Why doesn't client-side anti-cheat work?

Because the client runs on the cheater's device, under their control, so they can inspect, bypass, or disable client-side checks, making client-side anti-cheat easily defeated and a false sense of security. Client-side anti-cheat tries to detect or prevent cheating within the game running on the player's machine, but since the cheater controls that machine, they can analyze the anti-cheat, find ways around it, disable it, or modify the game to evade it. So client-side checks alone are easily defeated by determined cheaters and provide a false sense of security. The real defense is server-side: validate important actions and state on the server (which you control and cheaters cannot tamper with), so manipulated client data is caught and rejected. Client-side measures can add friction for casual cheaters but cannot be relied on against serious ones. Bugnet captures the anomalies and errors that cheating triggers, so you can see exploitation regardless of whether client-side checks caught it (anomalous patterns, errors from manipulated requests), complementing the server-side validation that is the actual defense, helping you detect cheating that bypasses client-side anti-cheat through the technical signs it leaves.

How do I add anti-cheat without breaking legitimate players?

Validate server-side (avoiding intrusive or buggy client measures), tune detection to avoid false positives, and ensure your anti-cheat does not crash or harm legitimate players, since anti-cheat that punishes legit players is worse than the cheating. A common, harmful anti-cheat mistake is breaking legitimate players: false positives (flagging legit players as cheaters and punishing them) and anti-cheat bugs (crashes or problems the anti-cheat causes for legit players) harm the very players you are protecting, generating anger and bad reviews. To avoid this: prefer server-side validation (which does not require intrusive or crash-prone client measures), tune your detection carefully to minimize false positives (err toward not punishing legit players), test your anti-cheat thoroughly to ensure it does not crash or break legitimate play, and provide recourse for false positives. The goal is catching cheaters without harming legit players. Bugnet captures the crashes and issues anti-cheat can cause for legitimate players (a crash in anti-cheat code, false-positive-related problems), so you can see whether your anti-cheat is harming legit players (crashes clustering in anti-cheat code, issues affecting legitimate players) and fix it, ensuring your anti-cheat protects fair play without breaking the players it is meant to protect.

Should my indie game have anti-cheat?

It depends on your game, competitive, economic, or shared-experience games benefit from anti-cheat (server-side validation), while single-player games need it less, since cheating there mostly affects the cheater. Whether to invest in anti-cheat depends on how much cheating would harm your game and other players. For competitive multiplayer, games with economies or leaderboards, or shared experiences, cheating harms other players and the game's integrity, so anti-cheat (centered on server-side validation) is worth it. For single-player or co-op games, cheating mostly affects the cheater (or willing participants), so heavy anti-cheat is usually unnecessary and not worth the effort or the risk of harming legit players. When you do add anti-cheat, focus on server-side validation (not easily-bypassed client checks) and avoid breaking legitimate players. Bugnet helps regardless: it captures the anomalies that cheating triggers (so you can detect exploitation in games where it matters) and the crashes anti-cheat can cause (so your anti-cheat does not harm legit players), supporting an appropriate, well-functioning anti-cheat approach for games that need it, while for single-player games you can focus your limited resources elsewhere, since cheating there is less harmful.

Common Anti-Cheat Mistakes

Quick answer: The biggest anti-cheat mistakes are client-side-only checks, no server validation, and breaking legitimate players, fix these by validating server-side and avoiding false positives.

Anti-cheat protects fair play, but common mistakes make it ineffective or harmful. Here are the most common anti-cheat mistakes and how to avoid them.

Relying on Client-Side Checks

The most common anti-cheat mistake is relying on client-side checks, which cheaters can inspect, bypass, or disable since the client is in their control. Client-side anti-cheat is easily defeated and provides a false sense of security.

The fix is validating server-side, where cheaters cannot tamper. Bugnet captures the anomalies and errors that cheating triggers, so you can see exploitation regardless of client-side checks, complementing the server-side validation that actually catches cheating.

Not Validating Server-Side

A second mistake is not validating actions and state on the server, so manipulated client data is trusted and cheating succeeds. Without server validation, the authoritative check that catches cheating is missing.

The fix is server-side validation of important actions and state. Bugnet captures the errors and anomalies that manipulated requests trigger, so you can see the technical signs of cheating attempts, supporting your server-side validation by surfacing exploitation.

Breaking Legitimate Players

A third mistake is anti-cheat that false-positives (flagging legitimate players as cheaters) or crashes legitimate players, harming the very players you are trying to protect. Overzealous or buggy anti-cheat that punishes or crashes legit players is worse than the cheating.

The fix is avoiding false positives and ensuring anti-cheat does not crash legit players. Bugnet captures the crashes anti-cheat can cause (a crash in anti-cheat code, false-positive-related issues), so you can see if your anti-cheat is harming legitimate players and fix it.

Avoid the big anti-cheat mistakes: client-side-only checks, no server validation, and breaking legitimate players. Validate server-side and avoid false positives.