The following actions will be considered unfair play and will be subject to penalties at the discretion of VREL officials.

1. Intention Irrelevant.  Unless expressly stated otherwise, offenses and infringements of these Rules are punishable, whether or not they were committed intentionally. Attempts to commit such offenses or infringements are also punishable.
2. Collusion.  Collusion is defined as cooperation or conspiracy to cheat or deceive others. The cooperation or conspiracy can occur among Players, Teams, and/or organizations. The list of conspirators is not exhaustive. Collusion includes, but is not limited to, acts such as:
   1. Soft play, which is defined as any Player not adhering to a reasonable standard of competition in a game.
   2. Pre-arranging to split prize money and/or any other form of compensation.
   3. Sending or receiving signals, electronic or otherwise, from a confederate to/from a player.
   4. Deliberately losing a game for compensation, or for any other reason, or attempting to induce another player to do so.
   5. Deliberately feeding kills or throwing a placement to another team to pad or stack the other teams end of match points totals.
   6. Two teams under the same organization deliberately disengaging during a skirmish once they realize they are engaged with each other.
   7. Stream sniping or feeding information to another team by gaining information of team locations through stream or live broadcasts is strictly prohibited.
3. Match-Fixing.  No Team member may offer, agree, conspire, or attempt to influence the outcome of a game or match by any means that are prohibited by law or these rules.
4. Competitive Integrity. Teams are expected to play at their best at all times within any game, and to avoid any behavior inconsistent with the principles of good sportsmanship, honesty, and fair play.
5. Hacking. Hacking is defined as any modification of players PC’s (or other hardware/software being used in game.), server, internet connection or the Population One game client by any player, team, or person acting on behalf of a Player or Team.
6. Exploiting. Exploiting is defined as intentionally using any bug to seek an advantage. Exploiting includes, but is not limited to, acts such as triggering known bugs or functions within the Population 1 client that, in the sole determination of VREL officials, is not functioning as intended.  Other exploits may also include:
   1. Plays-pace abuse or other means of gaining an unintentional speed boost or other unintended/intended player model movement (i.e. jump glitches, pod pulling) is not permitted
      
   2. Macros. No player may use a macro keystroke setting to enable fast building or rapid firing.
   3. Players are responsible for having a good connection to the game servers when playing. Intentionally causing lag and/or high ping will count as an offense. Teams can be investigated and penalized if regular occurrences of teleportation results in an unfair advantage.
7. Ringing.  Playing under another Player’s account or soliciting, inducing, encouraging or directing someone else to play under another Player’s account.
8. VREL Discretion.  Any other further act, failure to act, or behavior which, in the sole judgment of VREL Officials, violates these Rules and/or the standards of integrity established by VREL for competitive gameplay.
   

1. Captain
   1. Responsible party for all team interactions with VREL and other teams.
   2. Has permission to kick/add players to their team.
   3. Responsible for communicating with VREL staff on what players get what % of cash payouts or prize distribution. If there is a disagreement on the team, the 3 players who played in the finals will have the cash/prizes split between them 3 ways.
2. Players.  Responsible for following all guidelines of VREL’s code of conduct and added rules/regulations contained within Population One’s Competitive league rules.
3. Team Size. Population One teams must consist of a minimum of 3 players and a maximum of 6 players.
4. Team Subbing. The only players allowed to participate in a VREL match are players that are registered on the website within their respective team.  If Clan A has two teams signed up they may not swap players to fill matches.  Each team, though under the same clan, will be treated by VREL as separate entities.
5. Adding Players.  Clans can add a player up to the midpoint of any VREL season, but players will have a 2 week cooldown before they can start to participate in season matches.  After the midpoint of any season the teams are locked and may not add players to their rosters.
6. Starting a Team.  A team can join the VREL Population One League up until the midpoint of a season.  New teams will start out at the midpoint of the MMR scale dependant upon # of teams participating in each season.
7. Team Punishments.  Any player on the team in violation of VREL’s code of conduct and added rules/regulations contained within Population One’s Competitive league rules will result in the entire team suffering penalties up to and including permanent ban from the league  (choose your teammates wisely). VREL reserves the right to penalize the entire team for one player’s actions or penalize the individual player depending on the situation.

1. Caster – VREL has exclusive rights to coverage of VREL matches. Individuals wishing to cast VREL matches must submit a ticket and apply to be accepted as a VREL Caster.
2. Spectator. Spectators are not permitted unless written permission is granted by VREL Population One staff.  Any regular season scheduled match will be made aware if VREL staff will be spectating the match prior to the lobby starting.
   1. If an illegal spectator joins a lobby the match will be played out as normal. The name needs to be recorded and reported in the ticket system.  The lobby host must make team captains aware from the pre-game lobby that the lobby will be restarted and new code posted in Discord. Teams will have 5 minutes to join once a new lobby is created and games must continue play after 10 minutes of new lobby creation.
   2. If an illegal spectator joins a lobby the match will be played out as normal. The name needs to be recorded and reported in the ticket system.  The lobby host must make team captains aware from the pre-game lobby that the lobby will be restarted and new code posted in Discord. Teams will have 5 minutes to join once a new lobby is created and games must continue play after 10 minutes of new lobby creation.
3. Recording Matches. Recording matches is required by a minimum of one player from each team along with any audio conversation between players.  That player must save the recording for 7 days in case a discrepancy is found and an investigation needs to be made to determine if a violation of league rules occurred. It is highly recommended that all players record their matches.  While short clips can be recorded in the ticket system for evaluation, full recordings will be required to enable full investigation to be properly completed.  If a team is asked for their recording and cannot provide it, that team will lose all points associated with that match and a forfeit will be entered into the system and all team scores will be adjusted accordingly.
4. Streaming.  Players may stream their in game perspective during VREL league matches but must use a minimum of a 1 minute delay.

1. Players in game. Due to current issues with the game’s VOIP. Discord voice channel may be used instead of the in game voice system. Voice channels may be provided per lobby per team on the VREL discord. Only members in matches will be allowed in voice chat.
2. Voice in Discord. Only players currently playing in matches are allowed to be in a voice chat. No coaches or other players are allowed during gameplay.
   ADDED PENALTY:  If players are found to have more than 3 players in a discord voice chat during gameplay this will be considered collusion and will result in all players from the registered team being disqualified for the rest of the current season.

1. Population One Servers are down.  If the Population: One server is down during a teams scheduled time, all teams must submit a ticket stating this was the case. Match will then be rescheduled by VREL staff.
2. Player disconnects.  If a player from one team disconnects during a match, the match will be played out and counted.  If multiple players disconnect from various teams during a match, that match will not be counted.  The lobby host will close down the custom lobby, create a new one, post lobby code in discord.  The lobby host will allow 10 minutes from the time the code is posted in discord to the time the next match must start.
3. Players unable to play due to equipment issues.  During initial setup of the lobby if a player is having technical issues the team may use another sub on their team roster (registered with VREL, with said team, as an eligible player) to fill the spot.  The lobby host will not wait for the player to resolve their issue before starting the game.  The team/player having technical issues must replace the player/players by the time the lobby host is required to start the match.  A team must play with 2 or 3 members during a match or they forfeit.

1. 6 or 12 weeks Seasons. Population One League Play will consist of either a 6 week season followed by a tournament or a 12 weeks season followed by a tournament. Teams will play once a week in a 6 or 7-team custom lobby. The teams will play 4 matches during season and 4-6 for tournaments. The lobbies will be chosen based on a team’s MMR (Matchmaking Ratings). After each week the teams MMR will be adjusted and team rankings will update on the VREL leaderboard website.
2. Tournament Play
   1. Bracket placement will be based on regular season rankings. 
      The bracket will consist of a quarter-final, semi-final, and final bracket. 
      The top 3 teams advance from each bracket.
      
   2. Prize Payout.  In the event there are sponsored prizes, they will be posted in discord and on the vrel.gg website the prizes and placement distribution. Captains will be sent the prize distribution form for their team.
      

1. Lobby Settings
   1. Weapons: All weapons set to default except the following in regular season play:
      1. Grenades – banned.
      2. Swords – banned.
   2. Shield/Health Items: All shield and health items will be included in regular season play.  This includes the Harmonica
   3. Zone Settings:
      1. Zone Speed: 125
      2. Zone Hold: 100
      3. Zone Damage: 140
   4. Modifiers: No modifiers
2. Player Skins.  Players can use whatever skin they feel represents them best.  If a match is being casted by VREL the players must post what skin they plan on playing in the match within their specific discord channel.
   *This is needed to generate pregame overlays for the VREL stream.  If a team fails to list what skins they plan on using for a VREL streamed match, the base Anna, PJ, and Roy skins will be assigned and teams must use them.
3. Forfeits or “No Shows”. If a team does not show up to their match they automatically forfeit and lose the max amount of MMR points possible.

1. Matchmaking Rating “MMR”.  
   VREL uses a proprietary MMR system. After each team completes all 4 games on their weekly match day, their MMR will be adjusted. At the beginning of the first season all teams with start at the same MMR #.  After the season has completed the MMR’s will be locked to a team regardless if players are added or leave the team. Any new team formed after a season will begin the season at the starting MMR.

   The MMR system takes into account Placement and Damage/Kills. The combination of these two metrics reward teams that can consistently score high in both areas compared to their lobbies MMR values. This encourages teams to not only strive for 1st place, but also have high Damage/Kill counts.
   
   While we use an MMR system during regular season, we want to provide a representation of the points structure we use during the end of season tournament so players can also measure how well they stack up against the teams in their respective lobbies during the regular season.
   These points do not accumulate over regular season play.
   
   Scoring is as follows:
   2.5 points per team for placement
   1 point per kill
   0.00175 points per damage
   0.5 points per team for First Blood.
   
   Example: 6 Teams in a lobby: (6 * 0.5) for first blood
   1st Place: 15 points
   2nd Place: 12.5 points
   3rd Place: 10 points
   4th Place : 7.5 points
   5th Place : 5.0 points
   6th Place : 2.5 points
   First Blood : 3 points
   
   Our scoring system takes into account teams that forfeit or decide not to play one of the matches. This way, teams are not penalized because a team didn’t show up.
   
   

1. Regular Season Matches. Matches will be automatically scheduled on Tue/Wed/Fri at either 8:30pm , 9:30pm, or 10:30pm EST/EDT and Saturday at 1:30, 2:30, and 3:30pm EST/EDT depending on the size of participants in the league. Teams will be placed into private threads on Sunday by 9pm EST/EDT of their upcoming weekly match. Play times are based on MMR. The highest MMR teams will play Friday/Saturday, The lower MMR teams will play Tue/Wed.
2. Lobby Host. 1 Team will be selected from the 6 teams to be the lobby host. As lobby host, the team is responsible for setting up the lobby 15 minutes prior to start time and is responsible for posting the lobby code in the dedicated discord thread under #Organize-Pop 1. The lobby host will start the match no later than 5 minutes after the assigned time. The lobby host will not wait for members of other teams who are no in the lobby on time. The lobby host will kick any players that do not have a minimum of two members.
3. Lobby Etiquette
   1.  No player must build in the lobby and all teams must stay far enough away from the lobby host so they do not hear any audible conversations.
   2. The only people talking to the lobby host will be 1 team member from each team.
   3. In the case there is a VREL spectator/interviewer in the lobby and it’s being live streamed. The 1st place team from the previous match will head to the VREL spectator/interviewer to give an interview. After the short interview is complete 1 team representative will be sent to the lobby host to confirm their team is ready to proceed to the next match. All other teams must stay far enough away from the VREL spectator/interviewer in between matches unless instructed otherwise.
   4. Players may shoot weapons in the lobby but not at the lobby host nor at a VREL spectator/interviewer in between matches.