Rules
OVERWATCH RULESET
These rules are specific to Overwatch. Please refer to the general rules for information about tournament format, substitutions, rematches and sportsmanship.
Contents
- Player and Team Eligibility
- Match Rules
- Penalties
- Glossary
Player and Team Eligibility
1.2. Player eligibility
1.2.1. To be eligible to compete in the British Esports Student Champs, each player must have satisfy all of the following conditions:
1.2.1.1. Be registered in full-time education at an Institution of Secondary or Further Education as defined in sections 1.1 within the General Rules.
1.2.1.2. If a student, as defined in 1.1.1.1, is over 19 years of age they must be DBS checked in order to take part in the Champs.
1.2.1.3. They must have a EU account on Overwatch.
1.2.1.4. A Players account name must not be offensive and if the BEA considers this to be the case, that player will be required to change their name.
1.2.1.5. A Player must be aged 12+ to compete.
1.2.2. Ineligible Students
The following students are ineligible to participate:
1.2.2.1. BEA tournament admins
1.3. Team eligibility
1.3.1. Each team must have a designated Leader that satisfies the following conditions:
1.3.1.1. A registered staff member at the Institution that the team represents. In exceptional circumstances, a student with written permission from their school or college may be designated leader, subject to British Esports Association approval.
1.3.1.2. Must act as representative and point of contact for BEA.
1.3.1.3. Must supervise all online interaction between Players at that Institution. This can include before and after games as well as during.
1.3.1.4. The leader cannot participate, only supervise.
1.3.2. A team must consist of between 6 and 8 players from the same Institution.
1.3.3. A player must be only on one team at once, however players may change teams throughout the season.
1.3.4. If a team splits up the majority of the team has right to ownership of the team and any seedings/qualification spots it has earnt.
1.3.5. A team may request a name change at any point during a season. To change a team’s name an admin must be contacted with desired change.
1.3.6. A Teams name must not be explicitly offensive and if the British Esports Student Champs considers this to be the case, that team will be required to change their name.
Match Rules
2.1. Match Setup
2.1.1. All games must be played on the European server.
2.1.2. Players must use the Battle.net account associated to their British Esports Student Champs profile. If this account information is not up to date it will lead to a loss of map pick in the first incident with increasing penalty for repeat offence.
2.1.3. Map choice.
“Home” team is the one displayed on the left of the fixture list. “Away” team is on the right. “Home” team get choice of Control map, then the loser of each of the subsequent maps chooses the next map. Winners choose the starting side (attack or defense).
2.1.3.1. Maps must be chosen from a pool of 8 containing: 2 “Control”, 2 “Hybrid”, 2 “Escort”, 2 “Assault”.
- Control: Lijiang Tower / Ilios
- Hybrid: King’s Row / Eichenwalde
- Escort: Havana / Rialto
- Assault: Temple of Anubis / Hanamura
- Control: Lijiang Tower / Ilios (whichever wasn’t picked first)
2.1.3.2. Fixtures will be Best of 5. First to win 3 maps.
2.1.3.3. In the event of a map draw (e.g. 3-3 on Hollywood), one round of a “Control” map will be played to determine the winner of the drawn map. This map must be played immediately after the tied map before moving on. For Winter, this tiebreaker will be Oasis.
2.1.4. Either team may create the lobby and the captain of the opposing team must be contacted and invited to the lobby. PH353 is the lobby code for Overwatch fixtures. This code once inputted will help with ensuring the right settings are turned on, but teams will still need to choose the correct maps from the map pool.
The lobby should be set up as follows:
2.1.4.1 Preset: Competitive
2.1.4.2. Lobby.
- Map rotation: after a mirror match
- Return to lobby: after a mirror match
- Team balancing: off
- Swap teams after match: yes
- Team 1 max players: 6
- Team 2 max players: 6
- Max FFA players: 0
- Max spectators: 2
- Match voice chat: disabled
- Pause game on player disconnect: yes
- 2.1.4.3. Click ‘Modes’ then ‘All’
- Enemy health bars: enabled
- Game mode start: all slots filled
- Health pack respawn time scalar: 100%
- Kill cam: disabled
- Kill feed: enabled
- Skins: disabled
- Spawn health packs: determined by mode
- Allow hero switching: enabled
- Hero limit: 1 per team
- Limit roles: 2 of each role per team. This enforces 2-2-2 lock.
- Respawn as random hero: disabled
- Respawn time scalar: 100%
2.1.4.4. Maps
Disable all but the one to be played next. E.g. if Hanamura is next, turn all but Hanamura to “OFF”.
2.1.4.5 Click ‘Heroes’ then ‘Hero roster’
All heroes enabled, unless new (see 2.1.6, 2.1.7)
2.1.5. Once both teams have joined the lobby and stated they are ready, the lobby leader must click Start.
2.1.6. New heroes may not be used until they have been available in Competitive play for at least one week.
2.1.7. Heroes which have been reworked may not be used until one week has passed since patch date.
2.2. Casting of Games
2.2.1. Tournament admins and people that are explicitly permitted to spectate by British Esports Student Champs (e.g. shoutcasters or streamers) may ask to spectate. You cannot refuse to invite a tournament admin.
2.2.2. Players must wait for casters to declare they are ready before starting.
2.2.3. Coaches, managers or anyone not explicitly permitted to spectate may spectate with permission from both teams.
2.2.4. These spectators must be locked to the side of their affiliation e.g. a coach for the blue team must be “locked to blue side”.
2.2.5. Stream delay of at least 120 seconds must be enabled in the streaming software to prevent cheating.
Penalties
3.1. Any person found to have engaged in or attempted to engage in any act that British Esports Student Champs believes, in its sole and absolute discretion, constitutes unfair play, will be subject to penalty. The nature and extent of the penalties imposed due to such acts shall be in the sole and absolute discretion of the British Esports Student Champs.
3.2. If any team or player is suspected of breaking any rules, admins should be informed by the Leader. At this point admins may ask for screenshots or other evidence of misconduct.
3.3. Upon discovery of any team member committing any violations of the rules listed above, the British Esports Student Champs may, without limitation issue the following penalties to a team:
3.3.1. Loss of a map pick. In this instance, the opponent is given the map choice.
3.3.2. Issue of a warning on the team’s permanent record.
3.3.3. Forfeit of a match.
3.3.4. Temporary suspension of a player. If this results in <6 players on the team, the team will become ineligible (according to 1.4.2) unless a substitute is brought in.
3.3.5. Permanent ban of a player.
3.3.6. Deduction of points or seeding for the current or next tournament. Penalties are carried over with the majority of the offending team for the full academic year.
3.3.7. Disqualification of team from a tournament.
3.3.8. Disqualification of team from the British Esports Student Champs.
Spirit of the rules
4.1. These Rules may be amended, modified or supplemented by the British Esports Student Champs, from time to time, in order to ensure fair play and the integrity of the British Esports Student Champs.
4.2. All decisions regarding the interpretation of these rules lie solely with the British Esports Student Champs, the decisions of which are final.
Glossary
5.1. Institution.
A school or college as defined in sections 1.1 And 1.2.
5.2. Player
A student who plays esports in the British Esports Student Champs.
5.3. Admins
Also known as tournament admins, referees, umpires. Admins will create fixtures, calculate results, make sure that players adhere to the Rules and Code of Conduct, hand out penalties.
5.4. Leader
A Leader is an adult member of staff that represents an Institution. A Leader is responsible for supervising online interactions between players, checking-in an Institutions teams, reporting match results to the tournament system. One Leader can be responsible for multiple teams.
5.5. Team
A team is a group of players. A team represents its Institution in the British Esports Student Champs.
5.6. Check-in
The process of reporting a team’s arrival and commitment to play in that week’s matches. Check-in takes place the day before fixtures on the tournament website. Only a Leader can check a team in.
5.7. Map
A map is the main area where the game takes place. There are 4 different types of map – Control, Hybrid, Escort, Assault. The map pool is the wider group of maps, selected by admins, that a team can choose from.
5.8. Hero
A playable character in the game Overwatch. Players have choice of heroes at the start of the match and can change hero as many times as they want during the match.
5.9. Lobby
Lobbies are menu screens where players can set up the upcoming game session, change their settings, and talk to each other. In many games, players return to the lobby at the end of each session. In some, players joining a session that has already started are placed in the lobby until the start of the next. As lobbies consume very few resources they are sometimes additionally used as a “holding pen” for players while waiting for the next match. Opposing teams must be invited to the lobby for the match to proceed.
5.10. Disconnect
Also known as DC. Disconnect can refer to an internet shortage that removes a player from a game or a player intentionally leaving a game.
5.11. Casting
Commentating an esports match. Commentators are known as casters. This is short for shoutcasters, the original term used to refer to esports commentators which has been shortened over time.
5.12. Seeding
The process of preliminarily ranking teams in a tournament bracket to ensure the most fair outcome. Each team is a seed.
5.13. Game
The application, programme, or .exe file, of a game. For example, Overwatch.exe is the game Overwatch.