The latest plea for official Proton support started on Reddit, where Scout339v2 shared their screenshot of Rust running “on a server with EAC disabled to show that the game already works perfectly on Linux.” Disabling Easy Anti-Cheat (EAC) is the key factor here, and part of a broader conversation where Facepunch and its Linux/Proton userbase don’t see eye-to-eye.
While it’s true Rust runs on Proton, you can’t join official servers, and most unofficial servers, with EAC disabled. Facepunch considered changing its stance in 2022 when the Steam Deck launched, but didn’t end up introducing official Proton support. COO Alistair McFarlane said at the time that Linux is “safer for cheat developers,” and that trying to support EAC on another platform could reduce the team’s ability to support Windows.
You can use analytics to detect cheating effectively. Companies don’t do this because it hurts their bottom line (stopping cheaters). Companies pay lip service to cheating and play stupid games of cat and mouse.
Cheaters should not be banned, they should be forced to play against other cheaters. If you are so inhuman that you are the living embodiment of “got gud” then you get to play with cheaters.
Everyone is happy except for the cheaters and that one got gud guy. Waiting for the first brave company to implement this.
You could argue this would hurt competitive gameplay but it is obvious it is already hurt and the other answers (giving complete control of your OS) are a non-starter for me.