They also make some games actually playable, which is a shame.

Ultimately anti-cheat within the application itself, I find, should be considered acceptable whereas Riot's Vanguard/rootkit solution is an ugly hack. Valve seem to be showing it's possible via both automation (ML) and community judgement to make achieve results - the aim needs to ensure all players look "normal", not stop all cheats (the latter aim is impossible).

I mean good luck getting rid of the biggest games around then. The majority of the top 10 games on Steam are multiplayer games with anti-cheat systems in place. Even outside of Steam, Riot and Blizzard have games with huge player bases and they all use anti-cheat systems.

Ahh yes I will surely miss COD and FIFA /s

My bigger concern would be a permanent ban on an indie game.

I still prefer anticheat to having a multiplayer game ruined by players that move at 10x normal speed and dual-wield fully automatic, infinite-ammo sniper rifles rigged to never miss.

Uh, no its not fun to play a multiplayer game full of cheaters