On the other hand, I cheated once (I was bored with TF2's new gameplay, and a teenager) 11 years ago , and got a lifetime VAC ban, while most die-hard cheaters would probably laugh it off and create a new account (especially now that it is f2p). Lifetime bans hardly seem proportional if you are on the receiving side.

The solution to cheating problems isn't necessarily technical, it's also social, and I think it reflects a bigger issue in our society, also present on social platforms. When anyone can interact with strangers and behave however they want, there's going to be trolls and others, motivated by the feeling that they can't be held accountable for ruining someone else's fun (or, just not realizing they are not having healthy interactions).

Lots of online platforms have developed lots of ways to cope with this, from karma systems to moderators, to social credits, to ID verification. Couldn't games take a page from that book?