Preparing for the LoL Battlegrounds

Thursday, September 22, 2011

To better help you and your team prepare for the beginning of play we've created a short guide on what you need to know in order to enjoy a smooth time in the Alienware Arena LoL Battlegrounds.

1. Getting a Match to Play

Automatic Matches:
Every Saturday, Alienware Arena will automatically schedule teams that have opted into the “Automatic Matches” to play in matches against teams near the same ranking as them. These matches are defaulted to be played on the following Thursday at 8:00 PM CDT, but teams can communicate to one another through the Match Communication Thread to schedule the match to a different agreed upon time/day.

Captains have the ability to opt-out of the weekly Automatic Matches, by changing the option through their team’s profile page while logged in or through “My Events” in their account profile after clicking on “Roster” for their LoL Battleground team.

Challenges:
Your Captain will have the opportunity to find other teams to Challenge, either through the Standings Page, their team's profile page, or in “My Events” in your account profile.

After you’ve found a team to Challenge, you will need to submit up to five different times your team is available to play. If the opposing team finds your Challenge acceptable, they can accept your Challenge and select one of the proposed times as the match time and date.

Your team will only be allowed to have five active Challenges at any given time. If you want to Challenge another team, you will need to revoke an active Challenge in order to do so.  (Note: You will still be able to receive Challenges from other teams even if you are at the five Challenge cap, you will only not be able to send new Challenges to other teams.)

Additionally, Captains can choose to turn off the ability for their team to be Challenged by other teams. You can do this either through your team’s profile page while logged in or through “My Events” in your account profile by clicking on “Roster” for their LoL Battleground team.

2. Preparing for your Match

Before you can play any match (Challenge or Weekly Scheduled), you and your opposing team will be able to “check-in” 30 minutes before the match time. In order to check-in, you will need to login to your Alienware Arena account and click the “Check-In” button at the top of the site. This process has taken the place of the Match Client Network that previous Alienware Arena event participants may have used in the past.

From the time you check-in until the completion of your match, you will need to stay logged into Alienware Arena and have the Alienware Arena page open. Failure to check-in before the match and a failure to remain logged into Alienware Arena may result in the system marking you as not present for the match and could result in a Forfeit Loss for your team.

3. Playing The Match

The match settings should be the following:

Game Type: Draft Mode
Map: Summoner's Rift
Terrain Season: Summer
Team Size: 5 vs. 5

The player/team that is hosting the custom game, should invite the opposing team’s players. You will be able to find your opponent’s summoner’s names on their team profile page. Simply invite the opposing team captain and they should invite the rest of their team’s players.

Once the match is completed, take a screenshot of the game's stat page to use as a record of the match.

4. Reporting a Match

Reporting a Win
Match scores (including forfeits) can only be reported 15 minutes after the match time. 15 minutes after the match time, a captain can go to Alienware Arena and report their match through the check-in bar or through your account’s events page.

During the reporting process, you will need to upload the screenshot of the game's stats page that you took as proof of the match results.

Reporting Forfeits
Teams have until 15 minutes after the match time to check-in with all five players, contact the opposing team on who will host the custom game, and to get all five players into the custom game before they may be reported for a forfeit loss. If a team disputes the forfeit, we will analyze the check-in logs and Match Thread to determine what players on what teams showed up for the match.

5. Match Disputes

Match Disputes can occur for a variety of reasons, but the most common cases of disputes are:

1)      Disputing a forfeit loss.
2)      The opposing team reported the match as a win for their team.
3)      Unsportsmanlike conduct by the opposing team.
4)      Use of ringers.
5)      Hacking or using exploits of any kind.

All match disputes must occur within 1 hour of the conclusion of any match. If a dispute has been filed, officials will contact teams involved in the dispute to request additional evidence, which may include screenshots, logs, and/or replays. If so the teams will then be required to promptly begin submitting all requested evidence to the official in charge of the dispute.

Dispute Tokens
To file a Dispute against an opposing team, a single Dispute Token must be used (excluding playoff matches). All Teams are initially granted two Dispute Tokens and earn an additional token after every ten matches played (excluding Tournaments and forfeits).

If a dispute is valid, the disputing team gets their Dispute Token reissued to their account upon the resolution of the dispute. Otherwise, if a dispute is considered invalid, the Dispute Token is lost.