Doping
The purpose of this entry is to better understand what “doping” is to the esport and gaming communities. The reason to do so is because there are many different definitions out there which cover multiple forms of doping. There needs to be a discussion on the different variations of doping across esports due to the varying modes that esports can present itself within the gaming environment. To begin, we will define the different forms esports can take its form in, then we will review all the different definitions and categorisations out there pertaining to the word doping.
Definitions
Firstly, as defined by Jenny et al[1] there are two distinct categories of esports which can be split by their movement. Movement based video games (MBVGs) and Sedentary sport video games (SSVGs) will be used to help clarify the various terms of doping. Beginning with MBVGs, they can be defined as, “MBVGs use motion-detection sensors and software to simulate physical movements made by the user and displays them via an onscreen avatar, typically without the use of a handheld controller” [2]). With MBVGs they can also be referred to as virtual sports which can be describing sport simulated video games such as cycling and or rowing. This is referring to the likes of Zwift, MyWhoosh and or Rouvy for e-cycling as a MBVG which is also classed as a Virtual Sport. Regarding SSVGs, they can be defined as, “involve fictional participation in a sports contest through using handheld video game controllers and can encompass taking on the role of athlete, coach, general manager, and/or owner. Game play can occur face-to-face or online via an Internet connection”.
These SSVGs can be attributed to games such as FIFA, NBA2k or Madden NFL as they are based on sports but with no physical activity. However, SSVGs can be attached to any video game in a sporting competition as the very nature of esports is a sporting competitive environment with no movement. So games like DOTA 2, League of Legends and or StarCraft 2 would also fit this categorisation too due to the lack of physical activity involved. With the two types of gaming defined we can then approach the doping terms as different definitions will fit under either category which has movement and or does not require movement for the gaming experience.
Before we get into splitting the definitions we must first give an overview of what doping is. Taken from Richardson, Smith and Berger[3] paper, doping as defined by the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) who are the lead world authority on all anti-doping matters. Doping is ,”the occurrence of one or more of the antidoping rule violations set forth in Article 2.1 through Article 2.11 of the Code” [4]. For those who are not aware, WADA is the governing body that covers all sports to ensure it is clean and fair and tests athletes for cheating at major sporting events. This form of doping can be considered as “traditional doping” as stated by Rana and Parsai[5]. Traditional doping not just can be applied to traditional sports such as cycling, athletics and or weightlifting, but esports have seen doping cases as well using performance enhancing drugs (PEDs). These esport examples will be shown later at the end of the article.
Table 1.0 (as taken from Richardson, Smith and Berger) summarises the anti-doping rule violations (ADRVs) which can be classed as doping and/or cheating by WADA’s own criteria.
Table 1.0: WADA’s ADRV’s4
Number 1 A) Presence of a prohibited substance in athlete’s sample 2 B) Use or attempted use of a prohibited substance or prohibited method 3 C) Evading or refusing or failing to submit a sample 4 D) Whereabouts failures 5 E) Tampering or attempted tampering with any part of the doping control 6 F) Possession of a prohibited substance 7 G) Trafficking or attempted trafficking of a prohibited substance 8 H) Administration or attempted administration of a prohibited substance in or out of competition 9 I) Complicity or attempted complicity 10 J) Prohibited association with another athlete or coach 11 K) Acts to discourage the reporting to the authorities (e.g., intimidating other athletes/coaches)
With doping now defined and the various ways one can breach an ADRV as classified by WADA, the article will now go into the different definitions of doping and where they are best placed under movement or sedentary based games. The first definition of doping is best placed for MBVG due to the association with traditional sports and how this can be applied to the emerging popularisation of virtual sports. The first alternative definition of doping under MBVG is named, “Robo-Doping”[6]. Taken from Richardson, Berger and Smith, how robo-doping came about was during the British E–Cycling championships. The winner was Cameron Jeffers but he was disqualified post-race as it emerged that he had used a bot to unlock a bike from the game[7] named the Zwift Concept Z1 or “Tron bike”[8]. It should be clarified that Cameron did not cheat during the championship race but he “cheated” outside of the race using the bot to unlock the Tron bike pre-race. Notwithstanding, this term has only been used once in e-cycling pertaining to this exact event and not to the wider esport games.
The next definition of doping which can be applied to both MBVG and SSVG and to any esport game is “Gender Doping” taken again from Richardson, Berger and Smith. As defined by the authors, “an individual changing their gender identity, in the pursuit of athletic success in sport (or within an event) over another gender (mainly a male to a female). This is due to the lack of rules and regulations to support and protect transgender athletes who are in the process of transitioning (or ensure fair play among cisgender competitors), but, without the proper legal and rule framework, this can be potentially exploited as a competitive loophole”. This was created by the authors based on the evidence from e-cycling forums and news outlets of this taking place [9],[10] where males have competed as females to win races.
Continuing on from Richardson, Smith and Berger and direct passage for these instances with suitable recommendation to solve this issue. “There may be a need to create a third category just for athletes who are transgender to create a level playing field[11]. There has been recent evidence-based research that transfemales have significant physiological advantages over their cisfemale counterparts in a range of sporting disciplines [12],[13],[14]. Transgender cyclist Jillian Bearden[15] was asked to leave Team Fearless (a female cycling team) because she was not categorised as a “biological female”. There is a limit to the frequency of times you can change your gender in Zwift, and if you change your gender more than twice in a month your account is flagged. Nevertheless, it could be a specific event a rider wants to compete in, and/or they have a wife or daughter who wants to race. We propose that there needs to be an official way to verify one’s gender; this could be through a government issued photographic identification card and/or with an official birth certificate”. Similar to robo-doping, gender doping has only been used for this example with e-cycling. The next definition of doping which is applied to SSVG’s is “e-doping” or “digital doping” and can be defined as, “using hacks and cheats to gain an unfair advantage in the [electronic] game over other players”[16],[17].
The main difference between e-doping compared to digital doping as described in Richardson, Smith and Berger is that “digital doping also covers hardware editing which can manipulate the game software or physical equipment”. E-doping and or edoping, has been used in multiple research papers in the esport literature including the following authors [18],[19],[20],[21] . In table 2.0 below, we have categorised all the different definitions of doping by the type of esport game type to show where and how they are best applicable.
Table 2.0 Esport Doping Terms
MBVG SSVG Both Robo-Doping – as coined by the British Media from the British E-Cycling Championships E-Doping – as defined by Bafna (2020) Doping – as defined by WADA (2021) Gender Doping – as defined by Richardson, Smith and Berger (2022)
To help with the different definitions, here are a list of a number of cases of esport athletes caught doping.
Players caught Doping *
- Cameron Jeffels as mentioned earlier in the supporting evidence for robo-doping.
- Gender doping examples are in the references mentioned earlier for e-cycling on Zwift.
- Regarding doping within esports there has been plenty of cases. as seen the popularisation of Adderall use in many popular esports games such as Counter-Strike (also referred to as CS:GO), Call of Duty and Halo. Players who admitted to using, knowing other players who have used, seen players openly flaunt their use or were caught using includes the following: Korey Friesen, Timur Kulmuhambetov, Timo Kettunen, Adam Sloss, Kyler Garland, Tyler Mozingo and Jack Watson [22],[23],[24],[25],[26],[27]. Outside these games, they have seen e-cycling experience their doper, where a virtual racer was caught using anabolic steroids in an actual race[28].
- For e-doping, this is much more of an issue in esports as there are so many different examples and cases out there. The best example of a software cheat is the use of an “aimbot”, which is commonly employed in first-person-shooter (FPS) games to easily track the mouse (reticule of the weapon) to the target, which is an opposing player [29],[30]. An extension of the aimbot is a “triggerbot”, but it is harder to spot as it is only activated when the reticule of the player’s gun reaches the opposing player’s avatar in-game; then, the bot becomes activated by “triggering” the player’s gun to fire. This allows the player to focus on movement and aiming, and the triggerbot can assume all firing duties[31]. These cheats refer to software not approved or banned from the game rules. There have been many esport players that have been caught using aimbots, triggerbots or software codes, including Nikhil “Forsaken – word.exe” Kumawat[32] and Thomas Koletzek[33].
- Continuing with e-doping but focusing on the hardware aspects. Then there are hardware cheats, which may include using some form of modified equipment not approved by the tournament or the in-game rules[34]. One example of this was during a DOTA 2 tournament with a total prize pool exceeding $20 million, a player embedded commands into his mouse. Subsequently, when caught, he and the team were disqualified from the event[35]. Nevertheless, many esport players bring their mouse keyboard and additional hardware to these events. However, they have to be approved by the organisers before they can compete to ensure integrity and fairness[36],[37],[38].
Conclusion
In conclusion, the evolving landscape of esports and gaming highlights the urgent need for robust regulatory frameworks to address the diverse forms of doping within the industry. By categorising esports into movement-based and sedentary video games, the article underscores how traditional doping definitions must adapt to the unique challenges posed by virtual sports and competitive gaming. Emerging phenomena like robo-doping, gender doping, and e-doping exemplify the creative but problematic ways players seek unfair advantages, threatening the integrity of competitions.
The integration of existing anti-doping frameworks, like those established by WADA, with specialized guidelines tailored to esports, is crucial for safeguarding fair play. Additionally, increased awareness and technological oversight can help curb the rise of digital and hardware manipulation. As esports continues its meteoric growth, fostering an ethical competitive environment will ensure its legitimacy and sustainability in the global sports arena.
[1] S E Jenny, R D Manning, M C Keiper, and T W Olrich, ‘Virtual (ly) athletes: where eSports fit within the definition of “Sport”’ (2017) 69(1) Quest 1-18.
[2] S Jenny, G Hushman, and C Hushman, ‘Pre-service teachers’ perceptions of motion-based video gaming in physical education’ (2013) 9(1) International Journal of Technology in Teaching and Learning 96–111.
[3] A Richardson, P Smith, and N Berger, ‘Zwift’s anti–doping policy: Is it open to cheating?’ (2022) 1(1) International journal of esports < https://www.ijesports.org/article/90/html> accessed 22 Feb 2025.
[4] WADA, ‘World Anti-Doping Code 2021’ (2021) (pp. 19-26) <https://www.wada-ama.org/sites/default/files/resources/files/2021_wada_code.pdf> accessed 29 Dec 2024.
[5] I Rana, and A Parsai, ‘Doping in eSports: need for a techno legal synchrony’ (2023) 23(2) The International Sports Law Journal 212-224.
[6] Forbes, ‘Champion Cyclist Confesses to Robot Doping’ (2019) <https://www.forbes.com/sites/carltonreid/2019/10/04/champion-cyclist-confesses-to-robot-doping-stripped-of-national-esports-title/> accessed 29 Dec 2024.
[7] Cycling News, ‘British eRacing Champion banned for cheating’ (2019) <https://www.cyclingnews.com/news/british-eracing-champion-banned-for-cheating> accessed 29 Dec 2024.
[8] Zwift Insider, ‘All About Zwift’s Concept Z1 (Tron) Bike’ (2020) <https://zwiftinsider.com/tron-bike> accessed 29 Dec 2024.
[9] Zwift Forums, ‘Men in women’s races’ (2019) <https://forums.zwift.com/t/men-in-women-s-races/68165> accessed 29 Dec 2024.
[10] Bicyling, ‘Zwift Hackers Expose the Next Generation of Cycling Doping’ (2019) <https://www.bicycling.com/news/a28912281/zwift-hacking> accessed 29 Dec 2024.
[11] A Richardson and M A Chen, ‘Comment on: “Sport and transgender people: a systematic review of the literature relating to sport participation and competitive sport policies”’ (2020) 50 Sports Medicine 1857-1859.
[12] E N Hilton T R Lundberg, ‘Transgender women in the female category of sport: perspectives on testosterone suppression and performance advantage’ (2020) 51 Sports Medicine 199 – 214.
[13] J Pike, ‘Safety, fairness, and inclusion: transgender athletes and the essence of Rugby’ (2021) 48(2) Journal of the Philosophy of Sport 155-168.
[14] A Reynolds and A H Jahromi, ‘Transgender Athletes in Sports Competitions: How Policy Measures Can Be More Inclusive and Fairer to All’ (2021) 3 Frontiers in Sports and Active Living 1 – 4.
[15] Zwift Insider, ‘Trans Rider Kicked from Zwift Team’ (2018) <https://zwiftinsider.com/trans-rider-kicked-from-zwift-team> accessed 29 Dec 2024.
[16] P Bafna, ‘Challenges to the Anti-Doping Regulations in Esports’ (2020) 2(1) J. for Sports L. Pol’y & Governance 133 – 144.
[17] P Sawer, ‘Digital doping’ row in cycling world, as online racing sparks new cheating phenomenon’ (2021) <https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2021/02/13/digital-doping-row-cycling-world-online-racing-sparks-new-cheating> accessed 29 Dec 2024.
[18] S Chanda and S Star, ‘Contouring E-doping: A menace to sportsmanship in E-sports’ (2021) 12(8) Turkish Online Journal of Qualitative Inquiry 966-981.
[19] J Hwang, ‘Cheating in E-sports: a proposal to regulate the growing problem of E-doping’ (2021) 116 Nw. UL Rev. 1283.
[20] T Shinohara, ‘Fairness or Equality? Participation of Esports Players with Disabilities in Esports Competition’ (2024) 34(2) Marquette Sports Law Review 503.
[21] Ibid.
[22] DOT Esports, ‘Cloud9’s Hobbit reportedly implicated in CS:GO match-fixing allegations’ (2022) <https://dotesports.com/counter-strike/news/c9-hobbit%e2%81%a0-reportedly-implicated-in-csgo-match-fixing-allegations> accessed 29 Dec 2024.
[23] O Fashina, ‘Doping in Esports: How and to What Extent Can We Look to WADA for Guidance’ (2021) 28 Sports Law. J, p. 19 < https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=4097001> accessed 22 Feb 2025.
[24] R R Rosenthal, ‘A tough pill to swallow: Making the case for why esports leagues must adopt strict banned substance policies to prevent disability discrimination’ (2021) 20 Va. Sports & Ent. LJ, p. 76 < A tough pill to swallow: Making the case for why esports leagues must adopt strict banned substance policies to prevent disability discrimination’> accessed 22 Feb. 2025.
[25] C Bennett, ‘The Cost of Being Cracked: Why the Call of Duty League Should Implement a Stricter Study Drug Regulation Policy’ (2023) 35(1) Loy. Consumer L. Rev. 1.
[26] M Schubert, F Eing and T Könecke, ‘Perceptions of professional esports players on performance-enhancing substances’ (2022) 10(4) Performance Enhancement & Health 100236.
[27] Washington Post, ‘Nobody talks about it because everyone is on it’: Adderall presents esports with an enigma’ (2020) <https://www.washingtonpost.com/video-games/esports/2020/02/13/esports-adderall-drugs/> accessed 29 Dec 2024.
[28] Gran Fondo Daily, ‘Virtual Racer Fails Real World Anti-Doping Test NADO Italia Reveals’ (2023) <https://granfondodailynews.com/2023/10/07/e-doping-virtual-racer-tests-positive-for-real-world-anabolic-steroid/> accessed 29 Dec 2024.
[29] F Martinson and D Rangel, ‘A Comprehensive Analysis of Game Hacking through Injectors: Exploits, Defenses and Beyond’ (2023) 195(33) International Journal of Computer Applications 56.
[30] ESPN, ‘ESL India confirms forsaken used cheating software’ (2018) <https://www.espn.co.uk/esports/story/_/id/25056792/esl-india-confirms-forsaken-used-cheating-software-launches-investigation-others> accessed 29 Dec 2024.
[31] The Esports Observer, ‘Cheating in Esports – How is it done, and how is it dealt with?’ (2019) <https://archive.esportsobserver.com/cheating-in-esports/> accessed 29 Dec 2024.
[32] M R Fuentes and F Mercês, ‘Cheats, hacks, and cyberattacks’ (2019) Trend Micro Research 8.
[33] The Verge, ‘Dota 2 team dumped from tournament for cheating with a programmable mouse’ (2018) <https://www.theverge.com/2018/6/26/17506656/dota-2-ti8-disqualified-esports-mouse-macros-thunder-predator> accessed 29 Dec 2024.
[34] eBaum’s World, ‘How much aimbot and esp cheats cost and where to find them’ (2020) <https://gaming.ebaumsworld.com/articles/how-much-aimbot-and-esp-cheats-cost-and-where-to-find-them/86374919/> accessed 29 Dec 2024.
[35] Ranker, ‘Esports Gamers who were busted for cheating’ (2024) <https://www.ranker.com/list/pro-gamers-caught-cheating/kyle-townsend> accessed 29 Dec 2024.
[36] Zwift, ‘Cycling Esports Rules and Regulations’ (2023) <https://cms2zwift.blog/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/Cycling-Esports-Ruleset-v1.0.8.docx.pdf> accessed 29 Dec 2024.
[37] MyWhoosh, ‘Cycling Esports Rules and Regulations’ (2024) <https://service18.mywhoosh.com/downloads/MyWhooshEsportsRulesetV2.0.2.pdf> accessed 29 Dec 2024.
[38] Indievelo, ‘Homepage’ (2024) <https://indievelo.com/> accessed 29 Dec 2024.
