what if cheats became a handicap instead of an advantage?

I am afraid such solution will be just a temporary annoyance, because they will figure out something is odd sooner or later and will find a workaround without any risks. There are much harsher penalties to cheaters with banning them swiftly - they will need to buy the game again or even change the hardware, if the ban will be made to a specific hardware fingerprint on top of that. Another nasty solution is to ban them with a random delay after the detection and place them onto the servers with other detected cheaters meanwhile - let them enjoy their own medicine. ;)

Good point, I agree that no system will ever be permanent since cheat developers adapt fast. My thought wasn’t to replace bans or hardware fingerprints, but to add another layer of deception on top of existing anti-cheat. Even if it only works temporarily, every extra hurdle makes cheats less reliable and more costly to maintain. In combination with strong bans, it could at least slow them down and frustrate them. :)

Problem is the client would have to flag in some way that these were fake/decoys so that they weren't shown to the player and the cheat program would just check for that flag.

There are also hardware game hacks available these days which are virtually undetectable unless they are operating in "rage mode" which would see the game like a player would and wouldn't even know about the decoys to be fooled by them - even the best AI detection at best might flag them as suspicious but couldn't make a decisive call on whether they were actually cheating if just being used to enhance a player's performance rather than full on.

You're right, and that's precisely why I want to delve deeper into this discussion. The average player complains about cheaters and continues playing anyway, but I don't want to be that average player. I'd rather try to start with issues like the ones you've raised and turn them into possible directions.

One idea I consider realistic is an optional external program that runs alongside the game and performs more thorough checks. While you play, it would ensure there are no suspicious programs running in the background, no memory injections, and no anomalous inputs that don't match natural gameplay. Since it's optional, players who want more rigorous checking could install it and be automatically assigned to cleaner lobbies with others who use it.

In parallel, I believe the way forward is layered defenses, not a magic solution:

1. Server-side probes or decoys that the client can't report,

2. The optional external client for players who want more secure lobbies,

3. Smarter evidence collection over time rather than immediate bans, to reduce false positives.

None of these methods would completely solve the cheating problem, but together they could increase its costs, make it less attractive, and protect at least part of the community. It may seem simple, perhaps obvious, but I'm sincerely tired of this situation, and I think many of you are too.