Infractions system changes
With 2024 now here, we have the first round of changes to our Infractions system ready to be pushed live. There are a plethora of changes and additions, so we will only be outlining the crucial ones here. Any that aren't outlined here are likely just rewritten to be clearer than they were previously.
Before we get to the changes and additions, we first need to say goodbye to a team of ants in their prime, who has stepped down from the Behaviour Panel Lead role and also his League Administrator role due to real-life commitments. Ants has been with us for some time now, and we wish him the best of luck for the future and thank him for all of his time and dedication to both the league staff and the behaviour panel.
In the meantime, I (core) will be stepping into the Behaviour Panel Lead role. Whether or not I continue in the role will depend on time & workload, but we are looking for new Behaviour Panel members. If you think you have what it takes, see our Join ozfortress page for more information.
Changes/Additions
- Infractions Ruleset renamed to Player Behaviour Infractions everywhere. This change was made to make a clearer distinction between Player Behaviour Infractions and the upcoming League Penalties.
- League Infractions retired in favour of League Penalties, a new system separate from Player Behaviour Infractions designed to better support League Administration in penalising competition-related offences such as poor organisation with appropriate and more effective consequences. This system will be detailed further prior to the start of the Autumn '24 seasons.
- Two planned Tier 2 League Infraction additions will be moved to this new system, these additions are:
- Breach of Player Restrictions.
- Any attempt to deceive or mislead players or captains (moved from Player Behaviour Infractions).
- League Infractions will remain on the Player Behaviour Infractions page until after the League Penalties system is released to allow you to see what made the cut and what didn't.
- Two planned Tier 2 League Infraction additions will be moved to this new system, these additions are:
- Ban Resets added as a replacement for Ban Extensions. Traditionally, when a banned player accrues 30 or more points, their ban would be extended by 1 year for every 30 points. This was a very heavy-handed system as we also allowed our Probations to apply to these extensions, meaning a person getting two Tier 3 infractions would previously see a Ban Extension of 4 years. With Ban Resets, once a banned player reaches a threshold of 60 points, their ban will be reset back to its original duration. This system is new, and as such please expect changes and revisions to it as the system matures. Please also note that Ban Extensions, whilst no longer documented, will still be used in more severe cases at the discretion of the Behaviour Panel. Ban Resets will also be applied at the discretion of the Behaviour Panel, so if we feel a person's offences are of a higher severity, we can and will use Ban Extensions.
- We hope this change will allow offenders some chance of returning, and overall should be a much healthier alternative than Ban Extensions.
- Combined all three Tier 3 infractions for attempting to impersonate, apply affiliation with members of ozfortress staff, or deceive community members by impersonating members of ozfortress staff into one Tier 3 infraction.
- Expanded on Tier 1 infraction "Excessive trash talk" to now include "flaming, or repeated abuse/harassment" to better handle less severe repeated abuse/harassment cases.
- Rewritten and reformatted the Player Behaviour Infractions ruleset to better split up different clauses and make them clearer.
- Added Report Requirements, detailing what we expect in Player Behaviour Reports from now on. You can read more here, but the TL;DR is:
- If you have evidence that may require verification (eg. a person's voice, the authenticity of a person's account or messages, etc), we expect that such proof is also submitted. A lack of this will not null-and-void a report on its own, but there is only so much we can do to verify these types of reports, so it is much easier if the person submitting the report provides this proof as they should have access and ability to do so.
- Evidence should be uploaded to file-sharing services that don't expire. If you need to clear space on said service, contact the Behaviour Panel before removing it to ensure copies have been made.
The effects of these changes will be monitored closely over the coming months. These changes are considered a step one for now, as we will continue to review and discuss the current system and where some improvements could potentially be made. If you have any problems with the changes above, please contact core directly on Discord.
Bans
The following bans are all Infraction Threshold bans, which are split between New Bans, and Ban Resets.
Infraction Threshold reached
The following bans have been issued to these players because they have reached the Infraction Threshold for a ban.
New Bans
The following players have accrued enough points to reach an Infraction Threshold Ban.
This player has accrued a total of 70 ozfortress infraction points. As such, the player has been banned from ozfortress.com, the community's competitions, and all other ozfortress properties for 1 year, after which they will serve a 12-month probation, in which any reoffence will double the severity of the penalty. Their ban duration will be extended if they are found ban evading during their ban.
This player has accrued a total of 60 ozfortress infraction points. As such, the player has been banned from ozfortress.com, the community's competitions, and all other ozfortress properties for 1 year, after which they will serve a 12-month probation, in which any reoffence will double the severity of the penalty. Their ban duration will be extended if they are found ban evading during their ban.
This player has accrued a total of 60 ozfortress infraction points. As such, the player has been banned from ozfortress.com, the community's competitions, and all other ozfortress properties for 1 year, after which they will serve a 12-month probation, in which any reoffence will double the severity of the penalty. Their ban duration will be extended if they are found ban evading during their ban.
Really(DelDavis) STEAM_0:1:96565724
This player has accrued a total of 60 ozfortress infraction points. As such, the player has been banned from ozfortress.com, the community's competitions, and all other ozfortress properties for 1 year, after which they will serve a 12-month probation, in which any reoffence will double the severity of the penalty. Their ban duration will be extended if they are found ban evading during their ban.
Ban Resets
A newly introduced alternative to our old Ban Extensions, read the Infractions changes above for more information.
This player has accrued 120 ozfortress infraction points whilst serving their ban. As they accrued these infraction points during their ban, the player has had their ban reset back to a total duration of 2 years. After their ban, they will serve a 12-month probation, in which any reoffence will double the severity of the penalty. Their ban duration will be extended if they are found ban evading during their ban.
Should any teams or groups within any ozfortress competitions be found housing the listed players, that team will be permanently removed from our competitions and all members involved will face severe penalties.
Creating a Team and Signing Up
On the ozfortress website, captains can create Teams using the "Start Team" button on the Teams page. Once created, captains can invite players to the team. Team invites are shown on a player's profile, which can be accessed by clicking on your name next to the bell on the top right-hand corner of your screen. Teams provide a pool of players that can be signed up for a tournament. Players may be in the pool for multiple teams but only one active roster for any given tournament. Captains may sign up a roster for tournaments under the league page.
By signing up, you acknowledge that you may be placed in any division the administrators deem fit for your roster, and thus your entire team should be reasonable in their expectations on division placement. We will endeavour to let teams know of changes in initial seedings before the final release. Please ensure you specify the division you truly believe your team should be in, this will make it easier for administrators to consult with you on your seeding. Along with selecting your desired division, please also list who you expect to play, and what class/role. We've left a template below, please include it in your signup application's description.
Scout:
Soldier:
Pyro:
Demoman:
Heavy:
Engineer:
Medic:
Sniper:
Spy:
Captain Discord Handles:
Once you've signed up your team, your part is done. Don't worry if you didn't find backups in time, you can always transfer one onto your team in one of the Transfer Windows. See the Transfers information page for more info on Transfers, and the Transfers Window page for when these windows are.
Please ensure you have enough backups to last the entire season; teams are allowed a maximum of fifteen (15) players rostered.
Finding a Team
If you're new and not sure how to get started, don't fret! Check out the Recruitment category of the ozfortress Discord where you can express your interest in joining a team, or peruse potential players to form a team of your own (remember to get the recruiting roles in the "channels and roles" part of the discord, otherwise you will not be able to see these channels). Highlander teams are comprised of one of each class totalling nine players. If you're new to the competitive scene, click here for an introduction to ozfortress!
Once you've signed up your team or have joined one, your part is done. Don't worry if you didn't find or join a team in time, you can always be transferred onto a team in one of the Transfer Windows. See the Transfers information page for more info on Transfers, and the Transfers Window page for when these windows are.
Website Survey & Why
We won't bury the lead. We're looking to work heavily on bringing new features to the ozfortress website in the next year or two, along with a fresh new look for the website. We won't commit to having everything done this year, but we do plan to have something to show you.
We have a small list of goals, features and commitments we are aiming to bring to you regardless of the feedback you submit below. So what are we planning? Well:
- Improved mobile browser experience. This won't be limited to just ozfortress.com, but docs.ozfortress.com could see potential improvements and perhaps even integrations with our main website.
- Complete redesign of the website. There are a lot of problems that likely bug anyone from the year 2024, and that's ok - it's had its day, but it's time for a refresh.
- It won't just be us hosting competitions in the future. We haven't announced this publicly, so surprise? We want to enable those who organize and host great TF2 competitions within Oceania and Asia. We have no interest in competing with or replacing any existing services, but if you have ever tried to run a tournament in the past, you likely came across challenge after challenge. We already have a lot of users signed up to our website, so to us - it just makes sense.
We have ambitions to create new and engaging competitions, events and experiences in 2024 and beyond, but first, we need to lay the groundwork and figure out what to tackle. This survey will be invaluable for us, as your feedback will directly influence where we place our time and effort.
Complete the Survey
Help Wanted
A large focus for 2024 is our new player experience. Over this year, we intend to invest a lot of time and effort in overhauling anything and everything to do with players joining our wonderful community. As a result, we're looking for the following:
New Player Experience Team Members
This is an internal team focused on coordinating efforts towards improving the experience of new players as they attempt to get involved in competitive Team Fortress 2.
- Apply here.
Mentors
These are community members who want to help out new players. This could be in the capacity of offering demo reviews, team map reviews, or being involved in future events focused on new players.
- Apply here.
Art Team Members
We're looking to create high-quality resources as part of this overhaul, so if you have a knack for graphic design or video production experience/skills, we'd love to hear from you.
- Apply here.
In case you missed it
- The Fours Summer Cup ‘24 signups are currently open. Read more here.
2024 Highlander Staff
First of all, it's 2024! We hope you're excited about what we may have coming this year. Sadly with the new year, come some staff changes. Long-time Highlander Head Admin bird has chosen to step down from her role. bird has been with us for over three years, beginning as a league admin for RSL, and seeing our merge with Respawn League (RSL). We would like to wish bird the best for the future! Stepping up to fill bird's shoes is Sperkle, who everyone has come to know as one of the hardest-working volunteers ozfortress has seen in some time, and I have no doubt that he'll meet the challenge and excel.
So what does the Highlander staff team look like heading into our first season of 2024? Well, we are still talking to some of the applicants, but we are certainly looking for more, so don't hesitate to apply!
Highlander Head Admin
- Sperkle
Highlander League Admins
- Kai
- Oldcustard
- Rainy
We want you!
We are looking to expand the Highlander staff team. If you think you have what it takes, see our Join ozfortress page for more info on the role and how to apply.
We Need You!
Want to kick off 2024 with a bang? If you've ever wanted to contribute to our community then there is no time like the present. Below you can find all the positions available and a reminder of what they entail:
League Administrators
League Admins are responsible for the running of both the Sixes and Highlander seasonal leagues as well as off-season cups and events. From handling match disputes, to seasonal meetings, you will be integral in the successful continuation of ozfortress.
Apply for League Administrator here
League Advisors
Have you heard of the shadow government? Well we don't have that but this is probably the closest thing. Advisors assist League Admins in decision-making around seedings, mercenary requests, transfers and proposed changes for both Sixes and Highlander. We are also looking for out-of-region advisors that can assist our team in the decision making processes listed above for players outside of Australia / New Zealand.
Apply for League Advisor here
Anti-cheat
The Anti-cheat team is responsible for ensuring all players within ozfortress are playing fairly and without the assistance of a third-party client. Keen eyes and experienced players are wanted for accurate and fair judgements on all cases.
Apply for the Anti-cheat Team Here
Ruby on Rails & Sourcemod/Sourcepawn Developers
We're looking for developers for not only our site but also our servers. For the website, developers need to have a working knowledge of Ruby on Rails. As for Source Plugin Developer's, we'll be looking to possibly make modifications and additions to our servers to improve website-server integration.
Apply for Developer positions here
Media Team
The media team is slowly but surely coming to fruition. The goal is to use this team to create season trailers, announcements, frag movies - the possibilities are endless. We're mainly looking for editors, but will be looking to expand the teams' capabilities to produce and bring our ideas to reality!
Apply for the Media Team here
Art Team
Responsible for much of what you see artistically from us, the Art Team has been underutilized in the past, and we're looking to expand. With bigger events planned for 2024 and beyond, expanding our Art Team with talented artists and designers will be crucial.
Apply for the Art Team here
If any of the listed positions above interest you, feel free to submit one or multiple applications via the valid links above. Alternatively you can reach out to the relative league staff to inquire more about positions. You can find a full list of staff here.
Thanks for a great year everyone and here is to many more great experiences in 2024!
How to Vote
We've reformatted our voting threads to better enable captains in correctly formatting and submitting their votes to us. Take a look, and let us know if you run into any issues.
1. Putting your votes together
Captains shall select three options from the Nominated Players heading and put them in order of highest vote to lowest vote using the following template. The first name will receive three votes, the second will receive two votes and the third will receive one vote. Voting for your own teammates is not allowed, regardless of the award (this includes Best Caster).
Important formatting - you must copy-paste your vote EXACTLY, and separate votes using commas. Again we are using an automated script to process these votes, and incorrectly imputed votes may not be counted!
Your team name:
Your team division: OpenBest Scout: first-place vote, second-place vote, third-place vote
Best Soldier:
Best Pyro:
Best Demoman:
Best Heavy:
Best Engineer:
Best Medic:
Best Sniper:
Best Spy:
Friendliest Team:
Most Improved Player:
Most Improved Team:
Most Valuable Player:
Best Dressed Team:
Best Caster:
Your completed template should look like this (with the correct players on their classes, the same players have been used for each award in this example for simplicity) without the point allocations after each player name:
Your team name: Your Team Here
Your team division: Your Division HereBest Scout: /dev/zero (3 points), wiggin (2 points), obla (1 point)
Best Soldier: /dev/zero, wiggin, obla
Best Pyro: /dev/zero, wiggin, obla
Best Demoman: /dev/zero, wiggin, obla
Best Heavy: /dev/zero, wiggin, obla
Best Engineer: /dev/zero, wiggin, obla
Best Medic: /dev/zero, wiggin, obla
Best Sniper: /dev/zero, wiggin, obla
Best Spy: /dev/zero, wiggin, obla
Most Improved Player: /dev/zero, wiggin, obla
Most Improved Team: Atomic Affinity, Red Pandas, Musos Deluxe
Friendliest Team: Atomic Affinity, Red Pandas, Musos Deluxe
Best Caster: catfish, core, obla
Remember: Voting for your own teammates is not allowed.
Nominated Players
The following players and teams are nominated for awards:
Best Scout: bappo, a festive fish, maxy, Vincent Viniyur, Comedy Mode
Best Soldier: Gazza, annaandherbelles, relz, Kaoru, sup
Best Pyro: ziah, flechette, indyandherjones, SalmonOverlord, wampy
Best Demoman: Nah, hive, hekitty, Romlyn, nubs
Best Heavy: chill weed vibes only, mothhman, ash, Mr. Venom, yack v
Best Engineer: eden, Train Smash, Avo, Cymboll, mango
Best Medic: bobo, Miss Squidge, Miss Wizard, Saiiiiiiiissy, teeheekat
Best Sniper: tom., Zort, Kopz, Manglemonster, loathsome pilk drinker
Best Spy: Mups, Classy Doctor, hiccups, Nacht, Canny
Most Improved Player: Nah, Train Smash, indyandherjones, Kaoru, loathsome pilk drinker
Most Improved Team: goblin deez, worms on a string, shark attack, Norb Fortress 2 - Norbheads, grub lords
Friendliest Team: goblin deez, worms on a string, shark attack, Norb Fortress 2 - Norbheads, grub lords
Most Valuable Player: indyandherjones, nubs, loathsome pilk drinker, SalmonOverlord, wampy, teeheekat, tom., Zort, Nah, flechette, mango, sup, hekitty, Cymboll, Gazza, Comedy Mode, Mr. Venom, Kopz, Mups, hiccups, maxy, chill weed vibes only, hive, Saiiiiiiiissy, bappo, a festive fish, Canny, Nacht, Miss Squidge, ash, Manglemonster, loathsome pilk drinker, relz, yack v, Train Smash, Vincent Viniyur, ziah, annaandherbelles, bobo, mothhman, Avo, Romlyn, eden, Classy Doctor, Kaoru, Miss Wizard
Best Dressed Team: goblin deez, worms on a string, shark attack, Norb Fortress 2 - Norbheads, grub lords
Best Caster: Tal, freaky, Doctrine, Rainy, Turris, foodeater, Ghost, Golden Terrestrial, Sperkle, Strongman, Relz, theatreTECHIE, Capy, chocomilk
2. Submitting your votes
The votes must be sent through to your division administrator via Discord DMs:
- Premier: Sperkle (@sperkle)
- Intermediate: Rainy (@rainy26)
- Open: Oldcustard (@oldcustard)
Votes need to be submitted to one of the admins listed above by Saturday the 30th of December 2023 at 11:59pm AEDT. Failing to do this will prevent your votes from being counted.
FAQ
How is Voting calculated?
We will use instant runoff voting to calculate the results.
Will we not receive in-game medals if we fail to submit our votes?
We only penalize failure to submit nominations, as we believe that every player should have the chance to be voted for.
How long will it take for Awards to be released?
The release of Awards often varies, but you can expect it usually within a week or two of Voting closing.
Thank you based Valen for their work to improve our scripts used for nominations and voting!
How to Vote
We've reformatted our voting threads to better enable captains in correctly formatting and submitting their votes to us. Take a look, and let us know if you run into any issues.
1. Putting your votes together
Captains shall select three options from the Nominated Players heading and put them in order of highest vote to lowest vote using the following template. The first name will receive three votes, the second will receive two votes and the third will receive one vote. Voting for your own teammates is not allowed, regardless of the award (this includes Best Caster).
Important formatting - you must copy-paste your vote EXACTLY, and separate votes using commas. Again we are using an automated script to process these votes, and incorrectly imputed votes may not be counted!
Your team name:
Your team division: IntermediateBest Scout: first-place vote, second-place vote, third-place vote
Best Soldier:
Best Pyro:
Best Demoman:
Best Heavy:
Best Engineer:
Best Medic:
Best Sniper:
Best Spy:
Friendliest Team:
Most Improved Player:
Most Improved Team:
Most Valuable Player:
Best Dressed Team:
Best Caster:
Your completed template should look like this (with the correct players on their classes, the same players have been used for each award in this example for simplicity) without the point allocations after each player name:
Your team name: Your Team Here
Your team division: Your Division HereBest Scout: /dev/zero (3 points), wiggin (2 points), obla (1 point)
Best Soldier: /dev/zero, wiggin, obla
Best Pyro: /dev/zero, wiggin, obla
Best Demoman: /dev/zero, wiggin, obla
Best Heavy: /dev/zero, wiggin, obla
Best Engineer: /dev/zero, wiggin, obla
Best Medic: /dev/zero, wiggin, obla
Best Sniper: /dev/zero, wiggin, obla
Best Spy: /dev/zero, wiggin, obla
Most Improved Player: /dev/zero, wiggin, obla
Most Improved Team: Atomic Affinity, Red Pandas, Musos Deluxe
Friendliest Team: Atomic Affinity, Red Pandas, Musos Deluxe
Best Caster: catfish, core, obla
Remember: Voting for your own teammates is not allowed.
Nominated Players
The following players and teams are nominated for awards:
Best Scout: Lain, Jdn, eunsoo, bill, Time
Best Soldier: RRLucky, Wergy, Zepi, strawbunny, JV
Best Pyro: Styxs, said, shneersh, Bree, CH
Best Demoman: Multi, akari, silent*, max, Beats
Best Heavy: Olae, HASHFAN, Disturbed, Amatorii, Zinsh
Best Engineer: Trash, Gears, arbabf, peep, Square Bread
Best Medic: Hobo, scandalous!, Valeyard, miffy, Woozy
Best Sniper: Noemie, Aspect, Kitt, Tux, Reaps
Best Spy: finzz, Pancakelover, salad, chimes, Speedy
Most Improved Player: hobo, Wergy, Disturbed, Tux, Speedy
Most Improved Team: Team Wahoo!, Where no ability meets no effort, Silent Tennis, PEEPLINGS!, Significant Otters
Friendliest Team: Team Wahoo!, Where no ability meets no effort, Silent Tennis, PEEPLINGS!, Significant Otters
Most Valuable Player: arbabf, Lain, Trash, Wergy, Olae, scandalous!, Aspect, Zepi, miffy, Gears, salad, JV, HASHFAN, Styxs, finzz, RRLucky, Multi, Time, Amatorii, Pancakelover, Jdn, Disturbed, CH, chimes, Tux, max, Woozy, bill, Speedy, eunsoo, Kitt, Valeyard, Noemie, akari, Bree, Hobo, Reaps, said, silent*, strawbunny, hobo, Square Bread, peep, shneersh, Zinsh, Beats
Best Dressed Team: Team Wahoo!, Where no ability meets no effort, Silent Tennis, PEEPLINGS!, Significant Otters
Best Caster: Tal, freaky, Doctrine, Rainy, Turris, foodeater, Ghost, Golden Terrestrial, Sperkle, Strongman, Relz, theatreTECHIE, Capy, chocomilk
2. Submitting your votes
The votes must be sent through to your division administrator via Discord DMs:
- Premier: Sperkle (@sperkle)
- Intermediate: Rainy (@rainy26)
- Open: Oldcustard (@oldcustard)
Votes need to be submitted to one of the admins listed above by Saturday the 30th of December 2023 at 11:59pm AEDT. Failing to do this will prevent your votes from being counted.
FAQ
How is Voting calculated?
We will use instant runoff voting to calculate the results.
Will we not receive in-game medals if we fail to submit our votes?
We only penalize failure to submit nominations, as we believe that every player should have the chance to be voted for.
How long will it take for Awards to be released?
The release of Awards often varies, but you can expect it usually within a week or two of Voting closing.
Thank you based Valen for their work to improve our scripts used for nominations and voting!
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