反作弊
反作弊是检测和阻止玩家操纵游戏的一系列服务器端和客户端措施。服务器端权限通过绝不信任客户端的声明，直接防止了整类作弊行为。客户端检测则以在玩家控制的硬件上运行为代价，捕捉剩余的作弊行为。
又称
反作弊
，
Where Does Anti-Cheat Run?
Anti-cheat is often pictured as one program players install. In practice, many games combine several layers, each running somewhere different and catching different cheats.
Layer | Where it runs | What it can catch |
|---|---|---|
Server authority | The game server | Moves, values and results the rules can check, such as a speed no character can reach or an item a player never earned |
Client-side checks | The player’s device | Tampering with the game’s files or memory, injected code, known cheat programs |
Server-side detection | Systems that analyse match data | Play that looks inhuman, such as aim that snaps to targets too consistently |
Review and enforcement | The studio’s backend and team | Turns evidence into bans, restrictions or matchmaking flags |
Each layer can miss something another sees. Server authority can only reject what breaks the rules, so an aimbot that sends valid inputs looks like a very good player. Client-side checks run on a machine the player controls. Detection on match data needs enough matches to see a pattern. How much each layer matters depends on who holds the match: in player-hosted games the first layer sits on a player’s machine, as peer-to-peer covers, and a relay does not add one. Authoritative server covers the first layer; this page covers the other three.
What Kinds of Client-Side Anti-Cheat Are There?
Client-side checks differ mainly in how deep they reach into the player’s device, and that depth decides what they can see, how much trust they ask of players and which platforms they run on.
Kind | What it can see | Trade-off | Example |
|---|---|---|---|
Kernel driver | The whole system, at the operating system’s deepest level | The widest view, and the most access a player is asked to grant | Easy Anti-Cheat and BattlEye, which run as kernel-level drivers on PC (VR.org) |
Built into the game’s code | The game’s own process and folder | Less to install and less access asked, with less view of what runs alongside the game | GUARD by Mirror Networking, for Unity games on Windows as of May 2025 (Edgegap) |
Device and build checks | Whether the device is rooted before a session, and whether game files are tampered with during play | Works where a driver can’t be installed | Tomahawk by Combat Waffle Studios, for Meta Quest games (VR.org) |
The choice also decides where the game can ship. Quest games are Android apps, so there is no kernel driver to install, which is why standalone VR needed its own approach. On Linux and Steam Deck, support depends on the developer turning it on (see the FAQ below).
The range matches the range of games. A large competitive PC shooter, a Unity game on Windows and a Quest title can each fit a different kind, and some games combine more than one. None of them is likely to stop every cheat. Asked whether GUARD catches all cheats, its developer answered “No, and it never will”, aiming instead to reduce cheats to an acceptable minimum.
What Happens After a Cheat Is Detected?
Detection produces evidence, not a verdict. What a studio does next is most of the operational work.
Report. A check flags a player with its evidence and how confident it is. GUARD rates each report high, medium or low, and its developer’s FAQ notes that tools such as Discord, Steam or streaming overlays, and legitimate mods, can show up in reports, so medium and low ones need a person to look.
Review. People, a model, or both decide. At GDC 2018, Valve said cases its players sent to review were convicted 15 to 30% of the time, and cases its VACnet model sent were convicted 80 to 95% of the time (PC Gamer, March 2018).
Act. A ban, a restriction, or a flag that keeps a player apart in matchmaking. Tomahawk leaves that decision to the studio’s own moderators.
Time it. Riot does not always ban cheaters immediately, so cheat makers find it harder to test which version was caught, which “keeps our detection methods valid for longer” (Riot, September 2024).
Correct mistakes. Riot reports that 4% of its VALORANT cheating bans were later reverted because the account had been compromised.
The scale can be large. Riot reports more than 3.6 million accounts banned for cheating in four years, “roughly one ban every 37 seconds” (September 2024). Every step after detection needs someone to own it.
Where Does the Game Server Fit In?
The game server is where the layers meet. Server authority runs there. Client-side tools send their reports there: GUARD, for example, reports to the developer’s own game server rather than to a separate cloud service. And server-side detection needs match data that no player can edit, which a server the studio runs can record.
On Edgegap, each match can run on its own dedicated server, and if the studio sets it up, container logs can be saved to its own storage bucket when a deployment stops (Edgegap docs), so whatever the server logs, such as rejected moves, can outlive the match. Edgegap’s matchmaker can support the review step: its documentation suggests using moderation flags, set by the studio, “to separate low-karma players and cheaters from general population” (Edgegap docs). For the client side, Edgegap partners with Tomahawk for Meta Quest games.
来自我们的赞助商（其实就是我们自己！）的寄语
每个空余的玩家位置都是您付费了但无人使用的容量。在 2025 年第二季度，Edgegap 匹配系统上的一个工作室在其所有游戏会话中实现了平均 91% 的玩家位置填充率，因此用更少的服务器承载了相同数量的玩家。
Edgegap 的观点（仅代表个人意见，姑且听之即可！）
Match Your Anti-Cheat Layers to What a Cheater Could Gain in Your Game
Start from the player. What does a cheater win in your game: a rank others chase, items with real value, or one match against friends? The answer decides how many layers are worth building, paying for and staffing.
A useful check before launch: list each thing a cheater could gain, and next to it, the layer that protects it. A gap on a ranked ladder or in an economy is usually worth closing first. A gap in casual co-op may be acceptable.
The server layer does not need a heavyweight server. On Edgegap, fractional vCPU sizing and multi-room servers keep a referee cost-effective for small games, client-side checks can come from vendors that fit your platforms, including Edgegap partners, and moderation flags that the studio sets can help keep flagged players apart while reviews run.
Philip Coté, CTO
，
