WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:05.280 Competing against other players online is a bigger part of video gaming today than it ever has been. 00:00:05.280 --> 00:00:10.240 So it's no surprise then that fair play online is being taken more and more seriously, 00:00:10.240 --> 00:00:14.080 both by gamers who view cheating as a huge impediment to their experience, 00:00:14.080 --> 00:00:19.120 and by developers who are pushing anti-cheat software to keep players honest, 00:00:19.120 --> 00:00:23.440 and of course prevent gamers from just quitting a game because they're frustrated with how many 00:00:23.440 --> 00:00:27.600 cheaters there are on servers. But these anti-cheat mechanisms have come with some issues of their 00:00:28.000 --> 00:00:32.800 and notably, the solution implemented by Riot Games for their hit shooter Valorant 00:00:32.800 --> 00:00:36.080 has really ruffled the feathers of many in the community. 00:00:36.080 --> 00:00:41.040 So why can an ostensibly good thing like anti-cheat software be so controversial? 00:00:41.040 --> 00:00:44.560 And what made Valorant such a target for rage specifically? 00:00:44.560 --> 00:00:49.280 The answer to this question largely comes down to how exactly anti-cheat software works. 00:00:49.280 --> 00:00:54.160 You see, many solutions essentially function as drivers, and in case you don't know what those 00:00:54.240 --> 00:00:58.480 are, they're pieces of software that allow your hardware devices to talk to your operating system. 00:00:58.480 --> 00:01:02.480 But hold on, we're not talking hardware, we're talking a video game. 00:01:02.480 --> 00:01:06.000 So why would anti-cheat software need to take the form of a driver? 00:01:06.000 --> 00:01:11.520 The reason that developers do this is because drivers often operate in kernel mode. 00:01:11.520 --> 00:01:16.080 The kernel is the core part of your operating system that interfaces most closely with your 00:01:16.080 --> 00:01:21.200 hardware, and as such, programs running at the level of your kernel get special privileges 00:01:21.280 --> 00:01:24.880 and can access parts of your computer that other applications cannot. 00:01:24.880 --> 00:01:29.520 It's common for people who write cheats for video games to also implement them at the kernel level 00:01:29.520 --> 00:01:34.240 in order to bypass restrictions. So the response from software developers often needs to be 00:01:34.240 --> 00:01:41.280 at that level as well in order for them to be effective. And indeed, many anti-cheat implementations over the years have taken the form of kernel-level 00:01:41.280 --> 00:01:46.880 drivers, including easy anti-cheat and battle-eye, which are used by Fortnite and PUBG respectively. 00:01:46.880 --> 00:01:50.640 But while the rationale for running anti-cheat software at the kernel level 00:01:50.640 --> 00:01:54.080 might make sense, it still presents some special issues. 00:01:54.080 --> 00:01:59.040 One of them has to do with system stability, as giving any kind of software that much 00:01:59.040 --> 00:02:03.760 privilege over your whole system can lead to errors or crashes if it isn't coded well. 00:02:03.760 --> 00:02:07.600 Kind of like putting a teen driver, no pun intended, with a learner's permit behind 00:02:07.600 --> 00:02:11.600 the wheel of a McLaren. Not to mention that poorly coded kernel mode drivers can leave 00:02:11.600 --> 00:02:17.040 your computer very vulnerable to malware that takes aim at core parts of your operating system. 00:02:17.040 --> 00:02:20.640 But while some of the major anti-cheat solutions that work on a kernel level 00:02:20.640 --> 00:02:25.360 have actually been fairly well designed and haven't given users too many high-profile issues, 00:02:26.000 --> 00:02:31.280 others have made headlines for the wrong reasons, such as when one notable anti-cheat service, 00:02:31.280 --> 00:02:38.080 the ESEA client, was exploited by a developer back in 2013 to unwittingly turn gamers' PCs 00:02:38.080 --> 00:02:43.600 into crypto miners. And Valorant's implementation, called Vanguard, has raised some additional 00:02:43.600 --> 00:02:48.640 concerns. One is that it's always running. Unlike other popular anti-cheat software that 00:02:48.640 --> 00:02:55.280 only runs when you start up your game. Vanguard, well, it likes to boot at boot time. And originally, 00:02:55.280 --> 00:02:59.840 Riot Games didn't even offer a way to turn it off. The latest version allows you to turn it off, 00:02:59.840 --> 00:03:04.800 but if you want to play Valorant, you actually have to reboot your PC in order to launch Vanguard 00:03:04.800 --> 00:03:10.400 again. Pretty annoying. And while Vanguard isn't the only anti-cheat solution to run at boot, 00:03:10.400 --> 00:03:16.160 it's been criticized for being especially invasive, as the driver is built to block programs that 00:03:16.160 --> 00:03:21.920 deem suspicious, yet it's affected applications gamers commonly trust like CPU temperature 00:03:21.920 --> 00:03:26.880 monitoring software. Vanguard also has issues not giving players proper notifications when a 00:03:26.880 --> 00:03:32.560 legitimate program has been blocked, blocking hardware like keyboards, and even causing 00:03:32.560 --> 00:03:36.800 blue screens of death. Remember what we said about how kernel mode software can make your system 00:03:36.800 --> 00:03:41.520 unstable? And to top it all off, there's also the argument that placing anti-cheat software 00:03:41.520 --> 00:03:47.200 at the kernel level will entice cheat makers to operate at that level more often as well, 00:03:47.200 --> 00:03:52.800 with all the security and stability issues that presents. Of course, that isn't unique to Vanguard. 00:03:52.800 --> 00:03:58.320 In fact, Doom Eternal's anti-cheat software, Dunuvo, was recently pulled due to fears stemming 00:03:58.320 --> 00:04:03.440 from the fact that it too operates at the kernel level. But big name titles like Valorant do tend 00:04:03.440 --> 00:04:08.160 to set trends for the industry, for better or worse. So thanks for watching guys. 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