Rust developer has 'no plans' for Linux or Proton support, says games that support them are 'not serious about anti-cheat'

If I need spyware to ensure I’m playing a game right, that’s a game I don’t need.

If the game Rust is what is keeping you away from being on Linux it might be best you never go to Linux. Just save us all the future headache, thanks.

I mean if you run on an operating system, you’re not really serious about anti cheat. You should require all of your players to buy your own hardware that is sealed in a titanium box. They should have to give a blood sample before each session, and they should have to be completely surrounded by webcams the entire time. Better yet, have them report to their nearest prison’s solitary confinement wing for a 100% monitored play session.

Let’s get actually serious about anti cheat.

When we stopped support for Linux, we saw more cheat users exploiting Linux, than actual legitimate users. — reddit

That's curious phrasing. Did he expect legitimate users to stick around after support was taken away? Or does he mean that there were more cheaters than legit users before support was dropped?

That's not to say that cheating was super widespread on Linux, — blog

Okay, so his blog post suggests that it was the former, making his original argument really bizarre.

When we stopped supporting Linux, users made up less than .01% of the total player base, even if that number has doubled, or tripled, it's not worth it. — reddit

When we discontinued linux support in 2019, — blog

The Steam Deck was released three years later, and nearly four more years have passed since its release. The portion of gamers using Linux has grown considerably more than he imagines above, and continues to grow.

Enabling proton support would mean we're asking the EAC team to provide support for a whole other platform, which we fear would reduce their ability to support Windows — blog

That is a false dichotomy. Rather than assuming what the Easy Anti-Cheat folks would do if more support were needed for Linux, he should probably ask. I would expect them to respond to increased demand by hiring qualified staff, not diverting existing staff to tasks for which they are unqualified. This is how businesses grow.

For now, we're still weighing up the risks and will continue to explore options with EAC. Don't expect to see Proton support in the near future, but we hope to have it enabled someday. — blog

I think that's the most sensible thing he has written on the topic.

The last "serious about anticheat" game was hacked on release day. On Windows. With kernel-level AC.

Fuck off with your lies.

... Rust still exists? As in, the murder-hobo-survival game that was early access like, 10-15 years ago?

I hear hackers run rampant in Rust.

Are they trying to say Valve isn't serious about anti-cheat?

15 years ago, any developer who wanted to install low-level malware on your system would have been rightfully laughed out of the room.

It really shows how tech illiterate the modern user is.

If you can't play a specific game on linux due to anti-cheat and you still have to encounter cheaters on windows - is this a linux problem somehow?

Dude should ask Linux players how they can actually play games with EAC and Battleye if that box is turned on, then they'll realize that none of the cheaters use Linux (if any at all). Most, if not all of them, use Windows with specialized scripts.

The headline confused me for a second. I was like, aren’t they adding more and more rust to the kernel?

Since rust, the game, was launched one year after rust, the language, can we get the rust foundation to sue them for shits and giggles?

Ok, I wasn't gonna play that anyway, I prefer games that don't incentivize cheating.

There are so many alternatives to these sort of games now. I am not sure it's a good idea to just give your players the middle finger like that.

And nothing of value was lost.

Why hasn’t the amazing economy propelling AI industry fixed cheating yet?

So much for my Steam Machine plans.

Welp, enjoy your rootkits and privacy violations.

There is a personal element to this, somehow. The developer's relationship with Linux took a weird turn at one point and there's been a will-they-won't-they tension ever since.

Games shouldn’t be serious about anti-cheat.

Rust? That's a beverage in star citizen

Gosh, stop trying so hard to make me not want play your game, I can only take so much!

I tried to get into Rust a few times and never liked it. One time I even played with a decent group of people and it still sucked. They can keep their game.

I have no plans to play Rust, so no harm no foul I guess.