Participant Conduct Regulation
"It is expected that every participant and driver (entrant) at any event shall conduct themselves according to the highest standards of behavior and sportsmanship, particularly in their relationship with other drivers and Officials, and in a manner that shall not be detrimental to the reputation of Race2Play. Failure to do so may result in harsh penalties"
Once again Race2Play was forced into removing a member of this community because he could not play by this one simple rule. He was repeatedly warned that his conduct was out of bounds and what would happen if he continued, yet he chose to continue with full knowledge of his violation and the repercussions.
We regret having to take such actions, but we also realize it is more important to have a civilized community than one full of bickering and immature behavior. We know that our supporting members want these chronic rule violators removed and a peaceful community to enjoy sim-racing. We will continue to give you such a place at Race2Play.
Thank you all for your support on this manner. Now back to the racing!
Stewards Report for the period ending June 29, 2012:
Of all submitted protests for the period being reported only a single protest was unable to be reviewed due to improper filing or missing information. (The number of invalid protests have declined for the 3nd term in a row.) Of all the valid protests, 58% were found to be a 'violation' of the policy protested, and remaining were found to be a 'non-violation' (38%) or a simple 'racing incident' (5%).
Of the protests upheld in 'violation', 76% of the violators received a penalty affecting their race finishing position, mostly due to repeated failures. Other actions included official warnings for first-time offenses or minor infractions in which a penalty was not required to correct the member's behavior.
The Punting policy was the most cited policy (30% of all protests). Of these, 44% were found to be 'in violation' and 25% of the violators received a penalty due to repeat failures to comply. The Off-Course Excursions policy was the next most commonly cited (19%) and resulted in a 'violation' 42% of the time.
References: Race2Play Rules & Regulations | Procedure to file a protest | 'What is a protest' discussion | Discuss our Codes and Regulations
The occasion of accidental on-track incidents is an everyday part of motorsports and is addressed almost exclusively via the post-race protest procedure. However, willful violations, particularly those violations of the Participant Conduct policies, are often handled on the spot by the live Steward. These include arguing, accusing, harassing use of headlamps and horns and other forms of unsportsmanlike conduct.
In total, 100% of all live actions resulted in some form of consequence, which ranged from race penalties (44%) to removal from the event (11%) to suspensions from the service (39%) to removal from Race2Play entirely (0%) for refusal to follow Race2Play's codes of conduct.
Participant Conduct - Expectations:
"It is expected that every participant... shall conduct themselves according to the highest standards of behavior and sportsmanship... Failure to do so may result in harsh penalties"
References: The role of a Race Steward | Participant Conduct Regulation
Stewards Report for the period ending March 31, 2012:
Of all submitted protests for the period being reported, 4% were unable to be reviewed due to improper filing or missing information. (Again, this number has been cut in half for the 2nd term in a row.) Of the remaining valid protests, 53% were found to be a 'violation' of the policy protested, and remaining were found to be a 'non-violation' (41%) or a simple 'racing incident' (6%).
Of the protests upheld in 'violation', 81% of the violators received a penalty affecting their race finishing position, mostly due to repeated failures. Other actions included official warnings for first-time offenses or minor infractions in which a penalty was not required to correct the member's behavior.
Off-Course Excursions was the most cited policy (41% of all protests). Of these, 100% were found to be 'in violation' and 92% of the violators received a penalty due to repeat failures to comply. The Punting policy was the next most commonly cited (35%) and resulted in a 'violation' 30% of the time.
References: Race2Play Rules & Regulations | Procedure to file a protest | 'What is a protest' discussion
The occasion of accidental on-track incidents is an everyday part of motorsports and is addressed almost exclusively via the post-race protest procedure. However, willful violations, particularly those violations of the Participant Conduct policies, are often handled on the spot by the live Steward. These include arguing, accusing, harassing use of headlamps and horns and other forms of unsportsmanlike conduct.
In total, 100% of all live actions resulted in some form of consequence, which ranged from race penalties (38%) to removal from the event (18%) to suspensions from the service (29%) to removal from Race2Play entirely (13%) for refusal to follow Race2Play's codes of conduct.
Participant Conduct - Expectations:
"It is expected that every participant... shall conduct themselves according to the highest standards of behavior and sportsmanship... Failure to do so may result in harsh penalties"
References: The role of a Race Steward | Participant Conduct Regulation
Stewards Report for the period ending December 31, 2011:
Of all submitted protests for the period being reported, 9% were unable to be reviewed due to improper filing or missing information. (Well done everyone: This rate has been cut in half.) Of the remaining valid protests, 51% were found to be a 'violation' of the policy protested, and remaining were found to be a 'non-violation' (39%) or a simple 'racing incident' (10%).
Of the protests upheld in 'violation', 42% of the violators received a penalty affecting their race finishing position, mostly due to repeated failures. Other actions included official warnings for first-time offenses or minor infractions in which a penalty was not required to correct the member's behavior.
Punting was once again the most cited policy (74% of all protests). Of these, 100% were found to be 'in violation' and 36% of the violators received a penalty due to repeat failures to comply. The Counter-course driving policy was the next most commonly cited (11%) and resulted in a 'violation' 50% of the time.
A total of 55 driver records were updated during this reporting period.
References: Race2Play Rules & Regulations | Procedure to file a protest | 'What is a protest' discussion
The occasion of accidental on-track incidents is an everyday part of motorsports, it is addressed almost exclusively via the post-race protest procedure. However, willful violations, particularly those violations of the Participant Conduct policies, are often handled on the spot by the live Steward. These include arguing, accusing, harassing use of headlamps and horns and other forms of unsportsmanlike conduct.
In total, 100% of all live actions resulted in some form of consequence, which ranged from race penalties (33%) to removal from the event (11%) to suspensions from the service (44%) to removal from Race2Play entirely (11%). Two drivers were removed from the Race2Play service all together for refusal to follow Race2Play's codes of conduct.
Participant Conduct - Expectations:
"It is expected that every participant... shall conduct themselves according to the highest standards of behavior and sportsmanship... Failure to do so may result in harsh penalties"
References: The role of a Race Steward | Participant Conduct Regulation
Stewards Report for the period ending September 30, 2011:
Of all submitted protests for the period being reported, 19% were unable to be reviewed due to improper filing or missing information. Of the remaining valid protests, 44% were found to be a 'violation' of the policy protested. The remaining were found to be a 'non-violation' or a simple 'racing incident'.
Of the protests upheld in 'violation', 64% of the violators received a penalty affecting their race finishing position, mostly due to repeated failures. Two drivers were removed from the Race2Play service altogether for continued refusal to follow Race2Play's policies pertaining to on-track actions. Other protest-related actions included official warnings for first-time offenses or minor infractions in which a penalty was not required to correct the member's behavior.
The Punting policy was once again the most cited policy (40% of all protests). Of these, 47% were found to be 'in violation' and 56% of the violators received a penalty due to repeat failures to comply. The Off-course excursions policy was the next most commonly cited (26%) and resulted in a 'violation' 50% of the time. 85% of these violators received a 1 lap penalty or greater.
A total of 84 driver records were updated during this reporting period.
References: Race2Play Rules & Regulations | Procedure to file a protest | 'What is a protest' discussion
The occasion of accidental on-track incidents is an everyday part of motorsports, it is addressed almost exclusively via the post-race protest procedure. However, willful violations, particularly those violations of the Participant Conduct policies, are often handled on the spot by the live Steward. These include arguing, accusing, harassing use of headlamps and horns and other forms of unsportsmanlike conduct.
In total, 100% of all live actions resulted in some form of consequence, which ranged from in-race penalties (42%) to removal from the event (24%) to suspensions from the service (18%) to removal from Race2Play entirely (15%). Five drivers were removed from the Race2Play service for refusal to follow Race2Play's codes of conduct.
Participant Conduct - Expectations
"It is expected that every participant... shall conduct themselves according to the highest standards of behavior and sportsmanship... Failure to do so may result in harsh penalties"
References: The role of a Race Steward | Participant Conduct Regulation
Race2Play will begin to publish 'Steward Reports' on a semi-regular basis. These reports will give generalized data from Steward actions on the protests filed by our members.
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Steward's report for the period ending July 31, 2011:
Throughout the period being reported, numerous protests were received for official review. Of all submitted protests, 17% were unable to be reviewed due to improper filing or missing information from the protester. Of the valid protests, 58% were found to be a 'violation' of the policy protested, leaving 42% to be found either a 'non-violation' or a 'racing incident'.
Of the protests upheld in 'violation', 36% of the violators received a penalty that affected their race finishing position, mostly due to repeated failures to comply, and two drivers were suspended for gross offenses. Other actions included official warnings for first-time offenses or minor infractions, in which a penalty was not required to correct the member's behavior.
The Punting policy was the most cited (42% of all protests). Of these, 75% were found to be in 'violation' with 50% warranting a penalty due to repeated misjudgements. The General Passing policy was the next most commonly cited.
A total of 46 driver records were updated during this period.
References:
Race2Play Rules & Regulations
Procedure to file a protest
'What is a protest' discussion
What is a protest?
I'll start by telling what it's not: It's NOT a magic carpet on which we can ride back in time and give you back your race. And it's certainly NOT a writ asserting what you think is a god-given right to vengeance and punishment.
Not every transgression requires a penalty in response. There is a distinction between "mistakes" and "violations". Would you want to race in an environment where you are crapped upon for your every unintentioned mistake, penalized without any thought for context and circumstance and without the opportunity to recover? No. Context and circumstance matter.
Was the incident a result of wreckless disregard, or was it just a mistake? Does the driver have a history? What was the net result? Did the driver gain an unfair advantage in the doing? Did he repeat it, or did he catch the error and learn from it? If he gained a position, did he move to give it back? These are all context and circumstance, and help guide our response. Not everything warrants a negative penalty.
Responses run the gamut, from making a note in the driver's file and coaching him to do better, to deducting laps and positions, to suspensions and outright bans. And we enjoy none of it. We hand out a penalty, and one of our members goes sour. We don't hand out a penalty, and another member goes sour.
After four years and 7,000 events we have "watch files" on hundreds of drivers. It consumes our time and resources, and is literally a thankless job whichever way goes the response. But we do it nonetheless because it helps us manage the driver pool.
What is a protest? It's a notification. "Hey, look at this incident." It may or may not be something. The results may need a correction. The driver may need to receive some coaching or a warning, a penalty or not, or may need to be watched. We thank you for bringing this to our attention.
Know that Race2Play is not alone in taking this approach to managing a large racing community. iRacing operates on virtually identical principles.
iRacing president Tony Gardner presented a column addressing this very issue after hearing yet another refrain of the age-old song, "... nobody at iRacing really does anything about it!" Gardner wrote:
"Ultimately we may serve several different roles depending on the protest including moderator, coach, councilor, disciplinarian, race instructor and racing official.
"... it is true we are not as heavy-handed as some people might like. Why is that? Well first of all, we are in the service business and we try to provide good service and treat everyone fairly and with respect. That means, every member is extremely valuable to us and we don’t start banning people unless we find crystal clear malicious intent on their part or without first trying to get a good understanding of the problem ... Why was the person wrecking others? Can they learn from their mistakes? Should they be provided the opportunity to learn from their driving mistakes? Was the member simply just driving over their head? Was it one wreck or several? What was the member’s intent? What was the nature and circumstances of the wreck?"
It is not a simple yes/no, on/off switch. Context and circumstances.
"... We have learned that more often than not, the member just needs some simple coaching, instruction or reminders and then they are fine. Other times a friendly warning or even a stern warning does the trick."
Gardner went on to state 70% of protest resolutions fell into this last category, 17% resulted in no action whatsoever, and only 12% received a tangible penalty of some sort. (For you math sticklers, the "lost" 1% is attributed to the fractions I rounded off.)
Race2Play and iRacing are the only two organizations worldwide conducting thousands of sim racing events annually, and both arrived at nearly identical ideologies independent of each other through their experiences. It's the best system we have for managing a community of drivers that wants to be treated with decency and respect.
I hear someone warming up a chorus of the old saw, "... nobody at Race2Play really does anything about it!" Well, here in recent weeks more than 50 watch files have been updated to document incidents and the actions that followed, which ran the gamut from warnings to deductions to suspensions from the service.
Mistakes happen in the heat of competition. They happen at every level of the sport, even at the highest levels of the professional ranks. They're going to happen here, too. We can't go back in time and undo them ... So if you can't enjoy the good racing you do put in without the guarantee of vengeance and punishment over every mistake, you're not going to enjoy it here because that's not what Race2Play is about.
Race to play, gentlemen.
- Todd.
When we realigned the punt rule to match every other reg in the book, as it was during the first two years of Race2Play, it was to solve numerous issues created by the failed experiment that was the one-size-fits-all-no-excuses-self-policing drivethru.
No more mindless debates on what is and is not a punt, on seeking exceptions and loopholes and technicalities to what was supposed to be a simple rule. No more hard feelings over serving what many felt were undeserved penalties because of the rule's blind, immovable nature (or ignoring it for that very reason). No more easy drivethrus for chronic offenders who really should be DQ'd.
The Steward now has the leeway to assess things with intelligence according to each circumstance, same as it's done in the real world of racing.
We can tell you to an absolute statistical certainty that the drivethru punt rule had not one iota of effect on the rate of punts (compared to the year before). We also can tell you the "new" old rule hasn't changed the rate of punts either (actually, it has gone down minutely, but three months isn't the same statistical sample as the year it's being compared against).
These are the facts from thousands of events' worth of data. So if it was YOU who got punted this season, don't take that and kid yourself into thinking now some rule is at fault or some new trend has suddenly materialized after more than 4,500 races. It hasn't.
All the drivethru rule accomplished was to create the aforementioned problems that didn't exist prior. That was a step backward. Correcting it was a step forward.
So why does anyone lament the drivethru rule? I believe the *perception* of the rule and nothing more, because the reality of it isn't all that. The perception of it was great for the select drivers who adhered to it, and I applaud you guys, but for everyone else it was ineffective and unjust.
I watched two races on TV this weekend: Formula 1 and Indy Car. These are drivers at the pinnacle of accomplishment, the most qualified professionals, risking major dollars as well as life and limb. And in both events, running into each other on Lap 1 Turn 1, wrecking their cars and ruining their races. You think a drivethru rule would've made the difference, though? It sounds kinda silly now, doesn't it?
Go have fun. That's what it's all about. Everything is OK.
Todd
The Codes and Regulations of racing at Race2Play have been standardized to better reflect the sanctioning regulations of the National Auto Sport Association, as applicable to online racing.
The policies that govern racing in the actual world cover racing in the virtual world with every bit of relevance, and in almost all cases the NASA regulation is used verbatim. A driver fluent in racing at Race2Play would be able to transition to their local track with little or no adjustment. The standardization of Race2Play's policies was undertaken to trim added or modified sections in favor of the applicable NASA regulations. The result is a briefer, more concise and easier to read rule set.