Rules

Warzone maintains a few rules that players must follow to help Warzone stay a civil place where everyone feels welcome.

This article discusses the official rules that all players must follow in order to be allowed to play Warzone. Players sometimes invent their own etiquette around things like booting and voting to end, however these are not enforced like the official rules are.

The Rules

The following rules are presented to all players the first time they play a game with other players:

1. You shall be respectful to other players at all times.
2. Racist language, personal attacks, excessive profanity, or offensive language will not be tolerated.
3. You shall not operate more than one Warzone account that participates in the same game, tournament, ladder, clan war, or in any way gives you an advantage or gives you points or coins.

It's also important to note that additional rules exist in the Warzone terms of service. These rules aren't displayed as prominently since they're common sense, but they still apply. Examples include, but are not limited to, impersonating other players, rigging games, launching denial-of-service attacks, or using someone else's account without their permission.

Additionally, since Warzone displays ads, players must also abide by the rules imposed by the advertisers. The following is not allowed to be submitted or linked to:

1. pornographic content or links to pornographic content
2. erotic stories or descriptions of sexual acts
3. sexual jokes
4. erotic or sexual forums

On Global Chat, please exclusively use English so that the moderators of the site know what you are saying and can ensure you are not breaking any rules. Non-English communication is acceptable in non-public spaces but for moderation reasons if you use a language other than English on Global Chat you may be muted.

Politics / Religion

Politics and Religion are not appropriate subjects to discuss on Warzone unless they're done in a place where everyone present is willing to discuss such topics.

For example, it's OK to make a forum thread in the off-topic forum that discusses politics or religion as long as the thread subject clearly identifies it as the subject. The thread subject should also be neutral in nature to avoid provoking those who only read the subject and never enter the thread.

As another example, it's never acceptable to discuss these topics in the global chat room, as that's open to the public so it's impossible to get consent from everyone who could read it.

The reasoning behind this rule is that we don't want to subject people to these topics unless they explicitly consent to being willing to discuss them.

Ladder Rules

The following are the rules for playing in any of the official Warzone ladders.

1. You may not play on the 1v1 Ladder if you have another account which has unexpired games on that ladder. Games expire 5 months after their end date.
2. You may not play on the Real Time Ladder if you have another account which is currently ranked. Accounts become unranked after 3 days of inactivity on the ladder.
3. You may not use more than one account in any season of the Seasonal Ladder.
4. You may not manipulate the Seasonal Ladder's force-finish mechanism in order to win games.
5. You many not play on the 2v2 or 3v3 ladders with a team if there is another team on that same ladder consisting of the same players. You may play if at least one of the players on the new team is a new different player or if one or more of the players on the old team is not on the new team. Essentially, if the only difference between two teams is that a player has been replaced by an alt of the same player, then it is not considered to be a different team.

Rigged Games and Lotteries

Any game or tournament that gives a significant advantage to one player is considered rigged. Rigged games are not allowed on Warzone, as noted above, as these go against the spirit of the game and create bad experiences for players who don't know how to read settings.

A rigged game is OK as long as the game is created using direct invites (i.e. no open seats, no invite-by-code, no tournaments) and only if the game creator obtained consent from each player of playing a rigged game before inviting them to the game. This is typically only possible amongst a group of friends.

Lottery games are OK as long as the game name clearly identifies it as a lottery game (it must use the word "Lottery") and the game has an equal chance of being won by all players (no matter what orders they enter or actions they take).

A game is also considered rigged if it has a specific trick to winning that isn't obvious. For example, if one territory or region of the map is so powerful that whoever gets it will surely win. The only way these kind of games might not be considered rigged is if the game description clearly outlines what has to be done to win in the name and description, and is such that any player has an equal chance of competing for the victory. Warzone games should require strategy to win, not fast fingers.

Enforcement

Because all players must agree to obey these rules the first time they click the multi-player tab, it's assumed that all players know and understand the rules. Players who knowingly disobey the rules can be reported.

Players who break the rules can be warned, suspended, or banned. A warning is usually given first if the infraction not very severe. However, in extreme cases players can be directly suspended or banned without a warning. For banning or longer suspensions, players may be automatically surrendered in all of their games to allow the remaining players to continue the game without them if they choose to do so.

Warnings are completely anonymous -- other players cannot tell that a player received a warning. However, suspensions and banning are revealed on a player's profile for the duration of the suspension.

Non-rules

As mentioned above, players sometimes invent their own etiquette around how the game should be played. It's okay to do this, however, you should not expect that players will be warned or suspended when they break your etiquette. Instead, use your block list to avoid playing with the problem players.

1. Booting: Booting isn't against the rules. If it were, the button simply wouldn't be there! In particular, some players feel that booting within a certain threshold of the boot timer should result in suspensions. Instead, it's recommended to set your boot timer to the duration that you'd first like to see players become bootable. For example, instead of setting the boot timer to 5 minutes and asking nobody click it until 7 minutes have passed, just set the boot timer to 7 minutes. You will save yourself a lot of hassle.
2. Not taking their turn fast enough: Warzone can't force people to play, and you should not report players for not playing. If you find yourself waiting on other players longer than you'd like, please create or join games with lower boot times so you can boot them and continue your game.
3. Colluding: Players working together is not against the rules, and you should not report players for doing so. To avoid collusion, play in 1 v 1 games where collusion is impossible, or in team games (since then the collusion is pre-arranged), or just play with friends you trust.