Valid Layer

All checklists, gathered for printing

Every checklist from the five steps appears below in the order you meet them, formatted so that the page prints cleanly on A4 paper with room to write beside each line.

How to use these

The checklists are a record of decisions, not a test. Nothing is marked, nothing is submitted, and nobody sees them but you. If an item does not apply to your situation, cross it out and move on — a crossed-out line is still a decision you made on purpose, which is the point of the exercise.

They work best on paper. The boxes printed beside each item are shapes, not controls: this site sets no cookies and stores nothing in your browser, so a tick made on screen would vanish the moment you closed the tab. Printing the page and using a pen is both simpler and more reliable, and it means the sheet can sit next to the computer where the work is actually done.

Work through them in order the first time. The sequence is deliberate: Step 2 assumes you know what Step 1 established about the business model, and Step 4 assumes the spending position agreed in Step 3 already exists in writing. Skipping ahead usually means coming back.

Several items ask you to write something down — four numbers describing your computer, a monthly figure in Australian dollars, a sentence about what you want from the game. Keep all of that on one sheet. The value of these notes comes from having them in one place on the day you need them, which is usually a day you were not expecting.

If you share a computer or a household with other people, the checklists for Steps 3 and 5 are worth doing together rather than alone. They contain the items that fail quietly when only one person knows about them: who may authorise a purchase, whether randomised purchases are permitted, and what the rule about weeknights actually says.

Revisit the Step 5 checklist every month or two for as long as the game is still being played. The others are mostly one-off work; that one is a routine, and it is the routine that catches a forgotten recurring charge or a session habit that has quietly grown.

Finally, none of these lists has to be completed to get something out of the course. A reader who does nothing but look up a classification and agree a spending figure has done the two things that matter most.

Before you start the course

Step 1 — What "free to play" actually means

  1. Name the money arrangement of the game you are considering: paid once, subscription, or free to play.
  2. Confirm on the vendor's own site that the download itself costs nothing, rather than taking a third party's word for it.
  3. Find out whether the game has a shop inside it. Assume it does until you have checked.
  4. Check whether a permanent internet connection is required to play. For online games, assume yes.
  5. Establish who in your household controls the payment methods on the computer, and confirm none is saved in the browser or operating system for casual use.
  6. Read, or at least skim, the vendor's own description of the game rather than a summary written by somebody else.
  7. Write one sentence for yourself: what you would want out of this game if you did install it.

Step 2 — Checking your computer before you commit

  1. Write down your operating system and its version, exactly as the computer reports it.
  2. Write down the processor model, including the numbers after the name.
  3. Write down the installed memory in gigabytes.
  4. Write down the graphics hardware, and note whether it is a dedicated card or integrated graphics.
  5. Write down the free space on your main drive.
  6. Open the vendor's own requirements page — not a third party's copy of it — and confirm your operating system is listed.
  7. Compare the processor, memory and graphics lines one at a time, searching for any model name you do not recognise.
  8. Decide in advance what you will do if the result is between minimum and recommended.
  9. Confirm you have the administrator password for the computer, and permission to use it.
  10. Keep the sheet of paper. Step 4 asks for it again.

Step 3 — Classification, content and in-game spending

  1. Look the game up on the Australian Classification Board's register and write down the classification and the date of the decision.
  2. Read the consumer advice line underneath it and write down what drove the decision.
  3. Decide, for your household specifically, whether that content is suitable.
  4. Check whether the game has voice or text chat with strangers, and find its mute, block and report controls before the first session.
  5. Read the vendor's own description of what its shop sells.
  6. Note whether randomised purchases exist in the game, and decide in advance whether they are permitted in your household.
  7. Agree a monthly spending figure in Australian dollars. Zero is a complete answer.
  8. Agree who may authorise a purchase, and make sure no payment card is saved in the browser or the operating system on that computer.
  9. Write the spending position down somewhere both the adults and any young players can see it.
  10. Bookmark the eSafety Commissioner's site so it is findable on the day it is needed.

Step 4 — Registering, confirming an email address and signing in

  1. Decide which email address the account will use before you open the registration page.
  2. Confirm the address in the browser's bar belongs to the vendor before typing anything into a form.
  3. Use a password that is long and used on no other account.
  4. Store the password somewhere you will still be able to reach in two years.
  5. Turn on two-factor authentication during registration if the game offers it.
  6. Choose a display name containing no real name, suburb, school or year of birth.
  7. Check the tick boxes near the submit button and set marketing consent deliberately.
  8. Keep the link to the game's own privacy policy and terms.
  9. Check the spam folder before requesting a second confirmation email.
  10. Check the sender's domain and the link destination before clicking the confirmation link.
  11. After the first sign-in, review the account's public profile and privacy settings.
  12. Locate the mute, block and report controls in the first session.
  13. Adopt the rule: never sign in through a link in a message, only by typing the address yourself.

Step 5 — Settling in: time, money, and getting help

  1. Set a rule about when you play rather than how long, and make it one with a clear edge.
  2. Look at your total time played once a month, without judgement attached.
  3. Notice which parts of the game's design extend a session you did not plan to extend.
  4. Check your bank or card statement against the spending position you wrote in Step 3.
  5. Identify any recurring charge, and decide deliberately whether to keep it.
  6. Report charges you do not recognise to your bank promptly.
  7. Keep enough free drive space for updates, which arrive without asking.
  8. Read the vendor's terms once, calmly, before you ever need them.
  9. Treat any third-party tool that asks for your account details as a threat.
  10. Give no personal details to other players, however friendly the conversation.
  11. Use mute, block and report early rather than enduring someone.
  12. Keep the list of Australian bodies from Step 5 where you can find it.
  13. When you stop, cancel recurring charges and remove saved payment methods before uninstalling.