GWL Competition Creator Guide

‘Enlisting’ (draft/setup) – At this stage of the competition lifecycle, Warfighters are joining the competition and the competition hasn’t started to allow challenging yet. Generally the Command Staff for the competition is waiting for a certain number of competitors to start the competition or they may also have enlistment for 2 weeks or some other timeframe. There’s no challenging and the Elo score is still at it’s baseline (1200) during this phase.

‘Active’ (live matchmaking) – This stage is self explanatory. The competition has started. Challenging is allowed and Elo scores are beginning to reflect the ranks on the ladder.

‘Archived’ (permanently locked, preserving all data) – At this stage, all competitive matches have stopped. The creator of the competition has decided to ‘Archive’ the competition. At this point, the ladder is no longer open for joining and going to the public page of the ladder will show the rankings and Elo scores as they were when the competition was archived. For the creator, the competition is listed as archived in ‘My Competitions’ and all settings are shown as ‘Read Only’. Once ‘Archived’, a competition can’t be restored.

‘Reset’ (literally resetting the competition) – Competition Command Staff can decide to ‘Reset’ a competition at any point during the lifecycle of a ladder (except if it’s archived). Once a competition is reset, the competition effectively resets to the ‘Enlisting’. If it’s a ladder, all Elo scores reset to the baseline (1200), and the competition will need to be manually started again. The ‘Operation Activity Log’ will log a competition reset.

‘Structural Framework’ settings are permanently locked once the ladder becomes active. The Platform (PC, Playstation 5, etc.), Region (North America, Europe, etc.), Game name, Format (Solo or Team), and Type (ladder, tournament, league, and event) are structural to the competition and can’t be changed once the competition starts.

‘Operation Settings’ can be changed throughout the life of the competition. Things like Privacy, Match Size, Rounds, etc. can all be changed even after the competition has been started (Deployed). After a ladder has been started, setting changes are logged in the ‘Operation Activity Log’ located at the bottom of the competition page so no setting changes can happen in the dark.

‘Active Match Size‘ – This setting sets the competition as Solo (1v1) or Teams. The ‘Teams’ setting is actually set by selecting the team size in the competition (Duos, Trios, Quads, etc.). Teams are in development and not active at this time.

‘Max Roster Cap‘ – This sets the roster cap size. This setting is specifically for teams. The roster for solo competitions is 1 so this setting can’t be set for solo competitions. This setting is used to set the roster size for team competition. For instance, if a team competition has an ‘Active Match Size’ set for Quads (4v4), then the ‘Max Roster Cap” may be minimum of 4. However, the cap may be set for 6 instead because maybe the creator wanted to allow for 2 alternates on the roster in case a player can’t show or there may be some other unforeseen reason.

‘Rounds per Match‘ – This how many rounds constitutes a match win. ‘Best of 1 (Single Game)’ would be a single game but creators or communities may want a ‘Best of 3’, ‘Best of 5’, ‘Best of 7’, or a ‘Custom / Points Based’ game where players would play to a certain score.

‘Communications’ – All Warfighters have private messaging through the GWL site and Matchcoms are standard for all competitions. This ‘Communications’ setting is beyond those obvious methods. The setting is for how the creator wants the competition participants to keep themselves informed about the competition itself.

‘Hidden Roster Forums (Tactical)‘ is available for any competition if selected. This hidden roster tactical board will appear on the main competition public page for the competition participants ONLY. This is a simple forum specifically for the competition participants.

‘Admin Announcements Only‘ is broadcast through the ‘Global Competition Communication’ section on the settings page accessable by Command Staff Only which operates at 500 characters a message and 1 message showing at any one time.

‘Discord Only‘ is exactly what it says. The creator is electing to use Discord only for participant communications. This could be the GWL Discord or it could be any Discord the Command Staff choose. The ‘Global Competition Communication’ window is always available to Command Staff regardless of choice here and can be utilized to just include a Discord invitiation for users who need to communicate with other members or the Command Staff Directly.

‘Privacy / Access’ – This setting is directly related to the question above ‘How do I deploy to an active Operation?’. The answer to that question depends on this setting.

‘Public (Open Entry)‘ is open to anyone on Global Warfighter League that is interested in the game and the competition. They can simply click the “Join This Competition” button and they will be enlisted immediately.

‘Private Request to Join‘ sets the competition as a private competition and anyone can request to join. A user can request to join but access to the ladder needs to be approved by the competition’s ‘Command Staff’. Upon approval, these competitors will show in the list of competition participants and available for challenges.

‘Private Invitation Only‘ are competitions only for invited Warfighters. Once this setting is selected, a new section will appear below the ‘Core Settings’ that is the invitation section for members ‘Competition Player Invites’. Command Staff can invite GWL members from an auto-complete list grounded in GWL membership and the section will keep track of pending invites and declines for Warfighters. Warfighters can be invited multiple times and the interface will switch the user from declined to pending.

The interface sends invites to Warfighters via the GWL private messaging system and will show up in that players Inbox accessible from their profile. The Warfighter can decline or confirm the invitation. If they confirm, they’ll be brought to the ladder through the link provided in the message and they can confirm from the ladder’s public page via the ‘Confirm’ button.

‘Game Variant / Mod’ refers to competitions that rely on certain mods to be running to participate in the competition. For instance, If you have created a Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare competition but the ProMod or PAM mod needs to be running along with the competition game for a match. This is visual cue only. If such a mod is mandatory, creators should be including the requirement in the ‘Rules of Engagement’.

‘Elo Decay’ is built into the GWL competition system for inactivity of players within a competition. More on what the Elo system is and how it works at Global Warfighter League can found on our Elo Page.

This Elo decay section has two settings. The first setting is the period of time for inactivity (grace period). The Grace Period can be set for ‘disabled’ for the competition and no decay will happen to a players Elo score for inactivity. This setting can also be set for weekly intervals of 7-30 days.

The second setting is for the Rate of Decay after the set grace period. This is the penalty rate for inactivity based on the grace period. The rate can be set for ‘-5 Elo/day’, ‘-25 Elo/week’, or ‘-50 Elo/week’.

For instance, if the grace period is ’14 days’ then the rate would take effect after 14 days. If the rate is -5 Elo/day then the player’s score would lose 5 points for every day after the 14 days. If the rate is -25 (or -50) Elo/week, then the player would lose 25 (or 50) points for every week past 14 days.

‘Match Evidence’ is a setting in the event of a dispute. This setting can be set for the honor system, screenshot, video, or screenshot and/or video together.

The ‘Honor System (No Evidence)” is self explanatory. The competition is not requiring to have any evidence in the event of a dispute OR to even raise a dispute. This means it’s not mandatory to have a screenshot or video if you want to raise a dispute. However, all matchcoms already have the ability to upload screenshots whether there’s a dispute or not with the “Upload Screenshot” button. Any evidence to bolster a participant’s dispute is welcome.

The ‘Screenshot Required‘ setting is requiring the participant to have a screenshot if they want to raise a dispute within the context of the match. As mentioned, screenshots can be uploaded via matchcoms and disputes need to have a screenshot to bolster one’s dispute case.

The ‘Video Required‘ setting is requiring the participant to have video if they want to raise a dispute. Video can’t be uploaded to GWL and participants will need to share video links (ie: YouTube) in matchcoms in order to bolster their dispute case.

The ‘Screenshot and/or Video Required‘ setting is requiring to have a screenshot and/or video to raise a dispute within a match. Disputes should have at least one of these to even raise a dispute. However, if the participant doesn’t have either, then the dispute can be dismissed or considered per the admin’s discretion.

‘Transparent Moderation’ relies on the community to keep things honest. Under this setting, the creator doesn’t appoint any referees. Instead, any match the creator personally plays in becomes “transparent.” This means their private Matchcoms chat is completely visible (in read-only mode) to every other active Warfighter on the ladder through a ‘Wiretap’ button. If a dispute arises, the entire community can review the evidence and hold the creator accountable.

‘Command Staff Moderation’ keeps all match communications strictly private, but requires the creator to commission trusted Co-Admins or Referees. These appointed officials act as the impartial judges for the operation. If a dispute happens in one of the creator’s matches, they cannot rule on it themselves; instead, the Command Staff steps in with the necessary clearance to review the intel, read the Matchcoms, and make the final, objective call.

A Co-Admin has permissions to adjust most settings on competition ladder. However, they can not ‘Delete’ or ‘Archive’ the competition. They can’t add or remove other co-admins (or the creator admin) from the ladder either. The selection of Co-admin should be a careful selection by the creator built on trust.

A Referee has a reduced role compared to a Co-admin within the competition. Referees do not have access to the competition settings. Referees come into play only when a referee is requested for a challenge or match on the ladder they are referee for. Once a referee is requested a referee will see a flag for the match on the ladder and can enter the matchcoms for that specific match only. Referees should know the ladder rules and how a competition works for the competition they have been deployed.

Both the ‘Deploy Co-Admin’ and the ‘Deploy Referee’ sections work the same way. They allow the creator (ladder admin) to search for all warfighters within Global Warfighter League. The warfighter does NOT have to be on the ladder competing (but can be). Once a warfighter has been selected, the creator clicks the “Offer Commission” button and a private message is sent to that warfighter within their GWL profile. If that user has email notifications enabled, they will get an email invitation from GWL as well. The selection then shows in that “Command Staff Moderation” section as ‘Pending’. If the warfighter accepts by clicking the relevant link in the message they were sent, the user is then listed as ‘Active’. If they decline the commission, they are listed as ‘Declined’.

In matchcoms, Co-Admins and Referees have access to a “Staff Command Override” menu bar that only they can see. This menu bar allows them to process a win or forfeit for either player. They can also cancel the match or challenge manually.

It’s important to note, Co-Admins and Referees should be the ones clarifying the rules and moderating disputes between the players. They chat within matchcoms and it’s clear who’s speaking as all speakers are identified in matchcoms. Action should be taken via the “Staff Command Override” menu bar as a last resort.