While more and more games support Linux natively, there’s a huge swath of games that now run on Linux thanks to Valve’s Proton, Wine, DXVK, and communities like Lutris that make installing Windows games on Linux a breeze. In fact, I’ve been playing League of Legends on Linux this way for months now.
Still, there’s always this nagging feeling that Riot, League of Legends’ developer, might one day mess up its anticheat system and ban those of us playing League on Linux. I’ve read on the League of Linux subreddit that apparently, there’s people inside Riot using Linux and that they try to make sure this won’t happen, but that’s far from a guarantee.
Turns out I’m right to be on my toes, since Electronic Arts seems to have issued a blanket ban on people playing Battlefield V on Linux using DXVK. Users are reporting that Battlefield V’s anticheat software reports they’ve been banned, and after contacting EA, they received the following message:
Hello,
Thank you for contacting us regarding the action that was taken on your account.
The action pertains to the following violation:
Promote, encourage or take part in any activity involving hacking, cracking, phishing, taking advantage of exploits or cheats and/or distribution of counterfeit software and/or virtual currency/items
After thoroughly investigating your account and concern, we found that your account was actioned correctly and will not remove this sanction from your account.
Thank you,
EA Terms of Service
This just goes to show that while gaming on Linux has become something I barely even think about – I stick to buying Linux-only games on Steam, and haven’t had any envy for a long time now – there’s real dangers associated with doing so.
These aren’t “blanket” bans, at least not yet. I’ve played multiplayer twice since this all started and I haven’t been banned, I’m about to try and get in a game now and see what happens.
Probably for the best. Don’t give EA your money. They don’t deserve it.
Yep, it’s a shame I’ll never be able to see another Star Wars or play that new star wars EA game. No more bitching about these companies, I just stopped buying entertainment associated with them. I’ll live, it’s not food and plenty of other choices out there that are not scum who can’t pay and treat their employees properly. I would be fine with government going even further towards these companies then I can as an individual so don’t take that as me believing in free market solutions like “voting with your wallet” work when corporations have regulatory control of the government like in the US. I’m sure our trademark/copyright laws will continue to adjust as needed for Disney etc. to offset any losses in profit from consumer actions.
Gave up Amazon prime to which was WAY more of a pain then forgoing Disney/EA products.