It absolutely is on Windows, on Linux all the kernel level anti-cheats that work at all (EAC, BattlEye) operate purely in user space with no kernel level permissions.

[–] aksdb 13 points 3 months ago (1 children)

TIL

[–] [email protected] 21 points 3 months ago (1 children)

I dearly hope that it stays that way forever. Can you imagine having to input your sudo password before launching a game so it can compile and load some sketchy external kernel module? Fuck that!

[–] [email protected] 3 points 3 months ago (1 children)

I hate how obfuscated it is on Windows. At least if it asked me for sudo, I'd know to Uninstall. On Windows programs can just do anything.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 3 months ago (1 children)

I'm pretty sure games that use kernel level anti-cheat on Windows do need administrator permissions to launch (I'm not certain though, I haven't used Windows since before this whole kernel anti-cheat thing started to become common). It's just that on Windows it's a simple OK box majority of people click through without a thought because of how used they are to doing it without really knowing what it does.

[–] tb_ 6 points 3 months ago* (last edited 3 months ago) (1 children)

They need admin permissions to install, not to launch.

But, you know, so does basically any other application you install.

You may get a second pop-up when it begins installing the anti-cheat, but that depends on how the application is configured.

Ubisoft Connect gives me three (!) separate pop-ups whenever it has an update. (or at least it used to).

^(Edit: typo)

[–] [email protected] 2 points 3 months ago (1 children)

I stand corrected! That's a lot worse then I thought.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 3 months ago

This is more or less what I was getting at. Windows UAC triggers so often with no context that's its really just an annoying popup to most users. You need to pass the same UAC prompts to installing Excel as to install a root kit or a compromised software package.