Introduction
Remember that Tournament is a competition. And any competition implies respect to your opponents.
Note that if something isn't mentioned in these rules, it does not necessarily mean that it is allowed — we expect that participants of a Tournament will use common sense and won't force us to invent a new rule.
Current Rules may be changed or supplemented in the future. All the changes will be announced in a proper thread.
Terms
Organizer — a person who takes responsibility of organizing a Tournament, consolidating teams, forming tournament brackets, scheduling matches and solving disputes between teams.Captain — a person (or their representative) responsible for forming a team, registering it, negotiating with other Captains and so on.
Streamer — a Zombie Zone community member who has taken on the role of a tournament streamer.
Caster — a Zombie Zone community member who has volunteered to cast the tournament games and knows Left4Dead 2 and ZoZo servers specifics.
For Participants
1. One player — one active account. In order to register in a Tournament you have to provide a link to your zozo HLstatsX profile or Steam profile. Any other accounts won't be allowed to participate. Posing as someone else in order to participate in a Tournament is prohibited.
2. Captain or their representative (from here on "Captain") is responsible for communication with the Organizer and Administration, and for providing a list of team players during team registration. Each such list undergoes a thorough investigation.
3. Before any particular match the Captain has to once more provide a list players (no more than 11) that are gonna participate in the upcoming match no later than an hour before it starts. Don't forget that it requires time for Administration to prepare the servers and grant access to the players of the upcoming game.
4. Note that using any types of cheating programs/add-ons as well as abusing game or server bugs during a tournament game (see 1, 1.1 and 1.2 of the server rules) will result not only in player's disqualification, but (in some serious cases) in the team disqualification as well.
5. Before the start of the match (including after a reconnect) every player, even the ones waiting in Spectators slots, have to start a demo recording and list loaded addons in the console. In order to do that:
- Open the console:
~; - Send
demo <name>, where<name>is an arbitrary name; - Send
show_addon_load_order
6. When the match is over every player has to send their demo-files to the Captain of their team. Captain has to gather all of the said demo-files, pack them in separate archives (one for each player) and upload them to a Cloud service of their choosing. If you have any difficulties, feel free to contact Staff Members. The period necessary for storing the demos is set by the Organizer of a Tournament.
- Warning: using file sharing services, such as Mega, GoFile, UploadHaven and others is not advisable. If you have a Google/Yandex/Microsoft account, it means you already have a Cloud.
- Note that demo-files packed in an archive occupy ten times less space than without it. No need to complicate yours and our lives more than they need to be — use archiving tools.
- The suggested structure for storing demos is this: Tournament folder —> Match folder —> n archives with demos, where n is the number of players. Using this structure will allow you to share the link just once and have the content updated without the need to create a new link.
7. Constrain messaging to the team chat only (
U key by default). Try to minimize the usage of the common chat — it distracts the opponent team. Using common chat is allowed during downtime between the rounds, but keep in mind that the game is publicly broadcasted and you are still on the server, so be polite and respectful — the ZoZo server rules are still in effect.- Players that are currently participating in a match are strongly discouraged from using in-game VoIP (voice chat) — it creates an increased load on the server. Use third-party software to communicate with your team members: Discord, for example.
- Do not forget that every tournament game is broadcasted live and is gonna be etched in History, so be mindful of what you're writing in the common chat.
8. The tournament Organizer is allowed to introduce additional rules that will have the same value as the current ones.
9. The tournament Organizer deals with disputes between Captains. If the Organizer is unable to solve such dispute, or if the dispute emerged between a Captain and the Organizer, Administration acts as the arbiter.
For Organizers
1. Organizer is a Zombie Zone community member who volunteered to make the preparations needed to host a tournament event.
2. Organizer undertakes registering the teams, forming the tournament bracket, scheduling matches, solving disputes between Captains, overseeing the rules of a Tournament during matches, as well as notifying Captains in time about the changes in the schedule or other Tournament details. Zombie Zone Administration only provides, prepares and configures the servers, and oversees the server rules.
- * Note that the registration is final only after the moderation step is complete (see point 2 of "For Participants" section).
- After the period for registration is completed the Organizer forms a tournament bracket suitable for the number of teams registered. More info on tournament brackets can be found on printyourbrackets and challonge.
3. Organizer is responsible for refereeing the tournament matches, deciding the game results and organizing re-matches
4. The tournament Organizer deals with disputes between Captains. If the Organizer is unable to solve such dispute, or if the dispute emerged between a Captain and the Organizer, Administration acts as the arbiter.
For Streamers
1. Instruments. You must have:
- PC capable of streaming in 1080p 60FPS (with the game, Discord, browser etc. running in the background);
- Fast and reliable Internet connection: Twitch allows for up to 6000 KB/s (48 mbps) for common users and 8000 KB/s (64 mbps) for Twitch partners; hence, your bandwidth must provide at least 48 mbps for the stream, plus additional 16 mbps for Discord, Left4Dead 2 and other applications.
2. OBS knowledge. You:
- Know how to set up OBS scenes and shortcuts for quick actions;
- Have a good knowledge in OBS;
- Are able to solve issues on the go;
- Understand how to interact with viewers and so on.
3. Left4Dead 2 technical knowledge. You:
- Know how to work with camera in the game;
- Know what settings and launch options to use when you launch the game in order to keep it stable during streaming;
- Have a good knowledge about video and interface settings.
4. Zombie Zone-specific knowledge. You:
- Have a fair bit of experience on the tournament servers;
- Know the maps that were altered on the servers; feel the dynamics of the game by heart; understand where and when it is more likely to encounter an interesting moment and catch it on camera.
5. Streaming experience. You:
An established streamer with millions of viewers;- Got some experience in streaming.
- It would also be great, if you could cast on your own stream or at least cooperate with other casters and help visualize the actions being discussed.
For Casters
1. You are experienced in Left4Dead 2.
2. You are familiar with the Zombie Zone servers, its map features and gameplay mechanics;
3. You are well-spoken and are able to speak your mind without swearing all the time:
- Some occasional or accidental swearing is okay for as long as it's contained within adequate limits; insults and rough non-constructive criticism are still prohibited.
Would also be great if you:
1. Have a good quality microphone;
2. Are passionate and can improvise: you are not afraid of speaking to the public and feel comfortable spending hours talking with people that you might not even know;
3. Are able to maintain good spirit in the viewers even if your favourite team is losing badly;
4. Know foreign languages.
- Note: if Russian isn't your native language, you have to know English or Russian good enough to communicate.
Awards
All of the details are discussed before each tournament.