Last week, a former pro e-sports player went on the record to say that he — and pretty much everyone else in the top brackets of competitive gaming — takes performance-enhancing drug Adderall to help keep ultra-alert and hyper-focused during events. Some of our readers scoffed at the report, saying that everyone does it, from college students cramming for exams to top-tier World of Warcraft raiders, bringing the term “hardcore” to all-new lows.
But it appears to have been news to the ESL, which stopped just short of accusing the e-sports player a troll this week while promising to alter its tournament procedures to test for doping rather than just forbid it. “We are hoping to have a waterproof strategy for identifying PEDs, testing for their presence and punishing players who were caught using any of the forbidden substances,” the organization told Wired. “Full blown drug tests at esports events are far away, but that doesn’t mean we can’t and shouldn’t try to tackle the issue.”
And that leads me to today’s Daily Grind: Have you ever used a “performance-enhancing drug” to boost your gaming abilities? Would you admit it if you had? Just how widespread is this among online gamers? And where should we (and the e-sports governing boards) draw the line between caffeine and something like Adderall?
Every morning, the Massively Overpowered writers team up with mascot Mo to ask MMORPG players pointed questions about the massively multiplayer online roleplaying genre. Grab a mug of your preferred beverage and take a stab at answering the question posed in today’s Daily Grind!
