All five checklists

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How to use them

These are the same lists that close each step, with nothing added and nothing taken away. They are reproduced together because a checklist is most useful on paper, beside the computer, with a pen — and because printing them lets you take Step 2 to the machine you are actually assessing rather than reading it on a phone in another room.

The boxes are drawn with a line of stylesheet, not built from form controls. Nothing on this page records a tick, stores a preference, or remembers you between visits, which is a deliberate design decision rather than an oversight: the course collects nothing at all, and a checklist that remembered your answers would have to store them somewhere. If you want a record, the paper is the record.

The order matters more than it looks. Checklist 1 can be done with nothing installed and no account created, and it frequently ends the exercise there, which is the cheapest possible outcome. Checklist 2 is the one that decides whether the rest is worth attempting on your particular computer. Checklist 3 happens before any account exists, which is the only time several of its items are still open. Checklist 4 is the only one involving a download. Checklist 5 is not a one-off at all — it is meant to be repeated at the review dates it asks you to set.

A few practical notes for working through them. Keep all five on one sheet of paper or one clipboard, because Step 4 asks for the hardware figures you wrote down in Step 2 and Step 5 asks for the spending decision you made in Step 1. Do not feel obliged to finish a checklist in one sitting; several items send you to read something on a vendor's site, and that is a reasonable place to stop for the evening. And treat an unticked box as information rather than failure — the whole point of Checklist 2 is that some boxes will not tick, and knowing which ones is the result.

If you have arrived at this page without reading the steps, the lists will still work, but the reasons behind several items will not be obvious. Each heading below links back to the step it came from. Step 1 is the place to begin.

Checklist 1 — The business model

1. Open the official website of the game you are considering, reached by typing the address or by a link you trust rather than a search advertisement.
2. Find and note the stated cost to download the client and to create an account.
3. Find the shop or store section. Note whether there is a named in-game currency sold for money.
4. Note whether a premium account, pass or subscription is sold, and what it states that it multiplies or grants.
5. Read three item listings in full and write beside each one: appearance only, or capability.
6. Note whether randomised containers are sold, and whether a list of possible contents is published.
7. Write one sentence describing how this game makes its money, in your own words.
8. Decide what you would be willing to spend per month, including if that figure is zero.
9. Check the title in the Australian Classification Board database if a person under 18 will be playing.
10. Stop here if the business model as you have described it is one you do not want to be part of.

Checklist 2 — Your computer and connection

1. Confirm the operating system and version on the computer you intend to use, and write it down exactly.
2. Confirm the game supports that operating system, from the vendor's own page.
3. Note the processor name and model number.
4. Note the installed memory in gigabytes.
5. Note the graphics chip, and whether it is integrated or a separate card.
6. Note free space on the drive you would install to, and leave at least half as much again for future patches.
7. Find the vendor's published minimum and recommended requirements and compare them line by line.
8. Mark any line where you fall below minimum. One such line is enough to stop here.
9. Check your internet plan's monthly data allowance against the size of the download.
10. Decide when the download will happen, so it does not interrupt anyone else in the household.
11. Note whether the game offers a server region near Australia.

Checklist 3 — The account and the terms

1. Decide the email address the account will use, and confirm who controls it.
2. Decide a display name you are comfortable with strangers seeing.
3. Find the account agreement and read the four sections: termination, virtual items, changes, and conduct.
4. Write one sentence on what happens to purchases if the account is closed.
5. Look the game up in the Australian Classification Board database and note the classification and consumer advice.
6. If a person under 18 will play, read the conduct rules with them before the account exists.
7. Create the account only from the vendor's own site, reached by a typed address or a bookmark.
8. Use a password not used anywhere else, stored in a password manager.
9. Switch on multi-factor authentication if it is offered.
10. Open the privacy settings and set who can contact you, who can see you, and marketing email.
11. Select the server region nearest Australia if a choice is given.
12. Do not attach a payment method yet.

Checklist 4 — Installation and first session

1. Reach the publisher's own site by typing the address or using a bookmark, and check the address bar.
2. Confirm the download offered matches the operating system and chip you recorded in Checklist 2.
3. Download the installer and let it complete before opening it.
4. Read each installer screen rather than clicking through, and decline anything unrelated to the game.
5. Install to a drive with free space to spare for future patches.
6. Start the large content download when the connection is otherwise idle, with the computer awake and on power.
7. Sign in with the account created in Checklist 3, not a new one.
8. Select the server region nearest Australia.
9. Set graphics to the lowest preset, then raise one level at a time across several sessions.
10. Set chat and voice to the level you decided on in advance.
11. Turn off starting with the computer, and turn off desktop notifications.
12. Play the tutorial once and then stop for the evening.
13. Write two lines on how the computer coped: temperature, noise, smoothness.
14. Install no third-party add-ons in the first month.

Checklist 5 — Spending and reviewing

1. Write down a monthly figure in Australian dollars before any payment method goes near the account.
2. Write down what the figure may be spent on, and what it may not.
3. Decide whether a card will be stored at all, or whether details are entered each time.
4. If a person under 18 plays, agree the rule on randomised purchases explicitly, before the first one.
5. Consider prepaid value instead of an open-ended payment method.
6. Switch on transaction notifications in your banking app if it offers them.
7. Before buying any container, find and read the published pool and, if given, the odds.
8. Check how duplicates are handled before buying a second container of the same type.
9. If you buy a subscription, put its renewal date in the calendar with a reminder a few days earlier.
10. Put a one-month review in the calendar now, then quarterly.
11. At each review, read the actual bank figure rather than recalling it.
12. If you stop: cancel the subscription from the account page, remove stored payment details, and keep the account recoverable.
13. Reclaim the disk space afterwards using the publisher's documented uninstall process.

Printed from https://idleformat.online/checklists/ — published by Montej group and compani s.r.o. Course content last reviewed 12 October 2026. Some pages of this course carry paid affiliate links, explained at https://idleformat.online/how-this-site-is-funded/