The Electronic Sports League is going to start testing competitors for doping as of next month.
It’s not something you might initially think could play a part in gaming, as performance enhancing drugs tend to be associated with physical strength and energy, but alertness and mental energy can also be enhance. Even chess players get drug tested.
The biggest professional video game league, the ESL, is going to introduce anti-doping tests in August at the ESL One Cologne event.
An official ESL statement said:
As the world’s largest and oldest esports organization, ESL has an ongoing commitment to safeguarding both the integrity of our competitions and that of esports as a whole – we wish to ensure we can provide a fair playing field for all participating players.
We will be administering the first PED [performance-enhancing drug] skin tests at ESL One Cologne this August, with a view to performing these tests at every Intel Extreme Masters, ESL One and ESL ESEA Pro League event thereafter as soon as the official PED policy is established and tournament rules updated accordingly.
The move comes while there is an ongoing drugs scandal in esports, with pro teams admitting to using Adderall, an ADHD treatment drug that is known to boost concentration, and is often used by students as a study aid.
With eports being such a huge business now, it’s no wonder people are trying to get an edge, with hundreds of thousands up for grabs at major tournaments. I think I need Adderall just to stop me from rage-quitting to be honest.
