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Insider claims doping rampant in esports

Wouldn't be surprised if some of those Starcraft pros took stuff to help them concentrate lol. Sounds kinda funny though.. doping in esports.
 
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Do professional gamers exercise to prepare themselves for the tournaments?

Serious question. I mean I know most of it is mental, but it seems being in good shape would allow you to concentrate better and have better reaction times.

I suppose it comes down to whether the time not practicing the game while exercising is more detrimental to their performance than the natural health benefits of exercising. I'm sure there's some optimal balance there. Interesting question though.
 
I love gaming as a whole but I cannot understand esports at all. Someone really good at basketball is an athlete. Someone really good at NBA 2K14 is someone really good at NBA 2K14.

The semantical debate is tired imo. It's like people looked up sports on the internet and are applying the definition to this. Is crowd surfing correct? No because there is no water, but it's catchy and can be loosely applied. Word definitions change over time I mean "surfing" now applies to internet browsing and channel changing. The whole debate about whether it is actually a sport needs to stop. It's called esports and that's that.
 
I love gaming as a whole but I cannot understand esports at all. Someone really good at basketball is an athlete. Someone really good at NBA 2K14 is someone really good at NBA 2K14.
There really isn't much of a competitive community around NBA 2K14.

Look at something like Dota 2, a game that requires deep strategy, teamwork, and quick reflexes to play well. Think about how in baseball, just because a runner is the fastest and strongest man in the world doesn't mean he is going to steal third base when the pitcher is watching him.

"Regular" sports require strategy too, and people tend to throw that out the window when thinking about them. In Dota, games can come down to things like "How can I adapt and get farm when all our lanes lost? Okay, I can stack ancients and use illusions to stack the jungle."

Esports are typically much more mental, but I fail to see how by your standards that if golf is a sport, why are esports not a sport?
 
A doctor gave me Ritalin a year 1/2 ago and I think I had my best Battlefield 3 experience. I quit that stuff the same week, but that calm was relaxing. I wonder if any of them are having side-effects if this is true.
 
A doctor gave me Ritalin a year 1/2 ago and I think I had my best Battlefield 3 experience. I quit that stuff the same week, but that calm was relaxing. I wonder if any of them are having side-effects if this is true.

Just curious. When you took Ritalin, you were a better player, but did you still get the same "high" from winning, or was it dampened (either by the effects of the drug itself or by you knowing that your newfound skill was chemically induced?)
 
Well, that is that.
Unregulated sports teams, real prize pools, energy drink companies as sponsors...what could go wrong?

I was a bit surprised to see more serious stuff being used than simply living off caffeine 24/7.
 
Franzen says he's seen players take a host of drugs, including: Ritalin, which improves concentration; the beta-blocker propranolol, which blocks the effects of adrenaline and helps players stay calm under pressure; and selegiline, a drug used to treat Parkinson's disease that is claimed to improve mood and motivation during tournaments.

The few times I've watched I've seen the exact opposite. People looking like fools screaming obscenities at the screen.
 
People use the same drugs for work, to study, and take exams while some people take these just to get by.

Who does this surprise?
 
I wouldn't be surprised if someone like Riot tried to crack down on this. They pay the professional teams a salary, so they could easily put drug testing into the rules.
 
So here's the question:

Should doping in esports be regulated and tested for?

I think yes, since the main reason you want to stop sportsmen from doping is because of the risks involved and the negative repercussions it might have on sportsfans who in turn might take the drugs themselves.
 
Just curious. When you took Ritalin, you were a better player, but did you still get the same "high" from winning, or was it dampened (either by the effects of the drug itself or by you knowing that your newfound skill was chemically induced?)

My experiences gaming on Vyvanse (similar to Ritalin but less intense and longer lasting) have mostly been related to marathon sessions, without many major effects on my level of enjoyment or skills. It makes it a lot easier to obsessively stick to a game, but I play slightly worse if anything.
 
So here's the question:

Should doping in esports be regulated and tested for?

I think yes, since the main reason you want to stop sportsmen from doping is because of the risks involved and the negative repercussions it might have on sportsfans who in turn might take the drugs themselves.

Issue with this is probably feasability.

Testing for online tournaments sounds impossible especially since someone has to pay for the tests.

Leagues LCS or a big Lan like the International probably could but other than that...

there's also the fact that the community is very splintered. there's no one "body" like a FIFA or an IOC or whatever to actually establish and control such rules.
 
To be fair here, he embarrassingly tripped in front of a massive crowd and was simply trying to play it off. Really don't see how that ties into this topic.

err.. looks like hes trying to do a barrel roll. Not out of jwong style to do something "different".

At SCR he stood up his chair and tried to do Wolverine's lvl 3 as it was going on to win GF
 
Not really, just pathetic.

Why exactly?

Much of the talk regarding e-sports is unnecessarily judgemental, specifically the dismissive "it's not a real sport" joking. Nobody claims that someone who plays games competitively needs to attain a level of physical prowess that a professional football player might have, but the level of concentration, strategy and preparation necessary to compete at a high level is very high.

Would you say the same thing about a professional chess player?
 
If you're playing video games competitively for money I can definitely see people using adderall, vyvance, Ritalin, etc. to get some greater level of concentration.
 
I'm drunk whenever I play Titanfall, I blame it on watching darts on TV for years.

Alcohol can easily be considered a performance enhancing drug for things like darts and even marksmanship, so I imagine something similar could apply to shooters.

It works because the calming effects often prove more helpful than any losses in coordination, but only if you carefully monitor your consumption and don't go overboard. The balance quickly shifts toward the disadvantages if you have too much.
 
I could see people who play in a tournament sober being annoyed if they lost to someone on amphetamines. But I'm totally not surprised if this news is true, people have been taking drugs to increase their chances at winning competitions since forever
 
When I first read the title and found "doping" and "esports" I imagined injecting cheat code somehow to fortify your char or army a bit.
 
Exactly. So much so that its funny. Doping to play games? They need to get real.

Video games are a mental exercise. Not really physical. It's about strategy and execution. I'm not really a fan of the esport scene myself but you can't really dismiss competitive gaming completely.
 
I once took a pill before starting World of Warcraft.

But I wasn't 'pwning noobs' in the battlegrounds, no, I had a 6 hour long chat session with randoms, telling them how much I loved them all.
 
Guess you didn't read the OP, the drugs mentioned there would prevent this reaction.
I would rather think FGC is still more clean than something like Starcraft. Those guys probably just smoke weed.

To be fair here, he embarrassingly tripped in front of a massive crowd and was simply trying to play it off. Really don't see how that ties into this topic.

Relax guys, I was just kidding. I love Justin Wong and this reaction was just him being very happy about beating Chris in the Marvel finals. :)
 
Eh, maybe.

Feel free to prove me wrong, but most competitive gamers tend to be young males, college age, with no career outside of gaming nor have a family to take care of. It seems like simply the best gamers are those that have the most free time. I feel like anyone could become a great gamer simply by having enough free time, while with actual sports, there is an actual skill ceiling that some people, no matter how much they train, their bodies just aren't made for sports.
Not true at all. It's not really about the physical side for games, other than reaction time (which is very important too), but things like strategic and spacial awareness. Those are things that vary between individuals a lot.
 
this would be one explanation for all the awfully awkward award ceremonys

Koreans have become more and more like that because they started training at a way younger age. When you train all day from the age of 10 and onwards, you become somewhat socially inept.
 
yeah when theres only millions of dollars on the line. Probably more "real" than what you ever see in your paycheck

Yeah, but they only have a small chance of actually getting said money, and from what I've heard, a lot of competitive tournaments are still set up so the competitor has to pay for travel and other expenses. Are players given a regular salary like someone in the NBA or NFL?

I'd rather have a solid job with a steady paycheck.
 
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