WCG Tournament Director Admits Drugs In E-Sports

SlappingOysters writes "In the lead up to the World Cyber Games finals in Germany, Gameplayer has an incredible interview with Tournament Director Alex Walker in which he freely admits knowledge of participants taking illegal drugs to enhance their performance. The interview came in response to a previous article by the site in which they examined whether there was a need to bring drug testing into professional gaming events to ensure a level playing field. Walker said, 'I've seen a number of players at national tournaments who came in "baked" (that's stoned for the uninformed) purely so they could play better. In most cases they did, although obviously they couldn't just pull out another joint midway through. In one WCG, a player I knew took amphetamines an hour before his match to boost his reflexes.'"

Effects of Cannabis

'I've seen a number of players at national tournaments who came in "baked" (that's stoned for the uninformed) purely so they could play better. In most cases they did ...

Um, I'm not a regular drug user but how are the effects of Cannabis [wikipedia.org] beneficial to gaming?

Acute effects while under the influence include euphoria, increased appetite, anxiety, short-term memory loss, and circulation effects which may increase risks of heart attacks.

I understand how drugs that affect your nervous system -- like uppers -- can increase your reaction time and muscle twitching for those games involving twitch skills. And nobody can shred on a guitar like an coked up hair band [youtube.com] ... but how does a drug that made my college roommate double up in laughter and fail at communication make someone better at video games?

Re:Effects of Cannabis

but how does a drug that made my college roommate double up in laughter and fail at communication make someone better at video games?

Best guess? If you spend all your free time practicing the game while high, you're more accustomed to playing it that way. Playing it when you're not high entails a different playing experience to overcome. Not so much that smoking a joint helped them play better because of the effects of the drug, but it got them to a more "normal" state to play the game.

Re:Effects of Cannabis

Yep, it's called state-dependent learning [wikipedia.org].

Almost certainly the case

Most recreational drugs are recreational because they produce an altered state of consciousness. Alcohol does the same thing. If you study a subject (say physics) while intoxicated, your recall of the material will be higher when intoxicated. It stands to reason that a similar phenomenon could exist with video games. They practice stoned so they play better stoned.

I'm not sure if that really counts as a "performance enhancing drug" though.

Re:Effects of Cannabis

And nobody can shred on a guitar like an coked up hair band

That's quite true. Non-coked up guitarists are reduced to performing music.

Re:Effects of Cannabis

This is one of those cases where, people writing the articles on "The effects of Cannabis", probably have no real experience with it. This isn't a troll, or some crazy delusion. Just follow me for a second.

Cannabis can certainly be beneficial in not only "gaming", but anything where there is undo pressure on you. The calming effect on your nerves, on your racing mind, on your anxiety can potentially be much more of a positive than the "bad side effects" are negative.

Don't believe the propaganda.

Re:Effects of Cannabis

Um, I'm not a regular drug user but how are the effects of Cannabis [wikipedia.org] beneficial to gaming?

Easy, THC (the active ingredient in Cannabis) causes your neurons to release large supplies of the neurotransmitter dopamine [wikipedia.org] into your synapses. Dopamine is responsible for helping your concentration. The idea is you're able to keep your focus much easier and concentrate on completing the task at hand in the game. For an experienced Cannabis user, this effect does in fact provide better gaming performance. I wouldn't recommend it for an inexperienced Cannabis user, however, as it can be quite disorienting for someone not used to it.

Re:Effects of Cannabis

You should talk to Ellen Feiss. I'm sure she could shed some light into the advantages of being baked while using a computer.

Re:Effects of Cannabis

I'm a past stoner. I still toke up every once in a while.

When people think of twitch gaming, they usually think of frantic gaming. Top players know that this isn't the case. A noob CounterStrike player shoots wildly. If cross hairs aren't over an enemy, why shoot? The noob ends up just missing and missing because whenever his cross hairs happen to cross an enemy, his gun is in between shots.

Top players know that it is better to wait a split second for the enemy to float across the cross hairs before pulling the trigger. For truly great gaming performance, the player must be in a "zen" like state, not a frantic twitch state.

Toking up can help a player reach this zen state, become immersed in the game, and oblivious to outside distractions. Of course non-potheads would probably be "ZOMG So high!" but for someone who smokes daily getting high is a calming state.

Re:Effects of Cannabis

Smoking something that actually makes "Home Improvement" a funny show won't make you a better TV writer.

Re:Effects of Cannabis

This is totally true. I once played Counter Strike for, like, 8 hours straight while high on weed. Afterward, I smoked a few more bowls and decided I was going to play some Counter Strike in real life, because, like, what's the difference, you know? So I got myself a machine gun and was all ready to go out and mow some people down but then I thought, man, this gun would make a totally wicked bong. So I spent the next 3 weeks building a bong out of my M-16, and man, that shit is fuckin' crazy, dude! No shit!

Re:Effects of Cannabis

Where'd you learn that Cheech? DRUUUUG SCHOOL?

Fixed it for ya :)

Re:Effects of Cannabis

Man, you're a wild beast.

Wait, what, man?

Ok, amphetamines I can see, but weed? It doesn't exactly make your reflexes better and it's hard to pay attention when you laugh incessantly for no apparent reason. But I suppose it could help you focus more intently if... man my hands are HUGE... wait, what was I saying again?...

Re:Wait, what, man?

As someone who writes a great quantity of code while stoned, I can attest that I tend to get more focused on what I'm writing, and honestly, more excited about it and obsessed about making it perfect.

These advantages are offset by the 50-line ASCII art comments I insert and the functions named "dogg_butt()" and "jibblejobble(int whaaaaat)." So, there are pros and cons.

Baked

They didn't come in baked so they could play better - they came in baked because they're stoners. If they were at home watching tv, they'd be just as baked (and it's not so that they could watch tv better though I'm sure being stoned makes some of the crap on tv seem better...).

As if CliffyB wasn't enough to give us a bad name

News like this make me ashamed of my hobby in a way that even Barbie Horse Adventures couldn't manage.

Re:As if CliffyB wasn't enough to give us a bad na

Yeah, but have you ever played Barbie Horse Adventures on weed?

I beg to differ

I find that playing video games after smoking some of the finest herb allows me to get into a very relaxed state of mind. This I think is the ultimate factor in defeating many of my opponents. It just puts me "In The Zone."

Common knowledge for "pro-gamers"

While the performance effects of cannabis are questionable, the fact that drug use, be it for recreational use or performance enhancement, is well known to gamers who actively compete in these kind of events.

Of the dozens of events I've attended, there's always a significant number of people getting baked before the evens. It's also not surprising to see a handful of people taking amphetamines to keep them on their A-game after hours worth of match ups.

Frankly this shouldn't be surprising, the entire sport centers around high caffeine sodas and gamer themed energy drinks. These events last for 6-8 hours at a time and winning becomes even more critical as the matches move towards the 11th hour.

The community's resistance towards the entire drug testing issue best highlights all of this, when a number of leagues started pushing around the idea, there was both apathy and outrage over the idea, yet few voices of support on the issue. The suggestion that nearly every team has at least one guy who probably does some kind of narcotic also plays a part in this viewpoint.

Until pro-gaming starts to get some real ad dollars behind it, the drug use will continue.

 

Re:Marijuana isn't a performance enhancer, jackass

Clearly you're very upset about this. You know what would calm you down? Weed.

Re:Marijuana isn't a performance enhancer, jackass

It gives you the munchies, makes you paranoid, and makes you giggle every time someone says "420" but it doesn't make you better at HaloDo you know what you are saying here? That black people love fried chicken and will steal my TV, that Mexicans will steal my job and eat lots of tacos, and that all Gays use Macs.

It is a sweeping blanket statement that comes from uninformed bigotry. I've never had the munchies, I've never gotten paranoid, and I certainly don't giggle. Neither has anyone else that I have had a smoking experience with. These are horribly inaccurate stereotypes thrown out there to make it seem like Marijuana being illegal is less ridiculous than it really is.

Sure, it has its undesirable side effects. So does drinking too much coffee. And to say that there can't possibly be any good effects from pot are only spoken by the sheep. The problem ultimately is, only the people who smoke will know what they are... because people like you have your mind made up, and nothing in the world can change it.

Re:Marijuana isn't a performance enhancer, jackass

Dear sir, as I read your comment I thought of several well reasoned arguments as to why your first sentence was flawed. As opposed to firing back blindly I continued until the end, which made up my mind that rant or not, I had to reply immediately. By the time I had "Reply"'d I had totally forgotten my original arguments and decided to go get some timbits, coffee and have a smoke. While outside I was totally freaked out by the guy moving things to a truck, who kept nodding to me every time he passed despite my saying good morning to him once. Inside again I was refilling the sugar jar for my coffee when a variation in the bag's opening caused some to spill over my hand, I immediately burst into gales of laughter while thinking to myself it was a damn good thing I do the pouring over the kitchen sink. Man I'm so stoned!

I have been smoking marijuana since I was 12, am now 36, and work for one of the top hardware/software companies in the world running other people's Wintel backends. Today in my home office I'm building several servers remotely, attending meetings, and taking emergency calls. For further reference, see the excellent Penn and Teller show Bullshit!, episode The War on Drugs, especially the sections on the stock trader who works on the NYSE floor. He smokes several joints daily, all of which are provided by the US Federal Government for his possibly fatal bone spurs. There really are professionals out in the world who smoke quite regularly, even as often as several times a day.

Jonah Hex

Re:Baked?

Using "baked" [wiktionary.org] to mean "stoned" is actually fairly common. It's certainly not random, and any hijacking took place long ago. It's slang, of course, but that used to be true of "stoned" as well.

I was more annoyed at the clumsy parenthetical aside explaining what it meant.

I disagree.

It's about time we had a sporting event in which drug enhancements are welcome so we can see the effects of the different drugs. "M0nstrMan took a double dose of crystal meth two hours before the contest, and we can see that he's 27 frags up on his nearest opponent. WeeTimmyLeary decided to go for tabs of acid today, and he's spent the whole match crouched in a corner screaming about purple caterpillars -- he doesn't have many frags, but nobody wants to go near him, either. 1nc1inerator's joytick hand is just a bloody stump at this point, but the heroin is really helping with the pain; he hasn't slowed down."

In all the non-drug sports it come down to genetics and chance, and that's hardly fair.