Opacity. VAC bans arrive with no explanation. Players don't know what triggered the ban, can't inspect the evidence, and have no meaningful appeal. The system works well enough when it catches real cheaters. When it makes a mistake, the player has no recourse.

Inconsistency. Different publishers enforce different standards. A behavior that's bannable in Valorant is tolerated in Counter-Strike. A hardware configuration that triggers one anti-cheat is invisible to another. Players operating across multiple games face a patchwork of invisible rules, enforced by systems they can't inspect, with consequences that don't transfer.

Capture. When the entity issuing verdicts is also the entity selling t…