As a fan of Esports, I must admit that hearing drug abuse within gaming sounds silly. We have heard accusations from all kinds of sports to improve on performance, but in the gaming world it seems impossible right? Well not so much by the looks of things as a former member of Cloud 9, a prominent Esports team, has come out saying that its happening.

At a recent Esports event in Katowice, the team had apparently committed to taking adderall to improve their game during the tournament. The drug is normally used in order to help out with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). Effectively it calms down your brain and focuses it for impulse control. What would you need to do in a professional level tournament in CS:GO or League of Legends? Concentrate on the game, focus on teamwork and react on impulses to situations that may occur.

It isn’t right to see drug of any kind being used at any tournaments whether they feature games or not. To see something on this magnitude with a popular Esports team however is just sad. It does however show that companies that are sponsoring the teams or hosting these tournaments need to step up to make sure that everyone is playing on an even playing field. One thing however that crossed the line with this release was that the former player for Cloud 9 went on to suggest that the only way for players to ‘get good’ and reach the levels of Esports players is to take these drugs. It is completely disgusting to hear and the fact that some teams encourage the use of adderall and others to younger players is completely wrong. Severe side effects could occur down the line if people keep abusing these for games on either a casual or professional level. Heck, players could even die from overdoses of these if they believe that they need to ‘get good’.

I hope to see in the future that Esports improves on detecting drug use within the tournaments and improves from here on in. What are your thoughts on drug abuse within professional gaming? Let us know in the comments whether you disagree or not.

by Dominic Coles | July 22nd, 2015