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Riot Games Now Requires Kernel-Level Anti-Cheat Software for League of Legends, Following Valorant's Implementation (tuta.com)

submitted 8 months ago* (last edited 8 months ago) by ForgottenFlux@lemmy.world to c/technology@lemmy.world

3 comments fedilink hide all child comments

Vanguard, the controversial anti-cheat software initially attached to Valorant, is now also coming to League of Legends.

Summary:

The article discusses Riot Games' requirement for players to install their Vanguard anti-cheat software, which runs at the kernel level, in order to play their games such as League of Legends and Valorant. The software aims to combat cheating by scanning for known vulnerabilities and blocking them, as well as monitoring for suspicious activity while the game is being played. However, the use of kernel-level software raises concerns about privacy and security, as it grants the company complete access to users' devices.

The article highlights that Riot Games is owned by Tencent, a Chinese tech giant that has been involved in censorship and surveillance activities in China. This raises concerns that Vanguard could potentially be used for similar purposes, such as monitoring players' activity and restricting free speech in-game.

Ultimately, the decision to install Vanguard rests with players, but the article urges caution and encourages players to consider the potential risks and implications before doing so.

top 3 comments

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[–] Gormadt@lemmy.blahaj.zone 0 points 8 months ago

Kernal level anti-cheat means I ain't gonna play it

I don't care where the company is based no game should be requiring kernal level access, that's just opening the door for security concerns

[–] levmyskin@feddit.it 0 points 8 months ago* (last edited 8 months ago) (1 children)

I think the main issue here (I haven't seen it mentioned in the top comments) is that LoL doesn't even have a cheating problem honestly. I've been playing since 2014, off and on, and I think I might have met maybe one scripter (I'm not really sure). Lol has definitely a toxicity problem, but I honestly don't think it has ever had a scripters/cheaters problem, so I really don't understand this. Is it because of bot accounts? Whose games are these bots ruining (never seen them between gold-diamond)? Does it justify a kernel level anti cheat? Honestly, the real problem with this is not the kernel level anti cheat (because I guess that might be useful for games like valorant), it's the fact that this was never really even close to be necessary

Edit: interestingly enough, riot games itself was reporting in 2020 that cheaters and scripters were ruining a very minor fraction of the games. Ref: https://www.leagueoflegends.com/en-us/news/dev/dev-anti-cheat-in-lol-more/

[–] Socsa@sh.itjust.works 0 points 8 months ago

I don't even consider scripting and macros to be cheating tbh.