Video Gamers To Be Screened For Illegal Use of Drugs at ESL One Cologne 2015

Days after a top video game tournament player admitted to taking performance enhancing drug, a major sports organizer announced that participants in its next event will be screened for illegal use of drugs.

The Electronic Sports League (ESL) said it would conduct skin tests for the drugs at its next tournament - ESL One Cologne event in Germany in August.

Playing Violent Video Games Can Lead To Aggressive and Negative Emotional Outcomes
Those players who played a violent video game showed a tendency to perceive the world in a more hostile way than those who played the nonviolent game.

Video game player Kory Friesen said he had taken an attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) medicine called Adderall at a tournament in March, BBC reported.

While participants at traditional sports events take performance enhancing drugs (PEDs) to increase physical ability, video gamers generally use them for increasing concentration and reducing reaction times.

ESL said it would work with World Anti-Doping Agency and Germany’s national doping agency to create a policy to prevent the use of drugs in esports events.

Video Games can be A Better Source of Physical Activity Than Outdoor Play for Children
Previous studies investigating active video games had not investigated the energy expenditure of these games as compared to unstructured outdoor play.

"In order to maintain the spirit of fair play within esports, ESL has partnered with NADA (the Nationale Anti Doping Agentur, which is headquartered in Bonn, Germany) to help create an anti-PED policy that is fair, feasible and conclusive while also respecting the privacy of players," the company said in a statement.

"ESL will also be meeting with WADA (the World Anti Doping Agency based in Montreal, Canada) so they can be actively involved in the making, enforcing and dissemination of this policy to additional regions such as the US, Asia and Australia," the statement said.

Playing Excess Video Games Lowers Brain Activity and May Increase Alzheimer�s Risk
Video gamers would have spent 10,000 hours of their life on gaming by the time they are 21 putting them at a risk of impaired brain function.

Source-IANS

Violent Video Games Do Not Make Autistic Adults Aggressive or Violent
There is no proof that violent video games may cause gamers with autism to become aggressive or violent. But the potential long term effects are still debatable.