Over the years, there have been a number of understandings and practices that have evolved naturally to provide a great experience for the students involved. This information has been shared among coaches within discord, lobby chat, and through the support site to cultivate this collective knowledge of expectations. We have collected a series of concerns, questions and clarifications for coaches below. The information is nothing new in how participating with PlayVS has been, but is collected to serve as a uniform reference for all coaches moving forward.
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Seasonal Expectations
Technical Issues
Coaches are expected to reach out to PlayVS Support if they or their players encounter any technical issues with the site.
Important Article Coverage
Please review the following articles with all your team members:
Team Names & Player Names
Ensure that team names and player names are not misleading or cause issues within team competitions. Names such as “Bye Week”, “To Be Determined”, “No Game This Week” or other similar names that could be misinterpreted and misleading.
Team names and player names must be appropriate and abide by the PlayVS Code of Conduct.
Scheduling
Review team schedules weekly.
Promptly organize reschedules if needed.
Rosters & Subs
Ensure team rosters and substitute benches are updated and abide by PlayVS rules.
Substitution windows vary per title. Please refer to the appropriate game title’s Rulebook for this information.
Please also check your title’s rulebook for your playoff roster lock time period. Roster locks during playoffs are shorter, such as this example from Hearthstone’s Rulebook mentioned under section 1.2.
Coach Notes
Review Coach Notes every week for new game, article, and rulebook updates.
Coach Notes can be found on your PlayVS Dashboard and are emailed to coaches weekly during the season.
Gameday and Match Expectations
Ready Up Time
Coaches will use the Ready Up button on their Match Lobby to indicate their participation in a match. Coaches are also encouraged to confirm their availability by sending a message in Match Lobby Chat.
Attendance
Coaches are required to be present during their team's match.
For students playing from home, coaches are expected to be present for questions or concerns in the in-product Match Lobby Chat.
Forfeits
If a team cannot participate in their scheduled match and are unable to reschedule for a future date within that match's scheduling block, coaches are expected to record the match as a forfeit through the match page.
Communication
All communication regarding matches, match reschedules, and/or conflicts are to be handled via coach to coach communication first.
If a resolution cannot be made, coaches are expected to reach out to us for assistance at support@playvs.com.
Match Results
Winning coaches have one hour to submit match results after each match concludes.
After each match, both coaches are required to ensure match results have been submitted within one hour.
If the match is completed using the PlayVS Match Assistant tool, results will be recorded at the conclusion of each game.
If the PlayVS Match Assistant could not be used, the match results must be submitted manually within 1 hour of match completion. Players should take screenshots of the match results and share those with their coaches. Find more in the Reporting Guide.
If for any reason coaches are unable to submit match results, coaches are expected to reach out to support@playvs.com.
Disputes
For all match disputes, coaches are expected to resolve the dispute with the coach of the opposing team first through match lobby chat.
Coaches are required to provide in-game screenshots supporting their claim when submitting a match dispute.
Coaches are required to submit any match disputes for matches within one week after a match has concluded.
Find more information on our Match Disputes and Behavior Reports article.
Play Prevention
Coaches or other faculty members for a school are required to communicate conflicts preventing play with the opposing team and/or PlayVS.
This includes roster changes, absent players, and technical difficulties with the site.