GameArena is running the Battlefield 1942 ladder as a service to the community. This ladder is an opportunity for teams to compete in a fair, sportsmanlike and enjoyable way. All of the following rules are designed to ensure those ideals. These rules are specific to the Battlefield 1942 competition. All players should be read with the GameArena general ladder rules, and the GameArena Terms and Conditions. Where there is any conflict between these rules and the general ladder rules or terms and conditions, these rules apply.

GameArena also offers teams the opportunity to play a number of new and modified maps of the BFPro modification. Whilst this is not a compulsory download it is highly recommended. The GameArena Battlefield 1942 ladder will still operate using the regular Battlefield 1942 game, however teams may offer two of the non-standard maps to the challenge in place of two standard maps should they choose to do so. (See section 6.2 for more details)



The GameArena Battlefield 1942 ladder will have a regular season of challenges for approximately 12 weeks. The time may be extended to allow for any stoppages, or for other reasons as may be required. Twelve players per team will compete on one map per match. At the end of the regular season, the ladder will be locked and the top 8 teams will participate in the finals. Finals will be run by the Ladder Managers in a format decided by them at the close of the season. Once the finals are completed, the winning team will be declared the seasons’ champion.



The GameArena Battlefield 1942 Ladder will be run in ‘Conquest’ mode. The round length will be 30 minutes, and each team will play each side twice. The challenging team will play the Axis team in the first round, and then sides will alternate at the end of each round, so the format is ‘ABAB’

Example: Team #20 has challenged Team #10. When players from Team #20 join the server, they join the Axis side. Once the first round has finished, they change to the Allies side. At the end of the second round, they change back to the Axis side. For the fourth and final round, they change to the Allies again.



The most current version of punkbuster will be enabled on the server. Players must have the same version of punkbuster running on their computers to play in the ladder. Players should ensure they have nothing installed that will cause a punkbuster violation.



All teams are required to ensure that their contact email address listed on their team information page is up to date and checked regularly, and that their team captain’s email addresses in their GameArena profiles are also up to date and checked regularly. This is the primary means of contact, and all rules changes, important announcements etc. will be made through these email addresses.

All players, especially team captains, are encouraged to check the GameArena Battlefield 1942 forums regularly, as the Ladder Managers will both announce upcoming changes for discussion here, and check them regularly for informal feedback on the progress of the ladder.





A team may challenge up 50% of their current ranking, or 7 positions, whichever is greater. If the team’s current ranking is an odd number, the 50% will be rounded down first, and then applied.

Example:
Team #20 may challenge team #10:
(50% of 0 = 10, so 10 ranks 'up' from 20)
Team #21 may challenge team #11
(50% of 21 = 10.5, rounded down = 10, so 10 ranks 'up' from 21)
Team #10 may challenge team #3
(7 positions up from 8)



The challenging team will select 4 maps, 2 from a list of regular maps and 2 from a list including the regular and modified BFPro maps, and 3 game times and offer them to the team they would like to challenge. The defending team will select 1 map and 1 time they are comfortable with. At this point, both teams will receive an email with the selected booking time, selected map, passwords to join and a list of players from both teams that are eligible to play in the match.

When the challenging team makes their challenge, their team roster is locked. Only players on the roster who have a joining date are eligible to play in the match (not players ‘invited to join’). The challenging team should ensure that all players they wish to use in the match have accepted an invitation to join before they issue the challenge.



The defending team will be notified of the challenge by email. They must respond within 48 hours of the challenge being issued. GameArena strongly recommends that the defending team not leave accepting the challenge to the last minute. The acceptance of the challenge must be done through the GameArena website, which may occasionally be unavailable. If a defending team is unable to enter their acceptance of the challenge due to a website outage of less than two hours, the Ladder Managers will take no action to reverse the forfeit for not entering the acceptance.

When the defending team accepts the challenge, their team roster is locked. Only players on the roster who have a joining date are eligible to play in the match (not players ‘invited to join’). The defending team should ensure that all players they wish to use in the match have accepted an invitation to join before they accept the challenge.



In this section, we describe what should happen while a match is being played. If there are any problems (server crashes, players spawning on the wrong team) please see Section 4.



All matches will be allocated 2.5 hours to be completed. This should be more than adequate to allow for an entire match. If the server time runs out before a match is completed, the match will be decided by the rules in the scoring section (see section 3.7).

If a team can prove that their opponents have deliberately wasted time, the time wasting team may suffer a forfeit. Time wasting can include demanding extra time to have players connect, demanding map restarts due to players spawning on the wrong team etc.



The match server will appear at the time of the booking in the “Server Bookings” tab in The Arena

At any time during the match, a Referee (including a GameOp or Ladder Manager) may join the game for admin purposes.

Each team must be ready to join the server at the time it starts. Teams are allowed 10 minutes to connect to the server and be ready to play. Any team that has less than 8 players on their team after this 10 minute period forfeits.

At no time may a team have more than 12 players connected to the server. If a team intends to have substitutes at some point, the players being substituted out must leave the server before the new players join. This includes during the two minute breaks between rounds.

The challenging team will play as the Axis side first, and should join that side when they join the server. The defending team will play as the Allies side first, and should join that side when they join the server.



Each team must nominate one of their players to be a ‘spokesperson’ for the team – the person that will speak on behalf of the team during the match. This is the person that the Referee will ask questions of, who will announce that their team is ready, etc. It is expected (but not required) that this person be a captain of the team.

If a Referee has not joined after 5 minutes of the server starting, the teams should decide (through their spokespeople) which team will handle the administration of the server for the match. Each team should have at least one member in every war that is familiar with the commands needed to administer a match – please see section 7.1 for the few commands required.



The match must start no earlier than 5 minutes and no later than 10 minutes after the server starts.

Once both spokespeople announce that their team is ready, the person administering the match (Referee or otherwise) will issue the map restart command. This will commence a 2 minute countdown, and then play will begin. It is recommended that both spokespeople (or the Referee if present) will announce “THIS IS IT” so that both teams are clear that round 1 is starting.



After the round has completed (either due to ticket loss, or time) there will be a two minute break. The teams MUST swap sides during this time. While it is not against the rules, it is considered very rude not to swap as soon as possible. If a player intends to be away from the computer during the two minute break, they should swap before they leave.



Each team plays each side twice, swapping at each break. Thus, the challenging team will play as (for example)
Round 1: Axis
Round 2: Allies
Round 3: Axis
Round 4: Allies



Each team must take a screenshot at the end of each round, showing the tickets remaining. At the end of the match, each team totals its remaining tickets from each round. The team with the higher total remaining tickets is the winner.

Example:

Round 1	Team A (allies) 120	Team B (Axis) 0
Round 2	Team A (Axis) 0	Team B (Allies) 20
Round 3	Team A (Allies) 10	Team B (Axis) 40
Round 4	Team A (Axis) 10	Team B (Allies 60
Total Score	Team A Tickets 140	Team B Tickets 120

In the example, team A has won the match (even though they have only won one round of four).

If the match is ended for any reason before two rounds are complete, the match will be cancelled. Both teams should enter a dispute with the words ‘Match Incomplete, less than 2 rounds finished because of X’ and the Ladder Manager will cancel the match.

If the match is ended for any reason after two rounds are complete (but not four rounds complete) the score will be calculated at the end of round two. In the example above, both teams will enter the result as Team A: 120, Team B: 20.



Each team must enter a result within 4 hours of the match starting (approximately 90 minutes after the match ends). The result will either be the score, or a dispute. Each team is strongly advised to check the score they enter carefully. If the scores entered match, then the challenge will be complete. If the scores differ, or either team enters a dispute, both teams will be marked as involved in a dispute and a Ladder Manager will be required to resolve the issue.



If the challenging team is successful, then they take the position on the ladder of the defending team, ‘pushing’ the defending team (and all teams that were between the challenging and defending teams) down a spot.

If the defending team is successful, or the match is drawn, then the defending team is marked as ‘protected’ and may not be challenged again for 48 hours. This protection may be voluntarily dropped by a team captain at the ‘my teams’ page. The unsuccessful challenger will be marked as ‘vulnerable’ and is unable to make a challenge for 48 hours.



To ensure that clans involved in the finals do not unfairly use players from the roster of a team that is not involved in the finals, the ladder managers will announce an eligibility cutoff date for finals participation. All players who compete for a team must have a joining date earlier than the eligibility cutoff.





If the server crashes, both teams should wait for 10 minutes (or as long as required by a Ladder Manager) for the server to restart. If the server has not restarted after 10 minutes, and no Ladder Manager indicates that the teams should continue waiting, then the match is over.

If the server is restarted, the round that was in progress when the server crashed will be replayed. All scores for rounds complete before the server crash will be counted. If the server crashes when a team has one ticket remaining, that round will be deemed to be completed, and the score for that round will be X – 0 (as if the team with 1 ticket remaining had lost their last ticket).



If a player fails to switch sides during the two minute break between rounds because the player is away or has some connection problem, the person (Referee or player) responsible for administration of the match should kick the player from the server. Obviously, if the player quickly realizes their mistake and swaps to the correct side then they should not be kicked.

If the player that failed to switch teams takes any action between spawning on the incorrect team and being kicked, it is likely that player’s team will forfeit the match. The first 30 seconds of any round in Battlefield 1942 are critical, and this will be taken into account when deciding how much effect the player on the wrong side had on that round.



If the server fails to start within 15 minutes of the booking time, the match will be considered cancelled. Both teams should enter a dispute noting that the server failed to start, and the Ladder Managers will cancel the match.



Sometimes teams may wish to enter into an agreement before the match that the ladder rules for that match will be varied in some minor way. If a captain from both teams approaches a Ladder Manager at least 24 hours before the match, explains the exact agreement, and indicates that they freely agree to be bound by those rules, then the Ladder Managers may choose to allow the variation. If this happens, the Ladder Managers will dismiss any disputes that fall within this variation.

Example: A captain from both teams approaches the Ladder Manager two days before the game, and asks that one of the teams be allowed to field a player who is only “invited to join” rather than has accepted the invitation. If the Ladder Manager allows it, any dispute about this person playing will be dismissed.

Only minor variations may be allowed, and they must be approved by the Ladder Managers at least 24 hours before the match. Examples of variations that will not be allowed are anything that changes how the game will be played, or anything that may unfairly prejudice other teams on the ladder.



Occasionally teams will want to allow the other team a little more time to field a full team, perhaps give everyone a longer break between rounds, or restart a round if there was some internet problem that caused a few players to disconnect. This is something we encourage in the spirit of sportsmanship and fair play. However, we cannot monitor these agreements, and cannot enforce them.

A team should not allow the other team an extra 20 minutes to field teams, be behind at half time, have the server run out of time, then dispute that the other team did not have enough players by the 10 minute mark and that they should have won the game. The correct, fair behavior is to either give the other team more time, or to take screenshots to record the state after 10 minutes and then leave the server and file the score as a forfeit.



As has already been noted, this ladder will be run in a spirit of fair play. All teams are expected to act in a sportsmanlike way. There is sometimes a tendency by people using the internet to behave in a way that they would not in real life. We strongly encourage all people to treat all people involved in this ladder as they would like to be treated – with respect and understanding.



All players must behave in a sportsmanlike manner at all times. While we understand that emotions may run high as players can be passionate about the competition, please treat everyone involved with the ladder with respect.

All players in a match must wear both their team’s ‘tag’ and their GameArena registered nickname (the name that appears in the team list). If the name must be different (e.g. it is too long to fit) it should be very easily matched to the name that appears in the team list.

Some general chat is acceptable, but should be limited and appropriate. If the other team requests silence on the general chat, their request should be honoured.

All players must accept the Referee’s decisions as final during the match. If a team disagrees, they are welcome to either dispute the match (if they believe that the result would be different if not for the incorrect ruling) or bring the issue up with a Ladder Manager after the game.

Some examples of unacceptable behaviour:

• Abusing any Ladder Manager or Referee
  
• Abusing any competitor in the ladder
  
• Accusing any competitor in the ladder of cheating
  
• Excessive foul language
  
• Intentionally spawning on the wrong team
  
• Attempting to gain any unfair advantage over other players through cheating or exploiting bugs in the game.

All players should note that the GameArena Terms and Conditions apply to all games played as part of this ladder, and beyond any consequences to their team, any player that breaches the Terms and Conditions during a ladder match will suffer the consequences of that breach as if it had happened on a public server.



Teams must not profit from any player cheating or exploiting a bug in the game. It is the team captains’ responsibility to ensure that their players follow the rules. While it may be unfair to punish 12 players for the actions of the 1 player that did break the rules, it is sometimes even less fair to the opposing team to allow the result to stand. Please see Section 5.4 for more information about this.

Teams must not use any player who is not listed in the registered player list (contained in the match information email). They may not use any player who has left the team between the match booking at the time of the match.

Teams must not use any player who is currently banned from playing on the public Battlefield 1942 servers, or from GameArena generally. (This does not include a ban from COGS Chat).

Teams must not have more than 12 players connected to the server at any time.

If the team captains have any doubt whatsoever about whether something that the team or a player in the team is going to do may be considered to be a bug exploit or cheating, they should clear it with a Ladder Manager before it is used. Failure to do this is no excuse.



No player may be a member or play for more than one team in the ladder at any time.

If a player is found to be a member of more than one team, or to have played for a team when their name was not on the allowed players list for that game, they will automatically be banned from the GameArena service (including all games, COGS Chat, etc) for at least two weeks. Repeat breaches of this rule will result in permanent removal from the GameArena service.



If a team believes that the result of the game was affected by the other team breaching the rules, then they should file a dispute at the end of the match, as well as politely highlighting the rule breach at the time. They should collect as many screenshots and console logs as evidence as is practical while playing the game.

When resolving disputes, the Ladder Managers will pay the highest regard to what is the fairest outcome, and what is best for the ladder. The Ladder Managers will examine the evidence to determine as closely as possible what the outcome of the match would have been had the breach not occurred. Sometimes it may take up to 72 hours or more to resolve a dispute. Teams are asked to be patient. Please note that until the dispute is resolved, the behavior of the teams will be considered to be part of the match, so abuse of the other team either through the dispute system or anywhere else will be taken into account when deciding the result.

It may sometimes be necessary for the Ladder Managers to punish a team in a dispute. It may be that the rules breach did not affect the outcome of the match, but the Ladder Managers believe that the team as a whole must be held responsible (for example, where more than one member of a team was being abusive, including captains).

Punishment against a team will take the form of either a forfeit or demotion of the clan to the bottom of the ladder. In extreme circumstances, the clan may be removed from the ladder and the captains banned from ever being involved in another GameArena ladder team.



Cheating does not really need to be defined. Any attempt to gain an unfair advantage is cheating. This includes modifying the game files, running memory resident cheats, or anything else beyond the normal scope of the game.

‘Exploiting’ refers to exploiting a bug in the game itself to gain an advantage. This may take the forum of setting a variable to a value that gives an un-expected result, using a ‘hole’ in the map to gain access to an area that was not expected etc. Anything beyond what the programmers intended is considered a bug, and using a bug to gain an advantage is considered an exploit.

Because of the difficulty of defining what is a bug that is being exploited, what is just a ‘little odd’ or something that has been accepted by the community as part of the game (such as bunny-hopping in the Quake series of games) any team that intends to use anything that MAY be considered an exploit must verify that it is acceptable with a Ladder Manager BEFORE the match commences.



GameArena reserves the right to modify these rules as needed to improve the ladder without prior notice. Any changes will be communicated to the teams through their registered emails, and normally also through the Battlefield 1942 forums. Teams should check the rules on a regular basis and prior to every match to ensure they are fully aware of changes. Teams that do not agree to be bound by the modified rules should discuss their concerns with the Ladder Managers. If they are unable to resolve the issue, they will be required to leave the ladder.





6.1.1 ServerSettings.con

game.serverName "GA GameCreate X”
game.serverDedicated 1
game.serverInternet 1
game.serverMaxPlayers 26
game.serverGameTime 30
game.serverScoreLimit 0
game.serverNumberOfRounds 8
game.setServerWelcomeMessage ""
game.ServerBandwidthChokeLimit 0
game.ServerMaxAllowedConnectionType CTLanT1
game.serverGamePlayMode GPM_CQ
game.serverSpawnTime 15
game.serverGameStartDelay 120
game.serverTicketRatio 100
game.serverAlliedTeamRatio 1
game.serverAxisTeamRatio 1
game.serverSoldierFriendlyFire 100
game.serverVehicleFriendlyFire 100
game.serverSoldierFriendlyFireOnSplash 100
game.serverVehicleFriendlyFireOnSplash 100
game.serverKickBack 0
game.serverKickBackOnSplash 0
game.ServerNameTagDistance 100
game.ServerNameTagDistanceScope 300
game.serverFreeCamera %freecam%
game.serverDeathCameraType 0
game.serverEventLogging 1
game.serverEventLogCompression 0
game.ServerExternalViews 1
game.ServerAutoBalanceTeams 0
game.ServerAllowNoseCam 1
game.serverTKPunishMode 1
game.ServerContentCheck 0
game.serverHitIndication 1
game.serverpunkbuster 1
PB_SV_ScoreKick -10
PB_SV_AutoUpdBan 1

6.1.2 ServerAutoExec.con

admin.tkPunishMode 0
admin.banPlayerOnTKKick 0
admin.nrOfTkToKick 0
admin.spawnDelayPenaltyForTK 3
admin.enableKickPlayerVote 0
admin.enableKickTeamPlayerVote 1
admin.enableMapVote 0
admin.votingtime 60
admin.voteMapMajority 0.50
admin.voteKickPlayerMajority 0.50
admin.voteKickTeamPlayerMajority 0.50



There are two map lists for that can be offered in the challenge. Teams must challenge using two maps from each list. The first list contains ONLY regular Battlefield 1942 maps. This allows teams who do not wish to compete with the non-standard maps included within the BFPro modification the opportunity to do so.

The second list includes the regular maps from the first list as well as a number of modified and custom maps from the BFPro modification. If you wish to play on these maps each player participating in the match MUST have the latest version of the BFPro modification.

List 1 & 2:

• Aberdeen
  
• Battle of the Bulge
  
• Battleaxe
  
• Bocage
  
• El Alamein
  
• Gazala
  
• Guadal Canal
  
• Invasion of the Philippines
  
• Iwo Jima
  
• Liberation of Caen
  
• Market Garden
  
• Midway
  
• Omaha Beach
  
• Tobruk
  
• Wake

List 3 & 4:

• Aberdeen
  
• Battle of the Bulge
  
• Battleaxe
  
• Berlin Pro
  
• Bocage
  
• El Alamein
  
• Gazala
  
• Guadal Canal
  
• Invasion of the Philippines
  
• Iwo Jima
  
• Kharkov pro
  
• Kursk pro
  
• Liberation of Caen
  
• Market Garden
  
• Midway
  
• Omaha Beach
  
• Stalingrad pro
  
• Tobruk
  
• Wake
  
• Alamo pro
  
• Battle for Korsun pro
  
• Battle Mountain pro
  
• Easter Island pro
  
• Fall of Berlin pro
  
• Giza pro
  
• Island Warfare pro
  
• KoH pro
  
• Nuenen pro
  
• Roi and Namur pro
  
• South of Caen pro

Each map or variant of a map may only appear once in a challenge. For example, you cannot offer Aberdeen as a choice from list one and list two. Each map may only appear once within a challenge.





Before entering any commands, you must enter the server administration password that can be found in the booking email:

remoteadmin

Every command must be entered in the following form:

admin.execremotecommand ""
example: admin.executeremotecommand “restart”

Commands that will be useful:

restart
This will restart the map, which will reset the round count to 0 and restart the pre-match 120 second countdown.

kickplayer #
This will kick player # from the server.



Please be very careful with match administration. Only take an action with clear agreement from the other team’s spokesperson. Excessive pausing of the game, or restarting a round when both teams believe that it is a competition round is unacceptable behaviour.





This is an example of the flow of a match:
10 minutes of pre-match:

• All players join within 10 minutes of the server booking time.
  
• The challenging team joins the Axis side,
  
• The defending team joins the Allies side.
  
• Each side identifies their spokesperson.
  
• If the match referee has not joined after five minutes, the spokespeople decide which team will handle server administration.
  
• When both teams are ready, the person handling server administration gives the map restart command, and both spokespeople confirm that “this is it”.

The First Round played and completes.

2 minute break between rounds:

• All players should take a screenshot of the scoreboard at the end of the first round, showing the tickets remaining for both teams.
  
• All players must change sides, and are strongly encouraged to do this as quickly as possible. If a player intends to take a very quick break during this time, they should change sides before leaving their computer.

This is repeated for the second, third and fourth rounds.

Post match:

• Both teams must enter the result or a dispute within 2 hours.

Ladder Manager:
Includes GameOps that have been designated Ladder Managers (found on the Ladder Rankings page) as well as any GameArena Admin.



GameArena may approve official commentators from time to time. These commentators may enter a Ladder server for the purposes of broadcasting (e.g. through shoutcast software) the game. All teams that compete on the GameArena Battlefield 1942 Ladder are taken to consent to these broadcasts. The Ladder Managers will advise the community of any approved commentators through the GameArena Battlefield 1942 forums. GameArena community members are encouraged to approach the Ladder Managers if they wish to become approved commentators and gain access to the GameArena resources for commentating on Ladder games.

BFTV or a similar program is not available currently available for Battlefield 1942. By playing in this ladder you agree to have your match spectated in this way if this sort of software becomes available.