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JOB SHEET · all five checks

All checklists — the five torque checks on one page

Every checklist from the course, gathered so you can print the lot and work down them with a pen. The boxes are printed shapes rather than controls: nothing here records what you tick, on paper or on screen.

JOB SHEET-01

How to use these lists

Each list belongs to one step of the course, and each is written so that it can be done without the step open in front of you. If a line does not make sense on its own, the step it came from explains it, and the heading links back.

Do them in order on the first game you look at. The order is not decorative: the account checklist assumes you have decided the game will run, and the setup checklist assumes an account exists. Out of order, the lists still work, but you will occasionally do something twice.

On a second game, most of the work is already done. The six lines about your own computer do not change, so Step 2 becomes a comparison rather than an investigation, and the spending rule from Step 5 is written once and reviewed on a date. In practice a second game takes about twenty minutes.

Three habits make the lists worth more than they look.

  • Write the answers, not just the ticks. A tick next to "record whether an in-game currency exists" is worth far less than the actual answer written beside it. Print the page, leave the margin for notes, and the sheet becomes a record you can compare across games.
  • Date the sheet. Requirements, store arrangements and terms all change. A sheet with a date tells you when to be suspicious of it; a sheet without one tells you nothing.
  • Do not finish a list in one sitting if finishing it means guessing. A blank line is honest. A line filled in with something you assumed is worse than no line at all, because next month you will not remember which was which.

If you prefer to work on screen, keep the page open in one window and a plain text file in another. Nothing on this site stores anything in your browser, so a tick on screen here would vanish the moment you left — which is why the boxes are printed rather than clickable. That is a deliberate consequence of collecting nothing about you, and it is set out in full in our cookie policy.

The print layout drops the navigation, the colours and this introduction's buttons, and sets the lists on white so that the printed sheet is readable and uses sensible amounts of ink.

JOB SHEET-02

Torque check 1 — the store

From Step 1 — what "free to play" actually costs.

  1. Write down the exact name of the game you are considering, and the address of its official website.
  2. Open the store on that website without creating an account. If you cannot, note that fact.
  3. Record whether an in-game currency exists, and the smallest and largest bundles sold.
  4. Record whether prices are shown in Australian dollars, or in another currency.
  5. Tick which of the four patterns you can see: appearance, time, capability, randomised items.
  6. Note whether any subscription or membership renews automatically, and over what period.
  7. Note whether earned currency and purchased currency have different names.
  8. Write one sentence in your own words: "This game makes its money by …".
  9. Decide, before going further, the maximum you would spend in a year, in Australian dollars. Zero is a valid answer.
  10. Repeat the exercise on a second game, so you have something to compare against.
JOB SHEET-03

Torque check 2 — the machine

From Step 2 — working out whether your computer can run it.

  1. Write down your operating system and version, exactly as the settings page shows it.
  2. Write down the full processor name, including the model number.
  3. Write down installed memory in gigabytes.
  4. Write down the full graphics adapter name.
  5. Write down free space on the main drive, in gigabytes.
  6. Confirm the system is 64-bit.
  7. Find the requirements list on the publisher's own site, not a third party's.
  8. Check your operating system against the supported list before checking anything else.
  9. Compare your six lines against the minimum column, then the recommended column, and write which column you sit in.
  10. Confirm free space exceeds the installed size with a few gigabytes to spare, and check your connection is not metered before a large download.
JOB SHEET-04

Torque check 3 — the account

From Step 3 — accounts, email confirmation and the terms.

  1. Choose the email address the account will use, and confirm you will still control it in five years.
  2. Confirm that email account itself has a strong, unique password.
  3. Set a long, unique password for the game account — a passphrase or one from a password manager.
  4. Turn on two-factor authentication if the service offers it.
  5. Search the terms for "licence" and note whether you own or licence what you acquire.
  6. Search for "terminate" and note what ends an account and what happens to purchases.
  7. Search for "share" and "transfer" and note whether household sharing is permitted.
  8. Search for "refund" and note the publisher's stated position.
  9. Search for "amend" and note how changes to the terms are notified.
  10. Read the privacy policy for four things: what is collected, who it is shared with, whether it leaves the country, how long it is kept.
  11. Note the minimum age stated in the terms, and any requirement for a parent or guardian to agree.
  12. Agree with yourself: confirmation links are followed only in the minute after you asked for one.
JOB SHEET-05

Torque check 4 — the first hour

From Step 4 — install, settings and checking it works.

  1. Update the graphics driver from the hardware maker's own site.
  2. Restart the computer after the driver update.
  3. Confirm free disk space exceeds the installed size with headroom.
  4. Download the installer from the publisher's own site, typing the address yourself.
  5. Run the installer and note where the game is installed.
  6. Let the first-launch update finish without interrupting it.
  7. Sign in with the account from Step 3, with your second factor to hand.
  8. Set the graphics preset to low or medium for the first session.
  9. Set resolution to match the monitor, and choose windowed or borderless mode.
  10. Set overall volume, and set voice chat separately.
  11. Review chat and social settings, and find the report and block functions.
  12. Check the accessibility options: subtitles, text size, key rebinding.
  13. Turn on the frame rate and latency display.
  14. Play the introduction and write down both numbers at the end.
  15. Spend nothing in the first session.
JOB SHEET-06

Torque check 5 — staying in control

From Step 5 — spending, randomised items and time. Date this one.

  1. Write a spending rule with three parts: amount, period, method.
  2. Put the rule somewhere you will physically see it.
  3. Remove stored card details from the game account, or never add them.
  4. Decide whether a prepaid or separate low-balance card is the sensible method for you.
  5. Convert at least one in-game price back to Australian dollars by hand, to see what the layer was hiding.
  6. Add your bank's international transaction fee if prices are in a foreign currency.
  7. Check your statement monthly for small recurring amounts.
  8. If randomised items exist, find whether the publisher states the chances, and read them.
  9. Agree that no account used by a young person has a stored payment method.
  10. Look up the title in the Australian Classification Board's database and read the consumer advice.
  11. Find the report and block functions, and show everyone in the household where they are.
  12. Agree a stopping time, and set the alarm in another room.
  13. Keep one night a week clear of the game.
  14. Note the four places to take a problem: the publisher, the ACCC and fair trading, Scamwatch, eSafety, and the OAIC for privacy.
  15. Write down the order for leaving: cancel subscriptions, remove payment methods, then uninstall or delete.
  16. Put a review date on this page — three months from today is a reasonable first one.
JOB SHEET-07

Where the course starts

If you arrived straight at this page, the lists will make more sense after the steps that produced them. Step 1 is the shortest, and it is the one that changes how the rest reads.