Check the data on the server

I believe this already happens to some degree.

Don’t give any data to the client it doesn’t need, like enemies around the corner

Enemies around the corner still make noise/peek/shoot/etc. You can't just hide data of nearby enemies from the client because their actions still have in-game consequences that need to be reproduced across all active/nearby players.

Now the server doesn’t need to care. There’s input? Validate and use it.

How do you validate data that is within the realm of possibilities? if my head shot would have been 1 pixel too far to the left to hit and my hacked client sends it 1 pixel to the right so it makes a hit, how does the server know this isn't fake?

Server decides if it’s a headshot.

If my fake data doesn't look out of the ordinary i'm still hacking the system and tricking the server-side validation.

Client only sends coordinates of origin and target. Lag? Sucks to be you, with or without cheat.

The math to send the perfect headshot isn't difficult if you know where you are, where the enemy is and you can only send origin & target coords, I'm not sure this solves anything.

That would only create more work for the developers, all for the defacto expulsion of Linux users (Way less players at all times). The best course of action here would be the actual expulsion of Linux users. Also, EA is at most 25% correct. (Not a rational argument, I just very much dislike them)

Agree with you 100%.

Damn, sorry to hear that. It’s always bad to leave something one knows because something’s become unbearable. I wish you best of luck on your journey! (I’m assuming a lot, but why else would you switch despite your choice of use of free time?)

Thanks! I'm a huge open source supporter and only ever installed Windows on my desktop to play games, still using Linux on my laptops. Thanks to Valve, Proton, and Wine, I'll be able to go back to Linux and maybe discover some new games.

On the other hand: I quite like it. It forces them to keep their grubby little hands from my kernel.

I do not like anything anti cheat. But I also don’t really like cheaters, especially in online games, so anti cheat could be tolerated. The only thing is: nothing trumps my systems integrity. Definitely not online player satisfaction.

Kinda agree with you on this. Although I have my desktop as a strict "gaming" machine, I wouldn't mine an EA rootkit on my Desktop Linux system if all I did on it was game. But yes, they can keep their hands off my kernel on my "work" devices.