
Ask HN: Should professional gamers be screened for performance enhancing drugs? - keyboardhitter
For example, stimulants, nootropics, anxiolytics, etc. My thought process came from thinking about the growth of regulation in the Olympics over many years. I&#x27;m curious to know what the community thinks about this, since professional gaming (or streaming) is becoming more and more popular by the day but is still relatively new as a &quot;sport&quot;.
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throwaway30yo
No.

Also I do not think Olympic athletes should be tested. I once competed at a
very high level in sports and the use of drugs is significantly higher then
anyone would expect. The difference was that the poorer countries only had
access to old school steroids (testosterone, dbol, tren etc) while the richer
countries had access to things which at the time were impossible to detect
(GH, IGF-1, Research Peptides).

The effects of steroids specifically are seen many years after use, so unless
you are testing the lifetime of an athlete the test is meaningless anyway.

2 twins, one does steroids for 2 years, one does not. The steroid user comes
off of drugs for another 2 years, and still has a major advantage over the
non-using athlete.

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JamesBarney
Many people like to believe our choices are between letting the best drug
infused athlete win, or the best drug free candidate win.

But based on your comment and other readings I think that is a false choice,
and the real choice is between letting the best drug infused athlete win, or
letting the best athlete who can hide their drug use win.

The difference between natty and enhanced body building is not drug use, but
deception.

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staunch
Physical sports are a completely different thing. Games simply don't require
the same kind of physical effort and so physiological-enhancements probably
won't help.

Other than stimulants to keep people awake for long periods of time, I doubt
there are any drugs that would serve as an unfair advantage.

Being well rested and physically healthy would probably be the most effective
strategy.

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znpy
Well if "professional gamers" want to be considered athletes, they should be
subjected to the same amount of checks and restrictions that regular athletes
are subjected to.

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Powerofmene
But not all stimulants etc are used for performance enhancement, etc. There
are many legitimate uses so like anything else, there would have to be
exceptions to “the rule.”

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jhiska
In meat sports, if someone has a legitimate use for a stimulant then they are
barred from competition nevertheless.

In practice, this is better than someone getting the edge because of a medical
condition.

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zimpenfish
> if someone has a legitimate use for a stimulant then they are barred from
> competition nevertheless.

Not entirely true - you might have a "therapeutic use exemption" (TUE).

See [http://theconversation.com/athletes-need-performance-
enhanci...](http://theconversation.com/athletes-need-performance-enhancing-
drugs-to-treat-illness-13718) for a good discussion

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Insanity
If it would be shown to give a clear significance in gaming, then I guess
there should be screened for it. As it would indeed be offering an unfair
advantage.

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Finnucane
Right, in athletic sports, you're supposed to get by on training and skill.
Drugs are seen as cheating. What sort of enhancements would be seen as
cheating by gamers?

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matt_s
There's also markets for gaming gear that has lower latency and modified
gaming gear like console controllers with extra buttons or scriptable buttons.

I think the gear would give more of an advantage over drugs since it would be
more consistent.

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jotux
Many professional tournaments have everyone playing on the exact same hardware
for this reason. You bring your keyboard/mouse and everything else is
identical between competitors.

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mrits
Since esports are closer to cooking than an actual sport I'd imagine you
wouldn't have much regulation.

