Professional gaming grows up: Drug testing comes to e-sports at ESL One Cologne - bunchhollices

COLOGNE, Deutschland—Virtually all NFL, MLB, or NBA fans accept drug examination as a split of sports. Right away that drug testing has successful its introduction in professional computer game tournaments, it turns out that's exactly how e-sports fans—and even e-sports pros—feel, too.

"At that place's been a job with first-person shooters with doping and stimulants being abused in our game," American Counter-Strike: Round Offensive (CS:Whirl) pro gamer Sean "sgares" Gares of Cloud9 told PCWorld at past weekend's ESL Ace Cologne tournament, the first occupational group e-sports event to feature random testing for performance-enhancing drugs. "Drug examination is something that's manner past overdue in our courageous."

Do drugs employ thrusts e-sports into the limelight

Umteen people had no estimation e-sports even existed before news broke globally in July that Nihilum CS:GO pro participant Kory "Semphis" Friesen admitted in an on-camera interview that everyone on his former team, Cloud9, took Adderall (which is utilized to treat minimal brain damage—ADHD) before competing at the ESL One Katowice tourney in March.

What followed was something that you'll ne'er see happen in real sports. Turtle Entertainment, the parent company for ESL One, immediately took action and instituted random drug testing for its next monstrous ESL One outcome, which took place this past weekend at Lanxess Arena in Cologne, Germany. Acknowledged, e-sports doesn't have a players' union to softwood with (yet), just this is still something you'd never see happen so quickly in any "traditional" sport on any raze.

Members of NADA (Nationale Opposing Doping Agentur) were at ESL Unrivalled in Cologne to oversee the haphazard drug tests, which occurred with one appendage from the two teams earlier each Cs:GO match. Saliva swabs were used to detect usage of specific performance-enhancing drugs, according to a NADA representative. NADA also had an infotainment Booth inside Germany's largest indoor arena to alert gamers about the dangers of taking unprescribed drugs, using the campaign "Achieve everything, submit nothing" done a social media photo campaign and unloosen bags. ESL One likewise worked with WADA (International Anti Doping Agency) on this consequence, although representatives from that organization were non in Germany.

"Our scheme for this event was not to test everybody, IT was to make a point multitude understand we are going to do drug testing and we're going to roll out that process step by step once we have more go through impermanent with the major agencies," Ralf Reichert, manager at Turtle Amusement, aforementioned. "We could stay with random tests in the future, or if we need to go with a air-filled test for everybody, we will. It will really depend connected our experience, which we're just starting to roll."

Players who go the trial will face any figure of sanctions, including losing dirty mone money and tourney points the whole way adequate to a ii-twelvemonth ban from ESL events. IT's worth noting that the use of marijuana is prohibited during any ESL case, but unlike early sports like football, players are allowed to use that drug recreationally outside of tournaments.

Rolling out testing at ESL Extraordinary Cologne

Sixteen teams were in Germany competing for a piece of a $250,000 prize syndicate, which is the world's largest CS:GO tournament. Fnatic South Korean won the $100,000 first plaza esteem and Envyus took home the $50,000 second place purse. In that respect were as wel over 180 media representatives from around the existence covering the e-sports event, which was a record for an ESL One result—and many were interested in the declared doping scandal.

Cloud9's Gares believes the random drug examination is only a positive for all of e-sports. "Drug testing is something that's way past overdue in our game," he said.

Concurrently, Gares said the Adderall story got out of breath way exterior of proportion aside media outlets that never pass over e-sports. He far-famed that one of Cloud9's players is ordained Adderall by a doctor and even now with the ergodic dose testing he's allowed to occupy it.

American Microphone "Hastr0" Rufail, CEO of Team up Envyus, is a former pro player who's been involved in e-sports for niner years. He same there have ever been a lot of rumors about players taking drugs wish Ritalin or Adderall to have a competitive edge.

"I never saw a player who took a dose, just I've detected of players who had," Rufail said. "If they're exit to comparison us to real sports, every mainstream sport went through a synonymous type of a birth period. It still happens with NFL players who get into trouble for a exceptional operation enhancing drug and it brings publicity around it. Although it was a negative set forth of the news in e-sports, information technology's created a confident in that we'Ra taking care of it. And we're ensuring integrity in the competition."

"Thither have ever been rumors approximately people pickings something to be a better player, but I hadn't seen anything so information technology was shocking to hear that player say they did," Swedish CS:GO in favour of role player Christopher "Get_Right" Alesund from Ninjas in Pyjamas said. "I'm alright with taking whatsoever tests because I don't take any drugs and I have nothing to hide. We're playacting something professionally and you shouldn't take anything to give you an advantage. I hope that every else tourney and league does do drugs tests because that's an important ill-trea to take."

Australian CS:GO pro player Chad "Spunj" Burchill from LA Renegades view the whirlwind some drug examination was a negative matter at inaugural, simply he's changed his mind.

"It evens tabu the playing field if there were people doing the wrong affair in the past," Burchill said. "Drug examination is in all major sports and is a requirement. I'm glad ESL has taken the step in doing this. And if on that point are unfavourable connotations from players doing the wrong thing, then that's their own fault."

Fans oppose

Fans are taking everything in good spirits. There were plenty of Cloud9 jerseys in the crowd of over 12,000 fans at LanXess Arena, who paid-up either $45 surgery $227 from each one for tickets to the two-mean solar day event. Alvaro Lopez from Spain was cardinal of the Cloud9 fans who made the trek to Germany.

"I know some players have done drugs on Cloud9 and Semphis said he didn't smel like it was indispensable," Lopez said. "He said his team didn't had best. The drugs didn't help them. They even lost that tourney."

Juan Leblanc, who cosmopolitan entirely the way from the Philippine Islands to pay heed ESL One in Eau de cologne, believes drug testing is a good thing, ultimately.

"It's good and it's bad," Leblanc said. "Information technology's distressing because we have this negative image as a early imprint to many people, but information technology's also good exposure. E-sports are becoming a normal thing and normal people are accepting it as a real sportswoman. It's important to deal with this typecast of affair just like any athletics would."

Turtle Entertainment is doing that. And spell it's the largest e-sports administration with 18 different brands under its corporate umbrella, right like a sho IT's single drug examination at ESL One and Intel Extreme Masters events.

There are also totally separately run leagues and tournaments out there—including Major Conference Gambling (MLG) and independently run organizations like Scream Games' League of Legends Championship Series and Valve's The International—which have yet to address drug testing. But with this first step into dose testing for computer game players, both the players and the fans are happy with the pro-active response by Capsize Amusement and ESL. In the finish, it's precisely another gradation toward becoming a "very" sport.

Source: https://www.pcworld.com/article/423207/professional-gaming-grows-up-drug-testing-comes-to-e-sports-at-esl-one-cologne.html

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