[matheusmoreira]

Hope that never changes. Linux has enough problems without invasive kernel mode anticheat malware trying to install itself on our systems.

It was bad enough that we had to put up with nvidia's proprietary nonsense if we wanted hardware acceleration. Things have finally started to improve. They have finally started open sourcing things. Now that things are finally getting better this anticheat nonsense shows up. You gotta be kidding me.

Nobody needs a bunch of game companies feeling entitled to full access to our computers. You'd have to be nuts to let game companies run ring zero code on your system. You want their nonsense absolutely contained and isolated, not deep in your kernel.

Here's a thought: they don't own our computers, we do. We own the CPU. We own the RAM. We own the motherboard. If we want to edit their game's memory while its running, it's our god given right as the owners of the machine the game is running on. Any attempt to stop us from doing so is an affront to our freedom. The mere attempt to do so with "anticheating" kernel malware is offensive. The audacity.

Cheating at video games is an exercise in computer freedom. I realize I'm defending scoundrels here and it doesn't matter in the slightest. Our computing freedom is orders of magnitude more important than video games. I want them to suck it up and accept it. That is the price of freedom. If they want to be on Linux, it should be on our terms.

Don't care about this ideological stuff? Here's the sort of risk you're accepting when you opt into this bullshit:

https://www.vice.com/en/article/fs-labs-flight-simulator-pas...

Corporation thinks its the FBI and starts shipping a browser stealer to users to "catch pirates". Bonus points for exfiltrating the data on an unencrypted channel!

https://old.reddit.com/r/Asmongold/comments/1cibw9r/valorant...

https://www.unknowncheats.me/forum/anti-cheat-bypass/634974-...

Screenshots your screen and exfiltrates it to their servers.

https://www.theregister.com/2016/09/23/capcom_street_fighter...

https://twitter.com/TheWack0lian/status/779397840762245124

https://fuzzysecurity.com/tutorials/28.html

https://github.com/FuzzySecurity/Capcom-Rootkit

A literal privilege escalation as a service "anticheat" driver!

Game companies give negative amounts of shit. If you trust them you're out of your mind.

[nullishdomain]

I have a feeling that your ideal game, full of cheaters online, would not be very popular.

[N_Lens]

I don't agree with your take because it's an example of individual 'freedoms' shitting all over something communal - a caricature of freedom that America has become known for. Cheating ruins online games.

[matheusmoreira]

Online games are nothing. They are a literal non-issue next to the loss of computing freedom. Let them be ruined so that we can have the freedom to control our computers without undue intrusion. If online games are the price of freedom, so be it.

Sacrificing freedom for security? I don't agree with it but I can at least understand where the impetus comes from. Sacrificing freedom for fun? For video games of all things? That's pretty disgusting and I want people to be better than that.

Accept this, and you also indirectly accept corporations regulating "your" computer's ability to copy, as well as governments regulating "your" computer's ability to encrypt.

[MrZander]

You don't have to sacrifice anything, no one is making you install anti-cheat software.

> Sacrificing freedom for fun? For video games of all things? That's pretty disgusting and I want people to be better than that.

What is the point of freedom if you have a joyless existence?

[matheusmoreira]

> What is the point of freedom if you have a joyless existence?

> no one is making you install anti-cheat software

You don't see the irony here? You don't see the trillion dollar corporations dangling "joy" in front of us and conditioning access to it on acceptance of their bullshit non-negotiable take it or leave it contracts where "we own your computer now" is a clause?

The powerful choice is to reject the silly binary choice they offer you and take a third option. Refuse their deal and refuse your so called "joyless" existence.

Enjoy your games while also keeping control of your computer. If they try to usurp control of your computer, stop them from doing so. Only malware would try that, treat them accordingly. If you must associate with cheaters and pirates in order to acquire the necessary technology and know-how, then so be it.

It's the same thing with DRM, it's the same thing with ads, it's the same thing with pretty much everything. They give you some bullshit choices, but you can take a third option because you own the machine. That's the power they would take away from you.

[Rohansi]

> If they try to usurp control of your computer, stop them from doing so.

But anti-cheat software is not doing this? You are free to do whatever you want on your computer as long as it doesn't interfere with the game process. Most, if not all, anti-cheats will also not do anything when the game isn't open.

Some games (including Rust) give you the choice to play with no anti-cheat, too. You'll only be able to play on servers that allow players to join with no anti-cheat but you are not blocked from the game.

I would be more worried about computing becoming more phone-centric where Apple and Google are in control of what you can and cannot do.

[matheusmoreira]

> You are free to do whatever you want on your computer as long as

You are not free. "Your" computer is not actually yours. It doesn't do what you want.

> Most, if not all, anti-cheats will also not do anything when the game isn't open.

Stop believing this. For god's sake I just posted an example of a corporation that thought it was perfectly justified in hacking their customers and stealing their browser passwords. There is no line they wouldn't cross.

They could be doing literally anything and you know it. There's no way for you to know unless you reverse engineer the software, and if you try they are only too happy to label you a cheater and permaban your account or whatever it is that they do.

> I would be more worried about computing becoming more phone-centric where Apple and Google are in control of what you can and cannot do.

This is the exact same issue.

Apple, Google, Disney, Netflix, Hollywood, the games industry, the copyright industry, all the governments the world over are all battling for control over our machines.

This anticheating nonsense is just the tutorial boss.

[efdee]

It's not clear what freedom you are sacrificing. Nobody is forcing you to play those games. If you don't want to let them run their anti cheat system, don't do it. This is not some unavoidable measure.

What a strange hill to want to die on.

[matheusmoreira]

This has nothing at all to do with whether you are "forced" to do anything. Anyone who wants to play games should be able to do so without some abusive anticheat taking over their machine.

It doesn't matter what's written in their silly EULAs which nobody reads. I couldn't care less if it ruins the games or costs them billions in profits. You are morally justified in defeating their silly anticheat nonsense in order to enjoy games on your terms without them pwning your computer. You are only morally wrong if you actually cheat.

And it's not at all some "strange hill to die on". This is a fundamental computing freedom issue. It's about who owns the keys to the machine. It's the exact same issue Android users face when they install GrapheneOS only to discover their bank doesn't support it just because it's not owned by Google. In my opinion this should be literally illegal.

[hhh]

no it’s not, you can just not do it.