Enhanced Esports: Community Perspectives on Performance Enhancers in Competitive Gaming

• DOI: 10.1145/3549494
• Publication Date: 2022-10-31T14:42:43Z
• Authors: Maximilian A. Friehs; Madison Klarkowski; Julian Frommel; Cody Phillips; Regan L. Mandryk
• Keywords: content analysis; mixed methods; brain stimulation; drugs; competitive gaming; food supplements; 03 medical and health sciences; 0302 clinical medicine; esports; survey; enhancement; performance

This work explores perceptions of performance enhancer usage in esports. Specifically, we explored the perception of: food and food supplements; non-medical use of prescription drugs; drugs with some social acceptance (e.g. alcohol, nicotine, cannabis); drugs with lower social acceptance (e.g., psychedelics, opioids); and non-invasive brain stimulation (e.g. transcranial direct current stimulation). A mixed-methods approach was used to triangulate findings around three data sets, including both prompted and unprompted online forum comments, as well as survey data. The studies evidence that players are willing to use or are already using enhancers to increase their in-game performance, and that players are generally concerned about the use of enhancers in professional esports contexts. Furthermore, the community perceives that a substantial number of e-athletes use enhancers. The core contribution of this work is a comprehensive investigation into perspectives of esports performance enhancement, which highlights the urgent need for further research, as well as regulation by esports leagues.