Intramural League
1. Competition Eligibility
1.1 Qualifying Participants
Tournament participants must be an active and current member of Florida State University, Florida Agricultural & Mechanical University, or Tallahassee State College in some capacity. This includes students, staff, or faculty members. This does not include alumni.
1.2 Account Requirements
1.2.1 Eligible Nintendo Account
Players must have a Nintendo account in good standing and be eligible for competitive games in order to compete. This same account must be used for all matches during official competition. Players may not have more than one account each listed on the roster.
1.2.2 Account Bans
If a player receives a ban due to in-game behavior or Terms of Service violations, that player is not eligible to participate in the season until the ban is lifted. If a player receives a permanent ban during the season, they are no longer eligible for the rest of the season.
This rule applies to all accounts owned by a player, not just their registered account.
1.2.3 Player Inactivity
Inactive players, or players who are not in communication with the Intramural Host, League Staff, and their opponent, will forfeit their matches and be eliminated from the tournament.
2. Participant Rules
2.1 Roster Size
Players will register as individuals through the GGLeap software. Players are not permitted to replace themselves with substitutes during the competition.
2.2 Competition Listing
All tournament participants will be displayed on the competition website, centers.ggcircuit.com/garnetgaminglounge, as well as on the competition spreadsheet in the intramural Discord channel. The competition listing will reflect all participants' status in the tournament.
2.3 Account Name Restrictions
Account names and team names may not contain vulgarities, obscenities, or anything that could not be displayed under the FSU image. These restrictions will be applied solely at the discretion of the Intramural Hosts and GGL Staff.
2.4 Name Approval
Intramural Hosts and GGL Staff reserve the right to modify participants' names if they do not reflect the standards expressed in Section 2.3 or required by university administration.
A player will be notified by the Intramural Host or GGL Staff if their name must be changed and will be permitted to change to an acceptable name.
3. Match Process
3.1 Definition of Key Terms
- Game
- A single competition played between four players. One game consists of one Grand Prix in Mario Kart 8 Deluxe.
- Match
- Tournament play between four players that may consist of multiple games.
- Group Stage
- A competition format in which a group of four players play multiple matches against one another.
- Single Elimination Bracket
- A competition format in which a group of four players compete against each other in a match and one or more players are eliminated from competition upon losing.
3.2 Tournament Structure
The Intramural League will be a two-stage format. The first stage shall be a Group Stage competition that will determine seeding for the second stage, a Single Elimination Bracket.
3.2.1 Group Stage
Players will be randomly drawn and redrawn into groups of four. Each group will play one match with each other.
Matches in the Group Stage consist of four Grand Prix games. Player points will be determined by their placement among their groupmates in each game. The sum total at the end of the match will be recorded.
The aggregate sum of a player's points after all three matches will be used for seeding the Single Elimination Bracket.
Ties will be broken by the highest quantity of first-place finishes when applicable.
3.2.2 Single Elimination Bracket
Players will be seeded into matches based on their total points accrued in the Group Stage.
Single Elimination Bracket matches will consist of four Grand Prix games. The two highest-scoring players at the end of the match will advance to the next round in the bracket. The two lowest-scoring players will be eliminated from the Intramural Tournament.
Ties will be broken by the highest quantity of first-place finishes, followed by the highest quantity of second-place finishes, third-place finishes, and fourth-place finishes as necessary.
The Grand Final will be played with the last four remaining players. The player with the highest total points in the Grand Final match will be the Intramural winner.
3.2.3 Competition Points
Points will be awarded per game as follows:
| Placement | Points |
|---|---|
| 1st place | 4 points |
| 2nd place | 3 points |
| 3rd place | 2 points |
| 4th place | 1 point |
3.3 Competition Structure Insurance
The Intramural Host and competition staff are free to change the structure of the Intramural League before the start of competition play, in accordance with the goal of making the Intramural League sufficiently competitive and fun.
This includes, but is not limited to, altering the number of groups in the Group Stage, altering the number of advancing players from the Group Stage, or adding or removing stages in their entirety.
3.4 Competitive Version and Platform
The Intramural League will be played using the current official version of Mario Kart 8 Deluxe available for the competition platform. Any required game updates will be applied before competitive play.
3.5 Setup and Player Responsibilities for Matches
All players will be expected to be ready to join the game lobby at the time agreed upon in advance as described in Section 3.6.
Readiness includes, but is not limited to, all four players being present, completing required game updates, and configuring the required in-game settings.
3.6 Schedule Adjustments by Hosts
Intramural Hosts and GGL Staff, in their sole discretion, have the right to adjust the match schedule at any time to preserve the pacing of the tournament or to remedy circumstances that may detract from the viewer experience.
3.7 Match Scheduling
Matches occur in specific date ranges according to their location in the bracket. These dates are listed below.
The first round begins on the day the tournament begins, October 5. Players may agree to schedule matches at any point in time during that round.
Scheduling matches will occur through written messages between all involved players. Once completed, players will send a screenshot of the agreed-upon time and date in the appropriate channel of the intramural Discord.
This agreed-upon time is considered the official match time for purposes of lateness or forfeits.
If players cannot agree upon a time within the round, the match must be played at the default time specified below. Players may not schedule matches outside of the specified round because doing so would negatively impact the bracket's ability to proceed.
| Round | Date Range | Competition | Default Time |
|---|---|---|---|
| Round 1 | October 5–7 | Group Stage Match 1 | October 6 at 8 p.m. |
| Round 2 | October 8–10 | Group Stage Match 2 | October 9 at 8 p.m. |
| Round 3 | October 11–13 | Group Stage Match 3 | October 12 at 8 p.m. |
| Round 4 | October 15–17 | Bracket Stage Round of 32 | October 16 at 8 p.m. |
| Round 5 | October 18–20 | Bracket Stage Round of 16 | October 18 at 8 p.m. |
| Round 6 | October 21–23 | Bracket Stage Round of 8 | October 22 at 8 p.m. |
| Round 7 | October 25 | Grand Finals | 2 p.m. |
3.8 Final Match
The final match, Round 7, must occur during the specified date and time. This is to guarantee production staff can be present for the match to be streamed on the GGL social media channels.
3.9 Match Reschedules
Players may agree to reschedule their matches to a different time, provided that the match begins before the round deadline.
Rescheduling will occur through written messages between all involved players. Once completed, players will send a screenshot of the agreed-upon reschedule in the appropriate channel of the Discord.
If players agree on a reschedule, the agreed-upon time is considered the official match time for purposes of lateness or forfeits.
If players cannot agree on a different time, the match must be played at the default time shown in Section 3.7.
Intramural Hosts and GGL Staff reserve the right to uphold or reject reschedule requests at their sole discretion.
To avoid misuse of the reschedule process, any reschedule request accepted less than 24 hours before the proposed reschedule time must be confirmed a second time by the rescheduling player before becoming official. Otherwise, Intramural Hosts and GGL Staff may invalidate the reschedule request.
3.10 Lateness Penalties
A player will automatically forfeit their match if they are not present within the Garnet Gaming Lounge and have not communicated their whereabouts to the Intramural Host or League Staff within five minutes of their official match start time.
Intentionally delaying the lobby or game start will still subject the player to penalties.
3.11 Pause Process
Players may pause the game for technical issues until the limit expressed in Section 3.12.
After a pause, the pausing player must verbally declare the reason for the pause. When the pausing player is ready to unpause, all players must verbally declare that they are ready before the pausing player is allowed to unpause the game.
3.12 Pause Allowance
Players may pause the game for a maximum of three (3) minutes or two (2) independent pauses, whichever limit is reached first.
Pausing beyond the allowance will be considered unfair play, and penalties will be applied at the discretion of tournament officials.
3.13 Abuse of Pause Requests
If a player is considered to be attempting to abuse the pause mechanic to unfairly gain an advantage over an opponent, they will be subject to penalties in accordance with Section 5.7.
Examples of abuse include, but are not limited to:
- False calls for pausing.
- Repeated calls for pausing for the same issue.
3.14 Match Location
Players are required to play their intramural matches in the Garnet Gaming Lounge.
3.15 Player Equipment Responsibility
Players are not responsible for problems occurring with GGL-provided equipment. Pauses and reschedules resulting from malfunctioning GGL-provided equipment will not be held against the affected player.
Players are responsible for ensuring the performance of their own peripherals. A problem with a player's equipment is not an acceptable reason for lateness or pausing beyond a player's allowance, regardless of the root cause of the problem.
3.16 Final Match Streaming
The final match of the intramural tournament will be streamed by the Garnet Gaming Lounge staff and the Esports at FSU Productions Team.
3.17 Lobby Setup
Game Setup
- Mode: Multiplayer
- Players: 4
- Race Format: Grand Prix
- Engine Class: 150cc
- Items: Normal Items
- COM Players: None
- Vehicles: All Vehicles
- Races per Grand Prix: 4
Map Rules
All Grand Prix races are allowed.
Map Selection
All competing players will roll dice to determine the order in which they select the Grand Prix. Players with higher rolls will select earlier.
3.18 Score Reporting
After each match, the winning player is responsible for reporting the score on the tournament platform and in the designated intramural communication channel.
3.19 Restrictions on Gameplay Elements
Restrictions may be added at any time before or during a match if there are known bugs with characters, vehicles, maps, or other gameplay elements, or for any other reason as determined at the discretion of the Intramural Host.
4. Game Rules
4.1 Game of Record
A Game of Record (GOR) refers to a game in which all four players have loaded and which has progressed to a point of meaningful interaction between the competing players.
Once a game attains GOR status, the period in which incidental restarts may be permitted ends, and the game will be considered official from that point onward. After GOR has been established, game restarts will be allowed only under limited conditions.
A game is considered to have achieved GOR status once any of the following conditions are met during the first race:
- Lap: A lap is completed by any participant.
- Fall: Any player falls off the map and is reset.
- Time Elapsed: One minute (01:00) has passed from game start.
4.2 Directed Pause
The Intramural Host or GGL Staff may order the pause of a match or execute a pause command at any time for any reason, at their sole discretion.
4.3 Game Restart
If a game experiences a critical bug at any point during the match that significantly alters game statistics or gameplay mechanics, or if external environmental conditions at a live event become untenable, a restart may occur.
Certain circumstances must be met before a restart may occur. The Intramural Host must determine that the bug is critical and verifiable.
Critical Bug
For a bug to be considered critical, the bug must significantly damage a player's ability to compete in the game situation. The determination of whether the bug has damaged a player's ability to compete is at the sole discretion of the Intramural Host.
Verifiable Bug
For a bug to be considered verifiable, the bug must be conclusively present and not possibly attributable to player error. The spectator must then be able to replay the instance in question and verify the bug.
If a player believes they have experienced a critical bug, they must pause the game and alert a referee in a timely manner.
If it is believed that a player is attempting to delay reporting a bug in order to wait for a possible restart at a more advantageous time, a restart will no longer be granted.
If the Intramural Host determines that the bug is critical and verifiable and that the player followed the pause protocol, the disadvantaged player will be presented with the option for a restart.
If the player accepts, the game will immediately be restarted.
If the restart occurred due to a character bug, settings will no longer be retained regardless of Game of Record status, and the character will be made ineligible for at least the remainder of the day's matches unless the bug can be conclusively tied to a specific game element that can be fully removed.
If a player is offered a restart and declines, that player will be ineligible to request a restart based on the same bug for the remainder of the match.
The Intramural Host and GGL Staff reserve the right at all times to force a game restart if the game environment reaches a level of instability that compromises the competitive integrity of the game.
4.4 Awarded Game Victory
In the event of a technical difficulty that would lead to a partial or full restart, but significant constraints make it impossible to restart the game, the Intramural Host may instead award a game victory to a player.
4.5 Mid-Match Break
Players are entitled to a break of at least five minutes between games of a match.
Players may agree to a longer or shorter break. If no agreement can be reached, lateness time will begin counting at exactly five minutes.
Players are subject to lateness penalties per Section 3.10 if they are not ready to begin after the break time ends.
4.6 Results of Forfeiture
Matches won by forfeit will be reported by the minimum score it would take for one player to win the match. Examples include:
- Best-of-one: 1–0.
- Best-of-three: 2–0.
- Best-of-five: 3–0.
5. Player Conduct
5.1 Code of Conduct
All players must read and accept the official Florida State University Student Conduct Code.
Failure to abide by this conduct code may warrant punishment in this Intramural League at the discretion of the Intramural Host or GGL Staff.
5.2 Reporting Violations
Conduct violations of any kind may be reported to any Intramural Host or GGL Staff member through the Discord site, by email, or through an in-person discussion at the Garnet Gaming Lounge.
5.3 Competition Conduct
5.3.1 Unfair Play
The following actions will be considered unfair play and will be subject to penalties at the discretion of the Intramural Host or GGL Staff.
5.3.2 Collusion
Collusion is defined as any agreement among two or more players and/or confederates to disadvantage opposing players.
Collusion includes, but is not limited to:
- Soft play: Any agreement among two or more players not to damage, impede, or otherwise play to a reasonable standard of competition in a game.
- Pre-arranging to split any form of competition or prizing.
- Sending or receiving signals, electronic or otherwise, from a confederate to or from a player.
- Deliberately losing a game for compensation, for any other reason, or attempting to induce another player to do so.
5.3.3 Hacking
Hacking is defined as any unauthorized modification of the Mario Kart 8 Deluxe game software or game environment by any player or person acting on behalf of a player.
5.3.4 Exploiting
Exploiting is defined as intentionally using any in-game bug or any feature not working as intended, at the sole discretion of the Intramural Host, to seek an advantage.
5.3.5 Ringing
Ringing means playing under another player's account or soliciting, inducing, encouraging, or directing someone else to play under another player's account.
5.3.6 Cheating Device
The use of any kind of cheating device and/or cheat program is prohibited.
5.3.7 Official Discretion
Any other act, failure to act, or behavior which, in the sole judgment of the Intramural Host, violates these Rules or standards of integrity established by the Intramural Host and GGL Staff for competitive gameplay may be considered unfair play.
5.4 Profanity and Hate Speech
A player may not use language that is obscene, foul, vulgar, insulting, threatening, abusive, libelous, slanderous, defamatory, or otherwise offensive or objectionable; or promote or incite hatred or discriminatory conduct in or near the match area at any time.
This rule additionally applies to public social media, livestreaming, or player communications during live events.
5.5 Disruptive Behavior and Insults
A player may not take any action or perform any gesture directed at an opposing player, fan, or official, or incite another individual to do the same, which is insulting, mocking, disruptive, or antagonistic.
5.6 Abusive Behavior
Abuse of the Intramural Host, GGL Staff, opposing players, or audience members will not be tolerated.
Repeated etiquette violations, including but not limited to touching another player's computer, body, or property, may result in penalties.
Players and their guests, if any, must treat all individuals attending a match with respect.
5.7 Unprofessional Behavior
5.7.1 Responsibility Under Code
Unless expressly stated otherwise, offenses and infringements of these Rules are punishable whether or not they were committed intentionally. Attempts to commit such offenses or infringements are also punishable.
5.7.2 Harassment
Harassment is forbidden. Harassment is defined as systematic, hostile, and repeated acts taking place over a considerable period of time, or a singular instance, that are intended to isolate or ostracize a person and/or affect the dignity of the person.
5.7.3 Disparagement, Discrimination, and Denigration
Players shall not:
- Make, publish, disseminate, or communicate online or in any other public forum defamatory or disparaging remarks, comments, or statements concerning:
- Florida State University, the Student Union, or the Garnet Gaming Lounge.
- Mario Kart 8 Deluxe or any associated software, products, or services.
- Any other participating player.
- Engage in any activity or practice that:
- Brings a player into public disrepute, scandal, or ridicule, or materially derogates from their public image.
- Adversely impacts the image or reputation of Florida State University or another competing player.
- Offend the dignity or integrity of a country, private person, or group of people through contemptuous, discriminatory, or denigrating words or actions on account of race, skin color, ethnic, national or social origin, gender, language, religion, political opinion or any other opinion, financial status, birth, sexual orientation, or any other status.
5.7.4 Ban Evasion
A player may not attempt to compete while ineligible due to disciplinary action or account bans by using a secondary, alternate, or otherwise unauthorized account.
5.7.5 Criminal Activity
A player may not engage in any activity that is prohibited by applicable law and that leads to, or may reasonably be deemed likely to lead to, conviction in a court of competent jurisdiction.
5.7.6 Moral Turpitude
A player may not engage in any activity that is deemed by College Season officials to be immoral, disgraceful, or contrary to conventional standards of proper ethical behavior.
5.7.7 Bribery
No player may offer any gift or reward to a player, Intramural Host, or GGL Staff member for services promised, rendered, or to be rendered in defeating or attempting to defeat a competing player.
5.7.8 Non-Compliance
No player may refuse or fail to follow the instructions or decisions of the Intramural Host or GGL Staff.
5.7.9 Match-Fixing
No player may offer, agree, conspire, or attempt to influence the outcome of a game or match by any means prohibited by law or these Rules.
5.7.10 Association with Gambling
No player may take part, either directly or indirectly, in betting or gambling on any result of any Intramural League competition or match.
5.8 Subjection to Penalty
Any person found to have engaged in or attempted to engage in any act that the Intramural Host or GGL Staff believe, in their sole and absolute discretion, constitutes unfair play will be subject to penalty.
The nature and extent of the penalties imposed due to such acts shall be at the sole and absolute discretion of the Intramural Host and GGL Staff.
6. Penalties
6.1 Available Penalties
Upon discovery of any player committing a violation of the rules listed above, the Intramural Host and GGL Staff may, without limitation of their authority under these Rules, issue the following penalties:
- Verbal warning.
- Loss of map or track selection for a current or future game.
- Game forfeiture.
- Match forfeiture.
- Player suspension.
- Tournament disqualification.
Repeated infractions are subject to escalating penalties, up to and including disqualification from future participation in the Intramural League.
Penalties may not always be imposed in a successive manner. The Intramural Host and GGL Staff may, in their sole discretion, disqualify a player for a first offense if the action is deemed sufficiently egregious to warrant disqualification.
6.2 Cross-League Penalties
The Intramural Host and GGL Staff reserve the right to honor penalties incurred in other intramural leagues, and vice versa.
6.3 Right to Publish
The Garnet Gaming Lounge shall have the right to publish a declaration stating that a player has been penalized.
7. Spirit of the Rules
7.1 Finality of Decisions
All decisions regarding the interpretation of these Rules, player eligibility, scheduling and staging of the Intramural League, and penalties for misconduct lie solely with the Intramural Host and GGL Staff.
The decisions of the Intramural Host and GGL Staff are final. Intramural League decisions with respect to these Rules cannot be appealed.
7.2 Rule Changes
These Rules may be amended, modified, or supplemented by the Intramural Host or GGL Staff from time to time in order to ensure fair play and the integrity of the Intramural League.
7.3 Best Interest of the Intramural League
The Intramural Host and GGL Staff at all times may act with the necessary authority to preserve the best interests of the Intramural League.
This power is not constrained by a lack of specific language in this document. The Intramural Host and GGL Staff may use any form of punitive action at their disposal against any entity whose conduct is not within the confines of the best interests of the Intramural League.
