LCS/International Events PED testing
Hey all,
MSI has come and gone so I thought it would be time for another stab at Riot's policies (or lack thereof) on testing for performance enhancing drugs. I've posted a similar thread before and gotten lackluster responses (mostly "let dyrus smoke weed if he wants to"). I personally don't care what people do in their off time, but professional athletes/gamers should be held to a higher standard. That said, this post is not about weed, it's about performance enhancing drugs.
Performance Enhancing Drugs (PEDs)
So at this point you might be asking yourself what the deal is, since taking steroids like athletes won't really help someone be a better gamer, and you're right. The two main categories of PEDs for esports would probably be various types of amphetamines and beta blockers. Amphetamines (like meth, ritalin) would allow players, for example, to practice for longer periods or stay more focused during sets (especially bo5s).
Beta blockers help with anxiety, nervousness and stage fright, something that many pro players experience when playing on stage and is often referenced to by the casters. Beta blockers are banned for all Olympic sports, including golf and chess. That's right, even chess drug tests their players. (source: https://www.fide.com/fide/fide-anti-doping-regulations.html)
Now, that's not really as good of an explanation as I'd like to provide, so if you want to read more about these I'll leave you with the following links: http://www.webmd.com/fitness-exercise/20010223/steady-on-green (beta blockers) http://espn.go.com/special/s/drugsandsports/amphet.html (amphetamines) http://www.spiegel.de/international/zeitgeist/outrage-over-ivanchuk-the-great-chess-doping-scandal-a-595819.html (an older article about a potential doping scandal in the chess scene) ... or just search on google.
League of Legends has grown to a massive esports scene, with multiple millions of people watching Worlds and millions of dollars at stake for the winning teams. In my opinion, it is naive to assume that league would be the very first sport in the history of sports where nobody tries to cheat to get ahead. I think there are teams out there who (willingly or bullied into it by management) would go to such lengths in order to try to become the best.
That's my opinion. I love watching pro league, I love playing it, and I'd love to see some kind of protection to ensure the integrity of (international) competitions.
