Riot Games has addressed the accusations that its anti-cheat system Vanguard, used in Valorant, was responsible for damaging or disabling players' computers. The controversy began when Riot's official account responded to a report about cheaters with a comment about $6,000 paperweights, which many interpreted as a direct threat to the hardware of offenders.
The technical operation of Vanguard and its security measures 🛡️
Vanguard operates at the kernel level of the operating system, allowing deep control over processes and drivers. However, Riot clarifies that its function is limited to detecting and blocking cheating software, without interacting with physical components such as the CPU, GPU, or hard drives. The company explained that the post referring to $6,000 paperweights alluded to specific cheating devices, not conventional PC hardware. There is no mechanism in Vanguard that can physically damage a computer.
The most expensive paperweight in gaming history 💸
It seems some cheaters fear more for their equipment than for their accounts. The idea that anti-cheat software could turn a PC into a $6,000 ornament sounds like an excuse from someone caught red-handed. In the end, the only thing Vanguard disables is cheating, not computers. Perhaps they should invest that money in a course on gaming ethics instead of hardware that ends up as a paperweight.