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General Rules

1. Verbiage

  • Player: A student who is participating in the league.
  • Coach: A school district employee or designee who serves as a point of contact for a team. May also be an advisor, club supervisor, or designated student.
  • Association: the Idaho Esports Association

2. Player

  • A player may only compete for one school during a season, a player must play for their current school if it has a team.

2.1. Player Transfers

  • Should a player move schools in the middle of the season, the player and/or their new coach should contact the Association informing them of the change. More than one movement per season may result in the disqualification of the player for the remainder of the season pending Association review of circumstances.
  • Should a player attend a school without an esports team, or no team for a specific title offered by the association, the player may submit a writ of cooperation signed by both the receiving coach (hosting team/school) and the releasing coach (originating team/school), in the case of no coach, a school administrator.
    • The hosting team should be the physically closest team at the time of the writ to the origininating team.
    • Should the student be transfering for multiple titles, the same hosting school must be used unless that school also does not have that title, then the player is to follow the same pattern of identifying the closest team.
  • Any team found to not have a writ of cooperation in place for all hosted students may have any matches played with the player(s) forfeited and all championship bids or prizing revoked for all school teams, not just the team out of compliance. There will be no refund of fees paid.
  • Should enough players from a origninating school to create a team be playing for other schools, the association is tasked to identify if a team under the origininating school is plausible. Considerations will be given to host team viability (viability is ability to continue to consistantly compete, not the ability to compete at the same level) and originating team viability.
    • Should the association identify the originating school team plausible, the hosted students will be transfered back to their originating school team. A host school can continue to provide support as they see fit.

2.2. Additional Requirements

  • Maintain a 2.0 or better on a 4-point system or equivalent. Weighted grades are acceptable.
  • Attend the school full-time and/or be on track to graduate. Exceptions:
    • Homeschool students within the school's normal attendance borders are eligible to compete for one school.
    • Schools that have a cooperative agreement allowing for students from another school to play for the school can honor that agreement provided that only one school has an esports team. This must be renewed yearly.
  • Be present for the majority (50% + 1) of classes on a competition day, exceptions are for school-excused absences (field trips, athletic events, etc) and doctor-excused absences. Parent call-outs and truancy are not acceptable unless specifically allowed by the sponsoring school or district.
  • Exceptions may be made by the IEA board to create more opportunities for students.

3. School

In order to compete in Association games schools must:

  • Be physically located in the State of Idaho, schools not in Idaho are welcome to participate but will not be given tournament spaces.
  • Pay dues as assigned
  • Be a brick-and-mortar school, unless specifically approved by the association. Digital schools such as IDLA and IDVA are generally not approved as students come from other districts. Any exceptions must be renewed yearly.

Schools are expressly prohibited from actively recruiting from other schools, especially those that have esports programs. Recruitment is defined as offering scholarships, deals, or perks for a student to come to their school and play. Schools found in violation of this may have their season forfeited and future participation reviewed. To clarify, students may move schools but it must not be influenced by the receiving school. Further clarification, schools may advertise their programs and equipment to incoming or potential students but cannot make any verbal, physical, or implied promises previously defined.

4. Competition

  • Competition is the heart of the association. It should be generally assumed that should questions arise that participants should go with the 'spirit of the game or competition'.
  • All communication between teams concerning matches should take place in the Idaho Esports LeagueOS match chat
  • Teams should be in the game lobby where the match is to take place 5 minutes prior to the start of their match
  • No communication should take place between opponents during matches except for necessary communication such as lobby codes, character selection, or map banning.
  • No foul language, slurs, or inappropriate in-game behaviors will be tolerated.
  • A warning will be given for any inappropriate in-game behaviors, however;
    • The referee may, at any time, remove players from the match for violation of this rule. There will be no substitutions for this player during the match.
  • Additional issues may result in further action from the IEA.

4.1. State Play-in

  • Format: Round Robin Group Stage Tournament, similar to the FIFA world cup. Groups will feature no more than 4 teams.
  • Purpose: Determine the top 4 teams in each league that Qualify for the State Championship
  • Method: Teams will be drawn live via Twitch and Youtube. Matches will be scheduled in LeagueOS

4.1.1. Match Day Rules

  • Match start times:
    • Mountain League: 3:45 pm MST
    • Pacific League: 4:45pm MST/3:45pm MST
  • Home team will be the lobby host
    • If the Home team is not ready to start at the scheduled time, the Away team will become the lobby host
  • Forfeit rules
    • FF rules will apply 15 Minutes after the scheduled start time
      • If a team does not meet the minimum threshold to start AND has not coordinated an agreed upon new start time
        • THEY will receive a FF for the match
    • If a team meets the minimum threshold, BUT does not have a full roster ready they must play with an incomplete roster for that game.
  • Teams are allowed to reschedule 1 match per game
    • must be rescheduled for an agreed time on April 19th.
  • Teams are allowed a 5-minute break between rounds in a series
    • Teams are allowed to make substitutions in the 5-minute period
  • Teams can start matches early if both teams agree on the start time.
    • FF rule will apply to 15 minutes after the intended start time.

5. Connection Issues

  • If a team has more than 3 disconnects during gameplay that causes pauses or issues the team with the disconnects will forfeit the match. Teams may agree to an alternative day or time if they desire.

6. Communication

Each week, coaches are responsible for the following:

  • Sending a message to your opponent through the leagueOS site at least 48 hours before the match time to confirm that the match will be played at the default time.
  • Updating your Roster on the leagueOS site with the players you will be fielding that week.
  • Submitting the results on the leagueOS site
  • MORE communication is always better than less. So communicate EARLY and OFTEN to ensure a smooth game day experience for all students.

7. Rosters

Coaches or another approved school or team liaison must ensure rosters are accurate before a match starts. All rostered players should have the appropriate game connections for all games they are playing in.

8. Schedule

Organzations should commit to playing at the default time when joining. Teams are not obligated to adjust their times.

8.1. Rescheduling

  • Teams are allowed to reschedule provided both teams agree to the agreed upon date and time. This must be communicated from both coaches to IEA, preferably by using the LeagueOS site match chat.
  • If teams cannot agree to a rescheduled date and time then the default time stands.
  • Opposing teams are not obligated to change from the default time.
  • If an alternative date and/or time has been agreed upon by both teams this is the new default time for that specific match.
  • It is recommended that teams being asked if a rescheduled date and/or time works, clarify with all team members and families that the reschedule would infact work before agreeing.

9. Match Procedure

  • Teams have 10 minutes from the start of the match time to communicate with the other team that they are planning to compete on that day. Teams in communication with each other should make every effort possible to compete while following the rescheduling guidelines.
  • Teams must have full rosters, teams may elect to play a player down, see specific game rules about players joining in late.

10. Glitches and Bugs

  • Any use of glitches or bugs is strictly prohibited. If there is any evidence regarding a team using these, an automatic forfeit will be issued.

11. Match Reporting

  • It is requested that teams enter match results as soon as possible to allow for future match generation to take place as soon as possible.
  • All matches must be reported by 9 pm Mountain / 8 pm Pacific on Friday the week of the match. After that time, any unscored match will be considered a forefeit by both teams.

12. Match Dispute

It is encouraged to work out any disputes with the opposing team during the game. Both parties may agree to replay the game, set, or match and accept those results. If agreement cannot be reached then it will go to the dispute team.

Sufficient evidence is required to argue a case. A coach not connected to either team and a part of the IEA, may act as referee for the match. A team’s coach may bring forth any evidence for a dispute, but it is ultimately the determination of the referee if there is sufficient evidence to call for a rematch or disqualify a team.

Communication logs, screenshots, and any replay codes available will assist in the dispute resolution. All disputes should be reported before the match reporting time.

13. BM/Toxicity

  • Our organization takes any forms of BM or toxicity seriously. Players should imagine that collegiate and professional recruiters may watch your game play at any time. Any form of BM or toxicity will not be tolerated and may result in warnings, player ban, team ban, and team removal from the season with no refunds. This varies from game to game, ut some examples would be:
    • Teabagging (crouching up and down on a downed opponent or objective point)
    • Body shooting (shooting a downed opponent where no prone ability is present)
    • Body or objective tagging (spraying a downed opponent or objective point)
    • Spamming voice lines
    • Cursing in game chat
    • Cursing in voice chat
    • Use of any slurs or derogatory language in game chat, LeagueOS chat, or any other form of communication
    • Spamming a quick chat
    • Using quick chat lines in a toxic manner ("Nice shot!" after a miss, "What a save!" after a goal, etc.)
    • Using a taunt or emote in a toxic manner

We are here to have fun and compete in a friendly environment. Please keep that in mind when playing in our league. While we understand that not all schools can stream or record, we do ask for some kind of evidence if a report is made. It is hard to take action without evidence to point to.