All checklists from the course

Every checklist from the five steps is gathered here in the order you would use them, along with the before-you-start list from the homepage and the glossary from Step 1. The page is laid out to print cleanly on paper, one checklist to a block, with a box beside each line.

How to use them

These lists are written to be worked through with a pen, not read. Each line is an instruction to find out one fact or make one decision, and almost all of them have a written answer. Keep the answers together in one place, because the later steps reuse what the earlier ones produced.

Work in order. The six facts about your computer from Step 2 are needed to read the vendor's requirements page; the classification and consumer advice from Step 3 are needed for the household conversation about money; the figure that conversation produces is what Step 5 compares the real spending against. Skipping ahead usually means coming back.

Expect to leave lines unticked for a while. Several of them depend on a vendor's own pages, which you may want to read on a different day, and one depends on three months passing. An unticked line is a reminder of an open question, which is more useful than a tick put there to finish the page.

Nothing is recorded. This site stores nothing in your browser, so ticks made on screen are not saved and will disappear if you reload. That is deliberate: the answers belong on your own paper or in your own file, not in ours. If you prefer to work on screen, copy the lines into a text file and fill them in there.

The lists are also useful a second time. If you later consider a different title, the Step 2 list has already been answered — your computer has not changed — and you can start at Step 3 with the new name. Households with more than one player often keep one copy of the Step 2 answers per computer and one copy of the Step 3 decisions for the household as a whole.

Finally, treat the lines that mention an Australian body as background reading rather than emergency procedure. Knowing before anything goes wrong that purchases are an ACCC and fair trading matter, serious online harm an eSafety matter, scams a Scamwatch matter and privacy an OAIC matter is worth far more than looking it up while upset. Each of those is linked from the step it belongs to.

Before you start

From the course overview

Write down which computer you intend to use, and whether it runs Windows, macOS or Linux.
Write down roughly how much free disk space it has today.
Write down whether your internet plan has a data allowance, and how much of it is left this month.
Write down whether anyone under 18 will use the account, and who is responsible for it.
Decide on a monthly amount in Australian dollars that you are willing to spend on this, including zero.
Set aside a notepad or a plain text file for the answers to the later checklists.

Step 1 — understanding what is on offer

From Step 1

Write down, in one sentence each, what a client and a server are.
Name the three things an account signs you up to: software, service, account.
Decide which email address the account will use, and who in the household is responsible for it.
Write down which of the three payment arrangements you expect the title to use, and note that you will verify it in Step 3.
Confirm the title you are considering is one you can run on a desktop or laptop computer, since this course covers no other kind of device.
Check the vendor's own site for the current install size, and write the figure next to your free-space note.
Re-read the glossary below and tick this line only when every term makes sense to you.

Step 2 — checking the machine

From Step 2

Write down the operating system name and version for the computer you intend to use.
Write down the full processor line, including the model number.
Write down the installed memory in gigabytes.
Write down the graphics hardware name, and whether it is integrated or a separate card.
Write down the free space on the drive the game would install to.
Write down whether the computer connects by cable or wi-fi, and your monthly data allowance.
Open the vendor's system requirements page for the title you are considering and compare it line by line with the six facts above.
Confirm the title supports your operating system, remembering that this course covers desktop and laptop computers only.
Decide and write down one of four outcomes: proceed as is, proceed with low settings, use another machine or upgrade a part, or stop here.
If you are on a limited data plan, pick the week in the billing cycle when the first download will happen.

Step 3 — suitability and spending

From Step 3

Search the Australian Classification Board's record for the exact title and write down the classification.
Write down the consumer advice line word for word, not a paraphrase.
Note whether the consumer advice mentions in-game purchases.
Open the vendor's own store or support pages and list what can be bought inside the game.
Decide whether a payment method will be stored against the account, and write the decision down.
Configure the purchase approval or spending controls your operating system, app store or payment provider already offers.
Agree a figure in Australian dollars per month or per year, and a date to review it.
If a minor will play, locate the chat, mute, block and report controls together before the first match.
Read the eSafety Commissioner's guidance for parents and carers once, as background rather than in an emergency.
Read one Scamwatch page about account and gaming scams so that a later message is recognisable.
Note where the publisher's support and refund process lives, before you need it.

Step 4 — account, installation and first session

From Step 4

Write down the email address the account will use, and confirm you can open it now.
Choose a display name that identifies no person, school or address.
Create a long password used nowhere else, and record where it is stored.
Check the address bar on the registration page before typing anything into it.
Leave optional marketing boxes unticked unless you want the email.
Read the termination and refund sections of the publisher's terms before accepting them.
Open the confirmation message and follow its link; check the junk folder if it has not arrived.
Turn on two-factor authentication and read the account recovery page once.
Download the launcher only from the vendor's own site.
Install to the drive with the free space you recorded in Step 2, and decline bundled extras.
Set graphics low, audio sensible, controls simplified, and chat as your household agreed.
Complete the tutorial in full before joining any match with other players.
Write down the date of the installation, so that the Step 5 cost review has a starting point.

Step 5 — living with it

From Step 5

Open the launcher's settings and switch off optional content you do not use.
Set update hours or a download speed limit if your connection is shared.
Diarise a check of the drive's free space every three months.
Add up the five cost lines and compare the total with the figure your household agreed.
Hold the three-month review as a conversation and answer its four questions.
Agree the days and times the game is played, rather than a vague limit on hours.
Confirm two-factor authentication is still on and the recovery method still works.
Write down the publisher's support address or form, before you need it.
Note which Australian body covers which kind of problem: ACCC and fair trading for purchases, eSafety for serious online harm, Scamwatch for scams, OAIC for privacy.
Read the publisher's privacy policy once, properly, now that you have an account.
If you stop: uninstall through the operating system, close the account on the publisher's website, and cancel any subscription separately.

Glossary, repeated from Step 1

Client: The program installed on your own computer that draws the game and sends your inputs to the server.
Server: The publisher's computer that runs the shared match and decides what actually happened.
Launcher: A small program that installs the client, keeps it current, and starts it.
Patch: An update to the client, usually required before you can play again.
Tutorial: A guided first session built into the game that teaches the controls, usually without other players present.
Latency: The delay between your computer and the server, measured in milliseconds.
In-game purchase: Anything bought with real money after installation, including virtual currency.
Classification: The Australian rating assigned to a computer game for sale or hire here.