General

Acknowledgements

Tournament Acknowledgements

1. This rulebook is not to be copied or reproduced for commercial or private use without the express permission from the Pacific Esports League.

2. The Pacific Esports League reserves the right to modify the rulebook at any time, within reason. An announcement will be made in Discord for notable changes.

   1. All changes to the rulebook will be highlighted to show the change that was made.

3. Players and teams registering for the Pacific Esports League approve of the rules set forth in the general and game specific rulesets, and are required to follow them at all times during the tournament. Registering for our events is your agreement with the acknowledgements and rules set into place by the Pacific Esports League.

4. The Pacific Esports League is not responsible for any technical problems that teams face. The Pacific Esports League will not provide any replacement or additional equipment, i.e. Computers, Monitors, Keyboards, to any schools for use in the tournament.

5. The Pacific Esports League reserves the rights to remove players or teams from events, including temporary or permanent bans, at any time for any reason.

6. Any player or team incidents that break our Code of Conduct but occur outside of the organization will be viewed as if it occurred during the tournament.

Definitions

Definitions

1. Player

   1. A person who is enrolled in a current Pacific Esports League tournament.

2. Team

   1. A group of players who have agreed to compete in a Pacific Esports League tournament. Players may only be one one team at a time.

3. Team Captain

   1. A leader of a team, who is entrusted with the responsibility of representing the team they compete with.

4. Tournament Administrator

   1. An official member of the Pacific Esports League Competitive Administration Team. They oversee and ensure that the rules for all PEL events are followed to ensure competitive integrity.

5. Head Administrator

   1. The Leader of the Administrators, ensures that all decisions made by the lower admins are correct and gets the final say in all disputes and rule decisions. Ensures that the competitive integrity for the Pacific Esports League is maintained.

6. Administration Team

   1. The entire set of admins for the Pacific Esports League. Often, the Administration team as a whole will make decisions together.

7. Individual Game Administrators

   1. Specific admins that are a part of the Administration Team but specialize in the rules for individual games, usually the first place to contact for any questions about the rules for a specific game.

8. Substitution

   1. A change of players so that one or more players leave, and an equal amount of players join to play the game. Substitutions may only involve players that are on the roster.

9. Match

   1. A setting of team versus team, where teams compete against one another to compare the skills of each team and their individual players. A match includes all of the games that take place.

10. Game / Map

    1. One part of the match that takes place, this is also called a map.

11. Regular Season

    1. A series of matches designed to organize teams’ skill levels quickly and accurately. Matches during the Regular Season will be seeded by using the records of each team for the most accurate results (A swiss bracket).

12. Playoffs

    1. A series of matches designed to find the best team in a group by eliminating teams one match at a time. Playoffs will use a single-elimination bracket, where teams will compete against other teams for the opportunity to move on to the next round.

13. Single elimination

    1. A tournament bracket format where teams are eliminated after losing a series.

14. Swiss Bracket

    1. A bracket style where teams are matched against teams with a similar record to them. At the end of the bracket, the winning team is the one with the best record overall.

15. Best of One

    1. A format of play where each series consists of playing a single game, and the winner is decided based on the winner of that game.

16. Best of Three

    1. A format of play where each series consists of playing games until one team wins two, playing a maximum of three games, ignoring the possibility of ties or draws.

17. Best of Five

    1. A format of play where each series consists of playing games until one team wins three, playing a maximum of five games, ignoring the possibility of ties or draws.

18. Best of Seven

    1. A format of play where each series consists of playing games until one team wins four, playing a maximum of seven games, ignoring the possibility of ties or draws.

19. Area of Competition

    1. An area that has been approved by the Pacific Esports League to be valid for competition in a tournament. The Areas that are able to compete in the Pacific Esports League are laid out in the Area of Competition Tab.

20. Player Controlled Media

    1. Any form of representative content that a player chooses to show to other players officially.

21. Player Made Media

    1. Any form of media that a player or student creates that references the Pacific Esports League.

22. Team Controlled Media

    1. Any form of content representative of a team that a player or players on the team choose to show to other players and teams officially.

23. Streaming

    1. Broadcasting the perspective of a player onto a live streaming service such as twitch.

24. Proof of match

    1. Any piece of media captured for the purpose of proving that a match was played, and that a score was submitted.

25. Spectating

    1. The act of observing a game in the client, using the game's tools to allow you to spectate. Spectating is reserved for only specific approved people.

26. Student Broadcasters

    1. Students looking to take a passion of broadcasting and esports to become casters for games.

Area of Competition

Area of Competition

1. California

   1. Any School that is located in the state of California is eligible to compete in the pacific esports league.

      1. This includes any homeschools, or online universities / schools. If the school is located in California, the students there are able to compete.

Games Offered

1. Tournament Games

   1. Valorant by Riot Games

   2. League of Legends by Riot Games

Administration Team

Executive Director: Matthew Boman (ButteredToast#7896)

Tournament Operations Head: Jesus (Jaay#0022)

1. Match Procedure

1. Scheduling your match

• Every Monday Afternoon, round information will be sent to team captains showing what team they will face that week.

  • Once round information is received, teams will schedule & confirm a match time with their opponents.

• For each of the rounds during regular season, the default day / time will be Friday for Valorant and Saturday for League of Legends. Both games will have a default time of 6:30pm (PST)

  • However, if both teams agree, the match date or time can be changed to another time.

  • NOTE: The deadline for submitting scores is Saturday April 20th at 11:59pm. Please allow ample time for matches to be played and scores to be submitted. We recommend no later than Sunday afternoon when rescheduling a match.

• Once you have found a time that works for both teams (default time or rescheduled), you will confirm the match time using our Discord bot. This will notify our PEL Admins of the confirmed match time.

  • Once both teams confirm their match time through our bot, the match is scheduled. If a team becomes unavailable after the match is scheduled, the team in question will need to speak to the opponents about a possible time change.

2. Pregame Match Day

1. Valorant and League of Legends

1. Before your match, make sure to add the opponent's account in-game. You will be making a custom private lobby and the captains will need to add each other.

   • In the case either captain is not available, please tell your opponents what player to add on your team instead.

3. Match Time

1. Once your match time has come, teams have 15 minutes to communicate with their opponent to get the match started.

   • If you do not communicate within 15 minutes, your opponent is free to mark the match as a forfeit win for them.

   • If there is an issue with false match reporting, please submit a match dispute found here

2. Once the teams have communicated, they will have an additional 5 minutes to have all players ready in the lobby. By 20 minutes after match time, both teams must be ready and in-game.

   1. Having your team being ready for a match means you have the required number of players to have a full roster in the lobby, unless an emergency occurs. If so, please notify PEL staff.

   2. If your team is not ready within 20 minutes of your match time, your opponent is free to mark the match as a forfeit win for them if they wish.

   3. If there are issues from your opponent in getting into the lobby, please contact a PEL Staff through discord.

3. Make sure to see who is to make the lobby. For both Valorant and League of Legends, the higher seed makes the lobby.

4. Be sure to check up on the Valorant or League of Legend specific rules to make sure that you make the lobby correctly and understand the map or champion banning / picking procedure.

3. Playing your Match

1. In-Game Rules and Conduct

• Once the game has begun, make sure to follow both the Valorant rules for any questions on pauses or timeouts and the code of conduct for how you are expected to act in-game.

Code of Conduct

Valorant

League of Legends

• If you have any questions for your conduct, please contact the PEL Staff.

2. Player Substitutions

• Mid-Map substitutions are not allowed. Once a game / map has begun the players that are loaded in are the players you will have for that map.

  • Once a map is over, teams are able to substitute players for the next map in the match.

• If a team wishes to make a substitution, they must notify the other team using the in-game chat and then swap the player.

  • ALL substitutions must be players that are officially on the team's roster and have been for an hour before the match.

  • Any team that is found using a player that is not listed on their roster in the portal will be punished according to the punishments found in the Code of Conduct.

3. In-game issues

• In the event issues occur mid game that require help from a PEL Staff. Please contact staff and continue to play the match. Afterwards, we can determine if a change is needed.

4. Match Reporting

1. Valorant

• Once a map has been completed, please have one player take the following screenshots:

• A screenshot of the scoreboard of the map

Please take a photo of the scoreboard after every map

• A screenshot of the timeline of the map

Please take a photo of the timeline after every map

2. League of Legends

• Once a map has been completed, please have one player take the following screenshots:

League scoreboard of a game

3. Reporting the Completed Match

• After the match has completed where one team has won the series, please have one of the captains submit all the images onto the discord (#match-results)

  • Typically, the team that won submits, however you are free to discuss with your opponent to see who can submit.

5. Match Disputes

Submitting a Match Dispute

1. Submitting a match dispute

1. If a team believes that the other team has broken the rules from the Pacific Esports League which gave a specific advantage, delayed the matches, questioned the legitimacy of the team through potential cheating or other banned exploits, or broke the code of conduct in serious offences, the team may submit a match dispute.

2. Match disputes will only be accepted if they are submitted before the next week's window.

3. To file a match dispute, please use the form provided and give the following information:

   1. Name and Discord Tag

   2. What team you are on and who you played against

   3. The reason for filing a match dispute / what you believe the other team did

   4. Permanent links to all evidence that your team has for the claim you made

      1. For videos we ONLY accept streamable.com or an UNLISTED youtube video

      2. For images we ONLY accept Google drive folders (enable link sharing view only) or unlisted imgur links.

      3. Screenshots must be full screen rather than cropped. Any edited images will be disregarded

4. Upon receiving the proper evidence, the admin team will discuss and provide an answer to both teams when possible, and if needed, will update the outcome of the match and standings.

   1. If needed, both teams will be called individually to discuss the dispute.

   2. If a team is found to be submitting faulty or fake match disputes, they may be disqualified from the tournament.

      1. Faulty or fake match disputes includes:

         1. Lying about evidence to the Admin team

         2. Creating fake evidence through editing of photos / videos

2. Types of Accepted Proof

1. Videos of the match being played that are viewable by the tournament admins

2. Images of post game screens or score screens

3. Images of chat history between captains and players

3. Types of Proof that are not Accepted

1. Videos that have expired or are unavailable to the tournament administrators for viewing

2. Censored or cropped screenshots

3. Images of a post game screen that is not proven to be with the other player(s).

2. Pricing and Prizing

1. Prize Pool

1. The Prize pool for the Fractured Coast is $250 in scholarships for Valorant and $25 in scholarships for Teamfight Tactics. Additionally, the Redwood Rumble features $200 in grants through the Sapling Initiative.

   • The prize pool is distributed as follows:

2. Valorant ($225):

   • Division 1:

     1. First Place: $100 (40%) AND $100 in grants to the TWO highest Sapling Clubs

     2. Second Place: $50 (20%)

     3. Third and Fourth Place: $25 (10%)

   • Division 2:

     1. First Place: $25 (10%)

3. Teamfight Tactics ($25)

   1. First Place: $25 (10%)

4. If an event has been cancelled by the PEL Admins due to low turnout or any other reason, the Pacific Esports League is not liable to pay the prize pool to the teams who participated.

3. Pricing

1. Pricing

1. We kindly suggest a donation of $10 per team to support our tournaments, but please feel free to contribute what you believe is fair. Your donations enable us to continue offering these tournaments and provide more students with the same opportunities.

3. Media, Streaming, and Spectating

1. Media

1. Player Created Media

1. Players are free to make any media content they wish from their gameplay and their school's gameplay during the tournament.

2. The Pacific Esports League holds all the rights to use any and all clips and broadcasts run during the tournament as well as any materials shared by players and teams in marketing and promotional material for the organization.

2. Content Promotion

1. Students may submit video montages or other content approved according to the guidelines below may be able to have their content showcased on Pacific Esports social media accounts

   1. If Pacific Esports showcases your content, you will be credited on the video that is uploaded

2. Students may request to have their content published on the Pacific Esports League website, but will keep all rights to the content used. The Pacific Esports League may only use the content for marketing purposes with the written consent by the creator.

3. Streamed Content Rights

1. Signing up for the Fractured Coast gives the Pacific Esports League the right to use any gameplay clips, and highlights produced during matches. We also hold the rights to use any broadcast material created by other schools and teams.

2. Streaming

1. Players in the Pacific Esports League are free to stream their perspective of the matches. We HIGHLY recommend players stream with a delay for competitive integrity.

   1. If you do not stream with a delay, you put your team at a disadvantage if your opponents watch your stream.

2. The Pacific Esports League will not provide any equipment for players to stream and will not host any live streams from players onto official Pacific Esports twitch accounts.

3. Spectating

1. Approved Spectators

2. Student Talent

• Students or schools who are interested in broadcasting PEL matches onto their livestream channels are able to apply to join the Student Talent Program. To learn more, please visit our page on it here:

• The only people allowed in the spectator slot in-game are listed in the approved spectator sheet shown above. No one else other than PEL Staff are allowed there.

• If your match is set to be casted by a Student Talent Member or our PEL Broadcast team, the team captains for the match will be notified and the livestream link will be given to both teams. The broadcasted match will be required to have an 180 second delay on it.

3. Stream Requests

1. When teams confirm their match through the schedule bot, their match will be available to be broadcasted. The match will become available for students, schools, and the official PEL broadcast team to stream the match.

2. If a match is set to be broadcasted by any member / school of the student talent program, both teams will be notified and given the link to the twitch livestream(s).

3. If your match is selected to be broadcasted on the official PEL Twitch channel, a PEL Staff will reach out to both teams to explain the procedures for the match.

4. Code of Conduct

1. All teams are expected to follow the Code of Conduct at all times.

   1. Teams found breaking the code of conduct may risk possible removal from the tournament.