Ladder Rules

Getting Started

Registration

To participate in TKZ activities you must register. You will be asked for your basic information such as name, email and a number of other things. Your main email cannot be a free email service such as hotmail since we need to prevent people from creating duplicate bogus accounts. However you can use a free email as the contact email everyone sees.

Once you have registered you will be sent a confirmation email at your real email address with a registration password. You will use that password to fill out the account confirmation and activate your account. Before you fully activate your account the only thing you will be able to do is update your account information. Accounts not verified within 3 days are subject to removal.

Once your account is activated, you can login and perform the user actions in the automation listed below in the appropriate rules. You will be able to join ladders, leagues, teams and much more. In addition to your user actions there are also publicly available information such as rankings for a ladder and other public reports that do not require a login or registration.

Types of Activities

There are three main types of activities in TKZ. The simplest form is singles ladders. These consist of one on one games with extensive rankings to see who is best and systems to help you find an equally skilled opponent and even schedule the battle.

The next more complicated type of activity is called a team ladder. This is where you join teams or even create your own. Then those teams play for rankings to show who is best.

The most complex type of activity is called a league. A league can be very captivating. In a league you join a team and then fight for actual long term goals like the conquest of territory. This goes beyond who is best, including strategy independant of any in the game itself. Leagues are a chance to not only play your favorite games, but to live the game. Leagues are not created for all games like ladders are, due to the complexity involved. You can make fill out the request form for your favorite game to have a league in TKZ.

Singles Ladders

Singles ladders are meant for one on one play so that you can find people who are a equal match and see just how skilled you are. The basic approach is select an opponent, challenge them, negotiate conditions for victory (and optionally blowout conditions), fight and report results. Most of the rules are automatically enforced by the automation system. Following are the specific rules for all single ladders and details on the underlying system.

Definitions

Losing Streak
number of losses in a row, reset with each win
Winning Streak
number of wins in a row, reset with each loss
Formal Challenge
A challenge made using the TKZ automation wether or not the TKZ automation is used to schedule the match.
Informal Challenge
An impromptu challenge made to a player online. An informal challenge can be declined without penalty. Any player can challenge any other player without concern for ranking with an informal challenge.
Unranked Players
A player that has not fought a match yet is considered unranked, even though they technically have a starting rank. Unranked players are not ranked in the ranking lists until after their first fight.
Blowout
A blowout is when a PRE-negotiated margin of victory is reached. To have a blowout BOTH sides must agree BEFORE the match on what the condition will be to count as a blowout. If both sides do not agree to a blowout condition, then the match is played without possibility of a blowout. You can never get more than one blowout against the same person. Only the most elite warriors are likely to have many blowouts.
Prestige Factor
A fudge factors taking into account additional adjustments above and beyond simple wins, losses and blowouts. Each player starts over with their own number of random prestige points. Non-record based effects on ranking are taken into account such as one time penalties and bonuses. The following affects are included:
Going Inactive
TKZ can be extremely fast paced, but there will eventually be times when you'll be away and don't want to lose a lot of ground while you're gone. For a modest penalty to your prestige factor you can go inactive. while you're inactive, new challenges cannot be made against you and your opponents can withdraw their challenges without the normal penalties. You will also be immune to the normal 7 day time limit before challenges are automatically declined. When you return to active status you will have 7 more days. Once you go inactive you cannot return to active status for a minimum of 1 week.

User Actions

Below are user actions that can be taken once you login to your TKZ account. Most user actions involving other people involve notification of both parties involved. Notifications always go to the person's logs and, unless they have unselected email notification, they will also be emailed. Actions where both parties are notified as noted below. Challenges

There are two types of challenges, formal and informal. Formal challenges are made using the TKZ ladder system. Informal challenges are challenges made online at the moment two players contact each other. Informal challenges can be declined with no penalty and there are no limits on who is challenger or challengee, based on ranking, in an informal challenge. Formal challenges can still be declined or withdrawn with a penalty to the player's prestige. If formal challenges are not scheduled within 7 days they are automatically declined. An inactive player is immune to this deadline until they return to active status, at which point they will have 7 more days.

There are limits on who can be challenged. These details are enforced by the automation system.

When a ladder is starting out or small, these rulesets combine to allow almost anyone to challenge everyone else. This becomes less true as the ladder grows. When a formal challenge is made, both sides will be notified.

After the challenge is fought, either side can input the results. Once they are input, both sides are notified. The other side gets 3 days to confirm. If they don't take any action within 3 days, it is automatically confirmed. The other side can dispute the results in which case those results are not counted. Whenever results are disputed, that fact is noted for both parties. Troublemakers who constantly fill our bogus reports or unfairly dispute valid results will quickly become evident. It's not uncommon for a misunderstanding to result in a couple disputes, but beware someone with more than 5! Please remember that it is not uncommon for a mistake to result in these markings. You should only be cautious of individuals with numerous declines.

Ranking System

Each player in a ladder has an ongoing record that shows their success or failure. Their record lists the number of wins, losses, blowouts, winning streak, losing streak, win percentage, title and TKZ rank.

The rankings are calculated automatically and the ranking algorithm may be improved on rare occasions, so the exact values will not be given here. Listed below in order of most ranking points to least ranking points are the factors taken into account in rankings:

This preliminary ranking total is added to your prestige factor to give the final ranking. The prestige factor is where additional factors are resolved. Read the definitions sections for a listing of factors included in the prestige factor. The prestige factor is a rating for your personal style and charisma. Each player starts with their own original, random amount of prestige. If you reset your rankings it will revert to that original prestige for that ladder.

In addition to your rank in points, there are also titles that correspond to ranges of ranking points. These titles are also known as terraced ranks. So 1-50 points of rank might correspond to scout, with 51-100 points of rank corresponding to warrior.

Public Reports

For each ladder there are a number of ranking reports that can be requested. The number of people to include in the ranking can be selected from a range of choices ranging from 10 to all. You can also select wether to show only active players, inactive players or both. Following are a list of available reports: In addition to the rankings, the specific fight list of a specific player can also be displayed.

Team Ladders

Unofficial challenges can be made online by any member of a team to a member of any other team while online. For team ladders, there are no formal challenges, only informal challenges. A team can decline an online challenge with no penalties.