TLP League: Official Rules & Fair Play Update

Welcome to the official rules and fair play hub for TLP League. As the premier competitive gaming circuit across Australia and New Zealand, our mission is to deliver fierce, high-octane esports action backed by uncompromising competitive integrity. Whether you are grinding the amateur ladders or battling it out in the Premier Division, every player is entitled to a fair go.

This rulebook outlines player standards, technical protocols, roster guidelines, and anti-cheat policies. All registered players, coaches, and team managers must read, understand, and abide by these rules throughout the season.

1. The Spirit of the Game: Code of Conduct

TLP League champions respect, professionalism, and healthy banter. However, toxicity, abuse, and unsportsmanlike behaviour have zero place in our community.

• Respect Your Opponents: Treat all competitors, administrators, casters, and community members with respect. Trash talk is allowed within reason, but targeted harassment, discriminatory language, sexism, racism, or hate speech will result in immediate disqualification.
• Match Fixing & Bribery: Any attempt to deliberately throw matches, coordinate outcomes, or wager on TLP League fixtures is strictly prohibited and carries a lifetime ban from all TLP-sanctioned events.
• Collusion: Teams found collaborating in-game to manipulate standings, brackets, or point differentials will be booted from the tournament immediately.

2. Competitive Integrity & Anti-Cheat Policy

We take a zero-tolerance stance towards cheating, software manipulation, and the exploitation of unintended game mechanics.

• Third-Party Software: The use of aimbots, wallhacks, triggerbots, recoil-control scripts, modified config files, or any unauthorised software that provides an unfair advantage will lead to an immediate ban and forfeiture of all prize pool earnings.
• TLP Client & Anti-Cheat Requirement: Where applicable, competitors must run our mandated anti-cheat software alongside native platform anti-cheat tools throughout all live matches. Refusal or failure to run the required client leads to match forfeiture.
• Exploits and Map Glitches: Intentionally abusing game-breaking bugs, clipping through walls, silent-planting, or using unapproved pixel-walks is strictly forbidden. If a bug occurs accidentally, team captains must pause and flag it to an official referee straight away.

3. Rosters, Ring-Ins, and Eligibility

To keep the ladder balanced and prevent smurfing, stringent roster verification checks are enforced across all regional brackets.

• Account Verification: Players must compete strictly on their primary, registered game accounts linked to their TLP profile. Ringing, account sharing, or smurfing will result in match forfeiture and multi-month bans for both the account owner and the substitute.
• Regional Eligibility: All rostered competitors must reside within the ANZ region (Australia and New Zealand) unless explicitly given an international wildcard clearance by league administrators.
• Substitute Players (Ring-ins): Teams are permitted up to two registered substitutes per roster. All roster changes or emergency ring-in requests must be submitted to match officials at least 60 minutes prior to scheduled match time.

4. Match Day Protocol & Technical Issues

Punctuality and readiness are crucial to ensure match broadcasts and brackets run like clockwork.

• Check-in Times: Team captains must check in via the TLP Match Dashboard at least 15 minutes before scheduled match start time. Teams failing to field a full roster within a 10-minute grace period will automatically forfeit Map 1.
• Disconnects and Technical Pauses: Each team is allocated up to 10 minutes of tactical/technical pause time per map. In the event of a total server crash or player disconnect during early rounds (before first blood or objective capture), the match will be restarted under administrator discretion.
• Proof of Match Results: Winning captains are required to take post-match screenshots of the final scoreboard and submit them via the match reporting portal within 30 minutes of game completion.

5. Disputes, Appeals, and Sanctions

If you suspect an opponent has broken league regulations, do not take matters into your own hands on social media or in public Discord channels. Follow our official dispute resolution pipeline.

• Lodging a Protest: Protests must be lodged via a TLP Support Ticket within two hours of match conclusion, accompanied by match replay files (VODs), match timestamps, and clear descriptions of the incident.
• Penalty Framework: Infractions are categorised into Minor, Major, and Critical tiers. Penalties include formal warnings, loss of map bans, match forfeitures, point deductions, prize money docking, and seasonal or permanent bans.
• Finality of Decisions: The Head of League Operations holds the final decision on all rule disputes, ambiguous game scenarios, and unforeseen technical emergencies.

Play Hard. Play Fair.

TLP League is built by the community, for the community. Let's keep the ANZ esports scene thriving, competitive, and fair for everyone. Jump on the server, hit your shots, and back your mates with pride.