Modern kernel anti-cheat systems are, without exaggeration, among the most sophisticated pieces of software running on consumer Windows machines. They operate at the highest privilege level available to software, they intercept kernel callbacks that were designed for legitimate security products, they scan memory structures that most programmers never touch in their entire careers, and they do all of this transparently while a game is running. If you have ever wondered how BattlEye actually catches a cheat, or why Vanguard insists on loading before Windows boots, or what it means for a PCIe DMA device to bypass every single one of these protections, this post is for you.
↫ Adrián Díaza
I hate that we need proprietary rootkits just to play competitive multiplayer games – we can chalk this up to a few sad people ruining the experience for everyone else, as so often happens. I have a dedicated parts bin Windows box just to play League of Legends (my one vice alright, nobody’s perfect) so I don’t really care if it has a proprietary rootkit running in the background as there’s not a single bit of valuable data on that machine, but for most people, that’s not realistic.
Virtually every League of Legends player hands over control of their entire computer to a proprietary rootkit developed and deployed by a company from China, whereas players of other popular online multiplayer games must install rootkits from companies from the United States. If anyone inside the governments of these countries ever wants to implement a backdoor in dozens (hundreds?) of millions of Windows machines, this is the way to go.
It’s an absolutely bizarre situation.
The conclusion sounds like the only real ways to fight cheating are: 1. remote attestation, 2. cloud gaming
Both two very dystopian options.
I’m not a gamer unless you count local minecraft creative peaceful, but people will cheat as long as it’s easy and they don’t get caught. I don’t know how many times I’ve said, “I don’t find much value in movie streaming platforms,” and have another computer person say, “yeah, just torrent it.” Yeah, just steal it. How many people would steal books from a book store? Less than will steal a movie online, although it’s the same thing. Why? Because they’re less likely to get caught. My moral structure doesn’t happen to allow me to lie or steal. Just the way it is. But I see it all the time. If it’s easy to steal, and easy to lie, many many people will do it. Fact. To me it appears we are lamenting simple predictable human nature – in this instance.
laxr5rs,
It’s a technical nitpick, but copyright infringement isn’t stealing. These are very different both in principal and in practice. With stealing, you take the original away from someone whereas with copying you do not. It’s still right to pay the author for something one uses.
I do believe in copyrights, however sometimes publishers themselves are abusive and cheat us too. DRM is a prime example of legitimate users having their rights routinely taken away. It’s kind of insanity that legitimate users have a second class experience compared to pirates. If someone paid, I have no ethical qualms about them violating copyrights to break the DRM.
I also don’t see the point in cheating at gaming. It’s the classic external validation above all. You, as a cheater, know you suck. Some people just need to find a way to get the applause somehow.
I understand it a bit more when money is involved. Just look even at the Olympics. What is the point? I guess when you barely can make a living out of being a professional athlete, the incentive to cheat is high. Why are there professional athletes to begin with? Or the astronomical football salaries? The fact that you can kick balls accurately or ski downhill fast doesn’t really add anything of value to society.
HOWEVER –
Torrenting and pirating is completely understandable. I have original copies of Age of Empires but the only way I can play now is by running the torrented copy. I’d need to rebuy a steam edition, CD-ROM drives are dying, compatibility with new computers is worse.
Or… imagine that I would pay a streaming package for 19 EUR. They pull up a show I am watching. So the alternative is to pay 2 services? My contract just lost value and I get no discount. My Eastern European salary does not allow for subscribing for multiple services.
And when you consider that I probably pay more tax than the billionaires that use the same roads, airports, water and police that I do, I think I’d be basically getting them to pay a bit of tax to my benefit.
Why do they get to unilaterally change contracts and we can’t?
Pretty sure 90% of the cheat industry is propped up by moms’ credit cards. I would say it’s paywalled rather than easy, and as long as the money is on the table, Linux (and anything open source) is forever going to banned by anti-cheat.