Moderation and Penalty Process

Purpose. Moderation keeps the Platform fair and trustworthy. It is based on evidence, and the community takes part at every stage: any registered user can raise a flag, review the evidence, and add their own.

Core Principles. Moderation on the Platform follows these principles:

• Flags should be supported by evidence wherever possible.
• Penalties are proportional to the offense. Lower-severity and first-time offenses usually receive the lightest penalty that fits, often a warning.
• Every decision to approve a flag or issue a penalty comes with a stated reason.
• Abusing the moderation system is itself a violation (see Section 9).

Scope. A flag is either tournament-scope or platform-scope. A tournament-scope flag concerns conduct within a tournament that can be handled with a tournament penalty, such as a chat mute or a warning for unsportsmanlike conduct. A platform-scope flag concerns conduct outside a tournament, a bug report, or a penalty that reaches beyond a single tournament, such as a suspension or ban. As flags are escalated, they generally move from tournament scope to platform scope.

Immediate Action. This Process is the standard flow, but Zovian may act directly and immediately on any matter, including under its rights in the Terms of Use. Hosts and moderators may also take limited action within their tournament without a flag, such as muting a user in chat or removing a livestream from display, when someone is threatening or behaving inappropriately. A host or moderator can use those actions to raise a flag, which then follows this Process.

Registered Users. Any registered user can submit a flag, review open flags, join flag discussions, submit evidence, and vote. Visitors who are not logged in cannot see or submit flags.

Hosts and Co-Hosts. Hosts and co-hosts review flags within their tournaments and issue penalties within their authority. Some penalties take effect only after a Zovian Moderator approves them (see Section 6.2).

Tournament Moderators. Tournament moderators support the host by reviewing flags and issuing penalties on the host’s behalf, subject to the host’s review. The Rules describe the 2 types of tournament moderator (chat moderators and score validation moderators) and how each is chosen.

Zovian Moderators. Zovian Moderators are experienced moderators who have been selected by Zovian and completed Zovian’s training. They may be Zovian employees or other users. Zovian Moderators review platform-scope flags, flags involving hosts, and the most serious or contested cases. They may also act as tournament moderators to support a host.

Trusted Moderators. Trusted Moderators have completed Zovian’s moderator training but have not been selected by Zovian as Zovian Moderators. Their votes on flags may be weighed differently from those of other users.

Zovian. Zovian is the platform-level authority. Zovian decides appeals (see Section 8) and may step in to review any flag.

Conflicts of Interest. No one may decide a flag raised against them. For flags in a tournament, a user’s role in that tournament takes precedence over their platform role. For example, a Zovian Moderator who is competing in a tournament takes part in that tournament’s flags only as a participant. A Zovian Moderator who took part in a flag before it reached platform scope, such as by raising it, submitting evidence, voting, or deciding it, cannot give the final ruling on that flag.

Where to Submit. You can submit a flag from a tournament livestream page, a participant’s livestream card, an individual chat message, a user’s profile, or the support page.

What to Include. Choose the category and subcategory that best describe the issue, explain what happened, and attach any relevant evidence.

When to Submit. Tournament flags can be submitted during a tournament and during its score validation period. Flags about conduct outside a tournament can be submitted at any time.

Good Faith. Submit flags only in good faith, based on what you honestly believe happened. Include another person’s personal information only to the extent the report requires it. Do not put sensitive information in a flag, such as threats of violence, personal contact details, identity documents, or financial information. Send it to Zovian through the Contact Us form instead.

Evidence Tools. The Platform’s built-in evidence tools, such as timestamped links to moments in a livestream recording and links to specific chat or discussion messages, are designed to resist tampering. You can also upload images. Any registered user can add evidence to an open flag.

Additional Proof. If you are the subject of a serious flag, such as a flag for cheating or hacking, a host, Zovian Moderator, or Zovian may ask you for additional proof. If you do not provide it within the time stated in the request, you may forfeit the tournament or be banned.

Flags Without Evidence. Flags without evidence, or with evidence only from outside the Platform, are still accepted, but are unlikely to result in a penalty on their own. They usually result in a private note on the reported user’s account. A private note is not shown publicly unless a similar issue arises later. If one does, the note may become public and may be considered in deciding the new flag.

Your Content. Evidence and other material you submit through the moderation system is Your Content under the Terms of Use, and may be shown to other registered users as part of community review. Zovian may hide or redact evidence that contains personal, sensitive, or security-related information.

Community Review. Registered users can read an open flag, review its evidence, join the discussion, submit supporting or opposing evidence, and vote. Votes from registered users and votes from moderators are counted separately. Votes inform the reviewer’s decision, but they do not decide the flag.

Who Reviews. The host, co-hosts, and moderators of a tournament review that tournament’s tournament-scope flags. Zovian Moderators review platform-scope flags and flags that cannot be handled within the tournament. If a tournament has no eligible reviewer for a flag, a Zovian Moderator acts as the tournament moderator for that flag.

Timing. Reviewers act on flags within the time limits Zovian sets, and may act at any time before then. To allow time for evidence and for the flagged user to respond, platform-level rulings on tournament flags are made only after a waiting period that follows the end of the tournament or match.

Dismissing a Flag. A reviewer may dismiss a flag in 1 of 3 ways:

• Dismiss with reason: the flag is closed with an explanation of why no rule was broken.
• Dismiss with a private warning: the evidence does not prove a violation, but the behavior is recorded as a private warning on the user’s account. The warning is not shown publicly unless a similar flag is raised later, in which case it may become public. Similar future flags are treated more seriously. The reviewer gives a reason.
• Dismiss as malicious: the reviewer finds the flag was submitted in bad faith. A new flag is automatically raised against the reporter, with the original flag as evidence.

Approving a Flag. A reviewer who approves a flag confirms that a violation occurred, chooses a penalty from Section 6, and gives a reason for both.

Flags During a Run. So that the flagging system cannot be used to throw a participant off their game, a participant who is flagged during a tournament is not shown the flag, or any penalty from it, until their run ends. If a disqualification is later overturned, the participant’s completed run can still be placed on the leaderboard.

Available Penalties. Penalties are scaled to the severity and nature of the violation. They include:

• a public warning on the user’s account;
• loss of some or all of the Experience earned in the tournament;
• a temporary mute, slow mode, or removal from a tournament’s chat;
• removal of the user’s stream from the tournament livestream room;
• disqualification from the tournament, in which case the user’s run is invalidated and not ranked on the leaderboard;
• loss of some or all of the Points earned in the tournament;
• loss of Points earned in other tournaments;
• temporary or permanent suspension from a specific host’s tournaments;
• temporary or permanent suspension from a Platform feature, such as chat, tournament registration, tournament creation, or reporting;
• temporary suspension from the Platform; and
• a permanent ban from the Platform.

Penalties That Need Zovian Moderator Approval. Loss of Points earned in other tournaments, suspension from a host’s tournaments, feature suspensions, Platform suspensions, and bans take effect only after a Zovian Moderator approves them. When a tournament moderator requests one of these penalties, the host reviews the request first. The flag cannot be disputed while the request is pending. When a host requests a feature suspension, the user receives the matching tournament-level penalty right away (for example, removal from that tournament’s chat) while a Zovian Moderator reviews the request. Loss of Points earned in the tournament under review, including through a disqualification, is at the host’s discretion.

Severity. The following make a violation more serious: recent prior offenses of a similar nature; repeated offenses in quick succession, especially after a warning; an instance that is more extreme than usual; and offenses that are serious by nature, such as intentional cheating, collusion, fraud, or betting. An honest, low-severity, first-time mistake may result in only a warning or a minor penalty. Severity affects both the immediate penalty and how future flags involving the same user are weighed.

Effect on Entry Fees and Wallets. Penalties may affect entry fees, prizes, and wallet balances as described in the Terms of Use and the Rules.

Overturned Penalties. If a penalty is overturned, Zovian removes it and reverses its effects as fully as it reasonably can, for example by removing a public warning and restoring Points, Experience, access, or a leaderboard placement.

Disputes. After a reviewer acts on a flag, any user who has taken part in the flag may dispute the decision, with new evidence. This includes the reporter, the flagged user, and anyone who submitted evidence or voted. An eligible reviewer must view the dispute evidence before acting on the flag again. The same reviewer or a different eligible reviewer may act. Each flag can be disputed only once.

Escalations. After a disputed flag is decided again, another user who has taken part in the flag may escalate it, with evidence, for review at a higher level. Each user may dispute or escalate a given flag only once, so the user who disputed a flag cannot also escalate it. An escalation therefore needs support from someone other than the user who disputed.

Review Levels. Escalated flags move up through these levels: tournament moderators, then the host and co-hosts, then Zovian Moderators. When escalated, a flag that a host or co-host has already decided goes directly to Zovian Moderators. At the host level, only the host or a co-host can decide the flag. A host cannot decide a flag raised against them. Their co-hosts and moderators may, and if no eligible host-level reviewer remains, an escalated flag goes directly to Zovian Moderators.

Flags That Reach Zovian Moderators Without a Dispute. If a flag reaches platform scope without having been disputed, for example because a penalty that needs Zovian approval was requested, the decision may still be disputed once, with new evidence. A different Zovian Moderator then reviews it.

Final Ruling. A ruling by a Zovian Moderator at platform scope is final and cannot be escalated. The only further review is an appeal under Section 8.

When You Can Appeal. If you believe a final ruling resulted from collusion or corruption, you may file an appeal for a full review of the flag by a Zovian employee. You may appeal:

• any flag that resulted in a suspension or ban, whatever its category; and
• a dismissed flag for cheating or smurfing (using a new or secondary account to compete against less-experienced players).

You may not appeal a flag that resulted only in a warning, or an unsportsmanlike conduct flag that did not result in a suspension or ban.

Appeal Fee. An appeal requires payment of the appeal fee shown on the Platform when you file it. The fee covers the cost of a Zovian employee’s review. If the appeal overturns the ruling or reduces the penalty, Zovian will credit your wallet with Tickets equal in value to the appeal fee.

Appeal Decision. Zovian’s decision on an appeal is final for purposes of the Platform.

Malicious Flagging. Submitting flags to target, harass, or disadvantage another user is a violation. Malicious flagging can be reported with the Malicious Flagging category, or found by a reviewer who dismisses a flag as malicious under Section 5.4.

Abuse by Hosts and Moderators. Hosts and moderators who abuse the moderation system, act in bad faith, or collude with others through it will be penalized, and may lose their hosting or moderating privileges.

Experience. Users who take part in moderation may earn Experience, as described in the Terms of Use.

Cheating Reports. A moderator who identifies and reports a participant who is then disqualified for cheating may earn a share of the Points that participant would have earned in the tournament. The reward is paid only if the disqualification stands, and no reward is paid if the flag is dismissed. If Zovian later overturns the disqualification, the moderator may forfeit the reward, and may be penalized if the report appears to have been made in bad faith. Moderation rewards are paid with the tournament’s other payouts, after the score validation period ends, so that there is time for the decision to be disputed and escalated.

Changes to Rewards. Zovian may change or end moderation rewards at any time. A change does not affect a reward already earned.

What Others Can See. Registered users can see open flags, the evidence and discussion attached to them, and public outcomes, such as public warnings. Private warnings and private notes are not shown publicly, but reviewers may see them. If a similar flag is raised later, they may become public and may be considered in deciding that flag.

Privacy. Zovian’s Privacy Policy explains how moderation data is collected, used, shared, and kept.

Legal Claims. Decisions under this Process are final for purposes of the Platform. This Process does not change the dispute resolution terms in Section 19 of the Terms of Use, which govern legal claims between you and Zovian.

Changes. Zovian may update this Process at any time by posting the updated version on the Platform. The version in effect when a flag is submitted governs that flag.

Contact. Questions about this Process can be sent to contact@zovian.com.