Vast Notion

All five checklists on one page

Every checklist from the five steps, gathered here in order. The page is formatted so that printing it produces plain black type on white paper, with empty boxes you can tick with a pen.

How to use these

The boxes on this page are drawn, not interactive. Nothing you do here is saved, because this site stores nothing on your computer at all — no cookies, no browser storage, no account. If you want to keep your progress, print the page or copy the lists into a note of your own.

The five checklists are designed to be worked through in order, because each one assumes the one before it. Step 1 is thinking, done away from the computer. Step 2 is ten minutes with the computer's own settings panels. Step 3 is twenty minutes of reading on the publisher's site. Step 4 is the installation itself, most of which is waiting. Step 5 is ongoing, and its last five items only apply when you decide to stop.

You do not have to complete every item. A checklist is a prompt, not an examination, and some items will not apply to your situation — the ones about young people in the household, for instance, or the ones about laptops if you use a desktop tower. Read down the list, do what applies, and move on.

Two items are worth treating as genuine prerequisites rather than suggestions. The first is writing down a maximum figure in Australian dollars before you install anything, in Step 1. The second is checking your own hardware against the publisher's stated requirements, in Step 2. Skipping either is how people end up either disappointed or out of pocket, and both take only a few minutes.

If you are working through this with someone else in the household, the version that works best is one printed copy between you rather than two. Several items — the spending figure, the purchase rule, what may be installed on a shared machine — are household decisions rather than individual ones, and a single shared sheet makes that obvious.

Each heading below links back to the step it came from, if you want the reasoning behind an item rather than the item alone.

Step 1 — What these games are

  • Write one sentence, in your own words, explaining how a game that costs nothing to install pays for itself.
  • Write down a maximum figure in Australian dollars for the next three months, covering the household rather than each person. Zero is a valid figure.
  • Write down a maximum number of hours per week you are willing to give this, and the time of day you expect to play.
  • Decide whether anyone under eighteen uses the same computer. If so, note that you will read the classification rating in Step 3 before installing.
  • Note which of the four kinds of purchase — time, convenience, access, appearance — you would and would not be comfortable paying for.
  • Check whether anyone else in the household needs to agree before software is installed on this machine.
  • Put the written figures somewhere visible rather than in a drawer.

Step 2 — Will your computer run it

  • Write down your processor model exactly as the system panel shows it.
  • Write down your installed memory in gigabytes.
  • Write down your graphics adapter name, and note whether it is built into the processor or a separate card.
  • Write down the free space, not the total space, on the drive you would install to.
  • Write down your operating system name and version number.
  • Find the publisher's stated minimum and recommended requirements and put them beside your five lines.
  • Mark each line as above minimum, between the two columns, or below minimum.
  • If anything is below minimum, stop here and decide whether that is a reason to look at a different title.
  • If the drive has less than about twenty gigabytes free, clear space or move files before you install anything.
  • If you are using a laptop, check that its vents are not blocked and plan to keep it on power while playing.

Step 3 — Ratings, purchases and terms

  • Look up the title's classification entry and write down the rating and its consumer advice line.
  • If anyone under eighteen uses the computer, decide on the basis of that advice line before going further.
  • Find the purchase information and note the currencies, which ones can be bought, and whether odds are published.
  • Confirm that prices shown to you are in Australian dollars.
  • Search the account terms for suspension, changes, ownership, refunds, governing law and deletion. Note what each says.
  • Copy the account deletion instructions into the same note as your spending limit.
  • Read the publisher's privacy notice for what is collected, why, who receives it and whether it leaves Australia.
  • Check the address in the browser bar and confirm you are on the publisher's own domain.
  • Remove stored payment details from the browser, or set a separate payment method with its own limit.
  • Decide, before Step 4, whether anything you read changes the figure you wrote down in Step 1.

Step 4 — Installing and the first session

  • Confirm free space is at least double the stated download size.
  • Open the publisher's site or storefront listing directly and check the address in the browser bar.
  • Register with an email address you control and a password used nowhere else.
  • Turn on multi-factor authentication if it is offered.
  • Decline marketing consent boxes unless you want the email.
  • Let the download finish completely before opening the installer.
  • Read every installer screen; untick anything pre-ticked that you did not come for.
  • Check that the administrator prompt names the program you meant to install.
  • Choose the install location rather than accepting the default without thinking.
  • Let the first-launch update finish before judging anything.
  • Find the graphics setting, the volume control and the way to quit before starting the tutorial.
  • Lower graphics quality one step at a time until movement is smooth.
  • Check the machine's temperature and fan noise after twenty minutes.
  • Write down the install date, the version and the settings that worked.
  • Stop at the end of the session you planned, whatever is on screen.

Step 5 — Settling in and leaving cleanly

  • Set a fixed finishing time for sessions, with a reminder outside the game.
  • Decide what each session is for before you start it.
  • Write one weekly line: roughly how many sessions, roughly how long.
  • Read the monthly statement and compare the total with the figure you set in Step 1.
  • Keep every receipt in one folder, and keep payment details off the shared machine.
  • Agree a household rule about time-limited offers, including a cut-off hour.
  • When leaving: remove stored payment methods and cancel any subscription with whoever actually bills you.
  • When leaving: follow the publisher's account deletion process and keep the confirmation.
  • When leaving: uninstall through the operating system or storefront, then check the install folder for leftovers.
  • When leaving: unsubscribe from marketing email using the link in the message.
  • When leaving: file the receipts somewhere you can find them for at least a year.