3.0  General Guidelines  -   

· You must play between 1 and 4 games per week, or at least not hold up the league and other teams.
· Be available to set up games for a certain time and if you cannot make it for some reason, notify your opponent, otherwise he may get to play the computer.
· You must have ICQ and be able to check every day and a high-speed connection  (cable, ADSL, T1, T3 etc.)
· Every GM is responsible for keeping track of his own player's salaries (from www.nhlpa.com) and total payroll, as well as submitting it to the CFO.  It is a good idea to keep track of your salary cap as well, just in case.  The CFO does have all salaries for the league in his database, but you must not rely on him for your payroll.  Keep yours up to date, and post it on the Team Salary board whenever you change it.
· Must interact with other GM's, be available for trade offers, post messages on the message board, write stories for the website once in a while, design a team clubhouse page for the Rokhed Hockey News (optional) and most importantly conduct themselves in a grown up and civilized manner.
· Do NOT use profanity or slanderous remarks on the message board, on your team page, or to another GM through ICQ or in the game.  Every ICQ message can easily be forwarded to the commissioner, so keep it clean and fun. The is a rule called the "defamation rule" in which it states that if anyone defames another GM on the message board he will be booted from the league on a first offense!  The Rokhed Hockey League now has a ZERO tolerance law with swearing.
· If you are going to be away from your computer and not able to play games for more than three or four days, you MUST notify the commissioner so if your team starts holding up the league, the computer will coach, in order to keep the league moving.  FAILURE to do so will result in you being let go from the league after 10 days.
· Home team should try hosting first, if you have problems with connection, switch hosts.  If after 3 tries no decent connection is possible, the game is either postponed to another time that is good for both, as long as you have time before the deadline, or it will be simmed.  There will be no more of this "trying five and six times for 3 hours to get a connection" stuff.  We all have lives, we all have jobs, this is a hobby.  If the above scenario occurs, the game will be simmed.  If one GM does NOT show up to play by the deadline, the game will be handed to the GM that does show up so he can play the game against a Substitute GM.  (More on that in section 3.3)  There will be no more playing the PC

3.1  Connections  -  All connections are to be done in Peer-to-Peer.  Once you are connected to your opponent, check the status bars to see if you have at least 3 bars (yellow).  If you don't, then the connection will likely be very choppy.  Options are to wait a bit to see if it improves, reconnect, or try again at a different time of day. If in the middle of the game you notice it getting increasingly choppy, pause the game and wait for the staus bars to get back to yellow.  If they don't, you must come up with an agreed solution.  If a disconnection occurs and there is still plenty of game left, you restart the game at 0-0.  If the game was pretty much decided, 4-0 with less than 3 minutes left, at it disconnects, the team who was winning should be awarded the game, and gets to chose the format by which he plays.  (He can play the computer, sim it, or let the other team play his team as computer.)  The original decision is up to the TWO GM's involved.  Only if they cannot agree on some solution will the commissioner step in.

3.2 Plays of the Week  -  There is a unique feature in Rok, that is the plays of the week.  If you happen to make a sweet play that you think deserves to be seen by all the other GM's you may save the replay.  Keep in mind, you cannot pause the game until the whistle, then quickly save the game and straight back to the game.  DO NOT sit and watch it, you will have it don't worry.  Then when the game is over, send the most recent NHL2K00x.hlt file to the commissioner.
3.2  Mercy Rule  -  There is an official 7-goal differential mercy rule in effect against a human OR computer opponent.  If any team is caught with a 7-goal lead at any time during the game or pulls his goalie to cover up the differential or to score more goals, he will be suspended for 3 games on a first offense.  There is no excuse for this.  Once you are up by 5 goals I expect you to lay off, if you continue to try to score to run it up to the max 7 goals you need to go buy some sportsmanship. The reason it is 7 and not 5 is that I am giving you guys that 2 goal leeway in case a goal happens to go in once you have stopped trying.  Second offense is a 10 game suspension, third offense you WILL be fired and not allowed in the league ever again.
3.3  Substitute GM Rule  -  If a certain GM cannot be contacted, or has not replied to any emails or ICQ messages by the deadline or just before, then a substitute Rok GM will be asked to stand in.  This substitute is chosen by the GM who did show up ready to play the game.  He may choose any ROK GM that is online at that time to fill in.  There is no rule saying you have to select a strong GM or a weak GM...you can select anyone you like.  More than likely, it will be someone you enjoy playing against, which should add to the enjoyment of the league.
3.4 Cheap Gameplay  -  What constitutes cheap gameplay you may ask.  Well if you happen to notice your opponent try for the same goal over and over again, or decides to hit off the faceoff all game long, or hits after the whistle more than a couple times, this should be mentioned to the Commissioner.  Any GM caught using cheap goals or unfair game play on purpose will be given his walking papers and replaced immediately.  Anyone caught purposely disconnecting for ANY reason is also grounds for firing, and a boot from the league.  If you don't think you can finish in the time you have allotted, then you shouldn't start the game.   ZERO tolerance on both these topics with no leniency!

3.5 Cheating  -  As all of you know, cheating is very difficult to remove completely, but for anyone caught doing it, will be severely punished.    There is no money involved so why anyone would cheat is beyond me.   If any of the rules are broken regarding gameplay, and you become a proven cheater in this league, not only will you be booted out of MY league, but you will have a letter sent by the Rokhed League Commissioner to all the other major online leagues tagging you as a cheater.  In short….you cheat in Rokhed, and you will never play online hockey again!


4.0  REGULAR SEASON
4.1 Rosters  -   are finalized a few weeks before the beginning of the new season. Team owners are required to submit a final list of their team roster complete with current player salaries and cotract lengths. When you are done reading the rules, send me and email telling me that the Kansas City Royals won the World Series in 1985. A pre-season RHL roster will be distributed to all owners so that they may check their final roster as previously submitted.  Any discrepancies must be made known to the commissioner immediately.
4.2 League Server  -  can be connected to in order to download and/or update the league files on your personal computer, which includes up to the minute standings, rosters and statistics. This can be done at any time, but MUST be done immediately prior and after a league game is played.
Complete Explanation of Connecting to the Server.

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