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Originally Posted by Mile High Von
Can someone please PM the rules for the league. I am unable to access the site where they are posted. Any help with this would be appreciated.
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They won't fit in a CAG PM. The formatting might be a bit off, but here you go:
Madden 13 - Official CAG Madden League Rules
The purpose of this document is to explain the general rules and principles for the Official CAG Madden League. This list is not exhaustive, as things do come up during the course of the year. Consequently, these rules are subject to change (though we will not change them without notice in the thread). No discipline will be handed out for rules not already in this document at the time of infraction. However, if you see something missing from this list, please bring it up rather than seeing it as an opportunity to get away with something.
Commissioners: bvharris, siradam134, ubernes
General Rules and Playstyles
1. Don’t be a dick.
This is the first rule for a reason, and will generally encompass ALL of the other rules. Everyone is in this league to have fun, and when people act like jackasses to one another, it becomes less fun.
1a. No running up the score
Everyone should know what this means. It doesn’t mean you need to start bleeding clock early in the second half (though you can if you want) and it doesn’t mean you have to do nothing but run the ball with a lead. But if you are still actively trying to score with a massive lead in order to pad stats, it will not be tolerated. This will be monitored more carefully than ever this year given that you now earn XP for stats. That is not an excuse for running up the score. Repeated violations of this rule can earn you a strike.
1b. No showboating
Simple enough: Don’t flip into the endzone. Ever. No one is impressed by it, and it just makes you look like a jerk. Same goes for twirling around randomly while running in for a score, holding the ball out (assuming that’s still in the game) and any other showboating moves. If you want to look cool, save it for your offline franchise. The excuse of “it’s instinct because I do it offline” is only going to work once. Repeated violations of this rule can earn you a strike.
2. Play like an NFL coach would
This is probably the broadest rule, since not every NFL coach has the same game management style, nor do we expect every Madden player to. However, there are certain things which are not allowed in the league simply because we are trying for as accurate a simulation of real football as possible.
2a. No cheesing
The definition for “cheese” is much like Justice Potter Stewart’s definition for pornography: It’s hard to define, but I know it when I see it. Running 20 yards backwards with the QB before throwing, running the same play over and over again, nano blitzing (which no longer seems possible this year, thankfully), etc. These things should be obvious to anyone who has played in this (or any sim) league before.
2b. Going for it on 4th down
The general rule is “when in doubt, don’t.” There are plenty of people who play online who go for it on every 4th down, that is not okay in this league. If you’re on your half of the field, you should not be going for it on 4th unless you’re at the point of the game where you have no other choice, even if its short yardage. This doesn’t mean you can’t be aggressive in situations where a real NFL coach might be (4th and 1 from your opponents 40, or something like that) but if your opponent makes an issue out of it, it will be discussed. Last year the general guideline was: If you make a non-conventional 4th down call, be prepared to defend it in the thread. If you can’t conceive of a logical/strategic defense of going for it in that situation, that’s probably a good indication that you shouldn’t. There is of course some gray area in this rule, but keep in mind that area is a yard wide, not a mile.
2c. Onside Kicks *NEW RULE*
As many of us have discovered by now, the game UI no longer alerts someone when the opponent is in onside kick formation. Therefore, if you are attempting an onside kick and your opponent does not come out in onside kick formation you must give them the opportunity to either call a timeout or audible into onside coverage. You should wait at least 5 seconds, but 10 would be even better. Quickly kicking to take advantage of your opponent not being ready will not be tolerated.
2d. Running with the QB
Scrambling is allowed. However, you need to do it in a way which is realistic and consistent with how real NFL players do it. Constantly calling 5-wide formations and then scrambling up the middle after the coverage drops is cheese, not strategy. Scrambling should generally either be from designed QB run plays or occur after a play breaks down.
Transaction Rules and Guidelines
1. Free Agents
Free Agent signing in this league are NOT a free for all. What that means is that you are not free to sign whoever you want from the free agent list during the season. There are three different types of free agent signing which will be detailed below.
Update: As of season 2, Free Agency is now OPEN. You may add or drop players at any time, with the only constraint being your salary cap and roster size.
1a. Free Agent Waiver Period
A couple of times during the first season, we will have free agent signing periods in order to work our way through the existing free agents in the pool. The selection order will function like a draft with the order determined by record (worst-to-best) at the time of the period. There will be four groups of 8 teams which will have a window in which to sign a free agent from the list. When you sign a player, you must also drop one (this will be necessary for most teams given the roster limit anyway). All selections MUST be posted in the thread to be considered valid.
1b. Injury Replacements
If a player on your team is injured, you are allowed to sign a temporary replacement if it is necessary for depth. That means that your team would be below the feasible number of players at that position in order to play. Those minimums are as follows:
QB - 2
HB - 3
FB - 1
WR - 5
TE - 2
OL - 2 each
RE - 2
LE - 2
DT - 3
LOLB - 2
MLB - 3
ROLB - 2
CB - 5
FS - 2
SS - 2
K - 1
P -1
The count will also include excess players at an equivalent position. So if you have 3 healthy LOLB and 1 healthy ROLB, you would be considered to have met the minimum. When signing an injury replacement, you do NOT have to release a player (though obviously you will if you’re at the roster limit) but the player must have a lower OVR rating than the lowest player you have at that position (the equivalent position rule applies here as well). When the injured player returns, you must drop the replacement player.
1c. Offseason Free Agent Signing
Connected Careers now has offseason free agent signing periods, during which teams can bid on free agents (both those with expired contracts from other teams and those in the general FA pool). This process is already regulated by the game, and therefore will not be subject to further review from the league. The only consideration you have when signing FAs in the offseason will be the salary cap and roster limits.
2. Trading
2a. Trade Review *UPDATED RULE*
As with last season, ALL trades will be subject to league/commissioner review. This means when a trade is accepted by both parties, before it is processed in-game it must be submitted in the league thread. There will then be a discussion period after which the trade will need to be approved by the Trade Review Panel. The Trade Review Panel will consist of 6 members: The three league commissioners and three representatives elected by the league. Any member of the panel involved in the particular trade must recuse themselves from the vote. Trade passage will require 4 votes to pass. In the case of a recusal, 3 of 5 votes will be required. All decisions made by the Panel are final, though trades may be re-worked and re-submitted if they are deemed unfair.
Committee members: bvharris, ubernes, siradam134, MasterAwesome, Doomtime, staticz
2b. Trade Criteria
Like past years, trades will be judged wholly on their own individual merits, but will also consider the financial ramifications of a trade. For example, trading a better player for lesser players/picks will be looked at differently if one of the teams gains cap relief by making the trade. Each situation is unique, so the Panel will look at a wide variety of factors when ruling on trades.
2c. Trade Cap
For at least the first season, we will be keeping the existing trade cap in place. If this proves to be unnecessary given the new salary cap element, we may remove it in future seasons. The per-team trade cap is as follows:
6 total trades per season, with 4 Core players max allowed to be traded. A Core player is defined as:
90+ overall player = 2 core players
80-89 overall player = 1 core player
1st round pick = 1 core player*
* For the first season, even future 1sts will count against the current year cap (in case we get rid of the cap in the future). If we do not remove the cap, in subsequent seasons future 1sts will count against the cap for the season before the pick would be made. For example, a 2015 pick would count against the cap for the 2014 season.
2d. Trades w/ CPU teams
This won’t be an issue as long as the league is full, but for now we will NOT be allowing trades with CPU teams. This is subject to change if we can decide on a good way to regulate it.
2e. Pre-traded draft picks
Because the game now honors pre-existing draft trades by default, we will continue to do so. These trades will automatically be reflected in the league rosters.
3. Unsanctioned Transactions
Any unsanctioned transaction (be it a free agent signing or trade) during the season will be reversed by the commissioners, and after a warning a strike will be issued. Seriously, don’t do it.
League Policies / Discipline
1. Communication
This is the #1 most important factor in keeping the league running smoothly. ALL league members must be registered at CAG, and while we encourage people to subscribe to and keep up with the thread, at bare minimum you must be able to respond to PMs in a timely fashion. If you can’t do this, then you should find a different league. This is a CAG league, and we expect people to use CAG. Repeated communication issues can lead to a strike.
If you are having trouble contacting your opponent, LET A COMMISSIONER KNOW or post in the thread. That doesn’t mean five minutes after advancement, but if you haven’t heard from someone a day after contact, let us know. Posting half an hour before advancement that you haven’t heard from your opponent isn’t likely to elicit much sympathy and is a good way to get your game simmed.
Most importantly, be proactive. Don’t wait for your opponent to contact you, contact them. The earlier you contact your opponent, the earlier you can play and the less opportunity there will be for something to go wrong. Communication is the backbone of a successful league, we can’t overstate its importance.
2. Advancement
Last year, we generally tried to advance every 3.5/4 days, and we will try to keep a similar schedule this year. We will be willing to adjust up or down depending on extenuating circumstances, but generally will try to stay on schedule. Advancement times will always be listed in the thread title. Additionally, given that there are additional factors this year (practice, scouting, contract negotiations) please try to complete these things in a timely fashion since we’re not going to postpone advancement just because someone didn’t get a chance to practice or scout (scouting points do roll over). If you finish early, please use the in-game functionality to indicate you are ready to advance.
3. Thread Etiquette
This harkens back to the first rule on this list: Don’t be a dick. The same thing that applies to the game applies to the thread. Obviously disagreements will happen, and people will be boisterous, and that’s fine. But in general, please try to keep things in the thread as civil as possible. This is tough to define specifically, but I’d generally go by these two suggestions:
- No personal attacks
- Don’t write anything you wouldn’t want your mom to read
That should cover most everything, and the rest should be common sense. We’re not going to be incredibly anal about this, but if someone becomes a repeated problem we may consider discipline.
4. Disconnects *UPDATED RULE*
This is especially important this year, since while disconnects themselves aren’t necessarily more common, currently in Connected Careers a disconnected game will ALWAYS give a loss to the owner whose connection was responsible for the disconnect. It’s unclear whether this is a bug or by design, but in either case we do not agree with this way of doing things and will be working around it with our policy. As always, pointing fingers when it comes to disconnects is pointless. Yes, the game considers one party “at fault”, but this doesn’t mean someone is cheating. Sometimes there are freak outages, etc. If it becomes a recurring problem for a specific user, we’ll deal with it.
4a. Do Not Count Any Disconnect
As mentioned above, counting a disconnect at present will automatically give a loss to the person whose connection the game deems to be at fault. If you receive the message about counting the game, that means your opponent disconnected and it will give you a win, even if they were winning. Resist the urge to take the free win, since accepting the disconnect without approval will result in a strike, no warnings given.
4b. What to do if your game disconnects
If your game disconnects, quit out of your game immediately (we suggest quitting out of Madden directly by going to the home screen). This way Madden will not count the game at all and we will be able to determine what to do. Again, counting the game without permission will not be tolerated.
Next, post in the thread/contact the commissioners via PM. There are three of us and we are not that busy, so you will likely get a response very quickly and we will sort the situation out. Again, do not take the law into your own hands.
4c. Handling of disconnects
In most cases of a disconnect, we will ask that the game be replayed. If the game was far along, it is permissible to try to recreate the conditions of the game at the time of disconnect, though this is not required. If for some reason the game cannot be replayed, there are several options we can pursue:
Option 1: Simming
This will be the most common course of action in repeated disconnects, especially when the games are close and the players are of similar skill levels. If you can't get the game in, and there's no body of evidence whatsoever as to who had the upper hand in the matchup (on the field, obviously) than we will sim it. No one likes a sim, but there's no denying it's fair.
Option 2: Play the CPU
If a game disconnects in which one player has a clear late advantage and are not given the option to count the game then sometimes it will be appropriate for the trailing team to temporarily drop from the league and let their opponent play against the CPU. For the most part, nobody is going to be compelled to take this option, and obviously in most cases it will require the consent of both parties. There is plenty of precedent for such a move and I think we can all rationally tell when our opponent has control of the game (even if we don't want to admit it). Obviously this is an inherently subjective question as to whether a game is in hand, and it will be judged on a case by case basis using the following criteria:
- Size of the lead (as well as the total score)
- Time remaining
- Possession and field position
A 3 score lead in the 4th quarter is more in hand than a 2 score lead in the 3rd quarter, and so on. Again, both teams have to agree to this course of action or one side has to have it approved by the commissioner. An example of the latter might be if someone is up 35-7 late in the 4th and the opponent is being belligerent and demanding it be played again. Generally speaking, we should keep this amicable, but as I said we should all have some self-awareness as to when we're beat.
It goes without saying that in this scenario those seen to be running up the score on the CPU or deliberately attempting to injure players will be frowned upon and are less likely to have the opportunity in the future.
Option 3: Subbing
When it's clear that one person or the other is the one who's disconnecting than they are permitted to request a sub who might have better luck connecting to the opponent. This request should be made to the commissioner who will then choose an appropriate sub to try and complete the game. As always, subs should give their full faith effort to win the game and play fair.
Again, don't point fingers saying "it's his fault! his connection sucks!" because you really have no way of knowing for sure. On the other hand, if you suspect it's your connection and not the servers, then say so. It is possible that both teams could be subbed for simultaneously, although in that scenario simming might be the better option.
5. Strikes/Expulsion
No one wants to deal with this topic, but it’s necessary. Over the years we’ve only thrown a handful of people out of the league, so we are not especially trigger happy. Repeated violation of league rules will be dealt with however. Three strikes and you’re out.
Ad Hoc Rules
This is for rules which we have added during last season or this year which deal with specific gameplay issues. These will be more likely to be updated as we go, especially if the issues which they address are patched.
1. QB Hot Swapping
You can not switch from one QB from another in the middle of a drive in order to gain an advantage from bringing in a different style of QB (bringing in a scrambler, for example). This is because the game does not alert your opponent that the QB has been swapped. This does not mean you cannot swap QBs mid-drive, but to do so you must alert your opponent (either by pausing the game and sending a XBL message, or via voice chat if you are using it). The exceptions to this rule are:
- Wildcat formations. These carry an expectation that the QB might be subbed, and therefore you do not need to alert your opponent if you bring in a different QB for these, since they will see you are in wildcat.
- Injuries. If your QB gets injured, your opponent will obviously know someone else is coming in.
You do not need to alert your opponent if you begin a NEW possession with a different QB. Single drives that span the end of the 1st or 3rd quarter do count as one continuous possession, so the rule does apply in those cases. Repeated violations of this rule will lead to a strike.
2. Angled Squib Kicks
Kicking squib kicks at an angle with intent to recover is banned. The AI on squib kicks is screwed up and will give the kicking team a very good chance to recover. Squib kicks may only be done in logical game situations, and MUST be kicked straight down the middle. Violations of this rule will lead to a strike.
3. Trade Cap
We have temporarily removed the trade cap, at least for season one. We will see if the salary cap offers enough control to reign people in.
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