this post was submitted on 20 Feb 2024
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Setting aside that there really shouldn't even be an anticheat in a PvE game (unless progression allows you to unlock items that are real world currency based on which I could see why they'd want to stop people from accessing it without one of their two methods) the concept of a rootkit doesn't equal "software with admin privileges."
A rootkit is a package of different (specifically malicious) programs that are designed to hide themselves from your system.
Is the anticheat designed to be invisible when installed or running? No. Is it designed to specifically be malicious? No. Therefore it's not a rootkit.
There's a difference between software designed for malicious purposes and software that has the ability to be hijacked for a malicious purpose. These two aren't the same and everyone with even a smidgeon of actual IT security knowledge would acknowledge that at the bare minimum which no one in this thread seems to have done yet.
This isn't just semantics, rootkits are defined by their purpose not their permissions. Bunch of script kiddies in this website pretending their ability to install Arch makes them professional Comp Sci degree holders.
I can think of another reason. It's a live service game where it's the community vs the game masters. They want to tell a story within the game and direct us with community challenges. Right now there's a challenge to protect planets from automaton invasions. We lost the first planet, won a few but it's not looking as much of a clearcut victory like the first challenge was. There's a real chance we fail this challenge and maybe that part of their plan?
So what would happen if you let cheaters run amok? Now you can't tell a story where the community fails, because cheaters can guarantee wins. If you make it so hard cheaters can't win you're going to make it completely impossible for the community and that's just not fun. So what can you do to make it fun for the community? Crack down on cheaters.
I just don't see another rational reason to have anticheat. Even the real world currency isn't that useful because it's mostly for buying armors for cosmetic purposes. There's really not much to gain from circumventing the real world currency.
This is the reason I believe. There's a premium season pass that has some later game unlocks which they probably want to incentivize. That, and there's a meta-game that depends on the community making concerted efforts to progress the story. I'm assuming that they don't want a modder to unbalance that.
Yeah, it's definitely getting difficult to identify the difference in PvE and PvP from a security and financial standpoint in the modern live service landscape. Games that don't include direct competition still have aspects of them which can be messed up by other people with cheats.
A somewhat similar concept is how easy it is to stop at the space anomaly in NMS and get handed a stack of Starship AI valves that will immediately skip you past early-mid game progression in a lot of gameplay loops. It has nothing to do with paid currency which is why they don't stop it but the idea is similar I guess.