Now if only they could more clearly communicate when games are playable offline.

    • Dremor@lemmy.world
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      18 days ago

      As he said, modlogs are public, and it seems like other user retreived the trace of what you call an “abuse of power” : https://sopuli.xyz/comment/12732467 .

      It is in his right as a moderator to chose how he moderate the communities he has the right to. If he finds your comment pedantic and annoying, and chose to remove it, so be it.

      I’m not taking sides here. I don’t know the whole story, and I doubt anyone else here does. With the little context provided, It’d be hard to take knowingly a side.

      But in both case, this is textbook harassement as you are copy-pasting this comment on every community this is posted on. This community has a pretty clear rule against harrassement (rule 2), which you are breaching, offense for which I’ll use my g… mod given right of banning you for the time being (I’ll re-evaluate tomorrow when I’ll be less tired).

      Edit : After talking with OP via PM, a ban of 7 days was issued

    • Jtee@lemmy.world
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      22 days ago

      Wow, mad because you can be held accountable. That’s sad.

      Thanks for the steam link!

    • yamanii@lemmy.world
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      22 days ago

      4 likes on him complaining that modlogs being public is something bad, cowards that only want to be shitty in the shadows.

    • Voyajer@lemmy.world
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      22 days ago

      He used to relentlessly spam the /r/linux_gaming subreddit and argue with people there too until he deleted his reddit account lol

    • finitebanjo@lemmy.world
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      22 days ago

      I was going to ask why the thumbnail on this post is a hexagon shaped bear, but your comment explains it well enough.

    • conciselyverbose@sh.itjust.works
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      22 days ago

      Adding kernel malware after the fact should entitle every single owner who requests one to a full refund no matter how long has passed.

      • TipRing@lemmy.world
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        22 days ago

        Full agree. I do want some kind of policy for games that introduce anti-cheat both during early access and after release. Bricking a game you paid for should offer some sort of recourse.

      • CaptDust@sh.itjust.works
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        22 days ago

        I’d really like Valve to take an official policy on post-release changes that break games, but for what it’s worth they have not given me any hassle with refunds in these scenarios.

      • PM_Your_Nudes_Please@lemmy.world
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        21 days ago

        That’s exactly what Valve did. The automated refund system wasn’t available, but you could request a manual review and cite the added anti cheat; Valve was refunding those who did so.

      • pressanykeynow@lemmy.world
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        22 days ago

        I don’t think that’s fair. I “own” GTA5 and don’t really care for the last… 8 years? what they add. I had the full content of my purchase. Why should I be able to gain money for this?

  • TommySoda@lemmy.world
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    22 days ago

    I feel like they’re doing this because they are going so hard with steam deck. Regardless, good on Valve for doing this.

  • Captain Aggravated@sh.itjust.works
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    21 days ago

    I wonder if you phrased it the way the Play store does: This game wants permission to:

    • send SMS messages
    • make calls
    • know your location
    • stalk your family
    • raid your fridge
    • access, read and upload files
    • manage and add contacts
    • cup your balls
    • go through your trash
    • irritate your boss

    etc.

    Think anyone would install them?

  • Woodstock@lemmy.world
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    22 days ago

    Can someone explain like I’m stupid on kernel level anti cheat and why I should watch out for it? Not a dig at all, a genuine question!

    • yamanii@lemmy.world
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      22 days ago

      Easy, a bug in battle eye forced me to reinstall windows, this kernel access has to go.

  • corroded@lemmy.world
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    22 days ago

    Why is kernel-level anti-cheat even a thing?

    If I was trying to prevent cheating, I’d hash the relevant game files, encrypt the values, and hard-code them into the executable. Then when the game is launched, calculated the hash of the existing files and compare to the saved values.

    What is gained by running anti-cheat in kernel mode? I only play single-player games, so I assume I’m missing something.

    • kevindqc@lemmy.world
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      22 days ago

      Because there are kernel-level cheats

      What you proposed can very easily be bypassed without even needing kernel access by just editing the executable code that checks hashes to always return true

    • Maalus@lemmy.world
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      22 days ago

      And then a game gets updated so the hashes don’t match and uh oh, everything is fucked. Oh, but we can change the hashes of the files in the executable! Yeah, so can they. People modding shit into the executable is basically a given. Let alone the fact that you’d need to sit through a steam “validation of files” length of time every time you’d need to launch a game (because validation works exactly as you have described).

      What is gained is that it has access to more information. Some cheats use an entirely different program / process that reads memory and outputs info that is available to the game but hidden from the player. Like a client needs to know where a person on the other team is to be able to draw their model. So you read that, you put a little box over where they are, and bang you have wallhacks.

    • ampersandrew@lemmy.worldOP
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      22 days ago

      They can prevent you from running cheats that other anti-cheats can’t detect. For instance, they could modify the value in memory so that your calculated hash always succeeds even when it’s modified. This doesn’t stop cheating though; it just means cheaters have to use cheat hardware that exists at a layer that even kernel anti-cheat can’t detect.

  • MyNameIsAtticus@lemmy.world
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    20 days ago

    This will be helpful for discerning if a game can run on the Steam Deck. There’s not many games that don’t have verification (Either by Valve or ProtonDB) but for newer games with anticheat it will serve as a good rule of thumb i imagine

  • x00z@lemmy.world
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    22 days ago

    I wish Valve would just ban them. It’s weird to have something that looks like pure malware in a Game store.

    • pressanykeynow@lemmy.world
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      22 days ago

      Luckily Valve seems to believe in freedom of decision for their users so they won’t do this. There are kernel level cheats so there are kernel level anticheats. Obviously anticheats are mostly lame in what they do so it would probably be better for them to not be kernel level. Still there are “pure malware” anticheats and Valve thinks it’s up to the user to decide if they want one, their job is to inform the user. And that’s the best approach here in my opinion.

  • Riccosuave@lemmy.world
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    22 days ago

    Not to be annoying, but can someone please ELI5 how kernel level anti-cheat software actually works, or link good resources where I can read about it.

    • ampersandrew@lemmy.worldOP
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      21 days ago

      It does prevent Linux compatibility, but even if it didn’t, it’s a computer security problem, for those who care. You’re essentially allowing different game companies to install a rootkit on your computer so you can play a video game.

    • trigonated@lemmy.world
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      21 days ago

      Mostly, and even some Windows users don’t want to install software that has such a great amount of permission over the entire system just for a game’s anti-cheat.

      It’s nice that users can now know beforehand if a game uses such software. Avoids refunds.

    • michaelmrose@lemmy.world
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      21 days ago

      No its common for anti-cheat on Windows to have full root permission to your entire system Windows users are just on average less intelligent, less concerned about privacy, and, more ignorant about technology. This doesn’t mean using Windows makes you stupid its just the OS of choice for the stupid and ignorant.

        • michaelmrose@lemmy.world
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          21 days ago

          Ad hominem isn’t when you insult people AND make an argument its when you insult people INSTEAD of making an argument.

          User initially believes that this is only a Linux issue because its almost entirely discussed on forums frequented by technical people who often use Linux whereas forums full of Windows gamers are equally effected but ignorant of the topic.