[jumski]

I recently tried to run Apex Legends on my Manjaro (i played this a lot few years ago on my Windows dualboot), but it is impossible to play it on Linux, as EA/Respawn is preventing the game from running on Linux due to Anti cheat systems having troubles with protecting the game.

I'm really curious what would be the appropriate solution for an anti cheat that runs on Linux in a way that a) does not compromise my OS/privacy/security b) protects the game from cheaters at the same time.

[eptcyka]

I think software transparency could help with this. Or at least remote attestation - you could run the game inside an encrypted VM (AMD SEV) and attest that it is run this way. This way, you're not running a kernel module on your host, and you can't cheat the game even if you just physically write or read to the memory.

[jumski]

sounds kinda complicated, what would it bring over secure boot and whitelisted kernels that tapoxi suggested?

[eptcyka]

Works with any kernel.

[tapoxi]

Secure boot and let the game attest the boot state.

It would restrict you to a series of whitelisted kernels, probably from major distributions, but it's better than the current situation.

[jumski]

that sounds like a reasonable compromise, it may even provide more control and protection over what they are able to achieve on Windows?

i remember their anti cheat was utter crap tbh, not like something that Riot implemented for Valorant (a kernel-level system that runs from boot-up with deep system access)

[PuppetSoup]

I don't think there is a good solution. The best for privacy and security would be server-side anti-cheat but imagine the tantrum EA would have when they'd have to spend some dollars themselves instead of installing a spyware into their clients' pc for free.

[jumski]

what tapoxi suggested above sounds like a reasonable compromise tbh, but i doubt it will ever happen, as the userbase is too small :-(