This is one use case where I think the idea of cloud gaming (e.g. google stadia) could make some sense. Having this as an alternative for linux users would be nice.

It's much harder to cheat if the game isn't running on your computer.

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dvdkon 5 days ago | parent | next [-]

That's a good idea, sadly I think gamers would reject it due to extra latency.

The ultimate "anti-cheat" is playing on some trusted party's computer. That can be a cloud machine, but I think today a game console would work just as well, turn that closed nature into an actual user-facing benefit. Console manufacturers seem focused on their traditional niche of controller couch gaming and not on appealing to high-FPS keyboard-and-mouse gamers, though.

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everforward 5 days ago | parent | next [-]

Consoles are also vulnerable via peripherals. There are controllers that will run recoil countering scripts and things like that.

XIM fakes being a controller but is KBM. I sort of wonder whether it’s possible to use a camera to get a stream of the game and make an aimbot either by making a fake controller or a robot that manipulates a real controller.

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allovertheworld 4 days ago | parent [-]

Those are basically just scripts on inputs, pretty much nothing like aimbot or wallhacks

	▲	everforward 4 days ago \| parent [-]
		Capture card your video output to a Raspberry Pi, connect the Pi to a XIM over USB and have it pretend to be a keyboard and mouse, and you have an aimbot. I would guess XIMs put 0 effort into ensuring it’s a real KBM and not a dummy device. True that wallhacks aren’t possible via peripherals, though. You might be able to get some level of info from the audio output and map knowledge, but nowhere near the same as true ESP.

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why_at 5 days ago | parent | prev | next [-]

Yeah I don't think this would work for hardcore competitive gamers, but it would be nice to have as an option for those who are more casual. Definitely better than not being able to play at all.

It doesn't even seem very hard to implement, steam already has the ability to stream games, they could add this pretty easily as an option for any game (although there is the concern of the extra cost of running the servers).

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prmoustache 5 days ago | parent | prev [-]

>That's a good idea, sadly I think gamers would reject it due to extra latency.

That shouldn't be a problem if all players, regardless of the OS, are required to use the same cloud service with similar latency.

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mitkebes 5 days ago | parent | prev | next [-]

Generally yes, although some cheats like aim assistance would work fine on online streamed games, since they can scan your screen and adjust your mouse input to aim.

To be fair kernel anticheat can't block this completely either, it can be run on external hardware that uses a capture card to analyze your video feed and alter your mouse inputs to the computer. Generally undetectable unless the game is able to identify unnatural mouse movements.

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why_at 5 days ago | parent [-]

>it can be run on external hardware that uses a capture card to analyze your video feed and alter your mouse inputs to the computer.

I think at some point defeating this becomes impossible. This sort of cheating isn't much different conceptually from just having someone who's really good at the game play for you.

	▲	schmorptron 4 days ago \| parent [-]
		Valve have been trying by training a neural net that watches every competitive cs:go match played to detect aim bots since 2017 with training data sourced from players labelling demos as cheats or no cheats, but I don't think they've hit a big breakthrough yet

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Tuna-Fish 5 days ago | parent | prev | next [-]

Cloud gaming is flatly non-workable for any kind of game where latency matters. This also covers most of the market for games where anti-cheats matter a lot.

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internetter 5 days ago | parent | next [-]

> Cloud gaming is flatly non-workable for any kind of game where latency matters.

Not if only the rendering is done on the client. Look at rocket league.

Edit: of course, it is still possible to cheat in rocket league, but because all physics state is server authoritative at best a perfectly coded cheat could play like a perfect human, not supernatural.

	▲	Rohansi 5 days ago \| parent [-]
		I'm not familiar with Rocket League but server authoritative netcode is not comparable to cloud gaming. All games should be as server authoritative as possible to prevent cheating from the start. The problem is the client may have more state in memory than what you can see rendered on screen (players behind walls). Running the game on the cloud makes all of that inaccessible to cheats.

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prmoustache 5 days ago | parent | prev [-]

How is that a problem if everyone is using it?

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Tuna-Fish 4 days ago | parent [-]

People have varying distance to the server, and regardless, it would still feel really crappy for everyone.

	▲	prmoustache 4 days ago \| parent [-]
		People have varying equipment at home anyway, the only way to make it fair is to force people to come to the same room amd play on exact same equipment, a bit like keirin racers in Japan.

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tracker1 5 days ago | parent | prev | next [-]

Lag is the biggest issue... even a local wifi connection vs wired can make a massive difference in terms of what's acceptable lag.

Of course, to TFA's point on network code... a lot of the issues in question could come down to checking for movements that exceed human... moving faster than the speed in game, or even twitch aiming movements faster than a mouse, or a consistent level of X accuracy in shooting over time. On the last part, I'm not sure if there might be some way to mask a user's hit zone, rendering and such so that an aim-bot thinks the foot is center-mass, etc. Or if it could be randomly shifted in a test scenario.

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4 days ago | parent | prev | next [-]

[deleted]

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allovertheworld 4 days ago | parent | prev [-]

Or consoles. PS5 is pretty good for a cheat free environment