The entire reason the Respawn League exists is because we were not content with the situations for both of the neighboring regions of Australia / New Zealand and Asia. We felt other leagues had no considerations for the more specific needs of each region, and we thought we could do better, we felt we did do better. We were tired of no support, and no interest in taking these fun, "non-standard" gamemodes that we would dump many hours a week into, any further than a pat on the back at the end. We wanted to make a positive, and lasting change in our community.

If you are not aware of the events of the last 24 hours, we made a series of bans on evidence we believed justified these bans, and agreed as a team on the punishments and ban periods. Regardless of the evidence, or even the outcome, it has yet again become apparent that no matter if we try to do what we feel is right, we will just be crucified for it. For those who have had information or images doxed by others, we were firmly in your corner and wanted to support you wherever we could. For those who were being accused of wild allegations relating to pedophilia, we believed it was not right for our community members to be making such confronting allegations towards others, and we believed we were obliged to do what was right. It has become painfully clear that no matter what is right, and what is wrong, there is no winning for anyone in these situations.

We will always take the privacy of our community members seriously, and will always be committed to ensuring our community, our league, and our services are a place where people can feel safe from the persecution of others. However as a league, we can no longer interfere or intervene for poor behaviour outside of our services. Why you may ask? While we feel everything we have done is in our minds, in the best interests of our community, we sadly cannot be judge and jury all at the same time. As cryptic as that response is, many will understand it's meaning. It has only been since recent events in the last few years that leagues outside of this region have begun to pull up this type of behaviour, and are punishing those who don't stand within the bounds of an open and accepting league view, as a region we are clearly not there yet. We may never be in all honesty, and while there is no point in throwing blame, there is a large majority who feel action in this realm should have come years ago, we have to make do with what we have now.

So where does this leave us? Nowhere different. We will still punish the extreme cases, but while our intentions were pure it is clear that the community isn't ready for this. As such, I would like to apologize on behalf of the staff team for the issues this has caused. While I consider it an almost necessary stumble, it is one that shouldn't have happened. We all makes mistakes, and it is clear our league has.

So to explain the click bait title, there has always been this culture of looking away when members of the community are singled out, doxed, or abused for untrue and inaccurate allegations. We wanted to be apart of the change, we wanted to be able to say to each and every member of this community that there will always be support from us, and there will always be. But without significant change, that sadly won't happen.

Now something for those who feel it is alright, and consider their behaviour nothing but righteous, I have a rude awakening for you. Calling someone out for the allegations of pedophilia, without any substantial proof to suggest otherwise, is nothing but defamation of character, not to mention the repercussions this can have on that persons life. It may not be your intent to ruin their life, but the behaviour you have around or regarding a person, breeds more of that behaviour in others. If you cannot see where you are going wrong, you need to step back and look at it from all ends.

As a league, and as fellow community members, we are committed to ensuring the safety, rights and opinions of other members in our community. Period.

Common Name - Grimseh
Reason - Sharing and distribution of personal information and images.
Ban Period - 5 Week Match Ban.
Steam ID - 76561198290593816
Discord ID - 169324498804277248

Common Name - Dream
Reason - Sharing and distribution of personal information and images.
Ban Period - 5 Week Match Ban.
Steam ID - 76561198278067465
Discord ID - 457804813954973697

Common Name - Josh
Reason - Extreme toxicity towards multiple users, with some messages encroaching on Cyber Bullying.
Ban Period - 4 Week Match Ban.
Steam ID - 76561198053522366
Discord ID - 204490020914987008

While we have tried to use our newly implemented Infraction System for this situation, no past, present or future similar event will be the same, no case is. This means that no matter what standardized punishment scheme we put in place, it will never entirely fit the mold.

For those who are curious, Permanent Probation is not a Community Ban, but means that the user/s in question are more susceptible to the fuller extents of future punishments.

We will no longer tolerate this behaviour. As such, the standard punishment for this severity of doxing going forward will be a 1 Season Competitive Ban with a 1 Season Community Ban. Any repeat offences will also mean the punishment is doubled. You do not need to be participating in our league to receive a ban.

Levying serious allegations of pedophilia can destroy lives. It is because of this we have acted. To be clear, we can only distribute punishments for this offence if it is on a Respawn service, connected service, or in a game / format representing a gamemode we run. This is including, but not limited to; officials, scrims and tournaments inside our league. We will on occasion punish those extreme cases outside of this league, however this is rare.

All existing league bans, not including cheating bans, are being reviewed, including the ones previously in this post.

Should ANY team or user be found trying to harbour these users for the period of their ban, they will receive an equal or worse punishment. The Respawn League will not tolerate this level of poor behaviour and lack of judgement.

Transfers can be used to bring more people onto your roster, or remove them from your roster at any point.

Transfers are limited to 3 players in or out per week.

As per the Respawn League Competitive Ruleset, all transfers must be completed prior to Roster Lock. Roster Lock will now come into effect at the end of Week 6 for each season and format. What does this mean? Essentially you will not be able to add anymore players after this point. If you want more information, check out our Roster Lock post in the League Information section of our Forums.

AU/NZ Highlander

Saturday 15th January - Signups open
Saturday 29th January - Signups close
Monday 7th February - Regular Season start
Friday 18th March - Roster Lock
Friday 25th March - Regular Season ends
Monday 28th March - Playoffs starts
Friday 15th April - Playoffs ends

Asia Highlander

Saturday 15th January - Signups open
Saturday 29th January - Signups close
Monday 7th February - Regular Season start
Friday 4th March - Roster Lock
Friday 11th March - Regular Season ends
Monday 14th March - Playoffs starts
Friday 1st April - Playoffs ends

Only Players on the Active Roster receive a badge at the end of the season.

To the teams who have placed first in each region and format, congratulations! We would also like to take this chance to thank and congratulate the Runner-Ups and Participants. Without you guys, this league wouldn't be possible. These winners and runner-ups can be seen below:

AUS/NZ Highlander

1. red.pandas
2. Atomic Affinity
3. Aim on Point

AUS/NZ 4v4

1. :B1:
2. The big 4
3. Toes Before Hoes

ASIA Highlander

1. 12GANXI
2. Klass 9
3. Rafindra Fan Club

ASIA 4v4

1. Edelweiss
2. Suwawa Fan Club
3. Thanos.exe

For all those who will no doubt ask, ALL badges have been distributed. Please let us know if you do not have your badge or have not received it. You can do this via contacting us through #admin-support in our Discord.

Founder's badges will be distributed for Asia soon after, we just want to make sure Valve's API isn't overloaded.

Common Name - Fuzz
Reason - Inappropriate use, sharing and distribution of personal information and images relating to four individual users.
Ban Period - Extended from original ban, it is now a permanent league and community ban.
Steam ID - 76561193861905602
Discord ID - 404872924319842324

Common Name - bibBore
Reason -Sharing and distribution of personal information and images.
Ban Period - 1 Season Competitive Ban, 1 Season Competitive Ban, Permanent Probation.
Steam ID - 76561198148655016
Discord ID - 312996993628635139

Common Name - lil slamm
Reason - Sharing and distribution of personal images.
Ban Period - 1 Season Competitive Ban, 1 Season Competitive Ban, Permanent Probation.
Steam ID - N/A
Discord ID - 233856522604642304

The users above were found for at least one of the following incidents;

• Use, sharing or distribution of personal information or images.
• Complicit in the use, sharing or distribution of personal information or images.
• Facilitated the use, sharing or distribution of personal information or images.

While we have tried to use our newly implemented Infraction System for this situation, no past, present or future similar event will be the same, no case is. This means that no matter what standardized punishment scheme we put in place, it will never entirely fit the mold.

For those who are curious, Permanent Probation is not a Community Ban, but means that the user/s in question are more susceptible to the fuller extents of future punishments.

We are still reviewing hundreds of different pieces of evidence to truly evaluate those involved, who we feel we can punish and those who continue this trend of behaviour past this point.

Should ANY team or user be found trying to harbour these users for the period of their ban, they will receive an equal or worse punishment. The Respawn League will not tolerate this level of poor behaviour and lack of compassion.