arXiv:2512.21377cs.CR
A Systematic Review of Technical Defenses Against Software-Based Cheating in Online Multiplayer Games
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Abstract
This systematic literature review surveys technical defenses against software-based cheating in online multiplayer games. Categorizing existing approach-es into server-side detection, client-side anti-tamper, kernel-level anti-cheat drivers, and hardware-assisted TEEs. Each category is evaluated in terms of detection effectiveness, perfor-mance overhead, privacy im-pact, and scalability. The analy-sis highlights key trade-offs, particularly between the high visibility of kernel-level solutions and their privacy and stability risks, versus the low intrusive-ness but limited insight of server-side methods. Overall, the re-view emphasizes the ongoing arms race with cheaters and the need for robust, adversary-resistant anti-cheat designs.
Attestation-gated anti-cheat is invasive, and the direction it points is grim. But "covers for incompetently designed netcode" doesn't hold at all. Netcode and cheat-resistance are mostly orthogonal. Netcode is latency-hiding — prediction, reconciliation, interpolation. Cheating…
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