Quite a few billion dollar games that can't function then.
It also doesn't really matter if they have kernel stuff or not, unless you game on a different user a user space process can already read all your files and even memory of your processes.
That's not a thing on the default config of any mainstream distro I'm aware of; everyone restricts attaching a debugger and similar to root by default these days.
But AC is kinda useless on Linux anyway, might as well have none.
Previously https://www.gamingonlinux.com/2026/10/epic-games-launcher-pr...
https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50088762
The entire point is to lock down a user's linux install so that they can't interfere with the anticheat.
The computers are ours. We are the gods of our digital realms. Their software is running under our control. This "take it or leave it" nonsense doesn't really fly. Adversarial interoperability means there's any number of options available to us.
https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2019/10/adversarial-interopera...
The notion that people would willingly give up this godlike power just to play online video games without cheaters is one of the saddest ideas I've ever come across. Gamers would reduce our personal computers to consoles without a shred of guilt. I barely have words to express how I feel about that.
Not a problem. It's their computer, they can edit the game's memory to freeze their character's hitpoints or look through walls if they really want to. As the owners of the machine, it's their god given right.
> People are breaking the social contract of competitive games.
This is not even remotely close to being worth sacrificing our freedom and leverage over. Let it happen. Play with friends you know and trust instead of internet randoms.
> Booting into a special environment just for competitive games would allow both to coexist.
There will never be such a "special environment" for games. Every government and corporation under the sun wants this for much more sinister reasons. The notion that this will be limited to video games is laughable. Video game are merely how they are selling this subversion to you.
Either your computer is yours or it's not. And if your computer allows strangers to set up an untouchable embassy within your system where they can do anything they want and remain forever beyond your reach, then it's not really your computer, is it? It's the corporation's computer, they're just generously allowing you to use it... Provided you follow their silly policies and rules.
The abuses that will materialize if we allow them to get away with this nonsense will put science fiction to shame.
This is happening irregardless of what your wants are. Booting into a self contained game image allows both to co exist, rather than Epic and such locking down normal distros.
Coexist? That's total nonsense. This is merely a temporary solution for them. The end game is the total destruction of computing freedom as we know it today. Video games are just the first thing they will take away from you. They also want your encryption, your local AIs, your torrents, your adblockers, your emulators, anything and everything that harms their bottom line and subverts their laws in any way.
Soon you will no longer be allowed to boot into anything that will give you any form of control. It's the war on general purpose computing, cheating in online games is completely irrelevant next to that. The democratization of cryptography allows citizens to defeat police, judges, even literal spies. Computers are too subversive to allow us citizens to own them, they think we should only have computers that run a restricted set of government signed executables. It's the end of everything the word "hacker" ever stood for.
What makes it especially hilarious in a sad way is the fact that this is what makes personal computers truly special. Consoles are just locked down computers, we're the ones who have freedom. Considerable effort is spent on jailbreaking consoles precisely to restore that freedom. Yet the PC gamers seem to be almost eager to "coexist" with these hostile corporations whose entire mission is to reduce our computers to appliances.
If you want to see what happens when you compromise on this, all you have to do is look at mobile operating systems. They're all owned by corporations and governments, and it's enforced by hardware remote attestation. Install a custom system where you're in control? Attestation fails. You're banned from everything, you get no service anywhere, you are ostracized from digital society, you become a second class citizen. Mark my words: one day we will need remote attestation just to connect to the internet.
Not everyone plays online games, but most people need communications apps, banking apps, government apps. Our "free distros" will be nothing but paperweights soon if we don't find a way literally outlaw remote attestation. I think people are really underestimating what's truly at stake here.
I say this as someone who plays games that are significantly aided by remote-attestation-based anticheat: it's a beachhead that we will regret ceding.