Stimulants banned in E-Sports

All it took was one interview to spark a worldwide frenzy of outrage among fans of a newly immerging sport, and become an event that would provoke the Electronic Sports League to ban prescription drugs.

When Kory (known as “Semphis”) Friesen, a leading figure in the newly popular mass competition called E-Sports, was leaving a video game tournament, he let slip to a journalist that his former team used Adderall during competition.

The interviewer asked why Friesen seemed garrulous in his teammates during last year’s competition.

LThe journalist was referring to the “ESL One Katowice 2015”, an international competition held in Poland for the shooting video game “Counter Strike: Global Offensive”. The interviewer highlighted how Friesen seemed to have a “strong voice” while shouting calls to his teammates.

Friesen said the chatter among the players were “kind of funny” in his opinion. “I don't even care, we were all on Adderall.” Friesen told the journalist, admitting for the first time that drugs were a problem in the sport. “So yea, that might clear up why we were so hectic.”

Later that week, Friesen was bombarded by questions by both his fans and the media. “Did I get expect to get picked up by like 80 news channels? No, I definitely did not,” Friesen said when asked what happened after the interview went viral.

(Click below to see what Kory Friesen's response)

The competitor explained that he was not trying to gain attention on the matter, and the reason he said it was because “there wasn’t a rule” forced by the Electronic Sports League, the most prominent league of E-Sports in the world. According to Friesen, Adderall was not prohibited in competitive play.

After the statement erupted last August, the Electronic Sports League (ESL) issued a news release saying that people who play electronic games professionally would not be allowed to use ADD and ADHD medications, unless they have a doctor’s note.

Senior Editor of ESL’s gaming magazine, Ella McConnell, said in the release that ESL hoped to provide a fair playing field for all participating players. “The bans also need to be in effect due to the increasing size of the playing pool in E-Sports,” said McConnell.

The prize pool for E-Sports games such as “Dota 2”, an international multiplayer online battle-arena video game sequel to “Defense of the Ancients”, have reached over $6 million.

The ban for drugs is now a huge issue in the world of E-Sports, which now involves over 70 million people worldwide.

Booming of streaming sites in 2011 such as Twitch and Azubu now allow online users more access to spectate live tournaments held across the world.

READ PREVIOUS ARTICLE HERE: TwitchCon A Convention For Video Gamers Who Play For Pay

The Esport tournament League Championship Series 2014 World Championship was the third most viewed sport in the world, gaining more viewership than majority of traditional sports. Yet unlike traditional sports, E-Sports did not have any rules banning drugs during competition.

As much as ESL plans to take action in banning the use of drugs in E-Sports, professional players agreed that these steps are not needed.

(Watch video below to see what professional gamers said about the banning of Adderall in E-sports tournaments.)

Mohamad Assao is a professional Palestinian player who does not support the decision of ESL. “When it comes to ESL partnering up [with World Anti-Doping Agency], I think its ridiculous. How are you going to decide what drugs are legal and how to disqualify players?”

Assao personally knew professional players who used marijuana, an illegal drug now prescribed medically, during games in order to play efficiently.

“So now should all drugs that show a hindrance of helpful use be banned?” Assao asked when discussing his opinion about the new regulation.

Friesen agreed that banning the use of drugs in E-Sports was not necessary. “If you’re on Adderall or anything that’s going to make you super focused, your are going to focus on parts of the game while zoning out other parts,” he said.

According to Kaiser Permanente ADD and ADHD psychiatrist Dr. Ashley Zucker, Friesen could be right about Adderall increasing focus.

“Adderall is prescribed to improve the mental focus of people with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder,” Zucker said.

When asked about the effect is on those who do not have these disorders, Zucker admitted that the user will focus more, and the “excess of dopamines” in the body will enhance normal attention, giving an almost superpower-like effect.

Video game players use the drug under the presumption that it will enhance their focus during gameplay.

“No player is taking Adderall and becoming a pro,” Friesen said when asked about taking Adderall for competitive tournaments. “It is like weight lifting: nobody takes steroids during their first trip to the gym.”

According to Dr. Zucker, long use of Adderall for those who do not need it can make someone “feel clairvoyant”, and hear voices as well.

“Just like crystal meth, too much dopamine causes psychotic symptoms in people who do not have ADHD," Zucker said.

While both ESL and news media have compared this drug issue to the 1976 banning of steroids in traditional sports, there are no similarities between the two. Steroids produce a build up in body tissue over time, where Adderall and other stimulants temporarily increase focus.

USC adjunct professor Jeff Fellenzer, researcher and reporter of sports in the media, said that the stimulant was more similar to “greeny” pills rather than steroids.

“Because of the emphasis to ban steroids in sports, it now more common in sports to use things that will help you recover and keep you more focused,” Fellzer said, “which is exactly what greenys did.”

“Greenies” was the slang term used to describe a green amphetamine pill commonly used among Major League Baseball (MBL) athletes.

While energy levels are dramatically increased like Adderal, Fellenzer said players have died using the drug due to elevated heart rate and increases in blood pressure from the pill.

“In the 1960s, the team owners used to have them out to grab like M&Ms,” Fellenzer said when talking about how Major League Baseball treated the pill.

Amphetamines were only recently banned from MBL in 2006.

Professional E-Sports player Arya Hekmat said that the ban on Adderall would be similar to the Amphetamine ban in baseball; referring to the duration it would take to put the policy into effect.

Hekmat is currently competing in the Electronic Sports Leaue 2015 tournament, and mentioned that he has not yet been drug tested during competition.

He feels that although the ESL is putting rules in place, there is not a “rulebook” that clarifies when these tests would occur. “Any rules they implement, ESL should first have every type of question that would pop up answered,” Hekmat said.

Hekmat has played against a numerous amount of people who were on Adderall, and saw no difference in their performance.

He has also witnessed players using the drug, and noticed that there was a slight decrease in their performance, and an increase their communication, just as Friesen experienced in the ESL tournament.

All of these professional players came to the same conclusion that the drug gave players the same effects as caffeine did according to Hekmat. The drug does not “miraculously” make one better at the game, but enhances focus just as caffeine does.

Hekmat explained that when players drink caffeine they focus and become more attentive to the video game. “The only difference with caffeine is that players have a difficult time finding the right amount needed to play efficiently,” He said.

Even the female competitive E-Sports players seem to agree that Adderall did not make a difference in gameplay.

Team Karma, an all-girl American team, felt that the Adderall gave competitors a disadvantage during gameplay. “I heard that it was like steroids, but in a way it is a little bit of a disadvantage,” Karma team member Carolyn Noquez said about Adderall. “Teams have experienced users who are focused, but they cannot stop talking in game, and ruining it for the rest of the team.”

Team leader Emmalee Heart said ESL should be focusing on matters, such as teams fixing matches for betting purposes, and players cheating by rigging their mice to better target their opponents.

She said Adderall is not the problem.

“If I find out that I played against another team and I beat them with them using it, to me that just gives me all the pleasure of knowing that ‘yeah, I beat you while you were using that’,” Heart said about playing against opponents who use Adderall. “And I don’t think drug testing is necessary.”

-- Annenberg Media Reporter Desiree Desario