The fundamental purpose of the Space Cadets Counter-Strike (SCCS) League is simple: to have fun. With that in mind, the league strives to make the focus of the league the enjoyment of the gamers, as it should be. That being said, there is a certain set of rules to which all teams and participants in the league are expected to adhere in order to protect the league's integrity and all this goal to be realized. The rules that are presented below seek to help control the league and to prevent a lot of the problems that teams typically encounter during match play.

Each team participating in the SCCS will be allocated one representative that will have a voice in rule changes or conflicts that may arise during the season. While there is no intention of changing the league rules during the course of the season, sometimes unforeseen changes to the game or in the way that the game is played necessitate modifications to the rules, and teams participating in the league should have an influence on these changes.

For each match, teams will field six players for two 20-round halves on a given map. Any team that does not have at least six players present at match time will be forced to either play with a smaller team or to forfeit the match. For this reason, teams are encouraged to have at least two backup players on their roster if they are concerned that any player might not be able to attend all matches. Substititions will be permitted during matches, however each team should never have more than six players at any time.

When both teams are present on the server and ready to play, the server admin will poll both team captains to ask if their teams are ready. After this, the admin will set the server to restart in 10 seconds and players will see a message indicating that the match will start in 10 seconds. At this point the match will be live and the scores will count.

The home team (determined randomly and indicated on the schedule) will be the defending team (CT on bomb maps, T on hostage maps) for the first half which will be played on the visiting team's server: the teams and servers will be reversed for the second half. Teams will be allowed a ten minute break in between halves to allow for roster changes, but are asked to please be considerate in not interrupting the flow of the match with a longer break than this. The winner for the match will be determined by the highest total number of rounds won for the two halves combined.

The default day for matches will be ______ (to be announced) and will be held at 8:30pm EST (7:30pm CST). If both teams can agree on playing at an earlier date or time, this is perfectly acceptable, and team captains should please contact a league admin to verify the time change in order to help prevent problems or confusion.

For each match, teams are expected to be able to provide a game server (must be hosted on a T1 connection or better) that can be played on for half of the match. If a team cannot schedule for a server on its own, the team captain should make contact with a league admin in order to attempt to arrange for a server to be used. While SCCS makes no guarantees that it will be able to provide servers for all teams, it will put forth its best effort in ensuring that all teams have a place to play. The SCCS server config (available on the Space Cadets Files page) must be executed for all matches.

There are no formal restrictions for packet loss/choke, though league participants are asked to be considerate of potential connection problems and to use their good judgement in determining server playability. Furthermore, teams should test their connections to their opponents' server prior to match time in order to anticipate any potential connection problems that may arise at match time and to make alternative arrangements. If you foresee connection problems or think that an SCCS admin would deem a server unplayable due to abnormal packet loss or lag, please attempt to resolve this situation with the opposing team, or contact an SCCS admin to arrange for alternate arrangements if you can't resolve these difficulties.

Screenshots, demos, and/or PunkBuster will not be required of teams participating in SCCS. The league expects that as the players and teams participating in the league are trustworthy and expected to act in such a fashion that these sorts of precautions are superfluous and not consistent with the philosophy of the league. Any team that is caught cheating or exploiting a map bug (such as a clipping bug or a hole in the map), however, will be expelled from the Space Cadets Gaming Community without further discussion: disrespect for the league's integrity will not be tolerated in any situation. If any team or player suspects foul play during a match, they should contact an SCCS official as quickly as possible and provide as much evidence as they can to substantiate their claim (such as demos or screenshots); a team may also request that an official observe their match, and these requests will be granted when they can be. Any claims of cheating that are not substantiated will immediately be disregarded, and this behavior is heavily frowned upon.

Some league matches may be chosen to have an observer to watch portions of the match, make sure that the match runs smoothly, and to take notice of any suspicious activity. Observers will all wear the [SC] tag, and will join one team and immediately kill themselves at the start of each round so that they may chasecam the players on that team. Observers will not be allowed to join terrorist teams on de maps so that they may not accidentally start the round with the bomb. Teams should be aware of the observer policy and not be surprised if one enters their match or joins their team.

Finally, all league participants are asked to remember to act professionally at all times. While the use of messagemode1 is not specifically prohibited, if a team requests that messagemode1 not be used except for match-related issues, all players on both teams should respect this request. Excessive trash-talking or insults to members of another clan, failure to show up on time or promptly contact another team in order to schedule a match, and generally obnoxious play during a league match that negatively impact the participants' ability to have fun are all considered unsportsmanlike behavior. Players or teams that repeatedly behave in such a fashion will be removed from the Space Cadets Gaming Community.