[lwansbrough]

Anti-cheat is a necessity for an enjoyable game experience. If you are a casual who doesn’t care about game integrity, you probably aren’t the target audience.

I don’t want any cheaters in my games. I don’t care if a rootkit is required. Riot has a kernel level anti-cheat and it’s _really_ good. It’s so good in fact that it deters most cheaters from even trying. This is the dream for anyone who wants fair games.

[cortesoft]

I agree with you, but I think the best solution is just to let people run the game without anti-cheat, but they can only play with other people who also opt-out of anti cheat (or choose to allow themselves to be matched with people who opt-out).

Then people can choose to either accept they have to install a rootkit anti-cheat, or want to risk facing cheaters in return for not having to install the anti-cheat.

[kgwxd]

I wouldn't be able to enjoy life with the knowledge there's a rootkit installed on my machine, developed by the same people that make video games, and hate all levels of accountability, riddled with vulnerabilities that could grant an attacker the same ridiculous level of permissions.

[nottorp]

> If you are a casual who doesn’t care about game integrity, you probably aren’t the target audience.

Friendly reminder. 90% of games are not competitive multiplayer and don't need any anti cheat to be enjoyable.

My main entertainment is video games and books (no TV) in equal proportions so I'm far from "casual". I play zero competitive multiplayer due to the "communities" being invariably toxic.

Last time I played something like that it was Starcraft 2 when it was new. Enjoyed being called a stupid noob when I won.

[simoncion]

Yeah. I've found a nearly 1:1 correlation between "Does it try hard to be 'competitive' or an 'e-sport'?" and "Is a huge section of the playerbase just godawful toxic assholes?".

As the years ground on, I've learned to avoid games billing themselves as an "e-sport" or indicating that they are extremely focused on the "competitive" scene, unless there's something very compelling to offset the asshole players that will inevitably be pulled in.