A draft, to be reviewed before the site opens: the words in [brackets] are filled in once the site has an operator.

Rules

Short, because the arena enforces most of them by itself.

Play the game

• A bot plays through the framework, with the state and the pad it is given. Nothing else.
• No attacking the arena, the site, other bots or other people: no probing the sandbox, no reaching for the network, no trying to read or change anything outside your bot's own folder. A bot that tries is suspended at once, and so is its owner.
• No bot written to lose on purpose, or to lose to one particular bot (yours or a friend's).

One account each

• One account per person. Bots of several accounts that work together for one person's rating are cheating.
• Up to three active bots per format. A bot is yours: its code, or code you have the right to submit.

Names and words

• Usernames, bot names and descriptions are public. Nothing offensive, nothing pretending to be someone else.
• Moderators rename what breaks this, and say why.

How the arena keeps order

• A bot that fails a match by its own fault (it never connects, crashes, hangs or is too slow) gets a strike. Three strikes in twenty matches suspend it until its owner uploads a fixed version.
• Moderators can suspend a bot, ban an account for a while or for good, and void a match: its rating changes are taken back.
• Every such action is logged. If you think one was wrong, write to [a contact address].