This also applies to Valorant. I know a lot of people look down on both games, but it’s still unfortunate for Linux to lose access to such a popular game.

I thought this part was particularly interesting:

Half of anti-cheat is making sure the environment hasn’t been tampered with, and this is extremely hard on Linux by design. Any backdoors we leave open for it are ones [cheat] developers will immediately leverage for cheats

  • @[email protected]
    link
    fedilink
    46
    edit-2
    3 months ago

    Their post is a bunch of PR hidden by funnyspeak while not addressing people’s concerns in any way. The worst is that they’re officially ditching LoL on linux because reasons, they’re forcing the anti cheat on windows BUT they can’t implement it on MacOS because Apple won’t allow it

    • @[email protected]
      link
      fedilink
      112 months ago

      Their post is a bunch of PR hidden by funnyspeak

      I disagree, I think they said pretty plainly that they rely on security by obscurity, which is fundamentally at odds with an open platform that gives you control over your hardware. They’re not wrong, they can take their shitty anti-cheat arms race and shove it.

      • @Molecular0079
        link
        English
        32 months ago

        But if the Mac client doesn’t have anti-cheat, doesn’t it totally defeat their whole argument?

        • @[email protected]
          link
          fedilink
          22 months ago

          If running on an obscure platform avoids cheaters, that’s still security by obscurity. I assume it’s only a matter of time before the number of cheaters using that client grows to the point where they either have to invest in anti-cheat there, or cut support for the platform.

          MacOS is not an open platform, so as long as apple support their efforts, they will be able to have kernel mode anti-cheat there when they want it.

          • @Molecular0079
            link
            English
            52 months ago

            Yeah, but Apple isn’t allowing it (at least according to the comment you replied to), so if Riot continues to allow their games to run on Mac without kernel anti-cheat, then their whole argument against Linux support is moot.

            • @[email protected]
              link
              fedilink
              12 months ago

              Nothing in the comment I replied to indicated that apple wasn’t allowing kernel-level anti cheat. It just says their apple client doesn’t have it.

              • @Molecular0079
                link
                English
                12 months ago

                BUT they can’t implement it on MacOS because Apple won’t allow it

                • @[email protected]
                  link
                  fedilink
                  12 months ago

                  Ah, I didn’t go back far enough. Yeah, that’s fair then. In fact, I wonder how possible it is to just run the mac build on linux.

    • Kayn
      link
      fedilink
      2
      edit-2
      2 months ago

      How are they ditching LoL on Linux if they’ve never officially supported it in the first place?

  • @WalrusByte
    link
    English
    353 months ago

    “They’d find our backdoors T_T”

    Oh noooooo! /s

    • FubarberryOP
      link
      fedilink
      English
      112 months ago

      To be fair, I think the backdoors they’re referring to would be ones meant to allow Linux users to play.

      But with Riot being owned by a Chinese company, I suspect there are plenty of backdoors to go around.

      • @WalrusByte
        link
        English
        22 months ago

        Yeah, you’re right. It just sounds kinda bad to call them “our backdoors”. It’s not inaccurate, but still sounds kinda sus

    • @[email protected]
      link
      fedilink
      22 months ago

      That’s pretty much the only reasonable explanation at this point. If they were afraid of people finding errors it would be beneficial to allow more players to see what’s the program doing. Riot basically confirming they just want to run spyware on SpywareOS.

  • Miss Brainfarts
    link
    fedilink
    272 months ago

    Linux only grants access inside user space, so yeah. Says a lot about any game that refuses to adapt to that

    • loiakdsf
      link
      fedilink
      14
      edit-2
      2 months ago

      I get your point, but that is only 50% of the article. 800 players simply don’t justify the effort of porting everything to Linux and risk more cheaters. Issues with cheaters affect the entire playerbase, not just those 800.

      I’d like more Linux compatibility in large games as much as the next guy, but I get the justification not to do it.

      • @pandacoder
        link
        122 months ago

        Vanguard was announced and was supposed to be added to League imminently a while ago. I stopped playing months ago as a result. I can hardly imagine that I am the only one, so the number seems cherry picked for convenience.

        I’d like to know what the average daily player count on Linux was prior to 2024, I suspect it’s higher than 800.

        That said, I get the trade-off. I won’t support that trade-off though because I will never agree with an anticheat implemented like Vanguard is.

        • loiakdsf
          link
          fedilink
          02 months ago

          Well if you and assumingly many others decided to quit the game for good after that announcement, the number might be cherry picked, but not misleading as you said yourself that you are not going to play anymore.

          In that case they also get what they want - solely Windows players.

          • @pandacoder
            link
            32 months ago

            I mean I’m not really picking to not play anymore because I don’t want to. They said they were going to turn it on like two months ago and I believed them. I wasn’t about to risk my account on the odd chance my crapple device is good enough to play it.

            • loiakdsf
              link
              fedilink
              -12 months ago

              Yes, and exactly that is reflected in the player numbers… By your and many others’ choice. They couldn’t care less about the reason.

              I’m just saying that announcing their move ahead of time affects player numbers and they probably reported the player numbers after that announcement.

      • @Specal
        link
        122 months ago

        I mean, the question should also be, does league of legends have a big enough cheating issue to justify having an invasive anti-cheat. I played the game for 10 years and not once did I knowingly encounter a cheater.

      • Miss Brainfarts
        link
        fedilink
        72 months ago

        Is Vanguard actually that much more effective than say, the EAC that we have on Linux?

      • @[email protected]
        link
        fedilink
        42 months ago

        Well LoL has no official Linux support, so a low current number of users is no indication of the size of the potential Linux player base.

        • loiakdsf
          link
          fedilink
          02 months ago
          1. this plays in their favor
          2. clicking install in lutris rather than just downloading is not much more effort for the end user. Beit supported or not, a rather tech savvy group such as linux users can handle that obstacle and thus the numbers will not change drastically (just my asdumption)
  • @[email protected]
    link
    fedilink
    183 months ago

    I enjoyed playing TFT but this whole thing made me ditch LoL altogether some months ago. And cheaters on LoL are so rare…

    • FubarberryOP
      link
      fedilink
      English
      132 months ago

      According to the original Riot post, 1 in 15 games has a cheater, and in some regions it’s 1 in 5 games.

      But valorant has the same kernel anticheat, and has rampant cheating. So I don’t think the new anticheat will actually help.

      • @[email protected]
        link
        fedilink
        62 months ago

        Depends also on their definition of cheater. If they count the mindless weak bots that keep playing just to farm currency in non ranked or if they only count serious cheats.

          • warm
            link
            fedilink
            102 months ago

            League just doesn’t have that many ‘traditional’ cheaters and the game lends itself to server-side AC way more than most. The cheaters in League are more often win-traders at high elos and smurfs in low elos. Also lots of feeding and trolling. So I have no idea why they are adding Vanguard, a good reason to stop playing the game though.

    • @[email protected]
      link
      fedilink
      42 months ago

      Even with premium Linux support, who in their right mind would run that shit with kernel access

  • Ulu-Mulu-no-die
    link
    fedilink
    English
    6
    edit-2
    2 months ago

    World of Warcraft has its own anticheat that works on Linux no problem, if Blizzard can do it why Riot can’t? It’s not that WoW has more players than LOL so it could be justified, it’s actually the opposite.

    • I Cast Fist
      link
      fedilink
      32 months ago

      It’s probably because WoW isn’t as competitive as LoL or Valorant, so Riot’s games need to be more aggressive in figuring whether someone is cheating or not. A more apt comparison would be with Valve’s Dota2 and Counter Strike

  • @[email protected]
    link
    fedilink
    English
    42 months ago

    The problem with anti-cheat won’t get away anytime soon, and at least not until one invents effective server-side detection, or some completely different methods that can work with Linux and probably not anything that is known already

  • @spez_
    link
    32 months ago

    Make sure to buy hardware hacks

  • kingthrillgore
    link
    fedilink
    -22 months ago

    No sweaty, angry, sexist, racist, sub-human filth League gamers on Linux? What a shame. How will Linux users ever recover knowing the trash will never leave the dumpster? I for one am completely devastated.

    /s