5 ms·

I've just reinstalled GTA V last week and I was very surprised to find out that I now have to install a rootkit to run it. They had the balls to add a mandator

• crtasm 2y ago
  [dead]
• neilv 2y ago
  One of the reasons I run a PS5 instead. AFAIK, there's fewer cheaters on PlayStation current-gen than on PC, and I don't have to worry about anti-cheat kludges corrupting my "rig".
  • Aeolun 2y ago
    You mean all the anti-cheat options are pre-built into your rig?
    • portaouflop 2y ago
      Which is fine on a device that you only use for gaming, or am I missing something?
      • dmichulke 2y ago
        Well, you run untrusted code in your local network. Then again, we all trust our "smart" devices even if we really don't. I suppose a separate network would be the safe option (if you trust your router). That said, have there been rotten meat attacks using "temporarily above temperature" fridges? Are vegans just applying a defensive strategy against those?
      • lxgr 2y ago
        Not nearly every "gaming PC" is used for only that. When I grew up, I had one PC to do everything: Homework, gaming, learning to program, storing the single copy of treasured family photos, gaining painful experience in why to make backups before modifying the MBR to dual-boot Linux... Especially with iPads and Chromebooks becoming more prevalent in an education context, a "gaming PC" might well be the only computer that gives the user full control over it that many children have access to these days.
        • prmoustache 2y ago
          Computers were much more expensive back in the days and would be obsolete much faster. Nowadays for 50€ you can have a decent second hand computer with an older gen core i5 and 8 to 16GB of memory. That is plenty enough to run qubesOS.
        • wing-_-nuts 2y ago
          I get where both sides are coming from. On the one hand, buying a console and a reasonably spec'd laptop is clearly the better value. I did this during college, and both my laptop, and my console both lasted about a decade without requiring any upgrades. I did this again with the PS4. You wind up spending far less than you otherwise would trying to keep a gaming pc reasonably up to date, and both devices are optimized for their usage. On the other hand? At some point most of us will realize that we've been successful enough that we don't have to optimize for value, and we can choose 'all of the above'. I now have a PS5 AND a stupidly overspec'd AI / gaming desktop. I've enjoyed having both.
    • grbrr 2y ago
      Yes, so you don’t have to run a rootkit on a machine that you might file your taxes on.
      • echoangle 2y ago
        I would bet 90% of people here have at least another laptop if they have a gaming PC, if you’re concerned about being compromised by rootkits, just do your taxes on that.
        • stavros 2y ago
          There's nothing "just" about compromising one of my machines so badly that I don't trust it to file my taxes on any more.
        • lostlogin 2y ago
          So you own one machine and Rockstar owns the other?
          • echoangle 2y ago
            Well that was supposed to be the deal with the PlayStation, too.
          • Dilettante_ 2y ago
            "Your computer calls me root too"
    • pjc50 2y ago
      Yes. It's kind of an odd situation, because it's one where it's a benefit to me if other people are running anti-cheat. A limited sort of remote attestation that the people you're playing with aren't running certain kinds of software that peeks into or alters the memory image of the game or its graphics drivers.
  • pixxel 2y ago
    You’ve just got Sony watching over you and transcribing your audio conversations with friends.
    • generalpf 2y ago
      “Shoot that guy” “Ok” Super valuable stuff.
      • croes 2y ago
        Training data for AI
        • WithinReason 2y ago
          Sony is training the AI drones for the battlefields of the future from gamer conversations
          • Lanolderen 2y ago
            Can't wait to hear "Who you challin lil bro" as I get shot in the ass by a drone.
          • shultays 2y ago
            Not only future drones will get better at killing you, they will also learn to shit talk after doing that
      • notabee 2y ago
        Or more likely, listening to background noise to spy on what family members are saying and listening for marketing/brand trigger words. It may not be very human audible but if it's machine audible it will probably be scraped.
  • Woeps 2y ago
    This is the exact reason why is started with streaming services for games (Gfore/boosteroid/game pass). Next the anti-cheat thing I also spend less waiting for updates. And this way I can still play these games with my buddies.
• mrpippy 2y ago
  Add ‘-nobattleye’ to the Steam command-line launch options and you can play single-player without any installs. (Rockstar really should’ve made this a separate launch option like other games do)
  • soderfoo 2y ago
    > (Rockstar really should’ve made this a separate launch option like other games do) This is what happens when a producer's/product manager's cherished KPIs come before UX. In their mind, adding a toggle in the launcher would lead to lower engagement and player acquisition. We, the players, fail to recognize how our gaming experience can be enhanced by using social features like leader boards, guilds, or in game chat. We are not enlightened. Think about all the fun and exciting connections you'd miss out on if all the social crap was off by default or in an easily accessible place. I'm honestly surprised it's a command line option. My guess is that the requirement originated externally.
    • veunes 2y ago
      If the decision came from an external party, it's likely from publishers
    • parl_match 2y ago
      > This is what happens when a producer's/product manager's cherished KPIs come before UX. > In their mind, adding a toggle in the launcher would lead to lower engagement and player acquisition. Not "in their mind". It does and they have the data to show it. Very frustrating situation.
      • bravetraveler 2y ago
        It's GTA, if they want to get to Mars... release six there. Just shoot the gold copy out there. People will show up.
        • ahartmetz 2y ago
• veunes 2y ago
  Piracy shouldn’t feel like the "premium version" of a product...
  • johnisgood 2y ago
    But the reality is that it often is.
    • veunes 2y ago
      I have a friend who first pirates a game and then decides whether to support the game creators or not
      • johnisgood 2y ago
        Yeah, I think this is a good approach, just keep in mind that bought games may not be playable after some time due to silly reasons.
  • bitsandboots 2y ago
    Ownership is the premium version of a product. Turns out piracy is sometimes the only ownership option. Everything else is just a subscription, license, service.
    • veunes 2y ago
      It raises questions about how we define access versus ownership in the digital age.
  • tantalor 2y ago
    This is true for watching NFL. Option 1: subscribe to 7 streaming services which each have some unpredictable subset of games Option 2: go to some website that has all the games
    • ascagnel_ 2y ago
      The MLS did this with their Apple deal (pay a maximum of $120 for a season and you're guaranteed to get every league match of the season through the "TV" app), and it's been reasonably successful. That said, the league used that money in part to bring in Lionel Messi, and his significant international following came along with him, so it's hard to parse out how much of that is because they made the games easy to access (with the significant asterisk that Linux and Android users are stuck with a web app) versus his singular impact. The other part of this is that MLS is significantly smaller (~$275m in non-team-sponsorship revenue in 2023) than other North American leagues (the NHL, the next-largest league, had ~$6.75b in non-team-sponsorship revenue in 2023), so I don't know how reasonable it is for other leagues to follow the MLS's path.
• k4rli 2y ago
  What's even worse is with this update they completely cut off Linux users. It had been performing better than on W*ndows but they had to ruin the game. Surely this is foreshadowing the future of GTA VI and will have the same problems of being unplayable.
  • dartharva 2y ago
    As he said, pirating is the better option. I'm guessing all pirate releases of GTA V will run perfectly on Linux.
  • account42 2y ago
    You mean Proton users who have been doing everything they can to shit on the developers releasing native Linux games because "it runs 0.00001% faster on Proton so why bother with a native port". It's not like there haven't been people warning you that no official support means the games can stop working at any time and you won't have any recourse.
• lmm 2y ago
  So why didn't you pirate it? At some point people need to stop complaining and start putting their money where their mouth is.
  • dspillett 2y ago
    It had already been bought some time ago, this was stated as a reinstall. Using a pirate copy now might avoid the rootkit, but it would not send a message to the publisher as they'll not see a difference between not getting any money for this new install and not getting any money for this new install. Any difference in a numbers-playing stat, if the pirate version doesn't call home to be counted in those, is likely not significant.
• nottorp 2y ago
  I stopped getting Rockstar games for PC when the Steam store page for Max Payne 3 was lying that a rockstar club account was only required for multiplayer. Turns out it was mandatory for single player too instead. I did get GTA V for playstation, and indeed you can play single player without the rockstar account. Probably Sony forcing them to allow that, I don't think they did it out of the goodness of their hearts. However, every time you start the game you get a screen pushing you towards multiplayer. And the single time I did click on some multiplayer related options, they spammed my playstation system notifications with 'there are new events in GTA online' even in weeks I didn't start their title at all. So... good bye, rockstar. Your games are getting too big for their own good anyway.
• alwayslikethis 2y ago
  We need to stop normalizing the idea that businesses can change the offer of a purchased product after the fact. > These companies are all run by CEOs who got their MBAs at Darth Vader University, where the first lesson is “I have altered the deal, pray I don’t alter it further.” https://pluralistic.net/2023/12/08/playstationed https://pluralistic.net/2023/12/08/playstationed
• strogonoff 2y ago
  Big game publishers will inevitably flex the “we can impose any restrictions we want at any time, go sue us” in your face at some point. Piracy is indeed the superior experience, unfortunately, though I would add a caveat that as a rule it does not apply to indie titles. (At least while they stay indie… Not long ago I was reinstalling Minecraft after a long break and found out that Microsoft has the balls to demand that I verify a phone number to play a game I bought more than 10 years ago. Like with GTA V’s rootkit, they don’t care if you want to play single-player—once you’re locked out of the loader, you’re locked out and no human will help you.)
• IG_Semmelweiss 2y ago
  Honest question. Would a Windows10-11 user be able to tell there are "rootkits" embedded in installations, without looking at the (optional) disclosures made available now on steam ? In other words, what guarantee is there that if i'm buying a game from Steam, or say GOG, that there's no quasi-malware riding along with the game install ?
  • nemomarx 2y ago
    in general anti cheat will advertise that it has kernel level access and might need admin permission during install if you're worried about hidden stuff I'm not sure how you could tell