“E-doping” in Esports: A Comparative Perspective of Contemporary Sports

Abstract

The promotion of fair competition in eSports is a central aspect of all anti-doping ruling as well as a direct target of traditional sports and esports regulations. However, despite being complementary in many ways, traditional sports and eSports' anti-doping ruling cover some different doping issues and employ different methods to achieve their fair competition targets. The aim of this paper is to explores the interplay between fair competition promotion and anti-doping in eSports context with some comparison with the traditional sports, where relevant. This is an academic article which discusses the central questions of doping in traditional sports and eSports from a comparative perspective. It reviews the contrasting and overlapping perspectives of anti-doping in traditional sports esports from the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) and eSports entities for the purposes of comparison, standardisation, harmonisation, and the progressive development of global eSports ruling. It also examines some of the key features of anti-doping in eSports and its theoretical principles of enforcing anti-doping rules worldwide. This paper concludes that standardisation and harmonisation of anti-doping ruling in eSports should principally be promoted by the independent WADA’s ruling regime.