Code of conduct

As part of our commitment to safeguarding and fair play, UKQB events are run in accordance with the following code of conduct. The following forms can be used to report any violations of the code and the cheating statement:

• safeguarding reporting form

• cheating reporting form

Code of conduct

1. All players and moderators should treat other participants and staff at a UKQB tournament with respect.
2. All players and moderators should not engage in exclusionary behaviour, which includes, but is not limited to:
   • threats of violence;
   • discriminatory jokes and language;
   • ridiculing or insulting other participants;
   • unwelcome sexual attention.
3. Players and moderators should not engage in harassment of other participants. In general, if someone asks a participant to stop something engaging in a particular behaviour, then they should stop.
4. Players and moderators should not drink alcohol while at any UKQB tournament. ¹
5. Active players may not consult reference materials or make use of communication devices (such as phones or computers) during gameplay. Halftime, timeouts, and any post-game period during which protests are discussed and adjudicated are not considered “during gameplay”.
6. Any tournament official may find that player associated with a team during the tournament has committed misconduct. Misconduct includes disruptive behavior, unethical behavior, any violation of this code of conduct, or other unsporting conduct. Officials may interpret these categories broadly. Teams are responsible for the conduct of all persons associated with that team.
7. All instances of misconduct should be reported to the tournament director or one of the designated tournament welfare officers. UKQB events have a dedicated form so that individuals can take their concerns to the relevant authorities anonymously if they wish.
8. Instances of misconduct may result in sanctions to be determined by the tournament director. These sanctions include, but are not limited to, suspension of a participant from one or more matches, loss of game(s) for a team, score or adjustment, or expulsion of that participant an entire team from the tournament.
9. Unless the tournament director decides otherwise, other staff may not impose sanctions, except that a moderator must eject from a game any person found to have committed misconduct a second time during that game (i.e., a tournament director may give the staff greater powers to sanction than this minimum).
10. Sanctions are not appealable.

Cheating statement

UKQB takes cheating at online tournaments very seriously, and we see it as completely equivalent to cheating at an in person tournament. To this end, we have put the following rules in place:

1. All competitors must have a webcam and microphone to play in our events.
2. The webcam must be orientated such that both the competitor’s face and their hands are visible.
3. Competitors should have at least one hand visible when hearing a tossup being read, and two hands visible if hearing bonuses. If they are unable to fulfil this requirement, competitors should let the tournament director (TD) or the tournament safeguarding officer know why.
4. Competitors should not be typing during live tossups or bonuses.
5. Competitors agree prior to the event taking place that UKQB reserves the right to record matches for any reason, which could be as part of, but not limited to, the prevention of cheating.

The TD may at various points enter the virtual room. One purpose of this is to ensure that competitors are complying with the above rules and to ensure no wrongdoing is taking place.

Competitors who believe another participant may be cheating are able to report such behaviour to the TD directly or via the cheating reporting form.

UKQB reserves the right to suspend or expel players from tournaments who are suspected of rule breaking. We also reserve the right to draw inferences based on statistical evidence, though this is unlikely to form the entire basis of any decision made by a UKQB TD or committee.

After the tournament, any suspected wrongdoing will be referred to a committee, who will review the evidence available and determine any sanctions that may need to be enacted, which could include a ban from UKQB events for a stipulated amount of time.

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