In March, we shared new community competition guidelines for League of Legends in North America. More recently we updated our policies for [amateur competition][1]. Today, we’re focusing on scholastic competition.
We’ve been listening to feedback from players, organizers, faculty, and administrators to better understand how college and high school communities participate in League of Legends. We’ll share what we’ve heard along with the updates we’ve made, and first we’ll share our goals for the future of scholastic League of Legends.
**A Generational Sport**
We aspire to make League of Legends an inclusive, generational college and high school sport in North America. To achieve this, we balance competitive integrity, the needs of today’s student players, and sustainable growth for the sport’s future. We believe these are still the early days for League of Legends as a scholastic sport. Success means laying the foundation that will allow the next generation of students to be introduced to competitive gaming, learn in a safe environment, develop interpersonal skills as a teammate, and be recognized for achievement.
**Background on Community Guidelines**
In 2011, Riot’s “Legal Jibber Jabber” guidelines were written to allow individual content creators to use our IP for non-commercial projects. Today, we realize that the breadth of competitive, social, and educational communities that have grown around League of Legends in college and high school requires a fresh look. When Riot began updating the community guidelines late last year, we had an opportunity to share clearer, more consistent, and more expansive guidelines for scholastic communities.
**Single-School Competition**
We’ve heard from the community that the guidelines released in March were not clear for several popular forms of single-school competition, including intramurals and educational uses. We did not intend to limit these formats, so we’ve removed these restrictions. This means the following formats are now covered by our general community guidelines:
- Intramurals - A growing number of schools are adding esports to their
intramurals programs alongside traditional sports. For these
single-school formats, we’ve removed restrictions on the number of
teams, duration, and competition name.
- Educational Uses - Teachers creatively use League of Legends as a
social and educational tool, and we’ll continue to support these
efforts. The scholastic competition restrictions will not apply to
single single-school curricula.
[1]: https://watch.lolesports.com/article/na-lol-community-guidelines-update/blt70fe64b6846bb7d0
**Multi-School Competition**
For multi-school competition, we’ve heard from colleges and high schools that want to host tournaments to showcase their programs against top competition. In March we expanded our guidelines to include the invitational format, covering competitions with up to 16 schools and a duration of up to two weeks. This matches the informal guidance we’ve been sharing with schools for the last few years.
For long-form, multi-school competitions, we’ll continue to operate these programs either directly or alongside Riot partners. We believe the highest levels of large-scale competition require a level of support that can only be achieved through close collaboration between scholastic communities, the game publisher, and partners with scholastic expertise. This approach allows for:
- Ensuring a quality experience that is worth students’ time and
resources
- Collaborating with scholastic governance experts like athletic
conferences and state associations
- Unlocking all in-game champions for participants
- Using technology platforms built or customized for scholastic
competition
- Investigating potential rules violations and issuing competitive
rulings
- Maintaining a high quality bar for events like the College
Championship
- Responsibly managing school, partner, and Riot intellectual property
**The Fine Print - Updated Guidelines for College and High School Competition**
*NEW*
The following additional guidelines apply ONLY to competitions intended explicitly for college and/or high school student audiences. All other guidelines in this document still apply, including, but not limited to, competition fees, prize money, and IP usage
**1. Multi School Competitions**
A multi school competition is defined as a competition involving teams from more than one school.
1. Competitions must start and finish within 14 days.
2. No more than 16 schools may participate in a given Competition. Note: There is no participation limit to the number of teams from those 16 schools.
3. Competitions may not be sponsored or sanctioned by an esports
governing body.
4. Competition name must include the word “Invitational”
5. Competition name cannot include the words: Varsity, Season,
Championship, Post-Season, League, or Playoffs.
**2. Use of Official School Marks**
1. Organizers must solicit any rights to use school, conference, or
association trademarks, logos, and brands directly from those
institutions.
*OLD*
**College and High School Competitions**
The following additional guidelines apply to Competitions intended explicitly for college and/or high school student audiences. All other Guidelines in this document still apply, including, but not limited to, competition fees, prize money, and IP usage.
**1. Scope**
1. Competitions must start and finish within 14 days.
2. No more than 16 schools may participate in a given Competition
3. Competitions may not be sponsored or sanctioned by an esports
governing body.
**2. Event Title & Branding**
1. Competitions including more than 1 school must include
"Invitational" in the event name.
2. Competitions including only teams from 1 school must include
“Intramural” in the event name.
3. The name of your event cannot use the following words: Varsity,
Season, Championship, Post-Season, League, or Playoffs.
**3. Use of Official School Marks**
1. Organizers must solicit any rights to use school, conference, or
association trademarks, logos, and brands directly from those
institutions.
The full guidelines, including these changes, [can be found here][1].
[1]: https://developer.riotgames.com/policies/na-tournaments
