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from the we-need-you-to-run-on-systems-with-better-telemetry-exfiltration dept.
Goodbye to Roblox on Linux with their new anti-cheat and Wine blocking:
You might have seen recently that I covered the upcoming updates for Roblox*, and now it's here blocking Wine with their new anti-cheat. This means you won't be able to play it on Linux any more, at all, unless you find some sort of special workaround.
Previously the roll-out of this update was being tested only with some users. Now though it's here for everyone giving a 64 bit client and introducing their Hyperion anti-cheat software which they are intentionally blocking Wine with. Naturally plenty of Roblox fans on Linux are upset by this, asking their team for updates on what their plans are.
In a fresh statement on their official developer forum one of their staff said this, in reply to users asking about updates in regards to Linux support:
Hi - thanks for the question. I definitely get where you're coming from, and as you point out, you deserve a clear, good-faith answer. Unfortunately that answer is essentially "no."
[...] Again, I'm personally sorry to have to say this. Way back in 2000 I had a few patches accepted into the kernel, and I led the port of Roblox game servers from Windows to Linux several years ago. From a technical and philosophical perspective, it would be a wonderful thing to do. But our first responsibility is to our overall community, and the opportunity cost of supporting a Linux client is far, far too high to justify.
They're clearly not going to be releasing a Native Linux build, which I think most people probably already knew, but at least previously they repeatedly said that Wine was a "priority" to support but now it doesn't sound as likely going by the above.
What is Roblox? Roblox is an app that allows users to play a wide variety of games, create games, and chat with others online. It combines gaming, social media, and social commerce. Billing itself as the “ultimate virtual universe,” Roblox experiences are places where users can socialize, build their own spaces, and even earn and spend virtual money.
Apparently, it is very "popular with kids".
(Score: 2) by SomeGuy on Tuesday May 16, @12:53AM (3 children)
So, how exactly do they detect Wine?
Is this something that Wine could simply work around? After all, the entire point of Wine is to be compatible with Windows, so if a program can detect a difference, then technically it is a Wine bug.
(Score: 2) by linuxrocks123 on Tuesday May 16, @03:05AM
It's not too hard to detect WINE if you want to. For instance, you can check if wine_get_unix_file_name exists, and the existence of that function on WINE and its absence on Windows is not a bug.
(Score: 2) by GloomMower on Tuesday May 16, @02:58PM (1 child)
I believe the main issue is the anti-cheat. Many anti-cheats are very invasive, needing special kernel level memory access. If you can figure out and how to fake it in something like wine, then you can fake it and cheat. So it is a constant battle unless the anti-cheat software wants to specifically support running it through wine.
(Score: 2) by GloomMower on Tuesday May 16, @03:01PM
https://areweanticheatyet.com/ [areweanticheatyet.com]
Some publishes work to make anti-cheats work in linux, other don't care.
Roblox uses Hyperion anti-cheat. I don't know that I see any games working that use that.
Might be planned?
https://user-images.githubusercontent.com/29169102/238155523-b6d53f64-81a1-49a8-be6d-d02d1e784dfb.png [githubusercontent.com]