SS Subtle Shift

All checklists

Every checklist from the course, gathered here so you can print the lot and work through them away from a screen. The boxes are printed, not interactive — this site stores nothing, so ticks would not survive a page reload anyway.

How to use them

The six lists below run in the order the course does, and each one assumes the one before it. That matters most between the second and third: the Step 3 list asks you to compare a vendor's charges against a dollar figure, and that figure comes from Step 2. If you print only one page, print both of those.

Work through a list in one sitting rather than across a week. Each is short enough for that, and the value of a checklist is mostly that it stops you from deciding things in a different order each time. Where an item cannot be completed because a vendor has not published something, leave the box empty and write why in the margin — an empty box with a reason is more useful than a ticked one that was a guess.

The lists are written to be used with any online game, not with a particular one. Where an item mentions a setting, it describes what the setting should achieve rather than what it is called, because names differ between games and devices and change with updates. The vendor's own help pages are the place to find the current name.

Two of these lists are worth repeating rather than doing once. The Step 4 list is the one to re-run after any update large enough to be announced inside the game, because updates occasionally reorganise settings. The Step 5 list is a routine rather than a task, and three or four of its items recur monthly.

If you are doing this with another adult, do the Step 2 list together. It is the list where disagreements show up, and it is much cheaper to find them there than after a decision has been made. If a child is the player, the Step 5 social questions are better asked by whoever normally has that kind of conversation with them.

Nothing here needs to be finished on any particular day. There is no sequence you can fall behind on and nothing expires. If you get through the first list and stop for a fortnight, the second one will still make sense when you come back to it.

Before you open any game website

  • Write down who in the household will be playing, and their age.
  • Write down which device they will play on, and who owns it.
  • Decide now, in dollars, the most you are willing to spend in a month. Write the number down.
  • Decide whose email address the account will use. An adult's address, not a child's, if a child is playing.
  • Decide which payment method you will allow — and, just as importantly, which ones you will not.
  • Agree who in the house is allowed to approve a purchase.

Step 1 — What an online game account involves

  • I can explain the difference between buying a game once and holding an account with a vendor.
  • I know which four parts make up an online game, and which one needs an internet connection.
  • I have read the glossary and can define subscription, in-game currency and randomised item.
  • I know which of the three money shapes I am prepared to accept, and which I am not.
  • I have written down the question "does this game have chat, and can it be turned off?" to answer later.
  • I know that the eSafety Commissioner is the Australian body for online safety reports.
  • I have decided whose email address any account will use.

Step 2 — Working out what your household needs

  • I have written down every person who will play, and their age.
  • I have decided whether the account will be shared, and accepted the consequences if it is.
  • I have named the device and written down where in the house it is used.
  • I have noted whether the connection has a data cap and when it is busy.
  • I have a time rule with days, duration and a reference point, not "not too much".
  • I have written a monthly dollar figure, and said whether it includes in-game purchases.
  • I have decided who may approve a purchase.
  • I have written down who the player will be playing with, and therefore what chat setting I need.
  • I have checked whether the device belongs to a school, and asked the school if it does.

Step 3 — Reading the cost and purchase terms

  • I have opened the vendor's terms and purchase documents, not only the pricing page.
  • I have written down the ongoing charge, separately from any introductory rate.
  • I know what currency the price is in, and what my card adds for a foreign transaction.
  • I know when the next charge falls and whether I will be told beforehand.
  • I have written down the exact cancellation path, and whether it runs through an app store.
  • I know the smallest currency pack, what a typical item costs, and whether they divide evenly.
  • I know whether the game sells anything randomised, and I have made a household decision about it.
  • I have compared the total against the dollar figure I wrote in Step 2.
  • I know that the ACCC publishes guidance on consumer guarantees and that Scamwatch takes scam reports.

Step 4 — Setting up and checking the controls work

  • The account uses an adult's long-lived email address.
  • The password is long, used nowhere else, and stored somewhere I can find it.
  • Two-factor authentication is on if the vendor offers it, and recovery codes are saved.
  • The payment method is the one agreed in Step 2, and card details are not saved where the player can use them.
  • Purchase approval is on at the device or app store level, not only in the game.
  • Chat and friend settings match the Step 2 answer, set before the first session.
  • The time limit is set using the device's own screen time tools.
  • I have tested the purchase approval, the chat setting, the time limit and the password recovery.
  • I have a dated written record of every setting and where it lives.
  • I have told the player that account details are never entered on any site except the vendor's own.

Step 5 — Living with it

  • A repeating calendar reminder is set three days before each renewal.
  • I know what the game charge looks like on my statement and check it monthly.
  • I compare the monthly total against the figure I wrote in Step 2.
  • After a large update I re-check the chat, purchase and time settings against my Step 4 record.
  • I check after updates whether any new purchase type has appeared, especially a randomised one.
  • I know whether updates can be restricted to the fixed connection, if data is capped.
  • I have a three-month review in the calendar covering play, spending, time and who they play with.
  • I ask the player routinely whether anything unpleasant has happened, not only when I suspect it.
  • I know the cancellation path, where it lives, and that I should keep the confirmation.
  • I know to check one further statement after cancelling.