A five-step course for Australians opening their first free-to-play desktop war game account
The five steps take about seventy minutes to read end to end, and you can stop after any one of them without losing the thread. Most readers spread them over a week, doing one step and its checklist in a sitting.
How this site is paid for. Bare Axis carries three paid affiliate links. If you follow one to World of Warships and go on to create and activate an account, the affiliate network that operates the link pays Decor charm production s.r.o. a commission. You pay nothing extra. The commission does not decide what the steps say or which checks they ask you to run, and every link is labelled where it appears. The arrangement is set out on our funding page.
The five steps
- Step 1 — What a free-to-play account actually involves
Free to install, paid for in other ways: the arrangement, before you agree to it. - Step 2 — Working out whether your desktop can run it
Reading your own machine's specifications against a published requirement. - Step 3 — Reading the classification, terms and purchase rules
Australian classification, the parts of an agreement that matter, and randomised items. - Step 4 — Setting up the account and the first session
Email, password, two-factor sign-in, and the settings worth fixing first. - Step 5 — Spending, time, support and leaving
Your own limits, the support channel, and closing the account if you want to.
Every step ends in a checklist. The same checklists are gathered on one printable page.
Who this is for, and who it is not for
This course is for an adult in Australia who has a desktop or laptop computer and has never opened an account with an online game. You do not need to know what a GPU is or what a launcher does; each term is defined the first time it appears. It is also for a parent being asked to approve an account, who wants to understand the classification, the purchase mechanics and the controls before saying yes.
It is not for you if you already run several game accounts. It is not technical support, and it does not cover consoles or phones, because the game named here is published for desktop Windows and Mac only, with no Linux version. If your computer runs Linux, Steps 1, 3 and 5 still apply; Steps 2 and 4 will not.
What each step leaves you able to do
After Step 1 you can explain how a game that costs nothing to install makes money. After Step 2 you can read the four numbers that matter from your own machine and compare them with a published minimum. After Step 3 you can find a game's Australian classification and read the part of an agreement that governs purchases. After Step 4 you have an account secured with two-factor sign-in. After Step 5 you have a written limit for money and time, and know how to close the account.
The one checklist to do before anything else
Ten minutes, before Step 1.
- Write down which computer you intend to use, and whether it runs Windows, macOS or something else.
- Decide which email address the account will use. A separate address for games and shopping keeps your main inbox clear.
- Check your internet plan is not near a data limit, since a game client is a large download.
- If the account is for someone under 18, agree now who holds the password and who approves spending.
A worked example: one hypothetical household
The same invented household runs through the course. It is a hypothetical example rather than a real person: two adults share a five-year-old Windows desktop, and a teenager in the house wants to try an online naval game. In Step 2 they find that memory, not the graphics card, is the tight number. In Step 3 they look up the classification and read how randomised containers are described. In Step 4 the teenager does not hold the payment details. In Step 5 they set a limit of nothing at all for two months. The example claims no result from any product.
What you can do for nothing
Every check this course asks for can be done without paying anyone. Reading your computer's specifications uses a panel already built into Windows and macOS. The Australian classification database is public. A vendor's agreement and privacy notice are published before you sign up. The government services linked below are free, and so is this course.
Where World of Warships appears, and why
One product is named: World of Warships, a free-to-play online naval game for desktop Windows and Mac computers. It is named because a step about reading an account agreement stays abstract until you have one in front of you, and because Decor charm production s.r.o. has a paid affiliate relationship with the network promoting it. Both are true, which is why the disclosure sits above the step list rather than below it.
Naming is not recommending. Nothing here calls the game the best of its kind or claims any outcome from playing it, and the steps work for any free-to-play desktop game you pick instead. The checklists name no product at all.
Official Australian help
Government bodies, free to contact, none of them connected to this site:
- Australian Classification Board — classifies games for Australia and publishes the national classification database.
- eSafety Commissioner — the online safety regulator, with guidance for families and a complaints scheme.
- Scamwatch — run by the National Anti-Scam Centre; collects reports and publishes warnings.
- ACCC — administers the Australian Consumer Law, including the consumer guarantees.
- Australian Cyber Security Centre — the government's source of cyber security advice.
- OAIC — regulates privacy under the Privacy Act 1988 (Cth).
How this course is written and kept current
The course is written and reviewed by the Decor charm production s.r.o. editorial team, from three kinds of material: published Australian government guidance, what a vendor publishes about itself, and the ordinary mechanics of desktop software. General statements are phrased as general guidance; specific ones link to their source. Requirements and terms change without notice, so the course teaches you to read the vendor's current page rather than quoting figures that would date. Everything is reviewed at least twice a year, and the review date is in every footer. The method is set out in full on the About page.
Short questions
Do I have to finish the course before I can play anything?
No. The steps are ordered because that order makes them easier to follow, not because anything bad happens if you skip one. Many readers do Step 2 first because they want to know whether their computer is capable at all.
Does this site keep track of which checklists I have done?
No. There is no account, no form and no sign-up anywhere on the site, and nothing is stored in your browser. The checklists are printed boxes you tick with a pen, which is why there is a print button on the checklists page.
Will any of this cost me money?
The course is free to read and the game named in it is free to install. Spending inside a free-to-play game is optional, and Step 5 is about deciding your own limit before you are asked to.
Is this site run by the game's publisher?
No. Bare Axis is published by Decor charm production s.r.o., an independent company. It is not an official site, a partner, a reseller or an authorised source for any game.