A promise, not just a clause
The Authenticity Policy
Every gamer you can put money behind on this site is a real, named, adult person. Here is the rule, and here is why it is worth having.
Real name, real face, over eighteen
To take money through this site you must be at least eighteen years old and you must show your real name and your real face on your public profile. That applies to supporter payments, sponsorships and prize money alike, and it is not optional.
A free account can stay anonymous for as long as it likes. The moment you switch supporters on, list a sponsor, or enter a bracket with money in it, your name and your photo become public and stay public.
Anonymous is fine. Anonymous and paid is not.
A patron is paying a person, not a performance
A patron is paying a person, not a performance. Nova already shows how well a bot can play. Nothing else would stop someone pointing a fleet of bots at the ladder, inventing a roster of gifted players who do not exist, and collecting real money from real fans on their behalf. An adult name and a real face on every account that gets paid is the thing that stops it.
We are not guessing at that risk. We built Nova, so we know exactly how convincing a bot already is, and how much more convincing it gets every year. The people most likely to be defrauded here are the ones being most generous.
Nothing, until you are paid
Under eighteen you can still play every bracket, still earn a rank, still appear on the ladder and still beat Nova. You simply cannot be paid until you turn eighteen. There is no exception to this and no guardian workaround.
If you would rather stay private, stay private. Play as much as you like under a league name nobody can trace, and keep supporters switched off. The rule only ever applies to money.