3 ms·

I’m not much of a gamer, but my kids are growing up and will soon want to play the real stuff. Is there any easy way to see whether a game requires anti-cheat t

I’m not much of a gamer, but my kids are growing up and will soon want to play the real stuff. Is there any easy way to see whether a game requires anti-cheat to run? I’d hate to spend top dollar on a game only to find it’ll take over their entire computer and I’ll want to make a hard rule “no games with kernel level anti cheat in this house” or something like that.

hlfshell 2y ago
Rule of thumb - if it runs well on steam deck / steamos it probably doesn't have anything too extreme... most multiplayer games won't run on the windows compatibility layer as it allows the client a possible level of control that would look similar to a low level cheat. Nearly every competitive game game is going to be utilizing some form of anticheat like this, so single player games tend to not have this issue (drm is a separate conversation)
PrivateButts 2y ago
Steam sometimes lets you know with a banner in the store page about a required 3rd party software, but there's also https://areweanticheatyet.com/ https://areweanticheatyet.com/ maintained by Linux gamers. What's frustrating to me is that games will run the hyper invasive kernel level version of an anti cheat on Windows but will allow Linux plays, which has no such level of access. If we're trusting Linux players with no kernel level monitoring, why not windows players? Have cheater really not caught on that there's a lower bar on that platform? I hope they don't because I like being able to play competitive games with friends without having to reboot first.
- pynappo 2y ago
  I think it really is just that some cheaters don't wanna install a different OS, and my understanding is that there are still plenty of hacks on Windows so not much reason to change. Overwatch 2 for example has had a free undetected source-released cheat on Windows for months now (according to what I've heard on Reddit). I believe Valorant and Roblox have had devs/employees state that supporting Linux isn't worth it for the small proportion of the player base vs the increased cheat risk as well, although feel free to take that with a grain of salt
npteljes 2y ago
Multiplayer games all have some kind of anti-cheat, or they have cheater dominated servers. Unfortunately I don't know any easy data source to find out the kind of anti-cheat games use. Sometimes the Steam page has details on it. I suggest compartmentalization for games, for example a dedicated gaming machine. That way, anti-cheat doesn't have much to take over. You can connect it to guest wifi, so that it doesn't see the LAN either.
uyzstvqs 2y ago
SteamDB has a "technologies used" field taken from the Steam API. Not all are bad, EAC and Battleye are the most common, and are both reputable. Those run with the game and close with the game, and they minimize data collection.
gaudystead 2y ago
"BUT DAAaaaAAAaaaAAD! Tommy's parents let _him_ install invasive software on _his_ computer, and they're a doctor and a lawyer, so they seem really smart!"

hlfshell 2y ago

Rule of thumb - if it runs well on steam deck / steamos it probably doesn't have anything too extreme... most multiplayer games won't run on the windows compatibility layer as it allows the client a possible level of control that would look similar to a low level cheat. Nearly every competitive game game is going to be utilizing some form of anticheat like this, so single player games tend to not have this issue (drm is a separate conversation)

PrivateButts 2y ago

Steam sometimes lets you know with a banner in the store page about a required 3rd party software, but there's also https://areweanticheatyet.com/ https://areweanticheatyet.com/ maintained by Linux gamers. What's frustrating to me is that games will run the hyper invasive kernel level version of an anti cheat on Windows but will allow Linux plays, which has no such level of access. If we're trusting Linux players with no kernel level monitoring, why not windows players? Have cheater really not caught on that there's a lower bar on that platform? I hope they don't because I like being able to play competitive games with friends without having to reboot first.

pynappo 2y ago
I think it really is just that some cheaters don't wanna install a different OS, and my understanding is that there are still plenty of hacks on Windows so not much reason to change. Overwatch 2 for example has had a free undetected source-released cheat on Windows for months now (according to what I've heard on Reddit). I believe Valorant and Roblox have had devs/employees state that supporting Linux isn't worth it for the small proportion of the player base vs the increased cheat risk as well, although feel free to take that with a grain of salt

npteljes 2y ago

Multiplayer games all have some kind of anti-cheat, or they have cheater dominated servers. Unfortunately I don't know any easy data source to find out the kind of anti-cheat games use. Sometimes the Steam page has details on it. I suggest compartmentalization for games, for example a dedicated gaming machine. That way, anti-cheat doesn't have much to take over. You can connect it to guest wifi, so that it doesn't see the LAN either.

uyzstvqs 2y ago

SteamDB has a "technologies used" field taken from the Steam API. Not all are bad, EAC and Battleye are the most common, and are both reputable. Those run with the game and close with the game, and they minimize data collection.

gaudystead 2y ago

"BUT DAAaaaAAAaaaAAD! Tommy's parents let _him_ install invasive software on _his_ computer, and they're a doctor and a lawyer, so they seem really smart!"