Pretty much this.

The foundation of any organization/league is fundamentally always going to be the lower divisions because they make up the majority of the teams/players in the league. The question that we should all be asking when growing the scene is not only to discuss how to support the top level but also how to grow and sustain the entry-level divisions (decreasing the barriers of entry to even play competitively in the first place). The latter is an area that needs to be improved upon if we want to have the scene be more accessible for new players.

In RGL PUGs: Technical Alpha (12/19/2020), we announced details about the progress of a pickup game site under the RGL.gg umbrella. An independent group offered to work on this for us; however, the development has been arduous and long. We also understand that communication regarding the status of the project did not happen, and the community was ultimately left wondering where the project was.

Despite these setbacks, RGL still wants to release a PUG site under its umbrella and provide a service to the community that it initially announced back in 2020. This is why we are opting to bring a new option to the table under RGL PUGs, worked on by RGL’s existing and new developers and staff. As RGL is under new management with Taylor, we are excited to share more news about the project as soon as we can. For now, we would like to share the following details:

• RGL will be switching to a new development team for the PUG site with DolphiN as a developer head and with exa and arcadia helping out with project management.
  
• Progress on this site has already been going underway for the past several months, and we plan to provide full communication regarding the status of the project regularly (will be included in the monthly RGL articles).

FAQ:

Q: What does this mean for the "old" PUG site announced back in 2020?:
A: The old PUG site will still be in development with Nicell as a developer and b4nny staying as the project manager. This means the site will no longer be under the RGL umbrella. The original project is still being worked on, and similarly to other PUG platforms, RGL will feature them once it is completed.

Q: Why is RGL making a new PUG site instead of working on the already existing PUG site infrastructure that was announced in 2020?
A: RGL wants to offer the community the best experience we can, and we are dedicating resources to improving our existing PUG experience. However, we are open to working with other PUG services as partners as well. We will post major developer milestones on our RGL socials, such as our Twitter.

Q: How is this new PUG site going to be different from the old PUG site?
A: RGL has onboarded a new development team with several developers that will be actively working on the site. We will provide regular communication to the community about updates to the project and tests that we plan to run. As this PUG site is under the RGL platform, everything will be deeply integrated with the existing RGL platforms (e.g. the RGL site and Discord) and will utilize the RGL API and database (to utilize data regarding a player's RGL team history, division, bans, and more). Importantly, this cross-platform integration will allow for stats to be on RGL profiles and more.

Q: What is the timeline for this?
A: Public alpha for players to play on by Q1 2023.

Q: Can we see what the early alpha build looks like?
A:

https://media.discordapp.net/attachments/1040092240514666579/1055366516578730044/image.png?width=810&height=492

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Day 0 - RGL Advent Calendar

A reminder that the new designs are live. Come check it out at the RGL merch shop if you are interested.

https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/379447936062455820/1051659641009999973/mocha1.jpg

https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/379447936062455820/1051659640653500446/mocha2.jpg

https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/379447936062455820/1051659640292773908/jay.png

Moving forward, ownership of RGL will be transferred from sigafoo to Taylor. Sigafoo has the following statement regarding his decision and reflection on the league thus far:

Taylor has the following to say regarding his experiences with RGL and competitive TF2 and his new role as owner of the league:

We would like to formally thank everyone for being a part of our organization so far. We are excited about this next chapter of RGL and hope to continually push to make the league better for everyone. Thanks!

See original article here.

For clarification, the only added fees for this season are the "LAN Sustainability Support". All of this goes directly to help fund LANs.

It is a sustainability fund to make it sustainable for all parties involved. This allows us to increase the prize pool for the LAN season and allow players attending to at least break even, cover some of the costs for our staff to directly come to the venue and help out, and most importantly -- cover the costs for the venue rental and any production equipment.

We want to continue hosting a LAN(s) each year, and the funds allow the league to have the full resources to do so.

For RGL LAN, we ended up informing the teams to only pause once the next round started to deal with the issue of spoilers for the last push. Though I think a plug-in that delay tac pauses would be neat.

Update #5

Specator Passes

https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/318475498143350796/1002024710869106708/pass.png

Planning to attend the RGL 2022 LAN August 6-7 at Helix eSports Foxborough, MA? Weekend Specator Passes are now available for purchase online for $20!
While you're at it, grab some merch and choose venue pick-up to avoid shipping costs!

LAN Rules

LAN Rules

The purpose of this document is to detail what is expected of players at any RGL in-person LAN event. The rules will be enforced by administrator discretion, and these rules serve as a guideline for how these decisions are made. We strive to have a fair and balanced ruleset, so note these rules are subject to change.

Seating Chart

LAN Seating Chart

The document above explains how the seating chart for players and spectators will be organized.

https://media.discordapp.net/attachments/776052661454635008/1003428237889769482/image3.png?width=679&height=676

The document above explains how the seating chart for players and spectators will be organized.

There will be a dedicated seating area for spectators of the LAN highlighted in brown.

For players, the LAN will consist of four areas

On the stage: Section A (Red) Section B (Yellow)
Lower Bowl: Section C (Green) Section D (Blue)

Quick PSA

If you plan on attending the Helix LAN, we suggest players and spectators get hotels and flights as soon as possible.

As the New England Patriots training camp is starting next week, this will likely will cause hotel rates to go up. Flights will get more expensive as the dates go by as well.

Draft Cup Conclusion

Thanks to all the players for participating in the event and everyone who came out to support the fundraiser.

We managed to raise $1,141.48 so far in the cup! Proceeds will go to help cover the expenses of the teams attending the LAN, as well as the production team.

If you are interested in still supporting the LAN, we have a shop here where you can buy LAN merchandise or donate. "Assist Points" are points that can be redeemed and unlocked for each tier in the image below. We are now currently at 1242 assists!

https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/776052661454635008/1000840252405067806/unknown.png

Thanks to all the players for participating in the event, as well as everyone that came out to support the fundraiser.

We managed to raise $1,141.48 so far in total! Proceeds will go to help cover the expenses of the teams attending the LAN, as well as the production team.

If you are interested in still supporting the LAN, we have a shop here where you can buy LAN merchandise or donate. "Assist Points" are points that can be redeemed and unlocked for each tier in the image below.

https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/776052661454635008/1000192979190939668/unknown.png

The draft will be starting in about 15 minutes.

Viewers have a steak in this cup as well, having the ability to donate to influence the game. All funds raised will go towards the LAN fundraiser, which helps cover any extra costs incurred by both players and production.

From the teespring page:

It seems to be technically both, depending on the type, quantity, number of colors on the shirt, etc. Everything but the "Overgrown Rocket Launcher" merch design are likely to be DTG since it only has 3 colors, whereas the others have 5 or more colors.

Yes, there will be merch in person. People can also choose pickup as an option during check-out instead of shopping if they want to reserve merch items from shopify (not teespring).

https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/473907254614294538/998081496566992956/unknown.png

Image Credits (SFM - Redpanda, Editing - RaosCometh)

RGL Disrupt-n-Draft Cup

The Disrupt-n-Draft cup is a one-day cup featuring the top 4 Invite teams, showing a quick preview of the talent going to the inaugural RGL LAN! Viewers have a stake in this cup as well, having the ability to donate to influence the game. All proceeds will go towards the LAN fundraiser, which helps cover any extra costs incurred by both players and production.

Stream Information

Watch the cup at twitch.tv/rglgg at 8pm EST on Thursday, July 21st, 2022!

Player Information

Top 4 teams will be represented by the following captains

1. Froyotech: B4nny
2. Witness Gaming: Ash
3. Like A G6: Caps
4. The ANGY! Brothers: Kev

Picking will be done in the following order:
4, 3, 2, 1, 1, 2, 3, 4, 4, 3, 2, 1, 1, 2, 3, 4, 4, 3, 2, 1

We’ll do a double elimination bracket, as seen here: https://challonge.com/ve993za6

Total of 6 matches, 1 map per match except for GFs which is a best of 3. The map pool will be the current Season 9 RGL map pool. Matches will be played with a modified RGL ruleset, where there will be 30-minute maps with a first-to-five format and a 5-minute round timer.

Donation incentives

DONATE TO INFLUENCE THE GAME!

$1: Play a sound bite on stream
$10: Insta-kill any player (doubles to $20 for the next 5 minutes on that player after it’s initially used)
$10: Random effect on any specific player for 10 seconds
$15: Give a player godmode for 10 seconds
$15: Give a player tiny mann for 10 seconds
$15: give a player uncontrollable jumping for 10 seconds
$15: low gravity on a specific player
$20: grant a player homing projectiles (or increased damage) for 10 seconds (doubles to $40 for next 3 minutes after used)
$20: Give a team crits for 10 seconds
$20: give a player bad sauce for 25 seconds
$30: Force a team into melee mode for 30 seconds!
$50: Spawn a tank on behalf of the team near an enemy player/location of your choosing
$100: Spawn dolphin with a random effect for 3 lives!

Stretch Goals (Cumulative funds raised):
$500 - Auto-balance the teams for the current match! (Teams with captains determine team wins)
$666 - Next Map Halloween Map (Chat vote)

Donations available during the regular fundraiser will also be available.

https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/776052661454635008/998379096599969972/unknown.png

https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/776052661454635008/998379149716623451/unknown.png

LAN Merch

Store

To help fund the LAN, we are launching new t-shirt designs, along with NEW exclusive stickers and pins! Each merch item will be worth a certain number of ‘assists’, which will be used to track donor perks, such as signed merch, posters, and more! There will also be exciting community stretch goals, including a ghost pepper challenge! Check lan.rgl.gg/shop for more info!

lan.rgl.gg

For details regarding the RGL LAN, we have created a splash page with venue information, dates, schedules, and more. More details will be updated as we head towards the start of the event.

lan.rgl.gg for more information about the event.
RGL Discord for LAN-related discussions, announcements, and travel and lodging coordination.
LAN Merch to help support/fund the LAN event.

This article will be a quick update to communicate recent and new developments as we head closer to organizing a LAN for RGL Invite 6s Season 9 Playoffs in 2022.

https://media.discordapp.net/attachments/776052661454635008/1000844363770892318/rgl_lan_draft1a.png?width=789&height=676

Location

23 Patriot Pl, Foxborough, MA 02035
Patriot's Place Website

Helix eSports Patriots Place is a great location with many shopping stores, dining places, and activities around the venue which can be viewed in the link above. The venue will also have bleachers for spectators, as well as the main stage for a better viewing experience.

Confirmed Dates and Structure of Tournament

The RGL LAN will be scheduled to occur on the weekend of August 6th to August 7th (Saturday and Sunday). This will be three weeks after the regular season to allow the playoff teams to prepare by booking flights and hotels. As it is being held on a weekend, it will be a two-day event. Day 1 will cover the first round and semifinals of playoffs. Day 2 will cover the lower bracket finals and grand finals.

https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/776052661454635008/995482244166717470/unknown.png

(Note: Schedule might have minor changes prior to the start of LAN)

Fundraiser and LAN Merch!

To help fund the LAN, we are launching new t-shirt designs, along with NEW exclusive stickers and pins! Each merch item will be worth a certain number of ‘assists’, which will be used to track donor perks, such as signed merch, posters, and more! There will also be exciting community stretch goals, including a ghost pepper challenge! Check lan.rgl.gg/shop for more info!

Spectator Passes

Spectator passes will be sold at $20.00 at the venue and will be good for the weekend.

PC and Peripherals

32 Gaming PCs with monitors (headset, mouse, keyboard, and mouse pad provided to every setup as needed). Players are encouraged to bring their own peripherals. Players will be able to import a USB Flash Drive into the PC for custom configs and UI.

Cost

The cost of entry for Invite playoff teams will be free, including access to PCs during the entire two-day tournament. Spectator passes will be $20 for everyone else.

Prize Pool Breakdown

1. $1620
2. $1500
3. $1400
4. $1300

Payouts for the top 4 playoff Invite teams have been adjusted for this LAN season to help cover the team's expenses to attend LAN.

Updates for the upcoming RGL LAN will be moved to here - https://www.teamfortress.tv/61812/rgl-s9-lan-at-patriots-place-august-6-7-2022

Not sure if this is possible, but I would like my alias changed from exa_ --> exa

Thanks in advance.