Step 3 of 5

Step 3 — Accounts, classification ratings and how spending works

This is the step that happens at a table rather than at a keyboard. It covers the three things that are much easier to decide before you are in front of a game than during it: what you hand over to create an account, who in your household the title is classified for, and what you are willing to spend.

The paperwork step

Nothing in this step is exciting, and skipping it is the most common way a pleasant hobby turns into an argument about money or a locked account. Fifteen minutes here is worth more than any amount of advice about tactics.

What an account sign-up asks for

Sign-up screens differ between publishers, but the fields are broadly consistent across this genre. You can expect to be asked for an email address, a password, a player name shown to other players, and sometimes a date of birth. You may be asked to accept terms of service and a privacy policy, and in some cases to confirm a country of residence.

Three of those deserve a thought before you type.

The email address. This becomes the recovery address for the account and, in practice, the address to which the publisher's marketing goes. Many players use a dedicated address for games for exactly that reason. It is a reasonable habit and costs nothing.

The player name. It is public. Other players see it in every match and it is often difficult or impossible to change later. Do not use your real full name, your email local part, or anything that identifies where you work or study. The eSafety Commissioner publishes general guidance on what to share in online spaces, and the short version is: less than you think.

The date of birth. Where it is asked, it usually drives what the account may see or buy. Entering something false to get around that is a bad trade, because it is also the field a publisher uses to apply protections.

Why there is an email confirmation

Almost every account of this type sends an email you must open and act on before the account is fully usable. People find this annoying and then skip it, which leaves them with an account that cannot be recovered.

The confirmation exists for a practical reason: it proves the address you typed is one you can reach. Without that proof, a typo in your email address means you have an account you can never recover a password for. Do it at the time, not later, and if nothing arrives within a few minutes, check the spam folder before assuming something broke.

One caution worth having in advance. A confirmation email you were expecting, arriving immediately after you signed up, is ordinary. An email about your game account that arrives out of nowhere, asks you to log in urgently, or warns that your account will be closed is the standard shape of an account-theft attempt. The pattern is described generally at scamwatch.gov.au. When in doubt, do not use the link in the message — go to the site yourself.

Protecting the account from the start

Game accounts in this genre accumulate value: researched vehicles, progression, sometimes purchases. That makes them worth stealing, and the theft happens through the account rather than through the game.

Three habits cover most of it, and all three are free. Use a password that is unique to this account and long rather than clever. Turn on two-factor authentication if the publisher offers it, which means a second code from an app or a message in addition to the password. And treat anyone offering a trade, a prize or a free item in exchange for a login as an attacker, because that is what they are.

General, non-commercial advice on passwords and multi-factor authentication for Australians is published by the Australian Cyber Security Centre. Nothing about this step requires you to buy any security product, and this course does not suggest otherwise.

Classification: where the Australian rating comes from

Computer games sold or distributed in Australia are classified, and the rating together with its consumer advice is the official description of what the game contains. The body responsible is the Australian Classification Board, and its public database is at classification.gov.au.

This course does not state the rating of any particular title, including the one it names, because ratings are revised and only the Board's own record is authoritative. Look the title up there. What you get is two useful things: a classification category, and a line of consumer advice describing why — the kind of violence, language or other content that produced it.

Read the consumer advice rather than only the letter. For a household decision, "violence" and "online interactivity" mean quite different things, and the advice line is where that detail lives. The Board also publishes what its categories mean, which is a better source than any summary on a site like this one.

Deciding who in the household plays

If more than one person might use the computer, make this decision now, with the Board's record open. The question is not only whether a young person may play, but whether the account is theirs or yours, and who can spend from it.

Two practical arrangements are common. One account per person, each with its own classification-appropriate choices, keeps things clear but means separate progression. A shared account is simpler and means nobody can tell who spent what. The second arrangement is the one that causes the arguments.

How spending is structured

Step 1 explained why entry is free. This section explains the shape of what follows, in general terms that hold across the genre. The specific offers, names and prices of any product are the vendor's to state, and change, so read them there.

Broadly, four kinds of purchase appear in games of this type.

• An account status bought by the week or month that increases the rate at which you earn progression. Its value depends entirely on how much you play, which a new player cannot yet estimate.
• Individual vehicles or units sold outright, sometimes only for a period.
• In-game currency bought with real money and spent inside the game. The currency step is significant: once converted, you stop thinking in Australian dollars.
• Cosmetic items that change appearance only.

The currency point is the one most worth internalising. A price expressed in an invented unit is harder to judge than the same price in dollars, and bundles are usually sized so that the cheapest pack is slightly less than what you need. Doing the division yourself, in AUD, before buying, is the whole defence.

Randomised items, and why they need care

Some games of this kind sell containers whose contents are randomised — you pay a known amount for an unknown item. Others do not. Whether a particular title does is a fact about that title, and the vendor's store page and the Classification Board's consumer advice are where to check it.

Two things can be said generally. First, a randomised purchase is a purchase whose value you cannot calculate in advance, which makes any spending limit you have set more important rather than less. Second, these mechanics are structurally similar to gambling, and should never be presented to a young person as harmless, as a reward, or as a way to get something cheaply. If a household includes minors, that is a reason to control who can spend from the account at all, not merely to hope.

If you want to understand what a game contains before buying anything in it, the consumer advice at classification.gov.au is the Australian starting point.

Writing your own spending rule

A limit you decide in advance works; a limit you decide in front of an offer does not. Write three lines, on paper, now:

1. The most you will spend on this game in the next twelve months, in Australian dollars.
2. The minimum number of hours you will play before spending anything at all. Fifteen is a defensible figure, because an account status that accelerates progression is worthless to someone who stops after three hours.
3. Who else, if anyone, must agree before a purchase happens.

Making an account now, or waiting

If you have read Step 2 and your machine passed, and you want to look at the vendor's own sign-up and requirements pages while this step is fresh, the link below is the one that funds this site.

Visit the War Thunder websitePaid affiliate link. MEBAT Distribution s.r.o. receives a commission if you register and confirm an account through it; the price to you does not change and this step is complete either way.

Your rights as a consumer in Australia

Buying digital items from a publisher is a consumer transaction, and the Australian Consumer Law applies to what a seller tells you about what you are buying. Misleading or deceptive conduct is prohibited under that law. The regulator is the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission, and its site describes what the guarantees cover and how to complain.

On the privacy side, how a company handles the personal information you give it is the territory of the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner. If you ever want to know what a publisher holds about you, the OAIC's pages on access and correction explain the general shape of such a request.

This course is general information and is not legal advice. Where your situation matters, the regulators above are the primary sources, and they are free to read.

Before you move on

You should now have three things written down: who the account belongs to, what the Classification Board's record says about the title you are considering, and a spending ceiling in Australian dollars with a minimum hours figure attached to it. Step 4 is the first step that touches a download.

Step 3 checklist

Printed boxes, pen required. This site stores nothing.

1. Decide which email address the account will use, and consider a dedicated one for games.
2. Choose a public player name that identifies nothing about you.
3. Plan to complete the email confirmation immediately rather than later.
4. Set a long, unique password, and turn on two-factor authentication if the publisher offers it.
5. Look the title up in the Australian Classification Board's database and read the consumer advice line, not only the category.
6. Decide who in the household may use the account, and whether separate accounts are better.
7. Write your twelve-month spending ceiling in Australian dollars on paper.
8. Write the minimum hours you will play before spending anything.
9. Decide whether any randomised purchases are inside or outside your rule, and if minors use the computer, control who can spend at all.
10. Remove stored card details from the account where the publisher allows it.
11. Note where the ACCC and OAIC sites are, so you know where consumer and privacy questions go.