Step 3 — Reading classification, age and spending information

This is the reading step. You are not installing anything yet. What you are doing is finding four documents and knowing what to look for in each: the classification, the privacy policy, the terms of service and the purchase screen. None of this requires legal training, and all of it is faster than it sounds once you know which questions to ask.

What an Australian classification is

Computer games distributed in Australia are classified under a national scheme. Classification decisions, the categories used, and the consumer advice attached to them are published by the Australian Classification Board, which is the only source this course will point you to for them. Any specific category, any age number and any legal restriction attached to a category should be read on that site rather than taken from a third party, including this one, because categories and their conditions change and only the Board's own material is current.

The reason to look it up rather than rely on the sticker you half-remember is that classification is a judgement about content made against published criteria. It is evidence about what is in a game, produced by someone whose job it is to look, and it is free to read.

Looking one up without guessing

Get the exact title of the game, spelled as the vendor spells it. Step 1 asked you to write this down.
Go to classification.gov.au and use the search for classification decisions.
Read the category and, more importantly, the consumer advice line that sits under it. The advice line is the specific part — it names what is in the game.
If no decision appears, do not assume the game is unsuitable or that it is fine. It means you have not found a decision, and the game's own site or store listing is the next place to look.
Write what you found on the half page from Step 2.

What a classification does not tell you

A classification describes the content the Board assessed. It is not a statement about four other things that matter just as much in an online game.

It does not describe what other players will say. Conversation between players is generated live by people and is not part of what any classification covers.

It does not describe how much the game will cost over a year. Spending is governed by consumer law, not by classification.

It does not describe how long a session will run or how hard it will be to stop. That is a design question, and you will learn the answer by watching rather than by reading.

It does not describe what happens in parts of the game added after the decision was made. Online games change continuously.

A general principle rather than a rule about one game

Where a game sells randomised items, or includes anything resembling a wager, treat it as a question requiring a current answer from the regulator rather than from a review site. The Board publishes the position that applies in Australia. Nothing on this site presents purchasable randomised items or simulated gambling as suitable for a child.

Reading a privacy policy in six minutes

A privacy policy is a long document written to be complete rather than to be read. You do not need all of it. Use the browser's find function and answer four questions.

What do they collect? Search for "collect". You are looking for whether the list goes beyond an email address and a display name — in particular whether it includes location, contacts, or information from other services.

Who do they give it to? Search for "disclose", "share" or "third part". Advertising partners and analytics providers appearing in this list is extremely common and is not by itself alarming; what you want is to know rather than to assume.

Where does it go? Search for "transfer" or "outside". Most game companies are not Australian, so data leaving the country is the norm rather than the exception.

What can a parent do? Search for "child", "parent" or "under". Services aimed at younger players often have a specific section here, including how an adult can ask for a child's information to be deleted.

Your underlying rights in Australia come from the Privacy Act 1988 and the Australian Privacy Principles; the OAIC explains them and handles privacy complaints. How far those rules reach a particular overseas company is a legal question with no general answer, so the practical move is to decide what you are willing to type in, knowing it is held elsewhere.

Reading terms of service in four questions

What is the minimum age to hold an account, and does the document require a parent's consent below some age? What conduct gets an account suspended, and is there any way to appeal? What happens to purchased items if the account is closed or the game is shut down? And can the company change the terms, and how are players told?

The third question is the one that surprises people. In most online games, items bought with real money are a licence to use something, not property, and that licence usually ends when the account does. Knowing this before any money is spent reframes the money conversation from "buying a thing" to "renting access for as long as this game exists".

Reading a purchase screen before anyone taps it

Sit down with the player and look at a purchase screen together before any purchase is possible. You are reading for five things, and you can do it without buying anything.

Is the price shown in Australian dollars, or in another currency that will be converted by your bank, possibly with a fee?
Is the price for a one-off item, or is it a subscription that renews by itself?
If it renews, how often, and where is the cancel control?
Is the thing being bought a specific named item, or a quantity of in-game currency that then has to be spent again inside the game? Two-stage currencies make it much harder to know what anything really cost.
What exactly appears on the bank or card statement? Knowing the merchant name in advance saves an unpleasant quarter of an hour later.

For the product this course names as its example, the only reliable source for prices, currencies and renewal terms is the vendor's own site. Nothing here states a price, because stating one that later changes would be worse than useless. The affiliate network that operates our link states that the publisher of this site is paid for a sign-up, a first play and a sale, which is precisely why price questions are sent to the vendor rather than answered here.

Visit the Star Stable Online website

Paid affiliate link. Quiet Stance is paid a commission if an account is created after following it. Your price is unchanged, and the five purchase-screen questions above apply to any game.

Your position under the Australian Consumer Law

Digital products and services sold to consumers in Australia come with consumer guarantees that cannot be contracted away by a term in an agreement. What those guarantees are, when a remedy is available, and how to pursue one are explained by the ACCC, which administers the law and publishes free guidance for consumers.

Two things follow practically. A term in a game's agreement saying all sales are final does not automatically mean you have no remedy; whether you do depends on the law, not on the term. And a purchase made by a child on an adult's account is a situation worth raising with both the vendor and the payment provider promptly rather than silently absorbing.

This paragraph is general information about where the rules live, not legal advice about your situation. For advice on a specific dispute, the ACCC's site points to the consumer affairs or fair trading agency in your state or territory.

Where the scams sit

Online games attract a particular family of scams, aimed mostly at account takeover and at young players. The pattern is consistent enough to describe in general terms: an offer of free in-game currency, a site that looks like the game's own login page, a message from someone claiming to be staff, or a trade that requires handing over the password first.

The rule that covers nearly all of it is that no legitimate game company asks for a password, and no legitimate offer requires typing a game login into a site that is not the game's own. Scamwatch collects reports and publishes current examples, and is where to report something that has happened.

Say this to the player in the first week, not the first month. It lands better as a piece of neutral information than as a reaction to something that has already gone wrong.

The worked example, at this step

The example household

A hypothetical household, used to make the step concrete. Nothing here is a report of real events and no result is claimed.

One adult spends half an hour on this step. They search the Board's site for the exact title and write what they find on the half page. They skim the privacy policy with the find function and note that information goes overseas, which surprises nobody. In the terms they find the minimum age statement and read the section on what happens to purchases if an account closes, and they read that part aloud to the eleven-year-old, who finds it genuinely interesting. They do not look at a purchase screen yet, because there is no account, so they add it as the first thing to do once one exists.

Before you move on

What Step 3 established

Classification is evidence about content, published by the Board and free to read.
It says nothing about other players, cost, session length or later additions.
A privacy policy answers four questions quickly if you use the find function.
Items bought in online games are usually a licence, not property.
Consumer guarantees are set by Australian law, not by the vendor's agreement.
Nobody should type a game password into a site that is not the game's own.

Checklist for Step 3

Work through these before Step 4

Search classification.gov.au for the exact game title.
Write down the category and the consumer advice line, word for word.
Open the privacy policy and search it for "collect".
Search it for "share" or "third part".
Search it for "transfer" or "outside".
Search it for "child" or "parent".
Open the terms of service and find the minimum age statement.
Find what the terms say about suspension and appeal.
Find what the terms say about purchases if an account ends.
Find how the company says it will tell players about changes.
Note the currency any prices are shown in.
Note whether anything is a subscription that renews by itself.
Read one page of consumer guidance on accc.gov.au.
Read one current example on scamwatch.gov.au and tell the player about it.
Add everything you found to the half page from Step 2, and decide whether it still says the same thing.