All checklists
The seventy-five items from the five steps of this course, gathered on one page so you can print them and work through them with a pen at the computer.
How to use these
These lists are not a test and there is no score. Each item is a thing you can check in a minute or two at the computer, written so that it is either true or not true — which is the only property that makes a checklist worth having. Vague items get ticked out of politeness; specific ones do not.
Nothing on this page remembers anything. The small squares are printed shapes, not controls: the site stores no cookies, no browser storage and no account, so a tick made on screen would vanish the moment the page reloaded. That is why this page prints. Use the button above, or your browser's own print command, and the page comes out on white paper with the menu, the colours and the disclosure boxes stripped out.
The sensible order is the order of the course. Step 1 and Step 2 are the two to do before anything is installed, because they are the two that can save you an evening. Step 3 is the one people skip; it is also the one that matters on the day something goes wrong, and it takes about twenty minutes with a browser's find function. Step 4 is done once, at the computer, while something large is downloading. Step 5 is not a one-off at all — it is a list to come back to at the end of the first month and again at the end of the third.
If an item does not apply to you, strike it out rather than ticking it. A struck-out item is a decision you made; a ticked one you did not read is noise. And if an item sends you somewhere — to a vendor's requirements page, to the Classification Board's database, to your own system information — go there rather than answering from memory. Almost every item on these lists exists because people answer it from memory and are wrong.
Each step page carries the same checklist at its end, with the explanation that produced it directly above. If an item here is not obvious, the step it came from is the place to look: Step 1, Step 2, Step 3, Step 4 and Step 5.
| Card | Checklist | Items | Minutes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 01-C | What you are signing up for | 10 | 15 |
| 02-C | Will it run on your desktop | 13 | 20 |
| 03-C | Terms, privacy notice and rating | 14 | 25 |
| 04-C | Installing and the first session | 19 | 40 |
| 05-C | Spending and settling in | 19 | 20 |
| Total | All five | 75 | 120 |
Step 1 — What you are signing up for
- I can state, in my own words, the difference between the game, the client and the account.
- I have chosen the email address the account will use, and I can open that inbox on this computer.
- That email address is one I expect to still control in several years.
- I have a password manager, or a decided plan for where this account's password will live.
- The password I intend to use is not the password on my email account.
- I know whether I will be asked to confirm the account by email, and I will check the inbox if so.
- I have decided how I will answer the date-of-birth and country fields, honestly.
- I know I can leave the marketing tick box unticked.
- I can name at least three ways a game that costs nothing to download earns money.
- I have written down a figure — which may be zero — for what I am willing to spend in three months.
Step 2 — Will it run on your desktop
- I have written down my operating system and its full version number.
- I have confirmed the game is published for that operating system.
- I have written down my processor model exactly as the system reports it.
- I have written down how much memory is installed, in gigabytes.
- I have written down my graphics hardware exactly as the system reports it.
- I know whether that graphics hardware is a separate card or built into the processor.
- I have noted the free space on the drive I intend to install to.
- That free space is comfortably more than the installed size the game states.
- I have found the game's own requirements page on the vendor's site, not a third-party copy.
- I have compared every row and written down a pass or fail for each.
- I know whether my connection has a data allowance, and roughly what the download will use.
- I have decided when to start the download so it does not compete with other use.
- I have not run any website's offer to scan or detect my system.
Step 3 — Terms, privacy notice and rating
- I have opened the terms of service on the vendor's own website.
- I have found and noted the suspension and termination passage.
- I know whether anything paid for is refunded if the account is closed.
- I have found and noted the passage about licences and virtual items.
- I know whether in-game currency can be converted back to money.
- I have found the passage about how the terms may be changed.
- I have found the governing law and dispute passage.
- I have read the privacy notice and know what categories of data are collected.
- I know who the data is shared with and whether it leaves Australia.
- I know how to make an access or deletion request, and where to send it.
- I have looked the title up in the Australian Classification Board database.
- I have read the consumer advice attached to the classification.
- If anyone under 18 will play, I have read the eSafety Commissioner's gaming guidance.
- All of the above is in one dated note I can find again.
Step 4 — Installing and the first session
- I reached the publisher's site by typing the address or following a link I checked.
- I read the domain in the address bar before saving anything.
- I declined any offer of a download manager, optimiser or helper tool.
- I confirmed the free disk space before installing.
- I read each installer screen instead of clicking through.
- I chose the install location deliberately.
- I let the first round of updates finish.
- I created the account with the email address chosen in Step 1.
- I used a long password that is unique to this account.
- That password is stored in a password manager, not in my head.
- I completed the activation step and signed in once to confirm it worked.
- I switched on two-factor authentication, or noted that it was not offered.
- Recovery codes are stored somewhere other than this computer.
- My email account itself has a unique password and a second factor.
- I set graphics quality and resolution on purpose, starting low.
- I decided about voice chat before playing rather than during.
- I checked the chat and social settings.
- I know whether a payment method is saved and whether purchases need confirming.
- I played one short session and wrote down anything that behaved badly.
Step 5 — Spending and settling in
- I can name the five kinds of purchase and say which one hides what I am getting.
- I know whether this game puts an in-game currency between my money and the items.
- I work out the cost per item in Australian dollars before buying, not after.
- I know whether a payment method is saved, and I have decided whether I want it to be.
- If randomised items are sold, I have checked whether the odds are published.
- I have looked at the Classification Board record for this title rather than relying on hearsay.
- No one under 18 can make a purchase on this account without an adult.
- I have read the publisher's own refund policy.
- I know that the Australian Consumer Law guarantees are not removed by that policy.
- I keep receipts and confirmation emails in one place.
- My three-month figure is written down where I will see it.
- Anyone else who uses this account knows that figure and has agreed to it.
- I have a date in mind to add up what I have actually spent.
- My password is still unique to this account and my second factor still works.
- My recovery codes are still where I put them.
- I would not follow a sign-in link in an email; I would type the address myself.
- I know that buying or sharing accounts is prohibited by most terms in this category.
- I know how to uninstall, how to cancel a subscription, and that they are not the same thing.
- I know where the account deletion route is documented, should I ever want it.