Severe Offenses are situations which are unlawful or in violation of the human rights (as defined by the United Nations) of others.

Note: Severe offenses are suggested for an indefinite ban and to have all events in which they participate removed from ranking eligibility. 

Engaging in Unlawful Activities

Exploitation of Minors

Any form of child exploitation, physical, emotional, or financial according to the legal definition of relevant jurisdictions . Note: A minor is defined as an individual under the age of 18, or as defined by the jurisdiction where the violation takes place.

Theft and Fraud 

Engaging in stealing, fraud, scamming, or any other form of theft that exceeds monetary values of $3,000 USD or higher. Note: This includes gross use of  communal funds in an improper fashion. 

Violence and Threats

Encouraging, threatening, equipping, or participating in any form of violence in a gross fashion. 

Note: This is intended to deal with threats that would be actionable by law which violate the safety of members of the community IE: weaponry at a tournament. 

Trespassing

Unauthorized entry onto property or restricted areas.

Doxxing and Stalking

Engaging in doxxing (publishing/platforming private information without consent) or stalking.

Defamatory Behavior

Creating or contributing to libelous or defamatory statements, or knowingly making a false claim that leads to any harmful actions.

Note: This is in cases that have been proven by a relevant legal jurisdiction.

Hate Speech

  Speech that shows a clear lack of respect for the rights of others, incites discrimination, hostility, or violence, or targets individuals or groups for intimidation or violence.

1. Hate speech is defined as follows, adapted from the Rabat Plan of Action, the United Nations standard for defining free speech versus hate speech: 

2. Hate speech is speech which articulates an explicit lack of respect for the rights of others, incitement to discrimination, hostility or violence, or which targets members of the scene for intimidation, murders, riots, violence etc. (Defined from III. A. 14. Of the Rabat plan of Action). This can also be referenced as incitement to hatred, as defined by III. A. 17.  

3. III A. 20 writes: “In terms of general principles, a clear distinction should be made between three types of expression: expression that constitutes a criminal offense; expression that is not criminally punishable, but may justify a civil suit or administrative sanctions; expression that does not give rise to criminal, civil or administrative sanctions, but still raises concern in terms of tolerance, civility and respect for the rights of others.” Please note that this is not a legal body. Judgment of hate speech does not need to be deemed criminally or civilly viable as hate speech to still be deemed worthy of recourse. 

4. The following recommendation is made by the Rabat Plan of Action to political and religious leaders, but is extended by this panel to members of the community: “should refrain from using messages of intolerance or expressions which may incite violence, hostility or discrimination; but they also have a crucial role to play in speaking out firmly and promptly against intolerance, discriminatory stereotyping and instances of hate speech. It should be made clear that violence can never be tolerated as a response to incitement to hatred.”

Illegal Content

Uploading or endorsing illegal explicit content, including real or disturbing depictions of violence without consent.

Privacy Violations

  Sharing confidential or identifiable personal information without consent, especially sensitive data like medical information.

Discrimination

Discrimination, harassment, or incitement to harassment based on sexuality, gender identity, ethnicity, religion, ability, or any other protected class.

Ban Evasion

Knowingly attending an event under a false tag, in an attempt to conceal the identity of oneself or another banned entity. 

Moderate offenses are situations which do not violate the law but threaten to negatively impact the safety of the community in non-gross fashion, or the competitive integrity of an event by non-involved parties. Moderate  offenses carry a baseline 6-12 month ban, which can be escalated in cases of exceptional severity, exceptional regularity, or repeat offenses.

Improper Conduct with Confidential Information

  Unauthorized distribution of information detrimental to the health, safety, privacy, and autonomy of community members. Note: This regarding the private sharing of documents or information in a fashion not considered doxxing. Examples could be: the sharing of private medical documents/diagnosis, Intentional distribution of attendee emails to a sponsor without their knowledge, the sharing of non-public information, that if published, would be considered doxxable, in a private setting (not for self defense). 

Inappropriate Conduct

  Conduct that is determined to be sexually inappropriate or exploitative of problematic power dynamics, but is not considered illegal by relevant jurisdictions. 

Damage to Property

  Intentional or unintentional damage to event or venue equipment that does not result in a severe safety threat, as determined by the discretion of onsite tournament organizers. 

Note: Unintentional Damage should be handled in deference to the discretion of on site organizers. 

Violation of Competitive Integrity

Directly or indirectly engaging in bribery or corruption related to esports competitions, including both active (offering a bribe) and passive (accepting a bribe) forms of bribery, cheating(please see your local tournaments rules for character specific cheats), bracket fixing, and setup tampering.

Bullying and Cyberbullying

  Any form of bullying, cyberbullying, or intentional ostracization of a community member, including verbal abuse or harassment.

Aggressive and Hostile Behavior

  Behaviors that compromise safety, including aggressive combativeness, deliberate destruction of property, Intimidation of others,or actions that create an unsafe or hostile environment.

Obstruction of Investigations

  Knowingly obstructing an investigation into bannable offenses or aiding in the concealment of violations. This includes ban evasion. 

Note: In cases where the concealment or obstruction pertains to an unlawful act, actions required by relevant jurisdictions may occur, in addition to an escalation of this category to severe offense. 

Minor offenses are situations which do not impact the immediate safety of others but threaten to negatively impact the long term safety of the community, or the competitive integrity of an event by non-involved parties.Minor offenses carry a baseline 1-3 month ban, which can be escalated in cases of exceptional severity, exceptional regularity, or repeat offenses.

Inappropriate Content

  Uploading or endorsing content considered inappropriate by the community but not illegal under relevant jurisdictions. Note: This section is for content that could not be considered to target harassment, but falls outside community standards to the degree it negatively impacts the community at large. 

Gross Obstruction of Contestants

  Intentional distraction, intimidation, or otherwise obstruction of participants for the event in a way that impedes competitive integrity.

Warnings are situations that do not warrant a ban in isolation, but could be concerning enough to warrant consideration as an offense in cases of exceptional severity or regularity. We recommend that repeated Warnings be escalated to Higher offense tiers, adjusted for regularity & severity. Additional at event punishments for warnings may happen at an organizer’s discretion. 

Excessive Language

  Avoid using excessively profane or inappropriate language that disrupts the event or offends others but does not fall  under hate speech, bullying, harassment, or another topic explicitly covered by this code of conduct. NOTE: Can be escalated In cases of exceptional severity or regularity.

Health and Safety Violations

  Engaging in behaviors that could be considered potential health or safety risks for the event, such as attending with contagious illnesses (e.g., COVID-19) or exhibiting excessively poor hygiene. Note: Can be escalated In cases of exceptional severity or regularity.

Disruption of Events

  Disruptive behaviors that do not threaten safety but still impede the event’s progress or event attendee’s well-being. Note: Can be escalated In cases of exceptional severity or regularity, and can carry additional, per event consequences to the tournament organizer’s discretion.

Gross Misrepresentation of the Community

  Misrepresentation of community incidents or the actions of others for personal gain.  NOTE: This covers cases such that wouldn’t be defamatory, or incite harassment: but could be considered as leading in the direction of such. This can also include cases where gossip is excessively weaponized for personal gain. This is not something that should be cited for any form of ban, except in cases where it's a form of fraud or incitement to harassment.