Code of Conduct

EPIC.LAN is committed to providing a safe, friendly and welcoming environment to all participants and to host professionally operated tournament series. In return, we expect all attendees conduct themselves in the same professional way that would be expected of the event.

This Code of Conduct sets out abundantly clear rules and expectations for the kind of behaviour that is acceptable during your stay at EPIC.LAN events. By attending EPIC.LAN events in any capacity, be it as a spectator, esports player or casual gamer, you agree to following this Code of Conduct and accept that should these rules and expectations be violated you are liable to any repercussions or penalties listed herein.

As a friendly reminder, EPIC.LAN hosts events that cover a wide range of professions, activities and more. You are conducting yourself in a shared space with people from all walks of life, including minors. What may be an acceptable comment or reference (“banter”) to a friend also in attendance may not be to other participants. Banter is not an excuse for Code of Conduct violations; you are expected to consider this fact during your stay.

General Conduct, Abuse and Anti-Harassment

EPIC.LAN is dedicated to providing an abuse and harassment free experience for everyone, regardless of sexual orientation, disability, gender, gender identity and expression, physical appearance, race, age or religion. We will not tolerate abuse or harassment of any participants. Any participant found violating these rules may be penalised or removed from active or future EPIC.LAN events without refund.

Such behaviour that is deemed unacceptable may include but is not limited to:

• Verbal or text-based comments of abuse targeted / directed at any other participant or EPIC.LAN team member including but not limited to the categories listed above.
• Excessive swearing or use of foul language otherwise undirected to a specific participant.
• Excessive and prolonged noise and screaming.
• The smuggling of, distribution and use of any prohibited items including but not limited to non-venue purchased alcohol, glass bottles, drugs, weapons, drones, pyrotechnics, smoke or lasers, heavy / power tools, air horns, vuvuzelas or other noise irritators and any other items deemed dangerous or unsuitable by event staff or security.
• Excessive drunken behaviour.
• Underage drinking.
• Physical damage, disruption or interference to any property that does not belong to the owner without explicit permission.
• Theft
• Use of illegal substances.
• Inappropriate imagery / innuendoes including but not limited to the categories listed above. Some examples of where not to include such imagery includes computer monitors (lock screens / desktop backgrounds), team jerseys, personal clothing, pull up banners, flags, personal or team merch.
• Imagery or logos illegal to broadcast in the host country.
• Deliberate intimidation, stalking or following.
• Harassing photography or recording.
• Inappropriate physical contact.
• Unwelcome sexual attention.
• Sexual assault.
• Physical assault or fighting.
• Tampering with or spiking food or drinks.
• Advocating for or encouraging / coercion to violate this Code of Conduct or any other posted Rules.
• Do not excessively block, hinder or overcrowd shared spaces.
• Misuse of the provided network or equipment.

Many EPIC.LAN participants will be communicating digitally, through EPIC.LAN provided social spaces such as our Discord server and Tournament Platform as well as game servers where communication via text is possible. These rules and expectations extend to digital spaces hosted by EPIC.LAN or used for the purpose of event activities such as private game servers, and in some cases, these chats are logged for review. Whether you are physically conducting yourself on site or just alone in an EPIC.LAN purposed server, this Code of Conduct must be followed.

Tournament and Broadcast Conduct

During your participation at EPIC.LAN events, you may be competing in an EPIC.LAN hosted tournament, community event or stage segment. In conjunction with this Code of Conduct, you are expected to abide by any tournament rules and regulations, including tournament General Rules [LINK].

Even outside of these instances but certainly including them, you may be conducting yourself on both official and third-party broadcasts. EPIC.LAN streams a large amount of content during our events and has venue cameras placed throughout our spaces. Furthermore, participants may have personal devices, cameras and microphones broadcasting content.

The above rules and expectations assist with keeping this content safe for broadcast over multiple popular streaming platforms and you are expected to consider how you represent yourself in these spaces.

Quiet Space Disturbances

If you are attending an EPIC.LAN event that operates 24 hours a day you are expected to consider and adjust your conduct when operating in quiet shared spaces such as indoor sleeping rooms or camping spaces.

• Adjust your volume and be considerate of those trying to rest.
• Do not interfere or otherwise disturb participants by taking extra care in these areas.
• Make attempts to avoid disruption when it is safe to do so (bright/phone lights in dark sleeping rooms, slamming doors etc.)
• Do not interfere with other participants property (air mattresses, personal effects, tents etc.)

Expectations

As a participant at any EPIC.LAN event, you are expected to:

• Help us to keep a friendly, safe and welcoming atmosphere at our events.
• Be respectful to all other attendees.
• Only buy alcohol from venue provided bars.
• Keep things clean and tidy / tidy up after yourself.

Reporting

If you are a victim to any of the above offences during your participation or witness a breach of this Code of Conduct, you can get in touch with us via:

Instant Reporting

For incidents actively happening we recommend reporting to a member of staff on-site so we can act on rectifying any problems and begin investigating as soon as possible. Forms of digital reporting here will still be actioned as soon as possible but may not be monitored 24/7.

• Reporting on-site to our Help Desk, Event Office and / or admin areas to staff physically on location.
• Flagging a member of staff (identified by their staff lanyard).
• Submitting a ticket through our Discord Server via the #support category under “Conduct Report”.
• Directly messaging our active Duty Manager via WhatsApp on this number: 07470385459. Direct link.

Further Reporting

For further reporting you can opt to report incidents using the form or email below. we recommend not using this avenue as a first point of contact during breaches at active events as other avenues for reporting will be seen and responded to faster.

• Reporting via this form
• Email us at reporting@epiclan.co.uk

Please attempt to provide as much information as possible in your reporting. Assisting us further with identifying breaches helps us respond to problems faster. Things to include which are helpful are the participant’s seat number or row as opposed to general location, including information to identify a participant specifically and what was said is beneficial. If you have evidence to support your report, it’ll be extremely helpful when EPIC.LAN considers its corrective action.

Response

EPIC.LAN has various teams in place to operate our events. When a report is submitted through any of the channels listed above, we will begin an investigation to determine where and who has committed any violations. Investigating violations may need various staff members from different teams to collaborate, communicate and gather evidence, whilst we aim to prioritise these reports immediately, actionable repercussions may take time. EPIC.LAN takes any report very seriously and in the case of serious breaches or harassment may need to conduct interviews with multiple parties.

Key teams in effect during this process are:

• The EPIC.LAN Operations team.
• The EPIC.LAN Management team.
• The EPIC.LAN Esports Operations and Community teams (to assist in identifying participants, seating arrangements and deeper on the ground knowledge).
• Host venue staff.
• Third Party licenced security.
• In cases where violations include illegal activity, or activity that endangers participants, EPIC.LAN or the venue may notify local Police and other emergency services.

Once EPIC.LAN has gathered evidence and considered the statements from multiple parties should they be necessary, we will take action against those found violating this Code of Conduct, using options from the Enforcement section below. If your report was not anonymous, EPIC.LAN may update you regarding the corrective action taken but will not divulge explicit details into our investigation process where it effects sensitive information or the security of the event.

EPIC.LAN works alongside our host venue staff and third party licensed security team to gather evidence and determine corrective action, our security team may offer advice and guidance to participants and make take action where immediately required (such as drunken or aggressive behaviour), but the majority decisions and corrective action is the result of either the EPIC.LAN Operations / Management teams and / or venue staff.

Issues that pertain to the venue or their licenses may be in their purview to make a final decision, such as preventing drunken behaviour, “cutting off” a participant from the bar, or in severe cases, expelling participants from their venue. We will work with the venue staff on these matters and discuss any decisions impact to our events, however, we cannot overrule final venue decisions as their premises and licence holders.

Participant Escalation

It is not the duty of participants to attempt to resolve breaches of this Code of Conduct and often ends in escalation with further breaches. Please adhere to our reporting guidelines and work with the EPIC.LAN team, venue and security to ensure any response comes from us. Help us help you.

Enforcement

Violating EPIC.LAN’s Code of Conduct will result in any of the following:

• A verbal warning.
• A written formal warning.
• Penalty points applied to individual participants.
• Removal of privilege to sleep on site at dedicated spaces.
• Removal of privilege to purchase alcohol from venue bars if you are over 18.
• Ejection of an individual participant from an active event without refund. (Can be applied through accumulation of penalty points).
• Banning of an individual participant from active and future EPIC.LAN events for a period of time (Can be applied through accumulation of penalty points).
• Permanent ban of an individual participant from active and all future EPIC.LAN events (Can be applied through accumulation of penalty points).

As a participant at EPIC.LAN events, you act and conduct yourself as an individual, you are the pilot. EPIC.LAN will not enforce Code of Conduct violations to a team or party, any actions taken by you as a participant is your responsibility. Those attending in teams or parties should consider actions taken by a member of their team or party could impact their participation for the remainder of the event.

EPIC.LAN will not focus penalisation on active EPIC.LAN tournaments, this is not the case where tournament specific rules or tournament General Rules apply, but this event wide Code of Conduct is not tournament specific, we cannot list penalisation here such as forfeiting a tournament match, these sanctions are applied on a tournament rule basis. However, esports participants must consider their actions may impact the team’s ability to continue in an active tournament should you violate this Code of Conduct. Rules and expectations of this Code of Conduct may overlap with tournament specific rules. The exception to this is EPIC.LAN may penalise participants who are in a position to earn prizes at EPIC.LAN events, monetarily or otherwise.

Penalty Points

Should you be found to have breached this Code of Conduct you may receive penalty points linked to your directly. These penalty points are tracked and may not expire immediately after the end of an active event, such as points on a driving licence.

The below table isn’t an exclusive solution to EPIC.LAN’s response for Code of Conduct violations, where other parties such as the venue staff is involved, this may not be applicable.

You will be notified verbally and via email of penalty points applied to you.

EPIC.LAN’s investigation into reports of Code of Conduct violations will determine what appropriate penalties are put into place.

Additional sanctions may be applied outside of the penalty system where deemed necessary which may impact your use of event provided equipment or spaces, our social channels or Tournament Platform.

Multiple penalties may be applied at once if multiple violations have occurred at the same time. Where penalties have a range, EPIC.LAN will determine the severity and impact to any victims upon investigation to determine action.

Temporary points will expire after 12 months from issue. Repeat offences or further offences will add to your total and could result in action listed below. Permanent points do not expire.

• Every (1) point will result in 1% of any monetary prize earnings deducted should a participant be on an esports team where this is possible. If the participant is not in a prize earning position at the active event where the violation occurred, any future event where the participant is, will have this penalty applied at their current point level, including any additional points accumulated at future events. It is the responsibility of the team lead or designated team manager to manage prize distribution to team members, the deduction will apply to the overall placement distribution (e.g. 3% of £2,000 deducted and not 3% of £2,000 / 5). When a prize deduction is applied, it will not be applied again (e.g. deducted on event one and then points carried over to event two). But any additional points earned will result in a new prize deduction of the newest relevant point value.
• Accumulating 5 points will result in any other prizes being withheld from participants, including but not limited to Community event prizes, partner prizes and MVP prizes. If the participant does not win a prize at the active event the violation occurs, they will have a prize withheld should they win when 5 points is accumulated.
• Accumulating 15 points will result in active event removal without refund.
• Accumulating 25 points will result in active event removal without refund and a ban from any future EPIC.LAN events 12 months from issue.
• Accumulating 35 points will result in active event removal without refund and a permanent ban from any future EPIC.LAN events.

EPIC.LAN may need to adhere to other licences or policies in place by third parties to maintain tournament integrity. Such actions may include publicising the reason for your removal from an event or your impact that has resulted in a team’s removal from a tournament. In such cases, this will be done over official EPIC.LAN domains and EPIC.LAN social media channels. Third parties (such as game publishers) may be informed of our ruling against you as an individual which could result in further repercussions against you from such third parties.

It is the sole discretion of EPIC.LAN and involved parties to decide on appropriate action based off investigation.

Closing Statement

We understand that people want to enjoy themselves, and we encourage that, and have had very few incidents in our long history, we want to keep the events that way and make your stay as comfortable as possible. We expect participants to operate in a responsible way, and any early warnings of any of the above expectations and rules being breached will be actioned. For further support see our EPIC.LAN Support Knowledge Base.

Appeals

If you believe action taken against you as a participant to be incorrect, you can appeal using the form below.

Appeals will be treated with respect and all factors associated with any ruling will be considered. Appealing can also be conducted on-site with EPIC.LAN Management if you are appealing an active event removal. We cannot guarantee all appeals will be investigated / come to conclusion within a specific time frame.

Appeals Form.