Please Review! Official Changes to the Code of Conduct and Ban Buyout Policy

After recent events from this past LGHL season, some executive decisions have been made and additional clarification and changes are coming to our code of conduct and ban policy moving forward.

We have taken a lot of feedback from our community regarding conduct issues that occur off of the website and will add clarification on what is and is not acceptable. We are also going to revise the current ban buyout setup, and the overall severity of the current judicial process we have in place.

Moving forward, here are the current changes that are being implemented:

1. Off-Site Conduct
   • The following off-site issues will result in punishment from our platform administration.
     • Racial or ethnical, slurs - [two seasonal ban] *
     • Any threatens of violence onto another member - [captial offense]
     • Sexual harassment - [capital offense]
     • Attacking/discriminating against a member for his or her race, religion, sexual orientation, culture, ethnicity, disability (physical or mental), nationality, or gender - [capital offense]
     • Slurs towards sexual preference or mental disability - [Suspension from league/event play] **
   • All off-site issues will be documented and reported to current and future sponsors
   • * A two-season ban will be issued for 1st offense racial slurs. Any additional slurs will result in a capital offense. This may change based on a community poll to be increased to a capital offense.
   • ** A suspension from league play or event play will be issued for 1st offenses when a sexual preference or disability slur is used. The player will be given an opportunity to correct their actions after the suspension is served. Any additional offenses will result in a seasonal ban and or removal from the league event.
   • Depending on the seriousness of these issues the executive administrator reserves the right to issue a site ban thereby cut affiliation ties with a member as per our website terms of service, exhibit A, section 10.
2. Site Code of Conduct Policy Adjustments
   • The current policy will include the above changes to what is policed off the site.
   • Adjustments to COC-1 will be made to separate comments about race and comments about sexual preference/ slurs about disabilities.
   • Punishments will be reviewed completely for next season based on the changes to the buyout policy.
   • Off-site and on-site punishments will be mirrored.
3. Changes the Ban-Buyout Policy
   • The current policy allows a user who is issued a seasonal ban to pay the associated ban payment and return IMMEDIATELY to the league. This applies to ALL 1-2-3 season bans, with the expectation of capital bans. This allows for a player to quit Xbox, but pay to continue to play PSN.
   • The system will be changed so that ALL bans will have a MINIMUM time frame that a player is required to sit out in order to participate in the league again. The MINIMUM time frame a player MUST sit out is the current season in which the ban is issued [IE: one season]
   • EXAMPLE:
     • A player is issued a two-season ban for quitting in Season 39. That player MUST sit out the entire season and playoffs for S39. Once S40 comes around, the player is given the ability to pay the ban fine and return early, or simply wait until the ban expires thereby being eligible to play come Season 41. This would require a player to sit out AT LEAST one season until they are eligible to buy out the remaining time on his or her ban.
     • All capital bans will STILL require a player to sit out the duration of the ban [3 seasons] and pay the associated fine when they want to return.
   • All bans will still be linked to the LGHL on both consoles and will carry from the Xbox LGHL and the PSN LGHL. Therefore a player issued a ban on Xbox who is playing on PSN as well will NOT be able to buy out and return to PSN while still on an Xbox ban within the season the ban is issued. This applies vice versa as well.
   • Article IV of the LGHL constitution will be revised completely to establish more lenient punishments for all violations to better support the changes to the buy-out policy.
   • Managers and players will be held to the same standards for better consistency.
   • All appeals will continue to be handled by @LG McDonald.

Overall it was made very clear that LG needs to improve on consistency, transparency, and the overall communication of expectations to each and every one of our players. We want to remain stern on issues that we feel are zero-tolerance. We do not stand for racism, violation, and sexual harassment and will not waiver from those punishments. We understand that this policy is our best effort to create a positive experience for everyone here but we may not have everything covered and included. Any issues that are outside of this scope will be handled by Tris under the guidance of the current staff.

Our mission statement remains the same. This is your virtual career and we strive every day to provide you all with the best experience possible. We headr your concerns, and we happy to adjust our ways based on your suggestions.

If you have any questions, feel free to reach out to @Tris10, or @LG McDonald [LG McDonald#2877]

We'd like to thank you for your continued dedication to LeagueGaming

 

Are you aware of what occurred with PTP? That was an off site issue unrelated to LG, which had a major community uproar.

 

I agree to some degree but I think it goes without saying that if someone is sitting on an issue and filing a complaint when it becomes most convenient for themself that is conduct unbecoming. Seeing people try to weaponize what we currently have for their own personal benefit is the issue that will be addressed.

That is valid, and something to consider.

I think it depends. I agree that when a player is inactive it is cut and dry, but looking at some of the most comment removals this season, #1 would have to be slurs. Does the league need to look at every slur case and see why it was used? Or can we just say it is not acceptable here is your ban.

 

I don't get paid

 

I don't disagree but many people do see a different degree in what is being said which motivates the changes to the policy.

I'd rather keep it all a standard removal but that clearly wasn't supported

 

That recommendation has come from how one of our sponsors stated they would handle it. Just so we are clear