Comment by everdrive
18 hours ago
Strongly agreed. Some people want kernel-level anticheat for Linux. I think that's a huge mistake. Ideally, kernel-level anticheat would be done away with altogether. More realistically, I'm just going to avoid any games which use kernel-level anticheat, even if it means missing out.
I got roasted on linux subreddits for saying as much. We should not be encouraging this crap to come to Linux, it needs to go away for good.
IIRC, even Microsoft was getting fed up with hands in the kernel after Cloudstrike so we may see it disappear eventually if Microsoft starts cracking down.
Wait, people on linux subreddits support kernel-level anti-cheat?
I had the same experience as the parent; opposition to kernel-level anticheat was very unpopular. I think the people on reddit don't understand that in principle, linux could be made to be exactly as bad as any other OS, and that kernel-level anticheat is just one step on the journey there.
So you're just okay with people cheating then?
This sounds a lot like anti-encryption rhetoric: "so are you just okay with terrorists / pedophiles / pirates then?".
That's a rude strawman of the point I was making. Kernel-level anticheat is just too great of a cost. Your entire system is compromised so that you can play some (usually lousy) AAA games.
I oppose kernel-level anticheat because once it's in place, it will proliferate, even to single player games, just as it has in Windows.
In other words, once it's broadly supported, the number of games available to me (assuming I want to avoid kernel-level anticheat) will actually _shrink _.
What cost? Unless you're using multiple users the game exe can already read all your files and memory of your processes. This kernel argument just silly fear mongering when userspace can already do so much.
I think the point the other poster was trying to make is that nobody explicitly wants anti cheat — likely including the game devs.
But the alternative is cheaters in the game, which your point doesn’t really address. So for many it is a necessary evil, so to speak.
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