CH 04
Step 4 — Classification, money and randomised items
Step 4 of 5
Two questions sit underneath every decision to install a game: is this suitable for the people who will be playing it, and what is it going to cost over time. Australia has an official answer to the first and no official answer to the second, so this step shows you where to look for one and how to settle the other yourself, in advance, in dollars.
LOG 04-1 // 01:15
How classification works in Australia
Computer games distributed in Australia are classified under the national classification scheme, which is administered by the Australian Classification Board. A classification is a formal decision about the content of a particular title, usually accompanied by consumer advice describing why it received that classification — references to violence, language, themes, or in-game purchases, for example.
We are not going to state here which classifications exist, what each one permits, or what age any of them corresponds to, because the categories and the rules around them are set out by the Board itself and are the kind of thing that should be read from the source rather than from a summary written by a website. The Board publishes the categories, the criteria and a searchable register of decisions, and that register is the authoritative answer for any particular game.
What this course will say is how to use it: classification is a per-title decision, the consumer advice attached to it is often more informative than the classification letter, and it is published before you have to install anything.
LOG 04-2 // 01:32
Looking a game up before you install it
- Open the Australian Classification Board's website and find its register of classification decisions.
- Search for the exact title of the game, as written on the vendor's own site.
- Read the classification recorded against it, and then read the consumer advice underneath, which is the part that tells you what is actually in the game.
- Note whether the advice mentions in-game purchases, because that is a separate matter from the content itself.
- If the title is not in the register, treat that as a question to put to the vendor rather than as a verdict either way.
- Write the result down beside your other notes for that game.
If more than one person uses the computer, do this step before the install rather than after it. It takes four minutes, and it is much easier to have the conversation about whether a game is suitable before it is sitting on the machine than after.
For households with children or teenagers, the eSafety Commissioner publishes guidance on gaming specifically, including how parental controls on computers and platforms generally work and what to do about unpleasant behaviour from other players. It is written for parents rather than for specialists.
LOG 04-3 // 01:50
The shapes in-game spending takes
Where a game can be installed at no charge, revenue has to come from somewhere inside it. Across the category, it comes in a handful of recognisable shapes.
| Structure | What it is | What to watch |
|---|---|---|
| Premium currency | Tokens bought with real money and spent inside the game. | It is usually sold in bundles that do not divide evenly into prices, leaving a remainder that encourages another purchase. |
| Cosmetic items | Appearance changes that do not affect how the game plays. | The least consequential category, but the easiest to accumulate without noticing. |
| Convenience or time savers | Purchases that shorten progress you could otherwise earn by playing. | Work out what the time saving is actually worth to you in dollars before buying one. |
| Season pass | A set of rewards released over a fixed period, earned by playing, often with a paid tier. | It creates a reason to play on a schedule. That is fine if you wanted to; less fine if you did not. |
| Expansions or additional content | Substantial new content sold separately. | Closest to a traditional purchase, and usually the easiest to evaluate. |
| Randomised items | A purchase whose contents are decided by chance. | Treated separately below. |
Prices for any of these vary by title and change over time, so this course does not quote any. Check them in the game's own shop, in Australian dollars, before you decide anything.
LOG 04-4 // 02:08
Randomised items, and why they need care
Some games sell items whose contents are determined by chance: you pay a fixed amount and receive one of a set of possible rewards. These are commonly called loot boxes, cases or crates.
Two things follow from the structure itself, without anyone needing to make a claim about any particular game. The first is that the cost of obtaining a specific item is not knowable in advance, because it depends on chance; the cost of a single purchase is known, but the cost of the outcome you actually want is not. The second is that this resembles other activities where money is exchanged for an uncertain outcome, which is why it attracts regulatory attention in a number of countries.
In an Australian household, the practical consequences are straightforward. A purchase of this kind should never be presented to a minor as an ordinary part of playing, and if children or teenagers share the computer, the account's payment settings and any platform-level controls deserve an explicit decision rather than a default. Where a game includes randomised purchases, the consumer advice published with its classification may note the presence of in-game purchases, which is another reason to read it.
If you are concerned about gambling-like spending by yourself or someone in your household, your state or territory health department publishes support services, and the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission is the body that deals with misleading conduct by businesses, including about what a purchase will deliver.
LOG 04-5 // 02:26
Setting a limit before you need one
The most effective thing you can do about in-game spending takes two minutes and happens before you install anything: decide the number. Write down, in Australian dollars, what you are prepared to spend in the first three months. Zero is a perfectly good answer, and a lot of people play for years at zero.
Then make the number real rather than aspirational. Do not store a payment card in the game or the platform unless you have decided you want purchases to be easy. Use a prepaid balance or a gift card if that suits you better, because an empty balance is a far more reliable limit than an intention. Turn on any purchase confirmation or spending-limit setting the platform offers. And if the computer is shared with someone under 18, make sure a purchase cannot be made without an adult, which is a setting, not a conversation.
Nobody spends more than they meant to because they are foolish. They spend it because the decision is small, repeated, made inside an enjoyable activity, and denominated in a currency the game invented. Setting a number beforehand works because it moves the decision out of that context and into this one.
LOG 04-6 // 02:44
Refunds and your rights as a consumer
Digital products sold to consumers in Australia are covered by the Australian Consumer Law, including the consumer guarantees that apply to goods and services. Those guarantees exist separately from, and in addition to, whatever refund policy a publisher or platform chooses to publish. The ACCC explains what the guarantees cover and how to pursue a problem, and it is the right place to read about this rather than a forum.
Two practical notes. Platforms generally publish their own refund windows and conditions, and reading them before you buy is easier than arguing about them afterwards. And keep the receipt: a purchase confirmation email, with the date and the amount in Australian dollars, is what any later conversation will turn on.
LOG 04-7 // 03:00
The example household, three months in
The hypothetical household from the overview looks up their chosen title on the classification register, reads the consumer advice, and has a short conversation about whether it suits a fifteen-year-old who shares the machine. They decide the computer's account will not store a payment card, and that any purchase goes through an adult.
They set their number at a modest figure for three months and write it on the same sheet as the hardware note. One month in, a season pass appears and they decide against it, on the grounds that neither adult plays on a schedule. Two months in, one of them buys a cosmetic item and records the amount. At the three-month mark they look at the sheet, find they are under the number, and decide to keep the same limit for the next quarter. The example reports no opinion about the game itself — only the shape of the decisions.
The title used in this course as the concrete example is Enlisted, described by the affiliate network as a new game set in the atmosphere of the Second World War, for desktop computers running Windows, macOS or Linux. We have not been told its price, its classification or whether it contains any of the purchase structures described above, so we state none of them; the vendor's site and the classification register are where those answers live.
Visit the Enlisted website Paid link. Gray Tempo is paid a commission if you register and confirm your email address after following it. What you pay, if anything, is unchanged.
LOG 04-8 // 03:18
Before you move on
- Classification is decided per title by the Australian Classification Board, and the consumer advice beside it is the informative part.
- Look the game up before installing, especially if the computer is shared.
- In-game spending takes a few recognisable shapes; knowing which one you are looking at makes it manageable.
- Randomised purchases have an unknowable cost per outcome and should never be treated as ordinary for a minor.
- Decide your number in Australian dollars first, then make it real by not storing a card.
- Consumer guarantees under Australian law sit on top of any published refund policy.
Step 5 is the last one: what actually happens in the first few sessions, which settings matter, and how to keep the whole thing in proportion over the months that follow.
LOG 04-9 // 03:30
Checklist 4 — Suitability and spending
- Search the Australian Classification Board's register for the exact title.
- Read the classification and, more importantly, the consumer advice beside it.
- Note whether in-game purchases are mentioned.
- If anyone under 18 uses the computer, decide the suitability question out loud before installing.
- Open the game's shop and identify which purchase structures it uses.
- Write down your three-month spending limit in Australian dollars.
- Decide whether a payment card will be stored anywhere, and act on that decision.
- Turn on purchase confirmation or spending limits wherever the platform offers them.
- Read the platform's published refund conditions once, before buying anything.
- Keep every purchase confirmation email in one folder.
- Diarise a three-month review against the number you wrote down.