Microsoft plan to end kernel-level anti-cheat could be massive for Linux Gaming | Hacker News Reader

Microsoft plan to end kernel-level anti-cheat could be massive for Linux Gaming

notebookcheck.net

12 pointsmrzool3 comments

I'm currently developing an online game and have been looking into anticheat measures. From what I've seen, kernel level anticheats basically keep the honest people honest, and any determined cheater can work around them. I do wish Windows had some better way to ensure things are tamper proof for online games.

I actually think it's a good idea to charge at least a small amount of money for online games, so that when cheaters are banned they will have to pay real money to remake their accounts.

In a previous game I worked on, there were freely available and easy to use cheats. This completely ruined the online experience. At one point I wrote a small script to detect an irregularity used only by the cheaters, and the number of people who were banned was astounding. Of course the cheaters patched their cheat within a week and we were back to square one.

The only issue with charging for the game is you will then lose out on player base, some of the most popular competitive games get that way because kids and teens without an income can play them regardless. It's inclusive of all, especially when the developers focus on ensuring their game can run on as many devices as possible even with low-spec. This is incredibly important for a games community, even if it does make cheating slightly easier.

Personally, for Linux support, an offline-only mode with no anti-cheat would be fine.

We don't even need to compete online as others can.

Unfortunately [EA,] games like FIFA are unplayable even offline in Linux (with Proton WINE) due to anti-cheat FWIU.

EU has a new "preserving PC games" directive. Will any of these games work without versions of Operating Systems that there are no security patches for anymore?

The "Stop Destroying Videogames" petition is open through 2025-07-03: https://citizens-initiative.europa.eu/initiatives/details/20... :

> This initiative calls to require publishers that sell or license videogames to consumers in the European Union (or related features and assets sold for videogames they operate) to leave said videogames in a functional (playable) state.

OS-kernel-integrated anti-cheat makes a game unplayable offline today.

Those probably won't archive well.

VirtualBox supports a "virtual TPM" device so that Windows 11 will run in a VM.

Internet Archive has so many games preserved with DOSbox, in HTML5 and WASM years later.

We shouldn't need a 120 FPS 4K (4k120) sunshine server remote desktop for gaming with old games.

> Specifically, the initiative seeks to prevent the remote disabling of videogames by the publishers, before providing reasonable means to continue functioning of said videogames without the involvement from the side of the publisher.

The initiative does not seek to acquire ownership of said videogames, associated intellectual rights or monetization rights, neither does it expect the publisher to provide resources for the said videogame once they discontinue it while leaving it in a reasonably functional (playable) state.

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