All checklists, in one place

Every checklist from the five steps is collected here in order. The button below prints the whole page on plain white paper without the header, the footer or the menu, so a printed copy is a usable working document rather than a screenshot of a website.

How to use them

Work down a list in order and tick the boxes with a pen. The boxes are printed marks, not controls: this site stores nothing in your browser, so a tick made on screen would vanish the moment you left the page, and pretending otherwise would be worse than useless. Paper is the honest medium for this.

Each list belongs to a step, and the step explains why each line is there. If a line does not make sense, follow the heading back to its step rather than guessing — the lists are deliberately terse because the reasoning lives in the prose.

Lines you cannot complete are information, not failure. If Step 2 shows that the computer is short of memory, the honest response is to note it and decide, not to tick the box anyway. The point of the exercise is to find out what is true about your own machine and household before a large download is under way.

The order matters in two places only. Step 2 belongs before Step 4, because there is no sense starting a download onto a drive that cannot hold it; and Step 3 belongs before Step 4, because the account is what the first launch asks for. Everything else can be done in whatever order suits you, and the whole course can be spread over a fortnight without losing anything.

If you are working through this on behalf of someone else in the household — a parent setting a computer up for a teenager, or an adult child helping a parent — print two copies. The lines about display names, chat settings, recovery addresses and spending limits are easier to agree with the list in front of both people than to explain afterwards.

Finally, none of these lines requires a purchase. Every one can be completed with the computer and the connection already in the house.

Before anything else

1. 01Decide which computer in the house this is for, and check it is a desktop or laptop, not a tablet.
2. 02Check how much free space the main drive has. Anything under 50 GB will make Step 4 uncomfortable.
3. 03Find out whether your home internet plan has a data allowance, and how much of it is left this month.
4. 04Set aside, or create, one email address you will use for game accounts and nothing else.
5. 05Agree with everyone in the household who will use the computer, and roughly when.

Roll call for Step 1 — what the game asks

1. 1AI know which computer this is for, and that it is a desktop or laptop running Windows, macOS or Linux.
2. 1BI have chosen a display name that does not contain my real name, school, workplace or suburb.
3. 1CI have an email address set aside for game accounts, separate from banking and work mail.
4. 1DI know whether my internet plan has a monthly data allowance, and how much of it is left.
5. 1EI know roughly how much free space the drive has, and I accept that a large download is coming.
6. 1FI have picked a time of day for the download when the connection is not busy.
7. 1GI have read the vendor's own page to find out what, if anything, the game charges for.
8. 1HIf a child will play, I have decided how purchases are handled before the account exists.
9. 1IEveryone who shares the computer and the connection knows what is about to happen.

Roll call for Step 2 — checking your computer

1. 2AI have written down the processor, exactly as the system panel names it, model number included.
2. 2BI have written down the installed memory in gigabytes.
3. 2CI have written down the graphics chip, and whether it is separate or integrated.
4. 2DI have written down the free space on the drive where the game would install.
5. 2EI know whether that drive is solid-state or mechanical.
6. 2FI have noted my operating system and its version.
7. 2GI have read the current requirements from the vendor's own page, not a second-hand summary.
8. 2HI have compared my four figures against both the minimum and the recommended column.
9. 2IIf space is short, I have cleared room rather than assuming the installer will cope.
10. 2JMy graphics driver is current, obtained from the system updater or the chip maker.

Roll call for Step 3 — account and email

1. 3AThe address I registered with is one I will still be able to read in two years.
2. 3BIt is not the address attached to my bank, my tax affairs or my employer.
3. 3CMy password is a long passphrase used on this account and nowhere else.
4. 3DIt is stored in a password manager or written down somewhere physically secure.
5. 3ETwo-factor sign-in is switched on if the publisher offers it.
6. 3FThe recovery codes are written down and kept with the password.
7. 3GMy display name does not reveal my real name, school, workplace or suburb.
8. 3HI filled in only the fields the form actually required.
9. 3II checked the sender's domain before acting on the confirmation message.
10. 3JI have confirmed the address and signed in once successfully.
11. 3KIf a child is the player, an adult holds the recovery address.

Roll call for Step 4 — the first session

1. 4AThe files came from the publisher's own site or a recognised distribution platform.
2. 4BI confirmed free disk space immediately before starting, not from an old note.
3. 4CThe transfer was started at a quiet hour for the household connection.
4. 4DThe computer was plugged in and set not to sleep during the transfer.
5. 4EI let the installer finish unpacking and let the launcher apply its first update.
6. 4FPower settings have been put back to normal.
7. 4GI signed in with the account from Step 3 and completed the tutorial or practice mode.
8. 4HI know the sprint, crouch, map, voice-chat and menu keys.
9. 4IMouse sensitivity is set to something I can aim with.
10. 4JI started at a low quality preset and raised it one level at a time.
11. 4KI can tell a low frame rate from high latency, and I know where the latency figure is shown.
12. 4LI checked the accessibility and subtitle options if I need them.

Roll call for Step 5 — classification and spending

1. 5AI have looked up the game's Australian classification and read the consumer advice with it.
2. 5BI have decided separately whether voice and text chat are on for this player.
3. 5CI know whether the game has a shop, and what it sells.
4. 5DI have set an amount I am willing to spend, which may be nothing at all.
5. 5ENo payment method is stored on the account unless I deliberately put it there.
6. 5FI keep receipts, dates and amounts in Australian dollars for anything I do buy.
7. 5GI can find the mute, block and report functions without searching for them mid-match.
8. 5HI know that eSafety takes reports about serious online abuse, and where to find it.
9. 5IThe household has an agreed stopping point that respects unpausable matches.
10. 5JI know how to uninstall properly and how to ask for the account to be closed.
11. 5KI know that the ACCC publishes what the consumer guarantees cover if a purchase goes wrong.