While simulation games can be an extremely competitive endeavor, it is important to remember that enjoyment of the game is predicated on a certain level of sportsmanship displayed by the participants. Occasionally, some team owners intentionally or unknowingly cross the lines. In addition, participants in WhatIfSports games acknowledge the fact that it is technically not feasible to ensure that each username is controlled by a unique person.

More than one team in the same league

One person cannot control more than one team in the same league unless it is a private or theme league (with the exception of Hardball Dynasty where all worlds -- public or private -- do not permit the same owner controlling multiple franchises). If two or more teams in the same league are under the same account, they must be controlled by different people sharing that account, but not sharing the teams. Violation of this will lead to cancellation of the teams and expulsion from the game.

If an owner finds himself in this situation due to accident, he should submit a support ticket and request to have one of the teams transferred to a new league.

Collusive transactions

Collusion includes any act that supports bad, deceitful or illegal behavior agreed upon by two or more users. Here are a few examples:

• Trades that clearly benefit one side.
• Dropping/waiving a player so that another team may pick him up.
• Using 1 team to scout for another team.
• Making agreements with other users to go or not go after specific players with the intent of avoiding recruiting/negotiation battles.
• Coaching 2 or more teams in the same world using multiple user IDs within the same conference or regional area of the country is not allowed as it presents opportunities for collusive behavior. All such situations brought to our attention will be investigated and violations of this policy will result in the removal or relocation of one or all of the IDs.
• Intentionally throwing a game to ensure another team improves its chances for a post-season bid.
• Intentionally signing questionable players that benefit the former club (i.e. Type-A free-agents in Hardball Dynasty.)
• Arranging a trade with another franchise so the other franchise can sign a free-agent resulting in the other franchise receiving compensation picks.

Any owner caught colluding for the first time will receive a sitemail and email from us regarding the action. Future violations will result in appropriate consequences. This may include the stripping of all offending teams controlled by the owner(s).

Impeding other owners

Certain transactions made solely to impede other owners are not allowed. In particular, protesting a trade merely to help someone else is strictly prohibited.

Roster Dumping

Dumping an entire roster to the waiver wire directly undermines the competitiveness of the league and reduces league strength. If you choose to discontinue play please make your roster as competitive as possible and refrain from accessing the team or league. Owners found to have dumped their roster will be warned and/or kicked out of the game completely.

Failure to Field a Competitive Team

In our dynasty games, it's sometimes possible to sacrifice the current season for a better chance in future seasons. That's an accepted strategy both in the real world and on our site.

For the balance and enjoyment of the world and its participants, however, it is not permitted to intentionally field an overly atrocious team when a much better team could have been assembled at the same cost and time commitment. For instance, it's no more difficult to field a healthy team in Hardball Dynasty that can win 50 games than it is to field a team that can win 30 games.

In order for a user to be stripped of his/her Hardball Dynasty franchise during a season, one of the three following conditions MUST be met:

1. Major League team winning percentage of less than .250 for at least 80 games of the regular season
2. Using a starting pitcher at 50% or below fatigue for 10 or more Major League games in a row
3. First time Hardball Dynasty user not logging in to his franchise's world for at least 6 days prior to the start of Spring Training.

We will not proactively hunt for these infractions. Instead, we investigate when any owner from a public world or the commissioner from a private world brings it to our attention via a customer support ticket.

At that time, we will review the situation. If it's clear the owner is tanking or has abandoned his team, the franchise will be stripped and assigned to the replacement owner. The replacement owner must be specified by the user that has submitted the ticket. If we do not believe the owner is intentionally tanking, he will maintain his team. At that time, we may send a warning sitemail and email detailing the situation.

With regards to private worlds, a commissioner may prevent an owner from entering at the start of a season via the password system. If it's a returning owner, the commish must request the removal via customer support ticket and it must include the rationale for removal and the rationale must be acceptable (we evaluate). A ticket must be submitted before the end of a season and the same ticket must be re-opened after the world rolls over if the owner tries to return to the world.

Should a private world commish abuse his power, we will work with the rest of the world owners to determine if he/she should be removed from the role. A 10-user vote is considered the baseline for removal.

These Fair Play Guidelines are considered the initial warning, so no additional warning is necessary to have a franchise stripped. And remember, an owner can be stripped of a team for other Terms of Service or Fairplay Guideline infractions. This section just pertains to failing to field a competitive team.

Cheating

All owners must play by the rules and requirements set forth by each game on our site. If an owner discovers a loophole, a way to cheat, or any other method of giving himself an unfair advantage, WhatIfSports reserves the right to take the necessary steps to correct the issue at any time without prior notification. Refunds or roster changes will not be given to any owner in this situation.

Owner interaction

Owners should always be polite and gracious when dealing with one another. Threats and obscenities are not only against the Rules, they are illegal in many jurisdictions. Owners that are found to have sent threatening sitemail to another owner will be warned and/or kicked out of the game completely. This extends to Team Names and Owners Forum posts as well.

Offensive posts

Any posts of a derogatory nature are strictly prohibited, whether it is in a Chat room (playing LIVE) or on a League's Bulletin Board. This includes personal attacks and sexist or racist remarks. There will be a zero tolerance level - if someone in your league is violating this policy, please contact us at commissioner@whatifsports.com

Consequences

At the sole discretion of WhatifSports, any of the above violations may result in sanctions ranging from a warning to an immediate closure of a user's account.

Remember - the game is for fun! Creating confrontation in your league inevitably leads to a worse time for all involved. Play hard, but play fair!