Overwatch Open Division ruleset comes under fire from South America

Several teams and players participating in Overwatch Open Division South America have taken issue with the ruleset of Open Division after teams within it have been able to play matches on North American servers rather than South American servers.

According to KARMA support ddx, the Open Division rules allow for the hosting team to set the server for the match, with the losing team of each map getting to host the next and therefore set the server themselves.

Rule 6.6 of the Contenders 2018 rulebook rulebook explicitly states that every match must be played within the server of the region. No such rule exists in the Overwatch Open Division 2018 rulebook, and in fact there is no mention of server regions anywhere within the rulebook. The rules do describe, however, rules for lobby hosting that follow the pattern of hosting ddx described (under 5.2.2.1.1 and 5.2.2.1.2).

"Basically, you are qualifying for a tournament to be played on South America while playing on another server," said ddx.

There is no default setting in the game to set the servers to be played on South American servers. On launch, there is the option for Americas, Europe and Asia, but no settings for specific servers. Although lobbies usually default to using South American servers for matches in South America, it is possible to change the server through manipulation of the lobby.

The issue of the rules was first raised after a Mexican team had defeated a Chilean team during the opening week while playing on North American servers. While ddx and the rest of KARMA played in Open Division North America last season, every match played was on North America's servers.

ddx has said that while the admins promised the players of the region that there would be a solution to the issue next season, many participants in Open Division South America want a more immediate solution to prevent this from affecting qualification into the inaugural season of Contenders South America.