The Rule Book

Section One: Purpose and Fair Play

1.1: Purpose

The CBL is a structured, sim-style league. This Rule Book protects fair play, so that a game result reflects how the two teams played basketball and nothing else. Every member agrees to follow it when joining.

1.2: The Fair Play Standard

Every player must try to win by playing real basketball inside the game's normal rules. A player may not use a cheat, a glitch, an unapproved device or a tactic that the game was not built to allow, and may not manipulate a result, a stat or a transaction.

1.3: Jurisdiction

This Rule Book covers every CBL game, every CBL player and staff member, the CBL pages of the site, and CBL spaces on the forum and Discord. It also covers conduct outside the game that damages the league.

1.4: Staff Authority and Notices

Staff may post notices that add to this Rule Book, including a Banned List of builds, badges, animations, plays and settings. A notice is part of the Rule Book from the date it is posted. Staff do not apply a new notice to games played before that date.

Section Two: Judicial Process

2.1: Filing a Complaint

Any member may file a complaint using the league's complaint form. The complaint should state who, what, when and which rule, and should include screenshots or clips.

2.2: Time Limit

Complaints must be filed within 7 days of the incident. Staff may accept a late complaint if the evidence only became available later.

2.3: Staff Ruling

Staff issue an initial ruling within 48–72 hours, unless the case needs a longer review of evidence.

2.4: Evidence

Screenshots and video clips are the evidence. Members should record a game when they suspect a violation. Edited or falsified evidence is a severe violation.

2.5: Withholding Information

A member who is asked for information, proof or a statement in a case must answer. Hiding information or lying to staff is a violation.

2.6: Appeals

A ruling may be appealed to the Commissioner's Office, and then to the Board of Governors, as described in Article I, Section Five.

Section Three: Game Rules

3.1: Lobby and Settings

Games are played in private lobbies with the league settings sheet posted by staff. Players may not change difficulty, game speed, quarter length, fatigue, injury, or other settings. A game that starts with the wrong settings must be stopped and restarted at once. A team that knowingly plays with wrong settings is in violation.

3.2: Real Basketball

Teams must play five-on-five basketball, with real attempts to score and to defend, from tip-off until the final buzzer.

3.3: Stalling and Clock Abuse

• A team may not hold the ball or pass it around the backcourt to waste time, run out the quarter or avoid action
• A team may not use timeouts, pause menus or substitutions to break the other team's rhythm or to waste clock
• Normal late-game clock management, such as running a possession down to the shot clock, is allowed

3.4: Garbage-Time Play

A team that is ahead may not run up the score by unsportsmanlike means. A team that is behind may not quit mentally, give up on defense, or let the opponent score freely. Both teams must play the game out.

3.5: Intentional Fouls and Violence

Fouls must be basketball plays. Intentional hard fouls made only to injure, to cause a stat error or to waste time, and any unsportsmanlike contact repeated on purpose, are violations.

3.6: Resolving Broken Rules During a Game

When a rule is broken mid-game, the team that was affected documents it (screenshot or clip) and keeps playing. Formal resolution happens after the game through a complaint (Section Two). The exception is a glitch that makes the game unplayable, which is handled with a restart under Article II, Section Four.

3.7: Fixing the Result

Staff may nullify points, stats or the result when they were produced by a violation. Staff do not replay game time unless Article II allows a replay.

Section Four: Cheating, Exploits and Banned Mechanics

This Section is the core of CBL fair play. If a method gives a player an advantage the game was not designed to give, it is not allowed, whether or not it is listed here.

4.1: Cheating Devices and Software

• Macros, scripts, turbo or rapid-fire controllers, and any controller adapter, converter or modded controller that automates or alters inputs (including devices that add aim, timing or movement help)
• Third-party software or hardware that edits the game, the data in the game, the game's connection or what the player sees
• Any program that reads the game to give advantages in shooting, timing, defense or steals

Staff may ask a player to show their controller or set-up on camera during a case. A refusal is treated as a violation.

4.2: Glitches and Exploits

A glitch is anything that works because of a bug and not because of normal play. Players may not use a glitch to gain an advantage, and may not repeat one on purpose. This includes:

• Animation glitches or cancels that give shots, speed, steals or blocks the game does not normally allow
• Out-of-bounds, wall, stanchion or court-boundary glitches
• Collision, clipping or pass-through glitches that let a player go through or around a defender
• Defensive glitches that make a player impossible to guard, or that leave an offensive player unable to be touched
• Teleport, rubber-band or lag-based tricks that rely on a bad connection
• Glitches in the menu, substitutions, play calls, timeouts or the pause screen
• Any play, move or badge combination that staff name an exploit in a posted notice

4.3: Banned Mechanics and Tactics

• Spamming a single move. Repeating the same move or play over and over, when the game does not stop it, only because the defense cannot stop it
• Intentional connection abuse. Using a poor connection, a lag switch or a dropped connection to stop the other team's play or reaction
• Stat padding. Taking shots, rebounds or assists to inflate stats, including free throws missed on purpose, putbacks for the stat, and passing to a teammate only to give an assist
• Stat trading and boosting. Agreeing with the other team to give up stats, points or rebounds for a teammate or a friend
• Tanking and throwing games. Playing to lose, or letting the other team win, for any reason
• Hiding the ball. Putting a player in a corner or off the court to avoid being guarded or to avoid a foul
• Lineup abuse. Substituting players in and out to avoid fatigue or to break the intent of the rotation rules
• Auto or AI abuse. Leaving a player idle, or letting the AI play for a human, on purpose to gain an advantage

4.4: Build, Rating and Settings Restrictions

Staff may publish limits on player builds, ratings, badges, animations, shot styles and gameplay sliders on the Banned List (1.4). A player must stay within those limits. A player may not change a build or setting between games in a way that breaks them. Staff may ask a player to show their build and settings at any time.

4.5: Reporting and Evidence

Players who see a cheat, glitch or exploit must document it and report it. Reporting is not a violation. Reporting a rival with false claims is.

4.6: Penalties

The penalty depends on the facts, the history of the member and the effect on the game. Staff may combine penalties. A team can be penalized when its GM or Captain knew about the violation and let it happen.

Section Five: Player Rules

5.1: Availability and No-Shows

Failing to appear for a scheduled, confirmed game without telling the GM and staff in advance is a no-show. No-shows are handled with the suspension tiers in APHL Article I and can lead to forfeits (Article II, Section Six).

5.2: Quitting a Game

A player who leaves a game before it ends, and does not return, is in violation. A team that quits a game forfeits it (Article II, Section Six).

5.3: Quitting the Team or League

A player who quits mid-season without notice leaves the team short and may face a review of their standing, up to a ban for repeated cases.

5.4: Ineligible Players

Playing a game with a player who is not on the roster, is suspended or is banned is a violation by the player and by the GM. Staff may nullify the game's stats and rule the game a forfeit.

5.5: Console Account and Profile

A player must keep an active console account and an APL profile that match each other. A player who changes gamertag must update the profile before the next game.

5.6: In-Game Communication

Players must be respectful in game chat and party chat. No hate speech, harassment, threats or targeted insults. Trash talk that becomes abuse is a conduct violation.

5.7: Website Etiquette

The same standard applies on the site, the forum and Discord. Posts may be removed by staff, and members may be warned, muted or banned.

5.8: Conduct Unbecoming and Harm to the League

Conduct that harms the league, other members or staff, on or off the court, is a violation. This includes publicly attacking staff or teams, spreading false claims and sharing private information.

5.9: Refusal to Play

A player who refuses to play a scheduled game without a staff-approved reason is in violation, and the team forfeits if it cannot field five rostered players.

Section Six: GM and Management Expectations

6.1: Lineups and Deadlines

Late or missing lineups, availability and lobby set-up are violations that can be penalized under the judicial process.

6.2: Invalid Roster

A team with a roster that is under the minimum or over the maximum, over the cap or under the floor (Article III) is invalid. Staff may restrict the team until it is fixed.

6.3: Circumventing Systems and Rules

Falsifying a transaction, a stat, a screenshot or a result, or getting around any site system, forum rule or league rule, is a severe violation.

6.4: Player Rights and Tampering

A GM may not hold a player's rights hostage, block a player from playing without cause, or contact another team's players about a trade or signing without going through the proper process.

6.5: Transactions in Bad Faith

Transactions made to hurt another team, to dodge the cap or floor, or to get around any rule are in bad faith and may be reversed. The GM may be penalized.

6.6: Disclosure of Private Information

A GM may not share another member's private information (console details, real name, location or personal messages) without permission.

6.7: Forfeits

Repeated forfeits are a management compliance issue, reviewed by the Commissioner's Office (Article II, 6.5).

Section Seven: Prestige and Rankings

7.1: Prestige

Players earn and lose prestige based on game results. Wins earn points and losses deduct points. The amount is affected by the tier gap between opponents.

7.2: Quitting a Game

A team that quits a game and does not return, forcing a forfeit win for the other team, takes the largest prestige loss in the prestige system. The loss goes to the team and to every active player on its roster. The promotion floor does not protect against it. The other team and its active players receive a normal win.

7.3: Power Rankings

Staff may publish power rankings during the season. Power rankings are opinion and do not affect the standings, the playoffs or promotion and relegation.

Section Eight: Stats and Records

8.1: Official Stats

Stats are submitted by stat screenshot (OCR) and checked by staff. Both teams should submit screenshots as backup, so that a missing or wrong stat can be checked.

8.2: Who Gets Stats

Only rostered players on the two teams receive stats. There are no guest players. AI players do not receive stats, and AI stats are removed from the box score.

8.3: Corrections

A stat error must be reported within 48 hours of the game. Staff correct it when screenshots or video show the error.

8.4: Forfeits and Voided Stats

Stats from forfeited games and from games nullified by staff do not count toward career stats or records.

8.5: Record Books

The CBL keeps team and player records (single-game, season and career) and milestones. A traded player keeps records earned with a former team on that team's books until they are broken, and competes for the new team's records from then on.