A promise, not just a clause
The Authenticity Policy
Everyone who plays here is a paying, real, named, adult person. Anyone can watch for free and stay anonymous. 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 watch everything and stay anonymous for as long as it likes. Playing is different: entering a bracket means holding a paid subscription, and from the moment you hold one your name and your photo are 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 (opens in a new tab) 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 cannot register as a pro-gamer, so you cannot enter a bracket, earn a rank or appear on the ladder. From eighteen, with a parent or guardian's approval, you can hold a fan account: watch every match, follow the players you like, and back them. There is no exception to the playing age and no guardian workaround for it.
If you would rather stay private, stay private: watch as much as you like without ever telling us who you are. What you cannot do is be paid anonymously. The moment money is involved, so is your real name.