An investigation into the attitudes of virtual cycling participants regarding avatar bodyweight manipulation and weight doping.

Abstract

This study aimed to investigate the viewpoints and attitudes about virtual e-cycling apps with respect to the manipulation of an avatar’s stated body weight. An adaptation of the Performance Enhancement Attitude Scale (PEAS) delivered in the form of an online questionnaire was created to assess the act of intentional avatar weight manipulation in e-cycling apps. The level of agreement to 12 items was measured on a 5-point likert scale and 638 responses were received. Content analysis was performed on the responses to two open-ended questions. The respondent’s disagreed with 9 of the 12 PEAS statements suggesting that they saw no value to the practise of intentional avatar weight manipulation. The qualitative analysis revealed that many respondents appeared to accept that e-doping was common practice and that prevention measures and punishment were ineffective. The results of the PEAS questionnaire and content analysis by the majority of the respondents support that the act of avatar weight manipulation in virtual cycling Esport sees similar results, feedback and undesirability to other forms of sporting fraud such as the use of performance enhancing drugs. It is therefore proposed that the act of avatar weight manipulation should be treated as an illicit, deceptive or wholly negative practise.