Appeals Committee. Disputed situations in tournaments.

We received a response from the Creator regarding the powers of the Arbitration Committee (AC) and more detailed information about the Black Mark.

What powers can you grant the AC regarding cheaters within the HeroesWorld HOMM3 online platform (banning from tournaments, conducting a vote among players, awarding the Black Mark)?

Currently, the AC can confidently rely on:
- votes among players
- adding a user to the "Black List"
- awarding the "Black Mark"

That is, "banning from tournaments" is not within the AC's jurisdiction.

As I see it now, a more optimal option would be to add to the "Black List" and award the "Black Mark," and the organizers of the respective tournaments have the right to include in the rules of upcoming tournaments, at their discretion, a clause - "Users with black marks cannot participate in the tournament." A major advantage of the "Black Mark" is that it is in the user's profile, which already warns of danger. Another option is to permanently assign the "Black Mark" and then replace it after a certain period with a "Gray Mark," which would allow the user to participate in tournaments in which they could not participate with the "Black Mark," but the presence of the "Gray Mark" would still warn users and organizers. The very presence of the "Black Mark" in the user's profile, as it seems to me, would give the player an incentive to play fairly in order to get rid of it by replacing it with at least a "Gray Mark." It is even possible to provide for an option to completely get rid of the "Marks" after an even longer period of time if the player finally gets rid of the bad habit of violating tournament rules.

The issue of banning from tournaments will be decided by the organizers. Now, specifically. During the two weeks at the end of July 2009, the AC received save files for 3 games played by our resource's player, vitalic, with accusations of unfair play (map hacking). The AC reviewed the proposed save files and deemed it necessary to obtain detailed explanations on certain points of the accusation. An open discussion took place on the forum, and everyone could participate in it. The AC found the player's and his defenders' explanations unsatisfactory and decided to recognize the accusations as justified and vitalic guilty of map hacking. The results of an open poll, conducted independently of the AC, were also taken into account, in which players were asked to choose one of three options:
1. Vitalic is cheating.
2. Vitalic is an honest player.
3. I don't know.
The first option was chosen by 28 players, the second option was not chosen by anyone, and the third option was chosen by 10 players. Within the scope of the powers granted to us, the following decision was made:
1) Player vitalic will be added to the "Black List." This will serve as a warning to tournament organizers and players about possible map hacking.
2) A request was sent to the Creator to award him the Black Mark of a cheater. The decision was made by a majority of votes (6 in favor, 1 against), is final, and is not subject to discussion or appeal. We are now awaiting the final response from the Creator. Please refrain from commenting.