Introduction

War is upon us and since there have been major changes to how we do gaming in the club since the last vendetta I wanted to publish a quick clarification and refresher on how the rules for the event-long competitions will work.

• Supported Game Cluster Race
• Casual Gaming Queue Cluster Race

The event long gaming bin is divided into two cluster races, one for supported games and one for casual gaming queue.

1. Use of the Discord party create tool is mandatory for all submissions to the cluster races. This is a new thing and is part of the Rites of Combat. I have included a guide below on how to set up a party in discord. The party create tool is not required for the game-specific competitions in Phase 1 and 2. Only for sessions you submit to the cluster races.

2. Same-clan submissions to the competitions are allowed provided you otherwise follow the Rites of Combat.

The intent behind these competitions and rule changes is to let people play what they want, get participation credit as easily as possible, while keeping gaming open and fair for all. I tried to address as many scenarios as I could think of in the competition rules but the overriding concern is that members are not excluded. The rules might seem long but the thing to remember is as long as you are making a good faith effort to advertise your gaming sessions and let others join your sessions, you are probably fine. Something else to point out, you are not required to get in voice/video comms with anyone. The RoC only requires that you allow others to join your games, you can mute them all day long.

As I said when I updated the Rites of Combat, I am looking for patterns of behavior that indicate exclusion or exploitation. Life happens, I understand that. Spouse/kid/pet aggro happens and you may have to leave suddenly. That’s fine. If it becomes a pattern then you and I might have a conversation. Absent something egregious, I will always start with a warning. “Hey, I noticed this, stop it.” or something to that effect.

I really want each and every member to have fun and these rules are just to make sure everyone is included if they want to play.

One last thing about these specific competitions. As an added bonus to the Casual Gaming Queue race, the game that has the most submissions to that comp will be submitted for approval to become a fully supported platform. So now’s your chance to get Pokemon as a supported game!

Reminders about Casual Gaming Queue

When you submit to casual gaming queue make sure you put both the game and the platform you played it on. The platform should correspond to whatever in-game name is displayed on the screenshot like a Steam name, Xbox gamertag, etc. A lot of casual gaming submissions do not have a dedicated dossier space to put your in-game name. A comment added to the submission before you submit it listing out who is who on the screenshot is perfectly acceptable. Just make sure to hit save instead of save and submit when you are uploading the screenshots.

Party Create Function Guide

Since this is the first vendetta when the Discord party create feature is required I wanted to prepare a brief reference guide for those who have not used it before.

Step 1: Go to the #gaming-matchmaking channel in Discord. Keep an eye on this channel, this is where you will see open parties and people guaging interest in games.

Step 2: Type /party create. Once you see it start to auto-populate with party create you can hit tab on the desktop version of Discord and it will highlight the fields for you. On mobile you type slash then you select party create. On mobile you can click the size and description boxes to fill those in.

Step 3: Fill in your party size and description details and hit enter/submit

You should see something like this if you created the party correctly. Other members will see the party and a join button.

Step 4: Discord will create a thread for your gaming party that others can join. Use this thread to coordinate getting together in-game, any voice chat you want to use, etc. The Discord thread is a good place to troubleshoot game-specific issues like someone disconnecting.

Step 5: The party leader can re-advertise the party in the matchmaking channel, pass leadership to someone else or disband the party. Parties should be disbanded once all the gaming has ended.

Key portions of the Rites of Combat

Here are the most relevant sections of the Rites of Combat for your convenience:

Section 2.1 - DB Gaming Channel

a. To participate in Brotherhood Gaming for Vendettas, and Tournaments members must be present in the DB Gaming Matchmaking Channel on Discord.

Section 2.2 - Setting up Gaming Matches and Events

a. During Vendettas and DB Wide Gaming Tournaments members must use the “party create” functions on Discord unless specific competition rules say otherwise.

Section 5.3 - Match Dodging

a. Match Dodging occurs when a member who is actively gaming in an environment where use of the “party create” functions on Discord are mandatory intentionally avoids or excludes another member or group of members from play. Examples of match dodging include but are not limited to: abruptly ending a party when a certain member joins, leaving a party when a certain member joins, and creating a new party for the same game/mode of another active party with ample open slots.

b. Exceptions to the match dodging rule can be granted by the Fist and Justicar for special circumstances such as an ongoing Chamber of Justice mediation. Such exceptions will be issued in writing by the Justicar for particular members and kept on file with the Chamber of Justice.

Section 5.4 - Dbb0t and DB Gaming Matchmaking System

a. Members are not permitted to excessively idle when creating or joining parties in the #gaming-matchmaking discord channel. Members who join parties should be added to in-game groups within a reasonable amount of time. Members who create parties should start gaming within a reasonable amount of time after the first person joins the party.

b. Party owners must use the /disband party function when their group is done playing.

c. Members must use the /leave command if they are planning on not playing any more matches.

Closing

I’ll touch on this in a future report but if you’re wondering who this Rajhin Cindertail guy is, it’s still Turel I just switched characters to one who’s a better fit for my DC role. Plus I get to make a lot of tiger puns now. The eye of the tiger is upon you.

Remember, please direct all questions on competitions and rules to Evant, Bubba and myself via email so we have a record of it. When in doubt, ask.

Rajhin Cindertail aka Turel

Fist of the Brotherhood