It’s official, the ESL(Electronic Sports League) has announced that they will do random drug test in the ESL One Cologne event in August.
So far, ESL are planing to use skin and sweat tests on site during the tournament. This way, there won’t be any conflict of schedules for any teams and no blood will be taken so gamers can be kept in their peak conditions.
While ESL is busy trying to figure what the punishments are and what drugs to actually test for, many people were quick to add their opinion on the matter. Many people felt that there wasn’t really a need because even if drugs can enhance concentration. They believe that at the end of the day, it is the gamer himself that spent the time learning all the game mechanics and skill shot.
While that may be true, the recent news of many pro Counter-Strike gamers publicly admitting to have taken Adderall for tournaments didn’t help the arguement one bit. Adderall is a drug used to treat childrens for ADHD but when a pro gamer takes Adderall, it greatly improves their concentrations for a long time span. This might seems minuscule but it can make a hell of a difference when you have to play for 8 hours a day in a stressful competition environment.
There has been a press release which states that the ESL has partnered with NADA (Nationale Anti Doping Agentur) in Germany to help “research and determine an anti-performance enhancing drugs policy that is fair, feasible and respects the privacy of the players, whilst simultaneously providing conclusive testing results.”
While the opinions on the matter is diverse, the decision to implement these drug tests are final. ESL will also be partnering with the World Anti Doping Agency in order to internationalize this policy to regions such as the US, Asia, and Australia.
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