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Ask HN: Should professional gamers be screened for performance enhancing drugs?

For example, stimulants, nootropics, anxiolytics, etc. My thought process came from thinking about the growth of regulation in the Olympics over many years. I'm curious to know what the community thinks about this, since professional gaming (or streaming) is becoming more and more popular by the day but is still relatively new as a "sport".

Insanity 9y ago
If it would be shown to give a clear significance in gaming, then I guess there should be screened for it. As it would indeed be offering an unfair advantage.
- Finnucane 9y ago
  Right, in athletic sports, you're supposed to get by on training and skill. Drugs are seen as cheating. What sort of enhancements would be seen as cheating by gamers?
  - paulcole 9y ago
    Beta blockers to reduce jitters. Adderall to increase focus. Modafinil to eliminate tiredness.
    - muzani 9y ago
      I'm not sure about beta blockers, but Adderall doesn't do well for games - it's more suited to holding down attention on things like spreadsheets. Modafinil doesn't work nearly as well as sleep. It helps in learning, but not so much on the battlefield, unless someone had an all nighter. A few cups of tea might just do all of these better than drugs would. And things like L Theanine or creatine don't really need to be banned.
      - sgillen 9y ago
        I agree with you, unless you have serious ADHD I don't think Adderall etc. would work very well. I would imagine that Adderall would be useful for TRAINING for games, if you need to practice some repetitive task over and over (I'm thinking of ssbm here). Not that this warrants a ban.
  - matt_s 9y ago
    There's also markets for gaming gear that has lower latency and modified gaming gear like console controllers with extra buttons or scriptable buttons. I think the gear would give more of an advantage over drugs since it would be more consistent.
    - jotux 9y ago
      Many professional tournaments have everyone playing on the exact same hardware for this reason. You bring your keyboard/mouse and everything else is identical between competitors.
    - keyboardhitter 9y ago
      Great point, thanks for your input!
Powerofmene 9y ago
But not all stimulants etc are used for performance enhancement, etc. There are many legitimate uses so like anything else, there would have to be exceptions to “the rule.”
- jhiska 9y ago
  In meat sports, if someone has a legitimate use for a stimulant then they are barred from competition nevertheless. In practice, this is better than someone getting the edge because of a medical condition.
  - zimpenfish 9y ago
    > if someone has a legitimate use for a stimulant then they are barred from competition nevertheless. Not entirely true - you might have a "therapeutic use exemption" (TUE). See http://theconversation.com/athletes-need-performance-enhancing-drugs-to-treat-illness-13718 http://theconversation.com/athletes-need-performance-enhanci... for a good discussion
mrits 9y ago
Since esports are closer to cooking than an actual sport I'd imagine you wouldn't have much regulation.
throwaway30yo 9y ago
No. Also I do not think Olympic athletes should be tested. I once competed at a very high level in sports and the use of drugs is significantly higher then anyone would expect. The difference was that the poorer countries only had access to old school steroids (testosterone, dbol, tren etc) while the richer countries had access to things which at the time were impossible to detect (GH, IGF-1, Research Peptides). The effects of steroids specifically are seen many years after use, so unless you are testing the lifetime of an athlete the test is meaningless anyway. 2 twins, one does steroids for 2 years, one does not. The steroid user comes off of drugs for another 2 years, and still has a major advantage over the non-using athlete.
- fiftyacorn 9y ago
  The problem is people respond differently to doping - and some people are hyper-responders An example being Lance Armstrong was considered a hyper-responder to his doping, and it put him at unfair advantage.
  - dsacco 9y ago
    How is being a hyper-responder meaningfully different from other genetic advantages that make a sport intrinsically unfair, like height?
- JamesBarney 9y ago
  Many people like to believe our choices are between letting the best drug infused athlete win, or the best drug free candidate win. But based on your comment and other readings I think that is a false choice, and the real choice is between letting the best drug infused athlete win, or letting the best athlete who can hide their drug use win. The difference between natty and enhanced body building is not drug use, but deception.
  - vanillaboy 9y ago
    The common man doesn't care about 'natty' bodybuilders, they look pathetic compared to stars like The Rock or Arnie or Stallone or whoever else is the icon of manly manliness who may be roided to the gills or won the genetic lottery or (probably) both. Bodybuilding is already a very niche thing that a lot of people don't even consider a sport in itself (should beauty contests be an olympic discipline too?).
staunch 9y ago
Physical sports are a completely different thing. Games simply don't require the same kind of physical effort and so physiological-enhancements probably won't help. Other than stimulants to keep people awake for long periods of time, I doubt there are any drugs that would serve as an unfair advantage. Being well rested and physically healthy would probably be the most effective strategy.
znpy 9y ago
Well if "professional gamers" want to be considered athletes, they should be subjected to the same amount of checks and restrictions that regular athletes are subjected to.

Insanity 9y ago

If it would be shown to give a clear significance in gaming, then I guess there should be screened for it. As it would indeed be offering an unfair advantage.

Finnucane 9y ago
Right, in athletic sports, you're supposed to get by on training and skill. Drugs are seen as cheating. What sort of enhancements would be seen as cheating by gamers?
- paulcole 9y ago
  Beta blockers to reduce jitters. Adderall to increase focus. Modafinil to eliminate tiredness.
  - muzani 9y ago
    I'm not sure about beta blockers, but Adderall doesn't do well for games - it's more suited to holding down attention on things like spreadsheets. Modafinil doesn't work nearly as well as sleep. It helps in learning, but not so much on the battlefield, unless someone had an all nighter. A few cups of tea might just do all of these better than drugs would. And things like L Theanine or creatine don't really need to be banned.
    - sgillen 9y ago
      I agree with you, unless you have serious ADHD I don't think Adderall etc. would work very well. I would imagine that Adderall would be useful for TRAINING for games, if you need to practice some repetitive task over and over (I'm thinking of ssbm here). Not that this warrants a ban.
- matt_s 9y ago
  There's also markets for gaming gear that has lower latency and modified gaming gear like console controllers with extra buttons or scriptable buttons. I think the gear would give more of an advantage over drugs since it would be more consistent.
  - jotux 9y ago
    Many professional tournaments have everyone playing on the exact same hardware for this reason. You bring your keyboard/mouse and everything else is identical between competitors.
  - keyboardhitter 9y ago
    Great point, thanks for your input!

Powerofmene 9y ago

But not all stimulants etc are used for performance enhancement, etc. There are many legitimate uses so like anything else, there would have to be exceptions to “the rule.”

jhiska 9y ago
In meat sports, if someone has a legitimate use for a stimulant then they are barred from competition nevertheless. In practice, this is better than someone getting the edge because of a medical condition.
- zimpenfish 9y ago
  > if someone has a legitimate use for a stimulant then they are barred from competition nevertheless. Not entirely true - you might have a "therapeutic use exemption" (TUE). See http://theconversation.com/athletes-need-performance-enhancing-drugs-to-treat-illness-13718 http://theconversation.com/athletes-need-performance-enhanci... for a good discussion

mrits 9y ago

Since esports are closer to cooking than an actual sport I'd imagine you wouldn't have much regulation.

throwaway30yo 9y ago

No. Also I do not think Olympic athletes should be tested. I once competed at a very high level in sports and the use of drugs is significantly higher then anyone would expect. The difference was that the poorer countries only had access to old school steroids (testosterone, dbol, tren etc) while the richer countries had access to things which at the time were impossible to detect (GH, IGF-1, Research Peptides). The effects of steroids specifically are seen many years after use, so unless you are testing the lifetime of an athlete the test is meaningless anyway. 2 twins, one does steroids for 2 years, one does not. The steroid user comes off of drugs for another 2 years, and still has a major advantage over the non-using athlete.

fiftyacorn 9y ago
The problem is people respond differently to doping - and some people are hyper-responders An example being Lance Armstrong was considered a hyper-responder to his doping, and it put him at unfair advantage.
- dsacco 9y ago
  How is being a hyper-responder meaningfully different from other genetic advantages that make a sport intrinsically unfair, like height?
JamesBarney 9y ago
Many people like to believe our choices are between letting the best drug infused athlete win, or the best drug free candidate win. But based on your comment and other readings I think that is a false choice, and the real choice is between letting the best drug infused athlete win, or letting the best athlete who can hide their drug use win. The difference between natty and enhanced body building is not drug use, but deception.
- vanillaboy 9y ago
  The common man doesn't care about 'natty' bodybuilders, they look pathetic compared to stars like The Rock or Arnie or Stallone or whoever else is the icon of manly manliness who may be roided to the gills or won the genetic lottery or (probably) both. Bodybuilding is already a very niche thing that a lot of people don't even consider a sport in itself (should beauty contests be an olympic discipline too?).

staunch 9y ago

Physical sports are a completely different thing. Games simply don't require the same kind of physical effort and so physiological-enhancements probably won't help. Other than stimulants to keep people awake for long periods of time, I doubt there are any drugs that would serve as an unfair advantage. Being well rested and physically healthy would probably be the most effective strategy.

znpy 9y ago

Well if "professional gamers" want to be considered athletes, they should be subjected to the same amount of checks and restrictions that regular athletes are subjected to.