Wow, lots of stuff to respond to. First, like other people have said, i'm sorry that you all feel it’s necessary to leave the league after this ruling. You might think that I am just saying this to appear courteous, but as a premiere clan in the game in regards to skill, it’s a shame to see you leave the league as defending champions. We purposely made these rulings the way they are so that you could still participate in the league, and have a chance to move onto the playoffs for a second season in a row.
Now to address individual comments:
Pierce i'm surprised to see this post from you even though I know you’re obviously upset by the ruling. Regardless, you know for a fact I am not a biased ref who wants to see your clan fail. Perhaps you weren't referring to me in your initial post, as you were vague and said 'virtually every admin,' but regardless, I don't believe these accusations are true regarding Xbain, myself, Pure, and oddjob. These rulings were not made to force you out of the league, but to hopefully get a point across to your team, and all teams, that if you break these rules, you will be punished regardless what team you are.
This has already been stated a little bit, but as a league that wants to promote FUN, FAIR, and RESPECTFUL play by all participating teams. We do not want our participants to have to type “ignore #” during a game due to an opposing team being disruptive through messagemode1.
You might wonder what I define as disruptive. If you have mm1 privileges and you aren’t subbing in an observer, reporting a teammate is lagged, telling the ref what your map is, or what color you want, or simply saying “gg” at the end of a match, you are being disruptive. I know without a doubt some people will not agree with that reasoning, but if what you are saying does not relate to all the things I just previously mentioned, it simply is not necessary to be talking.
It is bad practice to put that burden on our participants to have to type “ignore” when we can eliminate that problem by allowing three people in a server of at least 9 to talk via mm1. However, this system obviously becomes flawed when administrators give this information to their teammates over and over again. Please understand that if bob never had access to the mm1 login, he never would have spoken a word during the game. If he had never had access to the mm1 login, this thread would not exist, no suspensions would have issued, you would be one 2-1 win over aT from reaching the playoffs for a second year in a row to defend your title.
It was mentioned that the ref for this match, TomVendetta, only warned eR33t once or twice during the match about talking in mm1, and never mentioned anything about a forfeit potentially being issued. I must know, if he warns you by saying, “Do not talk in mm1.” What do you think is going to happen if you keep talking? Maybe you weren’t expecting a forfeit, but why would you blatantly disrespect him by ignoring him and continuing to talk? If he never asked you to stop talking in mm1, or questioned if bob was the leader of eR33t (insinuating if he wasn’t the leader, he shouldn’t be talking in mm1, let alone have access to mm1 login), and issued a forfeit, then I think you would have a legitimate complaint.
Clearly this whole ordeal boils down to, “Does talking in mm1 during a match warrant a forfeit?” In a league with established rules set to keep games fun and fair, I believe it does. No team signed up for this league to be ridiculed during a match, whether it’s as blatant as a personal attack or a small remark like, “lmao” or “lucky” after a death. It simply isn’t necessary. Every person that plays this game is different; some people may not even notice this stuff during a match. Other people might notice it when they are looking at their mm2 chatter for recon. We believe reducing all taunting, mocking, offensive comments to an absolute minimum is the best thing for this league. By issuing forfeits for this immature behavior, we think we can keep this league enjoyable for all participating clans.
