All checklists

Six lists: the short one to do before reading anything, and one from the end of each of the five steps. This page is laid out to print on white paper so you can work through it away from the screen.

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How to use these

The lists are in the order the course is written in, and that order matters for the first four. Checking your hardware after installing is still useful but less so; reading the terms after accepting them is a different exercise entirely; and deciding whose name an account goes in is much easier before the account exists. The fifth list is the only one that is ongoing rather than one-off, and it is the one worth coming back to.

Nothing on this page is stored. The boxes are printed squares, not controls — ticking them on paper is the point, and if you reload the page it will look exactly as it does now, because this site keeps nothing in your browser. That is deliberate, and the Cookie Policy explains the whole of it in a few hundred words.

Not every line will apply to you. If nobody in the household is under 18, the classification lines are informative rather than necessary. If you never intend to spend anything, the ledger in list five is a single zero and the subscription lines can be ignored. Cross out what does not apply rather than working around it; a list with irrelevant items on it is a list people stop using.

If you are working through this with other people — a partner, a teenager, a parent helping from another room — the sign-off table below is a way of agreeing who did what without anyone having to remember. Write initials and a date. It is a paper habit borrowed from workshops and crews, and it works for the same reason there: the person who checked the thing is recorded, so nobody checks it twice and nobody assumes somebody else did.

Finally, a note on honesty. These lists ask you to write down figures — what you are willing to spend, what you have spent, how long a session ran. There is no advantage in being generous with yourself here, because nobody sees the sheet. The number is only useful if it is the real one.

Checklist 0 — before you read Step 1

• Find out whether the computer you intend to use runs Windows, macOS or Linux, and write it down.
• Decide which email address will own the game account, and confirm you can sign in to it today.
• Agree a figure in Australian dollars that may be spent on games this month. Zero is a complete answer.
• Check who will be playing, and note whether anyone is under 18.

Checklist 1 — understanding the arrangement

• Write one sentence explaining how a game with no entry fee pays for its servers.
• Name the three common shapes of paid content, plus randomised containers as the fourth.
• Decide a figure in Australian dollars for the next month.
• List who in the household will be playing, and note whether any of them is under 18.
• If anyone is under 18, look up the Australian classification at classification.gov.au before installing.
• Confirm the game runs on the kind of computer you own.
• Note whether a claim you have read came from the publisher, a regulator, or someone paid when you sign up.

Checklist 2 — the machine

• Write down the operating system and its version.
• Write down the processor name and model number exactly as shown.
• Write down the installed memory in gigabytes.
• Write down the graphics adapter name and, if shown, its memory.
• Write down the free space on the drive where the game would be installed.
• Compare each line against the vendor's published requirements.
• Check your internet plan's data allowance against the size of the first download.
• Update the graphics driver and operating system from official sources only.
• On a laptop, make sure air can reach the underside before a long session.

Checklist 3 — the fine print

• Search the terms for "licence" — note whether purchases are licensed rather than owned.
• Search for "terminate" and "suspend" — note the grounds for closing an account.
• Search for "refund" — note the publisher's position, and that consumer guarantees are not removed by a contract term.
• Search for "age" — note the minimum age and decide whose name the account goes in.
• Note what the privacy notice says is collected beyond email and password.
• Note whether data is shared for advertising, and where it is processed.
• Write down the publisher's privacy contact address.
• Read both the category and the consumer advice at classification.gov.au.
• Decide profile visibility, who may contact you, chat settings and marketing email.

Checklist 4 — the account

• Choose an email address you expect to control in several years.
• Confirm it is not shared and not tied to a job or a school.
• Prepare a passphrase of several unrelated words, used for nothing else.
• Decide where the passphrase will be stored.
• Begin registration from the publisher's own website.
• Read the consent boxes before accepting, including marketing email.
• Open the activation message and complete the confirmation.
• Turn on two-factor authentication if offered, and store the recovery codes.
• Apply the privacy and chat settings before the first session.
• Write one line recording the registered address, the date, and where codes are kept.
• Agree the rule: never sign in from a link in a message.

Checklist 5 — living with it

• Start a ledger: date and amount in Australian dollars for every purchase.
• Record the dollar amount when converting money into in-game currency.
• Check the ledger against your monthly figure once a month.
• For any subscription, write down the cancellation screen and renewal date on day one.
• Note whether a recurring charge is billed by the publisher or a storefront.
• Decide a stopping rule before each session.
• Watch for sessions displacing sleep, work or people.
• Learn where mute, block and report are, and use them early.
• Treat offers from outside the official shop as scam attempts.
• Every six months, confirm email access and the location of recovery codes.
• If you stop: cancel recurring charges, remove payment methods, choose deletion or dormancy.

Crew sign-off

Print the page, fill the right-hand columns by hand, and keep it wherever the computer lives.