Step 5 of 5

Step 5 — Spending, ratings and household rules

The only spending decision that matters

In a free-to-play game, the question is never "is this item worth it" in isolation. The question is what you decided your limit was before you were shown the item. A figure chosen in advance, in daylight, with the rest of your month's spending in front of you, is a different figure from one chosen at 11pm after four losses.

So the decision in this step is one sentence long and written down somewhere outside the game: nothing, or a specific amount per month in Australian dollars, reviewed at a date you pick. "Nothing" is the default this course assumes, and the whole course works with it.

That is not a moral position about spending money on games. People spend money on things they enjoy, and a game is a thing some people enjoy. It is a position about the order of operations: decide first, then look.

Premium currency, and converting it back

Where real money buys an in-game currency, and that currency buys items, the conversion is where the price becomes hard to see. Bundles are rarely sized to match item prices, so the smallest pack that covers a given item usually leaves a remainder, and the remainder encourages a second purchase.

The habit that fixes this is arithmetic. Before buying, work out what the item costs in Australian dollars: the pack price divided by the units in the pack, multiplied by the units the item costs. Write that number next to the item. Then decide. Most people find the number is either clearly fine or clearly not, and the uncertainty was coming from the conversion rather than from the item.

Check also whether what you are buying is permanent, seasonal or expiring, and whether any purchase renews by itself. A recurring charge noted in your own calendar is a recurring charge you will remember to review.

Randomised items

Some games sell an item whose contents are decided by chance: you pay a known amount and receive one of several possible things. It is worth treating this as a separate category from an ordinary purchase, for one plain reason — with an ordinary purchase you know what you are getting, and here you do not.

Two consequences follow for a newcomer. First, the cost of obtaining one specific item through a randomised mechanism is not knowable in advance; it can be far more than the headline price of a single attempt. Second, the experience of a near miss is designed to feel like progress, and it is not progress.

This course does not claim a legal threshold or make a public-policy argument, because the law and regulation around these mechanisms is a matter for the relevant authorities rather than for a beginner's course, and the current position is published by them. What the course does say plainly: a purchase with a randomised outcome is not something to present to a child or teenager as a normal part of playing a game, and it should never be framed to a young person as a harmless flutter. Guidance for parents and carers on games and spending is published by the eSafety Commissioner.

If you want the household position to be simple, the simplest one is: no randomised purchases at all. It requires no arithmetic and no willpower at 11pm.

Spending nothing: what you gain and what you give up

Classification ratings in Australia

Computer games distributed in Australia are classified, and the classification with its consumer advice is the official indication of who the content is considered suitable for. The classifications and the database of classified titles are published by the Australian Classification Board at classification.gov.au, which is also where the meaning of each classification and each consumer advice line is set out.

Two practical notes. Look up the specific title rather than relying on a rating remembered from a similar game, because the consumer advice — the short line about what produced the rating — is often more useful than the letter itself. And a classification describes content; it is not a statement about chat with strangers or about in-game purchases, which are the two things this course has asked you to set up separately in Step 4 and in this step.

This course does not state a rating or an age threshold for any particular title, because the Board is the source for that and its database is where to check it.

Household rules worth writing down

A rule written on paper on the fridge settles arguments that a rule in somebody's head does not. Four are usually enough.

1. Money. The monthly figure, or zero, and who may authorise a purchase. If a card is saved to a platform account, decide whether it stays saved.
2. Time. Which evenings, and what happens on a school or work night. A stated finishing time is easier to keep than a vague one.
3. Chat. Whether voice chat with strangers is in or out, and the rule about what is never said online — real name, school, suburb, workplace.
4. Reporting. That anything uncomfortable gets told to an adult in the house without anyone losing access as a punishment, which is the condition that makes the rule work at all.

If the account belongs to a young person, the practical additions are: the account's email is one a parent or carer can access, payment details are not saved to it, and the classification and consumer advice for the title have actually been looked up.

Your rights if something goes wrong

If you do spend money, Australian Consumer Law applies to goods and services supplied to consumers in Australia, including digital products, and it provides consumer guarantees that a company's terms cannot take away. The regulator is the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission, and the plain-English explanation of consumer guarantees and of how to complain is at accc.gov.au.

The usual order for a problem with a purchase is: contact the seller first, in writing, keeping a copy; if that fails, contact your state or territory consumer protection agency, which the ACCC site lists; and keep the receipt, the account name and the date, because all three will be asked for.

For a charge you did not authorise, the card issuer or bank is the other route and should be contacted promptly. For an unauthorised access to an account, or a suspected scam, the National Anti-Scam Centre at scamwatch.gov.au both describes current approaches and takes reports. For a concern about how a company has handled your personal information, the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner at oaic.gov.au explains how to complain, after you have complained to the organisation itself.

Living with it afterwards

Three small habits keep a free game from becoming a background annoyance. Check the size of the installation every few months, because it grows. Decide whether the launcher should start with the computer, and in most cases it should not. And uninstall without ceremony if you stop playing; the account and whatever is attached to it remain on the company's servers, and the drive space comes back.

If you want to come back to the course, the All checklists page carries all five lists in one printable place.

The worked example household

The hypothetical share house finishes the course with four lines on the fridge: nothing spent this month, two evenings a week, voice chat off with people outside the house, and anything unpleasant gets mentioned at dinner. They looked the title up in the Classification Board's database rather than assuming, and they did not save a card to the account.

Three months later the review date arrives and the answer is still "nothing", which is not a failure of the system — it is the system working. This household is a hypothetical example written for the course; it is not a real household and reports no results from any product.

Checklist 5 — Spending, ratings and rules

Static printed boxes; this site stores nothing. Also on the All checklists page.

• Write one sentence stating your monthly limit, or zero, and the date you will review it.
• Decide whether payment details are saved to the account or the platform at all.
• Work out the Australian dollar cost per item before any purchase of premium currency.
• Check whether anything you buy renews automatically, and note the date in your own calendar.
• Decide your position on randomised purchases, and keep it simple.
• Look up the title's classification and consumer advice on classification.gov.au.
• Write the four household rules down where everyone can see them: money, time, chat, reporting.
• If a young person uses the account, make sure a parent or carer can access its email address.
• Keep receipts, account names and dates for anything you pay for.
• Read the ACCC's page on consumer guarantees once, before you need it rather than after.