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eSports organizations to toughen up drug rules following player doping admission

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16

Meth

I was pretty outraged about the doping in eSports. I’m sure it’s rife in any activity, and some people even argued that Adderall is like really strong coffee (it’s not). But at least the eSports organizations are saying the right things about toughening up on things. Of course if they actually follow through will be another story.

Eurogamer heard from ESL’s head of communication Anna Rozwandowicz about the matter. The response from them?

We’ve known for some time that performance enhancing drugs (PEDs) would be a challenge we would need to face eventually as the professionalism and stakes increased across the board in eSports
PEDs are a topic we are discussing at an organisational level and will be one that we need to address industry wide going forward to maintain the integrity of our sport.

Okay, so they knew this would be an issue one day but decided not to worry about it until everyone in their tournaments was abusing prescriptions drugs? At least they did go on to explain that introducing drug testing means that they need to introduce official policies as well as appeals procedures and probably create some kind of governing body.

The ESL isn’t the only group with this issue, though. Major League Gaming (MLG) defers to the World Anti-Doping Agency’s policies about prohibited drugs. However, they also admit that they’ve never conducted a drugs test on any participants.

That said, if eSports wants to be taken seriously, and I think that is important to these organizations, they will need to institute policies that uphold the integrity of the sport. It might be a bit of a tricky process, but it needs to be resolved and the sooner the better, especially considering the rate at which eSports is growing.

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Last Updated: July 22, 2015

16 Comments

  1. Alien Emperor Trevor

    July 22, 2015 at 20:14

    There’re none so blind as those who will not see.

    Reply

    • Admiral Chief in Skellige

      July 23, 2015 at 08:11

      Confucius say?

      Reply

  2. Forc3ofWill

    July 22, 2015 at 20:48

    “That said if eSports wants to be taken seriously, and I think that is important to these organizations, they will need to institute policies that uphold the integrity of the sport” – Well… I’d argue that if eSports wants to take this issue seriously it should do away with the silly “dog and pony show” approach to drugs that almost all major sports organizations out there follow (“Yeah sure we test our athletes you average viewer you! Don’t you worry it’s all legit, honest and above board! Pinky swear! We have labs and experts and it’s all fine!”). Those “policies” that you mentioned are highly ineffective, and mostly for show. Most people have no idea how ineffective drug testing is and how prevalent drugs are at the highest level of sports. The reality is that eSports probably shouldn’t even try to address the problem because organizations with much greater resources are failing at solving it on a daily basis. I understand where you’re coming from dear Zoe because average sports viewer is told this story about people in 99.99th percentile of their respective discipline who, of course, got there without using copious amounts of performance-enhancing drugs capable of pushing them well beyond their genetic limits. I’m sorry, but that’s just not how the cookie crumbles. I think instead of focusing at making artificial policies we should educate viewers. I’m still amazed at how prevalent the idea of performance-enhancing drugs acting like a “magic potion” is among the general public. It doesn’t exactly work like that. You still need to do unbelievable, monumental, tremendous amount of work to get to the highest level of any sport. Drugs speed up recovery (which allows athletes on drugs to work even harder than if they weren’t using it) and can help people go beyond their natural genetic limits but they won’t magically transform average athlete into unstoppable machine with no effort involved in the process.

    Reply

  3. Ranting Raptor

    July 23, 2015 at 07:03

    I agree that to be taken seriously it needs to act seriously, however what I would like to know is how these PEDs actually function in gaming?

    I mean I understand how they work for other sports where you gain more stamina and strength form the PEDs (That is if you also train along with it. This is real life not a movie) but how would it work in eSports?

    The physical requirements of eSports aren’t as high as, for example, cycling and while I guess PEDs can help enhance your mental focus, I can’t see it magically making you a better StarCraft player.

    I’m not sayig drug control would be pointless here. I’m actually just exceptionally curious as to how these PEDs actually make you a better player or give you an advantage in a digital video game.

    Reply

    • Charl van der Merwe

      July 23, 2015 at 08:11

      well ADHD medication like aderall increases your focus A lot, I have seen students pull 12 hour study binges on ADHD medication where previously they could only mentally manage 6 hours.

      Since eSports is a mental game, anything that can increase your mental acuity is going to give you an edge.

      Reply

      • Ranting Raptor

        July 23, 2015 at 10:23

        But how? It’s not like you are playing a 12 hour match here. Matches simply don’t last long enough. So how much benefit will one actually see?

        This won’t make your reflexes faster or more accurate.

        Not being argumentative. I’d just really like to dig down further in to this as I’m very curious.

        Reply

  4. Hammersteyn

    July 23, 2015 at 08:04

    Now I know why DOTA players are so toxic, most of them are pill poppers

    Reply

    • Admiral Chief in Skellige

      July 23, 2015 at 08:10

      Toxicity level 100

      Reply

    • Vogiir

      July 23, 2015 at 08:11

      Main reason why i quit dota after 1100+- hours, a big part of the community is too toxic

      Reply

      • Hammersteyn

        July 23, 2015 at 08:12

        Adderall, feed your habbit for when your team mate feeds.

        Reply

    • Deceased

      July 23, 2015 at 11:23

      No, Hammersteyn, what are you doing?! Hammersteyn, STAHP 🙁

      Actually played in a low-level pool last night ( was teaching an aspiring Trax ) and again realized the Toxicity of the community is only down there 🙁

      Reply

      • Hammersteyn

        July 23, 2015 at 11:47

        Down there? They need some vagisil then. Sorry man, not trying to put all DOTA players down. Only the trolls that take time to rip on Lagz authors.

        Reply

        • Deceased

          July 23, 2015 at 12:19

          Yep… in fact, when you start playing DotA2 you’re sort of thrown in the cesspool … then you have to crawl your way out, ask the hairy knees, he’ll tell you … then once you’re out, you can actually appreciate the game 🙂

          To illustrate what I mean:
          Imagine it as being exactly like what’s happening in this episode…

          Reply

          • Hammersteyn

            July 23, 2015 at 12:30

            LOVE that episode!

      • R1ker

        July 23, 2015 at 18:33

        And what is worst in low level the toxicity is even worse then normal games. I try to pool with friends. That is when i am having the most fun. And what is ticking me the most is guys with hardly any playing time swearing and commanding players like they have been playing the game for 1000000000 years

        Reply

  5. HairyEwok

    July 23, 2015 at 08:14

    “Okay, so they knew this would be an issue one day but decided not to worry about it until everyone in their tournaments was abusing prescriptions drugs?” This sounds seriously just like our derpy power grid ESKOM. XD

    Reply

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