Despite the name, VRChat is not a VR-only space and it's incredibly popular. Recently though, they added in Easy Anti-Cheat and the community is currently very unhappy with it.
Why does such a social space need anti-cheat though? As they said in their announcement modified clients became a big problem. They allowed users to "attack and harass others" which caused endless moderation problems. Plus, they explained that every month "thousands" of people have their accounts stolen due to these modified clients. So it is a big issue.
The downside is that some big features that a lot of people enjoyed have been lost, since no modified clients can be run, and some people can't play at all due to it. The developer said addressing those concerns is their "highest priority" and they're moving around their roadmap for it.
Since Easy Anti-Cheat supports Linux, the developers ensured and tested it working for Proton and Steam Deck so there should be no issues continuing to run it. As they said in their blog post announcement:
Does this prevent people from playing VRChat on platforms like SteamOS on the Steam Deck? What about Linux via Proton?
No, we’ve tested this! EAC works fine on these platforms. Thanks to Valve and the Proton team for all their hard work.
Clearly they've hit a nerve with the community though, as it's now getting review-bombed on Steam with the most recent user reviews hitting Overwhelmingly Negative.
Article taken from GamingOnLinux.com.
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The comments on this article are closed.
Server side AC isn't a silver bullet to every problem. In the case of VRchat, it might be a good solution, but look at their model - it wouldn't work. Remember that SS-AC is computationally very expensive, because everything happens on the server (duh!) and now remember that VRchat is a free game.
It's easy to see its success in hindsight and say "lazy devs, should have used server side", but that's not how a business model works. There's uncertainty and success is the biggest uncertainty of all, so you're not buying a massive server cluster (or paying for an elastic version in a cloud instance) for a free game in the earnest hope it does well and you can sell skins. Nope, you move everything client side and if you're successful, then you can cross/burn those bridges when you come to them.
Honestly, SS-AC usually introduces so much lag/latency that it's rarely a good solution. I think Faceit and Fair..fight (I think?) are the only two vaguely viable solutions out there AND THEY STILL RELY ON CLIENT SIDE PROTECTIONS! The Fairfight, I seem to remember needed kernel/rootkit client side protections, I think.
So please have some empathy here. This situation is because cheaters are dicks. Not devs. They're just trying to earn their living like everyone else. They're not "lazy" or "incompetent" just because cheaters are assholes.
It's easy to see its success in hindsight and say "lazy devs, should have used server side", but that's not how a business model works. There's uncertainty and success is the biggest uncertainty of all, so you're not buying a massive server cluster (or paying for an elastic version in a cloud instance) for a free game in the earnest hope it does well and you can sell skins. Nope, you move everything client side and if you're successful, then you can cross/burn those bridges when you come to them.
Honestly, SS-AC usually introduces so much lag/latency that it's rarely a good solution. I think Faceit and Fair..fight (I think?) are the only two vaguely viable solutions out there AND THEY STILL RELY ON CLIENT SIDE PROTECTIONS! The Fairfight, I seem to remember needed kernel/rootkit client side protections, I think.
So please have some empathy here. This situation is because cheaters are dicks. Not devs. They're just trying to earn their living like everyone else. They're not "lazy" or "incompetent" just because cheaters are assholes.
7 Likes, Who?
mr-victory Jul 27, 2022
Quoting: PatrickHoganIMO the inevitable result is going to be within a week or 2.EAC was already bypassed when it was in beta, which is a 24 hour period.
3 Likes, Who?
Quoting: scaineServer side AC isn't a silver bullet to every problem. In the case of VRchat, it might be a good solution, but look at their model - it wouldn't work. Remember that SS-AC is computationally very expensive, because everything happens on the server (duh!) and now remember that VRchat is a free game.
It's easy to see its success in hindsight and say "lazy devs, should have used server side", but that's not how a business model works. There's uncertainty and success is the biggest uncertainty of all, so you're not buying a massive server cluster (or paying for an elastic version in a cloud instance) for a free game in the earnest hope it does well and you can sell skins. Nope, you move everything client side and if you're successful, then you can cross/burn those bridges when you come to them.
Honestly, SS-AC usually introduces so much lag/latency that it's rarely a good solution. I think Faceit and Fair..fight (I think?) are the only two vaguely viable solutions out there AND THEY STILL RELY ON CLIENT SIDE PROTECTIONS! The Fairfight, I seem to remember needed kernel/rootkit client side protections, I think.
So please have some empathy here. This situation is because cheaters are dicks. Not devs. They're just trying to earn their living like everyone else. They're not "lazy" or "incompetent" just because cheaters are assholes.
I totally agree with you, one thing that you are missing is cost/benefit balance. Is they are really starting to get in trouble and threading on legal ground because of unhappy customer it will be cheaper to put Easy Anti-Cheat and moving liability to another please.
Just a thought, when the team is small this could be a daunting task to get it right with a custom made solution and if not done right is game over.
0 Likes
"No, we’ve tested this! EAC works fine on these platforms. Thanks to Valve and the Proton team for all their hard work."
Kudos to them for this though, yeah? I mean, how many other developers / publishers have folks practically begging for exactly this and not even getting so much as a "yes" or "no" answer, and here these folks just go and do it.
Last edited by BlooAlien on 27 July 2022 at 5:18 pm UTC
Kudos to them for this though, yeah? I mean, how many other developers / publishers have folks practically begging for exactly this and not even getting so much as a "yes" or "no" answer, and here these folks just go and do it.
Last edited by BlooAlien on 27 July 2022 at 5:18 pm UTC
8 Likes, Who?
The real problem here is you can't host your own servers with EAC off. Official ones can and should use some kinda protection ideally serverside but killing off a massive active modding community is just shitty. Imagine if Minecraft in response to some people using cheat clients like baritone decided to add forced AC that broke every mod.
1 Likes, Who?
Quoting: natis1The real problem here is you can't host your own servers with EAC off. Official ones can and should use some kinda protection ideally serverside but killing off a massive active modding community is just shitty. Imagine if Minecraft in response to some people using cheat clients like baritone decided to add forced AC that broke every mod.
this will not work it may work for the new versions of the game before a modder made a mod to bypass the EAC or players will stick to a version of the game that does not have EAC
players that like to play with mods play Minecraft java edition
0 Likes
Quoting: MadWolfQuoting: natis1The real problem here is you can't host your own servers with EAC off. Official ones can and should use some kinda protection ideally serverside but killing off a massive active modding community is just shitty. Imagine if Minecraft in response to some people using cheat clients like baritone decided to add forced AC that broke every mod.
this will not work it may work for the new versions of the game before a modder made a mod to bypass the EAC or players will stick to a version of the game that does not have EAC
players that like to play with mods play Minecraft java edition
Yes your right. It's more like if Minecraft was an always online game and they could force you to use a version that didn't support mods. Which is even worse.
1 Likes, Who?
Quoting: natis1Quoting: MadWolfQuoting: natis1The real problem here is you can't host your own servers with EAC off. Official ones can and should use some kinda protection ideally serverside but killing off a massive active modding community is just shitty. Imagine if Minecraft in response to some people using cheat clients like baritone decided to add forced AC that broke every mod.
this will not work it may work for the new versions of the game before a modder made a mod to bypass the EAC or players will stick to a version of the game that does not have EAC
players that like to play with mods play Minecraft java edition
Yes your right. It's more like if Minecraft was an always online game and they could force you to use a version that didn't support mods. Which is even worse.
Minecraft has always online DRM in that you have to login to download the game, and you have to login on subsequent attempts to play (if you want multiplayer that is) oh and don't forget they'll take away sound files from previous versions of the game so you can't play those versions with sound properly. Minecraft is a bad example but I get what you're driving at.
0 Likes
gradyvuckovic Jul 28, 2022
So weird to see a developer answering 'Will it work on Linux?' in the actual announcement for adding EAC to a game. Like we didn't even have to chase them up, they just knew it was important enough to specify at the start, and knew it was important enough to check and verify the game will still work fine on Linux/Deck.
Really is the year of Linux gaming!
Really is the year of Linux gaming!
6 Likes, Who?
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