Ethics of Avatar Manipulation in E-sports Explored through Research Findings

Falsely manipulating virtual avatars in e-sports could be the first step towards cheating, with many participants believing the practice to be widespread, research from Bournemouth University (BU) suggests.

E-sports have seen an explosion of interest in recent years, with the International Olympic Committee (IOC) even exploring an e-sports games as early as 2025.

However, researchers are exploring the ethics of online sports competitions, starting with what your avatar might say about you, and how widespread possible cheating methods are perceived to be.

Virtual avatars are created online in games and e-sports and provide an online ‘character’ for an individual. Research has now shown that avatar bodyweight manipulation, including what the researchers refer to as ‘weight doping’ (manipulating the true weight of your avatar relative to your own size) or ‘e-doping’ could unfairly impact performance online and amount to cheating.

The investigation looked at the attitudes of virtual cycling participants physically engaging in cycling, but represented by a digital avatar in a simulated and virtual environment. Through a questionnaire, participants were asked to give their opinions on elements of e-sports that may be considered cheating, or gaining an unfair advantage.

Analysis of participant questionnaires revealed that many respondents appeared to accept that e-doping was common practice, and that prevention measures and punishment were ineffective.

The results showed that the act of avatar weight manipulation in virtual cycling e-sport sees similar results, feedback, and undesirability to other forms of sporting fraud such as the use of performance-enhancing drugs.

Dr. Bryce Dyer is Deputy Head of the Department of Design and Engineering at Bournemouth University and co-authored the paper alongside colleague Dr. Jacqui Taylor. He said, “While traditional sport operates a range of guidelines, rules, and checks to ensure fairness and punish cheating, online environments do not always have the same rigorous guidelines and could be more susceptible to cheating.

Our initial study has started to look at e-sport cheating through the lens of avatars and perceptions of participants that even well-meaning changes to body weight or measurements could give an unfair in-platform advantage as the software accounts for the measurements provided as a part of the competition. We were shocked to hear that the perception from participants is that such activity is widespread.”

The research, published in the Journal of Electronic Gaming and Esports, concludes by proposing that the act of avatar weight manipulation should be treated as an illicit, deceptive, or wholly negative practice within e-sport rules, so as not to create an unfair advantage for participants.

Dr. Dyer concluded, “Where we have shown that perceptions of cheating are widespread, we must ensure that more is done to give confidence in the fairness of e-sports as it grows in popularity. We hope to continue our research and make suggestions to help make the exciting and growing field of e-sports as fair as it possibly can be.”