one that would be poorly maintained by both us and EAC due to the low user base.

I'm sure I've been playing a lot of games with EAC, because it's actually one of the few ones that support Linux.

If I'm not mistaken (judging entirely by the RAC popup/loading), from the games I'm playing, Hell Let Loose, Fellowship, Helldivers 2, I think even The Finals used it.

Hell Let Loose wasn't working at first, because you have to check a checkbox and enable Linux support when building, which did take them a while.

So, unless I'm misremembering/confusing it with another anticheat, this is bullshit.

Also "unless you have an in-house anti-cheat team"

You made millions out of your player base. You can afford it. You're just lazy.

This is the same BS CrowdStrike uses to sell their rootkit EDR. I mean, by all means it is a very solid EDR, but it's being used exclusively to cover gaping holes in discrete security as a cop out for not properly composing enterprise infrastructure.

A kernel space agent should only really be running in an environment where every process must be heavily scrutinized and the design of the kernel module is tightly controlled and itself under constant review, like in a proper data center with thousands of critical nodes. Not your laptop or the shitty windows box used to display ads in the screens at the airport.

Crowdstrike keeps spamming new features and techniques without serious consideration to keep their enterprise customers happy, similar to crappy solutions like Vanguard.

Covering obvious blatant logic flaws should be included in your server software, it's the same as sanity checking your inputs because there is always the possibility in may not match what you expect.

From that experience, I'm very comfortable saying that if a game supports Proton or Linux, they're not serious about anti-cheat

This statement is especially insulting to the massive library of games that successfully added Linux support without so much as a hint of issue relating to cheating. Even crappy outsourced dev War Thunder doesn't need to do anything after enabling EAC/BattilEye because they actually spend the .000001% extra cash from their whale revenue to run a service moderation team.

Hell even Valve's VAC system is mostly just about automating moderation tasks so that hackers can be taken down ASAP instead of a lengthy review process.

Or you know, the thousands of games that have better game logic than Rust's anticheat.

This guy is from the UK and former military. I think there must be some kind of weird haywire thing where the military experience made him irrationally upset about people who do not follow rigid rules and structure or something.

No doubt he spends most nights stalking cheater forums and dreaming about the day he finally wins his war lol

People who play games to cheat are the problem with the world. Born losers.

Image Text:

From linux_gaming community on Reddit

Posted by: Alistair_Mc

There are no plans to support Proton or Linux. It's a vector for cheat developers, and one that would be poorly maintained by both us and EAC due to the low user base. When we stopped support for Linux, we saw more cheat users exploiting Linux, than actual legitimate users.

When monitoring cheats for Rust, we keep a close eye on wider cheat communities across several major games. We look at what cheat developers are doing, and how other studios are responding.

From that experience, I'm very comfortable saying that if a game supports Proton or Linux, they're not serious about anti-cheat. The only exception would be if they have a fully mature, dedicated in-house anti-cheat team, even then, I'm not seeing anyone handle Proton and Linux well.

Apex Legends also dropped Proton support in October 2024 for the same reasons as we did several years ago.

Could we limit Proton to Premium servers? yes, but I think it's total bullshit asking Proton users to buy the game and then $15 worth of DLC. I'd be pissed if I were forced to do that.

When we stopped supporting Linux, users made up less than .01% of the total player base, even if that number has doubled, or tripled, it's not worth it.

I know that every time I post something like this, some Proton and Linux users call us lazy or dismissive. The reality is that fighting cheaters on one front (Windows), is already a never-ending battle. Adding more fronts multiplies that challenge without adding meaningful benefit to the wider player base.

Never heard of Rust, but it sounds like something I can afford to ignore.

OS shouldn't even matter to prevent cheating; do your anticheat validation server side. Anyone who knows anything about security knows the client side can never be trusted.

The garbage took itself out.

They're on that lie still?

Cool, cool. I've got plenty of games to choose from to care about lazy lying assholes who can't be bothered to come up with a better excuse than that for why they irrationally hate Linux

Rust is a shit game with a terrible community and rampant cheating.

even most popular Minecraft servers have better functioning anti cheat that is completely server side

Why isn't this the standard everywhere? These servers prove that server side anticheat works.

I have literally never played a game and encountered an obvious cheater and if I did, I think I'd just change servers. Is this really such a huge problem and if so, what are its consequences beyond maybe being annoyed for 5 minutes?

Referencing my comment in the other thread, Facepunch employees keep being disingenuous about this claim. Even if it is true, due to how unplayable Facepunch made the Linux build a short while before they axed it for "a rampant cheating problem", this claim does not have enough evidence. The linked comment goes into some more detail, but it is insane how much the developers keep doubling down on their disinformation.

This is what happens when your game is exclusively a commercial product and not a creative work. This exact logic is why accessibility features are being implemented sparsly and slowly.

If all he cares about is money, let's just not give it to him. There's thousands of better games, more worth our time and money.

i wonder if this guy heard about counter strike...

I tried Rust, but quit quickly due to the extreme levels of racism and open Nazis. Maybe they should address some core issues of the game before blaming Linux for their problems?

Also, how was their playerbase only 0.01% Linux? Was their game terrible on Linux? Why did it have hundreds of time less players than other platforms

Does the anti-cheat break the game on Linux? Not buying the game. I don't need that kind of crap in my life.

What a clown ahahha