Playing video games competitively will likely never be an Olympic sport, but players are now banned from using performance enhancing drugs.
The announcement comes from the Electronic Sports League who say the recent growth of the industry and larger prize pools have made the temptation to cheat even greater, prompting the institution of anti-doping policies.
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ESL will be working with both the Nationale Anti Doping Agentur in Bonn, Germany and the World Anti Doping Agency in Montreal to create an anti performance enhancing drug policy that is “fair, feasible and conclusive while also respecting the privacy of players.”
The first drug tests will be administered at the ESL One competition in Cologne, Germany on August 20. The goal is to administer them at every ESL competition around the world, including in North America. At the moment, ESL doesn’t have an official list of banned substances.
A Vancouver man and his gaming team recently walked away with $6.6 million after winning a Dota 2 gaming competition in Seattle.
Kurtis Ling was a UBC student, but dropped out in his third year, saying playing video games professionally was more lucrative for him.
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