Mana Games

Hello,

read 1st all this if you have any question about the Online Tour or if you're a new player.

1- I, ManuTOO, am not a Tour Moderator ; I only (lightly) supervise the Tour Mods to be sure everything goes smoothly ; so don't contact me for any of your problem, except if it's related to an important issue you may have with the Mods

2- The Mods run the Tour on their free time ; they are not your slaves ; they may do mistake sometimes, as all humans do, no need to yell to death when it happens, just politely expose your disagreement

3- This topic supersedes any and all other rule topics ; if a rule isn't listed here nor in your tournament's official topic, then it's not valid anymore

4- Moderators' role & status

5- How to Apply for Tournaments : Registration Process & Draw Release

6- How to Play in Tournament : Contact your opponent & Report match result

7- Playing with the Demo version of the game

8- Doubles

9- Tour Rules

10- Match Settings & Rules

11- Tour ranking rules

How to Apply for Tournaments : Registration Process & Draw Release

Anytime a new tournament is open for registration, it is then listed here, under "Registration Open" : OnlineTournaments.php
Usually, it's done about 7 days before the start of the tournament.

To register for a tournament :
1- Go to the tournament page by clicking on its name from this page : OnlineTournaments.php ; be careful to not mismatch between "Singles" & "Doubles"
2- Click on "Queue for this tournament"
3- If you're already queued, you'll see instead the button "Leave This Tournament Queue" ; if you can't play that tournament anymore, don't forget to click that button

Requirements :
1- You must have a Forum account and be logged in to register for a tournament
2- Join the Discord server : https://discord.gg/ZVd2NWghxT
3- Your discord name must match your Forum name
4- You must not be registered in another tournament of the same type (ie: Singles or Doubles) during that tournament's week
5- Once the registration queue is full, you can't queue anymore
6- If you want to play both Singles & Doubles, you must queue in the same tournament, except if your Singles tournament is a main tour event (ie: Slam, Masters Series, TET500/250) and the Doubles tournament is a minor event (ie: Challenger, Future) or vice versa ; in that case you can queue in 2 different tournaments

Draw Release :
The draw is usually released on the Friday before the Monday of the actual start date.
You might receive an email when the draw is released, so if you can, authorize email from @managames.com in your Spam filter.
The draw is generated randomly by Mana Games' site. It is not done by the Tour Mods.
The seeds are decided from players' ranking ; if players have no ranking, they are seeded by their queue position : 1st arrived, best seeded after ranked players.
To see the draw, go to the tournament page by clicking on its name from this page : OnlineTournaments.php .
It'll also have a topic created by a Mod to announce it, in this forum : Tournament Tour ; the topic name contains the name of the tournament followed by "(Official Topic)".

Note :
In case there are not enough players for the 2nd tournament of a week, then its queue will be merged to the 1st tournament of the week.

How to Play in Tournament : Contact your opponent & Report match result

Once the draw is released, go to the official topic of the tournament listed in this forum : Tournament Tour ; and note down any special rule applying to that tournament. Then go to the tournament page by clicking on its name from here : OnlineTournaments.php .
Under "Report Result", you'll see your opponent name & his discord name. Contact him on the public channel on Discord to decide with him of the time of the match. You should also use the "Write your 1st Message to your Opponent" button to create your Match Topic in the Forum, so Mods could easily track down your efforts to contact your opponent.

In case of a problem contacting your opponent, let the Mods know (for example, by posting in the tournament's Official topic or by clicking the "Call Moderator" button on the Draw page, which is available once you have created the Match Topic).

You should play your match before the deadline announced in the official topic of the tournament.
In case you don't, then the Mods may, depending on the conditions :
- give you 1 day more to play your match (only for valid reasons)
- give you a WO if your opponent wasn't online lately or he didn't do enough to play against you
- give your opponent a WO if you were not online lately or you didn't do enough to play against him
- decide the result of the match by Random Luck (RL), if despite all your efforts and your opponent's efforts, you were not able to manage to play your match
- disqualify both of you if neither of you got online lately

Availability Schedule :
When you play in a Tournament, you have to keep your Availability Schedule up to date for the current week at all time. If your Schedule is incorrect then you'll greatly increase the chances of your opponent to get a WO in case of non-played match.
If you change your Schedule, post the changes in your Match Topic as well, so your opponent will be alerted of the changes.
You will also have to post your likely-Schedule in your match topic in order to make it as public as it can ; posting something like "I can now" without any prior notice to your opponent may not be taken into consideration for a decision.

Once your match is done :
- If you have lost, you should go to the tournament page and enter the match score under "Report Result" ; write the score as seen by the winner ; example : enter "6/4 6/3", not "4/6 3/6"
- If you have won and your opponent didn't enter the score, then go to the tournament page and enter the match score under "Report Result"
- If for any reason you can't play at all, then you should give a WO (Walk Over) to your opponent
- Don't give yourself a WO ; ask your opponent or the Mods if you think you should have one
- Optionally, you can report the score in the tournament official topic (it's useful in case of dispute with your opponent)
- Note : match scores are logged, so don't try to enter a fake score, else you'll be banned

Reserve Match :
If you have time, you can play a match with a future possible opponent.
Example, you should play the winner of the match "Player A vs Player B", but they still didn't play. So you can play a Reserve Match against Player A, if you both want. In case Player A wins his match against Player B, then the result of your Reserve Match against Player A will be used.
You can play a Reserve Match with any possible future opponent, even several rounds earlier.
Be sure to agree with your opponent that you're playing a Reserve Match for your current tournament, and not a practice match.
Post the result of your Reserve Match in your tournament's official topic, stating "Reserve Match", name of your opponent, round and score.

Special rules related to Reserve Match :
- If you play a reserve match, lose it, and disappear without playing your current match, you'll be banned
- If you refuse to play a reserve match when you have the time for it, you'll greatly reduce your chances to get an extra day for your current match, if you want one

Playing with the Demo version of the game

If you didn't buy the full version, you still can play on the Online Tour with the Demo version.

In case you play against a player with the full version, let him host the match so he could choose the number of sets and the surface.

In case you play against a player with the demo version, you'll have to :
- play on the Blue-Green cement, whatever the actual tournament surface is
- play a rematch every time the time runs off
- remember who was serving before the time ran off and the score
- then either do aces till you reach the score you had before the time ran off, or do rematch till you have the same server than before the time ran off ; and then do aces & return winners to reach the last game score (example 2 aces & 1 return winners to reach 30-15) ; if you do the 2nd method, you'll have to re-host in case you have to do a tie-break ; to do a tie-break right away, choose 0 game per set in the "Misc Options" menu before to create the host

Doubles

Doubles are played with a partner controlled by the CPU, not by another human (because the game doesn't support Online Doubles with 4 different computers).

Your CPU partner should be set to the Incredible-10 level of difficulty.
His skills follow the same rules than your skills, from the Online Mode chosen.

Note: by default, your doubles partner is Player 3 in the Character Sheet.
Advice: always set your partner's speed to 100%.

Master Tie-Break
If you have to play a Master Tie-Break in 3rd set instead of a regular set, then before to host the match, go to "Misc Options", then set "Tie Break in Last Set" to "Master". Don't forget to set it back to "Yes" when you play Singles.
If you play with the demo, in "Misc Options", set "Games per Set" to 0 and "Tie Break in Last Set" to "Master" just before to start the 3rd set.

Tour Rules

People not following the rules will be banned from the Online Tour, and possibly also from the Forum ; in extreme case, their game account will be banned as well and they won't be able to play online anymore at all. Usually a warning will be issued before the ban, but not necessarily, depending of the nature and the intensity of the offense.

Global Rules
You should globally act with fair play and not be rude to your opponent, the Mods nor the other players. Any bad behavior, even if not listed in the following rules, can and will lead to a ban.

Forum Rules
- Don't spam the Forum
- Do not use any inappropriate language
- Write in English ; non-English messages may be deleted. They will be tolerated in Matchs Organization topic if both players speaks another language but Mods will be entitled to ask either player to translate the non-English messages if it is needed to make a proper decision if the match was not played.

Account Rules - Important /!\
- You can't create multiple forum accounts to play more than allowed or for any other reason. People may change their account nicknames at any time though: topic13-4870.php
- If you are 2 different persons playing with the same computer, or/and the same Game Key, or/and with the same IP (ie: in the same house / university, etc...), you'll have to :
* tell the Mods about that _before_ they found out , ie: as soon as you register for a tournament
* bring some proof that you are actually 2 different persons ; picture(s), or better, by webcam, should do it

Random Luck (RL)
1) When 2 players can't play their match, and no one is at fault, then the result of the match will be decided by Random Luck.
Your chances to win Random Luck are : (YourOpponentRank + 45) / (YourOpponentRank + YourRank + 90)
Example : you're #10 ; your opponent is #100 ; you have (100+45) / (100+10+90) = 72.5% chances to win by RL.
Ranks are capped to 200, so for example if your rank is 300 then it'll be replaced by 200 in the formula above.

2) In case you got one or several RL in your favor in the previous rounds of a tournament, and you didn't do your best effort to arrange the matches (BETAM) that lead to these RL, then your chances are lowered for the next RL ; your chances are divided by (1 + Number of RL without BETAM) ; example : you got 1 RL, then your chances are divided by 2 ; in case your opponent also got some RL without BETAM, then the one with most of these will see his chances divided by (1 + own RL without BETAM - opponent's RL without BETAM).
BETAM can't be evaluated by the Automatic System, so a Mod will need to manually run it when the situation needs it.

3) An exception to the 2 rules above : if you're playing your 5th tournament on the TE Tour or less, and you didn't win a match by RL in a previous round of your current tournament, then the RL chance is always 50/50 whatever your ranking and your opponent ranking are. (this is to encourage seasoned players to help newcomers on the Tour)
If you already got a WO or DISQ in your current tournament or a previous one, it may cancel the right for the 50/50 RL, but it'll depend on each case from the Tour Moderators judgment.

Small Tournament Rule (this rule is suspended till the day we get a lot of players on the Tour again, if it ever happens )
If you're in the Top 30 (Singles) / 15 (Doubles), you can't play more than 15 Small Tournaments per year. This includes Challengers, 250's, 500's and Davis Cup which is counted as a 500. Once you reach your 15 Small Tournament Limit, you won't be allowed to play small tournaments for the rest of the year.
To check your Small Tournament count, look the rankings here : OT_Rankings.php .

Weekly Tournaments vs Davis Cup
If you play a tournament during the week of Davis Cup, you may not play Davis Cup if your country is participating. And if you are playing Davis Cup, you may not play any other tournament during that week.

Unofficial Tours
Anyone who organizes their own unofficial tour is not allowed to play on the official Tennis Elbow Tour. People playing in them are allowed to play on the official Tennis Elbow Tour though.

Messenger Rules (ie: Discord)
- join here : https://discord.gg/ZVd2NWghxT
- You should not harass Online Tour players and (especially) Mods by messenger
- Don't insult your opponent nor use profanity by messenger
- be online on Discord as much as possible ; this is an important mean to measure your will to play in case of WO or RL decision (i.e Being in Discord is going to be preferred over the Forum) ; 'as much as possible' means for example being online at the times stated in your availability schedule

Match Settings (except if specified otherwise in the Tournament's official topic)
- Mode: Realistic in Grand Slams / Masters 1000 / TET500 / TET250 ; Fair in Challengers / Futures
- Controls : Elite in Grand Slams / Masters 1000 / TET500 / TET250 ; Simulation in Challengers / Futures
- Tiredness : On
- Preview : All + Danger ; you can lower your own Preview in your Character Sheet and Hide your opponent's within the Tennis.ini, though
Note : Matches played in different settings will be discarded.

Match Rules
- Play your Tournament matches with your Forum's nickname ; don't use another in-game name
- Make sure you're playing your actual opponent. If he's not using his Forum's nickname, ask him to change it.
- Do not insult your opponent nor use profanity in the in-game Chat.
- Do not repeatedly swap to another application during the match (ie: don't chat with someone else, constantly check your Facebook after every point, etc...)
- Do not pause the match by any mean, including (but not limited to) entering the menus, opening the in-game chat, watching stats or replay, except at end of a game or in case of necessity (example: need to chat to decide what to do after a Desync, getting a phone call, etc.) ; end-of-game pauses should be as brief as possible. A quick note to your opponent that you need a pause is advised.
- Avoid misuse and overuse of gestures (especially celebrating opponent errors) ; in extreme cases, you could be disqualified
- If you start a match, be able to end it ; if you only have a short available time, tell your opponent before starting the match, and be sure he agrees to stop the match after a specified time, and to go on later
- If you quit a match without your opponent's permission, it'll be counted as retiring unless further justification to mods is made (e.g asking for mods decision due to lag)
- In case you interrupt the match and restart it later, you can not change your player skills in-between (including height, play style, dominant hand, anims and 1/2 handed backhand switches) ; if any players have an accusation on a particular player committing this offense, you need to submit proof (2 screenshots before and after, or .dmo, etc.) to mods to have it looked at.
- If there is lag in a match, you may play one set instead of the full best of 3 or 5 match ; in extreme case, you can play only tie-breaks to decide the winner, but both players must totally agree to this choice (note: 1-tie break matches are not allowed ; it's either 1 full set, or best of 3 or 5 tie-breaks)
- Service : you can not serve from more than 40% of the distance from the center to the sideline, i.e about 2-3 steps further out than default position (this is to be fair against people playing with the 2D courts whose scroll ability is limited), meaning serving from corners is NOT allowed
- Infractions of rules stated above will have to be proven with .dmos file of the match with a clear indication of the points to look at, images, or in-game chat-log, where applicable, which you may send to either mod by pm or Discord ; they may lead to disqualification of the match

Lag Rule (LR)
In case you are in Europe or USA, and you have a good connection with most players from Europe & USA, but the latency with your match opponent is bad (e.g: Delay set to 250ms and Lag Ratio is above 5%), then you can ask for the Lag Rule to apply ; in such case Mods will ask you to check your connection with Run > cmd > ping 8.8.8.8 -t as a general reference of your connection conditions and also by playing you.
- Delay and Lag Ratio are displayed on bottom right of the Match Statistics screen (shortcut key = F4) ; ping is displayed in upper left corner. You will have to show an image in order for LR to apply.
- Connection conditions above are just a reference, LR may be given with lower ping/delay/lag ratio combinations
- You can only request a LR if you have set the Delay correctly. If you didn't, you will then be asked to change it first and check again ; e.g if Ping is over 300ms and Delay is set to 117ms, lag won't lead to LR ; if you refuse to do so, your opponent will receive a WO

Moderators' role & status

NESXA:
- Role: General Tour Management (Grand Slams / Masters / Davis Cup)
- Status: Active

JiJo:
- Role: General Tour Management (TE 500 / World Tour Finals / Davis Cup)
- Status: Active

M.Khalil Guedria:
- Role: General Tour Management (TE 250 / Team Cup)
- Status: Active

Algo :
- Role : General Tour Management (supervisor / consultant / general management)
- Status : Inactive

Sampreas :
- Role : General Tour Management (supervisor / consultant / general management)
- Status : Inactive

Tour ranking rules

The TE Tour rankings are weekly entry rankings based on 52-week performance. It means that every result in your ranking will be removed exactly 52 weeks after it has been added.

Every player's ranking is based on points earned in:
1. 4 Grand Slam tournaments (Australian Open, Roland Garros, Wimbledon, US Open)
2. 9 Master Series tournaments (Indian Wells, Miami, Monte Carlo, Rome, Madrid, Cincinnati, Toronto/Montreal, Shanghai, Paris)
3. Your best 6 small tournaments (500 & 250 series, Challengers, Futures, Davis Cup, Olympics)
4. Year-Ending Championships

Point breakdown is present in each draw and tournament topic.

Special case, Bye win: if you didn't get any win in the draw (ie: you won by Bye, because you had no opponent), you get the points on the previous round you have reached. For example, if you get a bye on 1st qualies round, and lose on 2nd qualies round, you'll get the points of 1st round, not 2nd round.

Small Draw
If a tournament starts at the quarterfinals, its ranking points are divided by 2 ; if it starts at the semifinals, by 4 ; and if it starts at the final, by 8.

Challenger Ranking rules
Challenger Rankings is done by adding the 8 best results of the past 52 weeks.

The Bye-win rule above applies here as well.