfect sense for a movie theater to implement such a practice, it might be a bit odd to see tournament organizers do the same. After all, gamers are used to bringing their own snacks and drinks to events and get togethers.
Though tournament organizers understand this practice all too well, they have a very valid reason for implementing such a rule. As it turns out, event staff began to have a real problem with players bringing in illegal substances by hiding them in the food or in the drink that they chose to bring. Not only that, but they could also hide different forms of intoxicants within their drinks as well.
16 Selective Apparel
If you’ve ever watched a competitive tournament and wondered why the players were wearing similar attire you don’t have to look much further then the rulebook. At pretty much every tournament, there is a strict dress code that every player must follow to the letter. Even if it appears as if they have followed the rules put in place, their clothing is subject to inspection by event staff.
After inspection, if it is found that their clothing is in violation of the rule, the tournament organizers will provide appropriate clothing, at a fee, of course. This same deal holds true for those who can’t bring their own rule abiding apparel to the event. Furthermore, they are not allowed to have any sort of sponsorship present on the clothing that deviates from the tournament sponsor as tournament organizers don’t want to be associated with anything other then what they themselves are endorsing.
15 Away From The Information Super Highway
No matter how the general community is toward one another, tournament organizers always try to ensure sportsmanlike play among all players involved. They understand that many see these same professional players as role models and they want to make sure that they are setting a good example for the community.
Just like any job, players are expected to engage in a certain degree of professionalism.
While the rules might differ slightly depending on the event, for the most part, players are required to treat fans and fellow players respectfully and refrain from name calling or obscene gestures. With that, they are also required to not talk about their fellow competitors in a negative light through their social media when internet is provided. Furthermore, they can’t contact another teams coach or discuss strategy with another team through social media or otherwise.
14 Mind Your P’s And Q’s
One of the things that I always found funny was how people would get upset when they heard a professional athlete curse. Yeah, it may seem a bit immature at times, but I think you would be hard pressed to find anyone who hasn’t done so during the heat of competition. It’s a proven fact that doing so increases our focus and drive to compete.
Though it might occur with regularity outside of tournament play, it doesn’t during such events. Yes, you will hear a team or coach let a few swear words slip from time to time, but for the most part it is almost nonexistent. This is due in large part because tournament organizers have put rules in place to discourage the usage of such words. If a team or player is found to be doing so with any regularity they can be fined a monetary amount or banned from tournament play.
13 Trade Secrets
Just like any sport, eSports has its fair share of rumors float around each time it becomes a possibility that a player might leave a team. While these rumors are rather prevalent, there validity is to be taken with a grain of salt. Sure, the rumor could be true, but most players aren’t going to risk their contracts just to divulge such information.
Players are only allowed to discuss their status once the team officially announces it.
Even then, they can’t really say much. They have to remain tight lipped about any potential moves that another team is making for them until those moves are official. This is to prevent other teams from taking advantage of the volatile situation and to prevent players within organizations from discussing who among them might be replaced by said player. If they do discuss such things, any potential contract with said team could be null and void.
12 Stream It Later
When competitive gaming was just starting out it was rather difficult for even the best players to make a living playing. The prize pools were small and at certain tournaments, there was no guarantee of prize money unless you took first or second place. Add to that the traveling cost and the expenses for room and board and it’s understandable why so many turned to streaming.
Today most major teams not only give their players a full time salary, but also a fully stocked health plan along with nutritionists, psychologist and personal trainers. Though this is the case, there are many teams that don’t earn enough to be able to do this and their players have to turn to streaming to make a living. For these players it is hard to be away from streaming for any length of time, but rules dictate that they can’t stream during any tournament and that their streaming rights are giving to the tournament host.
11 A New Set Of Roommates
In the beginning, the idea of a gaming house was something that was laughed at. Many teams felt is was pointless as gamers have fielded terrific teams throughout the years without having such a close-knit environment. They were able to have a large amount of success despite the fact that they mostly practiced together online.
South Korean StarCraft teams made the idea a popular one.
Soon, teams from all over began to take notice of how much better South Korean teams were doing with the advent of gaming houses. They didn’t have the large spans of bad tournaments and their recovery from a bad event was much quicker. Additionally, it lowered the stress level of players and improved their overall teamwork. Due to the success of gaming houses, it has become a requirement in most team contracts that the player agrees to stay at the gaming house. In some cases, they must be there for a certain period of time before they can compete.
10 Good Sportsmanship
The one thing you can bet will happen in any competitive game is trash talk. Most of the time its all in good fun and players on both sides enjoy the banter back and forth. Sometimes though, things can get out of hand and it can get to the point where players start to step over the line. It’s been a part of the culture of online gaming (and any sport really) for a long time.
With the increase in sponsorship and the broadcasting of games though, organizers needed to come up with a plan to prevent such outbursts among teams. They decided to make it a rule that players couldn’t name call or taunt their competitors at any point during tournament play. Additionally, they were barred from doing anything of the sort on social media or in game chat. Players who do engage in the practice can be banned from the tournament or their team fined as a result.
9 Eyes On The Prize
One thing that you will notice if you watch any live event within competitive gaming is the large presence of gigantic monitors around the venue. It’s hard to imagine how any tournament host could overlook the potential for using them to cheat, but that’s exactly what happened until a League Of Legends event.
Specific players were caught looking up at the screens during key moments.
Upon reviewing the recordings of certain games admins noticed that certain players would look up at the screens and call out a different play to help their teammates adjust. As you can imagine, this action resulted in the banning of numerous players and teams and also a loss of prize money. At some events, players are placed in a soundproof box that doesn’t allow them access to said screens. At others, players are routinely watched by admins who sit directly behind them and their coach to ensure that no screen looking is taking place.
8 Refusal Not An Option
While a tournament venue can decide at any point which games they are going to broadcast and which they aren’t, teams are not afforded that same ability. Though there are some tournaments that agree to not broadcast if both teams request it, for the most part, all teams must agree to have their matches broadcast.
Not only that, but they have to also agree that the use of such material and their likeness is now the sole possession of the tournament organizer. This might not seem like a big deal to some, but just imagine what kind of added pressure it would put on you if you were being watched by people all over the world. Understandably, this made some teams upset as they felt that those who were not broadcast had an unfair advantage. As a result, today, pretty much every match that is played is televised.
7 It’s In The Numbers
This next rule might not seem fair at all given the relatively short career that most professional gamers have, but it isn’t without its merit. Early on, tournament organizers were pressured by parents and teams alike to place a standard on age. This was demanded in large part because teams wanted to ensure that no one had an unfair advantage over anyone else.
As a result of the age restrictions, some of the best players in the world can’t compete.
Having a set age limit made sense given the fact that most had prior commitments to school and otherwise. In setting an age limit they were able to ensure that players were old enough to understand the effects that a gaming career would have on their ability to study and also their ability to compete. Most tournaments require that the player be at least sixteen years of age and even then they must have parental consent.
6 Tag Me In
Gamer tags are something that is almost as old as time. With every game that I played and with every team that I was a part of, it was just something that you did. It allowed others on your same team an easy way to identify you no matter what server or game you were playing and it was also a useful recruiting tool for your team.
While professional players can wear whatever sort of tags they want away from tournament play, the type of tags they can wear during an event is strictly controlled by the tournament organizer. In most cases, they are not allowed to promote any business or sponsor. This includes even those sponsors who have agreed to fund the event taking place. Additionally, they can’t have any offensive language or taunting language present within their team tags either.
Link Source : https://www.thegamer.com/unique-rules-esports-players-need-follow-competition/