Inert Value

Course manual · all checklists

All five checklists, in printable form

Every checklist from the five steps is reproduced here in the order you meet them. The page is laid out to print on white paper without the navigation, the colours or the links getting in the way, so that the printed copy is a working document rather than a screenshot.

SEC 0.1

How to use them

The checklists are static. The boxes beside each item are drawn on the page; nothing you mark on screen is recorded, because this site stores nothing in your browser at all. That is deliberate rather than a limitation — it is why there is no cookie banner here and nothing to consent to. If you want to keep your marks, print the page and use a pen.

Each list belongs to its step and assumes you have read it. Taken out of context, several items are ambiguous: "record the graphics chip, and whether it is separate or built into the processor" means something specific once Step 2 has explained why the distinction matters, and very little before. If an item puzzles you, the step it came from is linked above the list.

There is no scoring and no order of merit. The lists are not a test, there is no pass mark, and finishing them earns you nothing from us — no certificate, no badge, no record that you were here. Several items are decisions rather than tasks, and "we decided not to" is a complete answer to any of them.

The practical rhythm most people find works is one list per sitting, with a gap of a few days between. Lists 1 and 3 are reading and talking. List 2 is twenty minutes at the computer. List 4 is the one evening that produces something — an account and an installed client. List 5 is partly immediate and partly a reminder for twice a year, which is why it is worth having on paper somewhere findable rather than in a browser tab that will be closed.

Nothing on any of the five lists requires a payment, and nothing requires you to follow the affiliate link described on our funding page. If you are working through the course without a particular title in mind, the items that name "the publisher" can be done against any candidate title you are considering, and doing them twice for two titles is a reasonable way to choose between them.

Checklist 1 — vocabulary and ground rules

From Step 1

  • Write down, in your own words, the difference between the client and the account.
  • Say out loud what "free-to-play" means, including what the publisher earns money from.
  • Name the two different problems that both get called "the game is slow".
  • Confirm that the computer you intend to use runs Windows, macOS or Linux — not a phone or tablet operating system.
  • Open the Australian Classification Board site once and find where classifications are published.
  • Identify who in the household will be playing, and whether anyone involved is under eighteen.
  • Decide, before reading Step 2, whether this is a hobby you want to spend an hour a week on.
  • Note one question Step 1 left you with, and see whether Steps 2 to 5 answer it.

Checklist 2 — your machine and your connection

From Step 2

  • Choose one machine to use, and do the rest of this checklist for that machine only.
  • Record the operating system and its version.
  • Record the processor model, exactly as the system reports it.
  • Record the installed memory in gigabytes.
  • Record the graphics chip or card, and whether it is separate or built into the processor.
  • Record the free disk space, and the drive it is on.
  • Find the publisher's current requirements list on the publisher's own site, not a copy.
  • Compare your five figures against both the minimum and the recommended lists.
  • Check your internet plan's monthly data allowance and whether it has an off-peak period.
  • Decide whether a cable between computer and router is possible in the room you will play in.
  • Write one sentence: either "this machine clears the recommended list", "it clears the minimum only", or "it does not clear the minimum".

Checklist 3 — documents and decisions

From Step 3

  • Open the publisher's account agreement from the publisher's own site.
  • Search it for "terminate" or "suspend" and read what you find.
  • Search it for "refund" and note the publisher's own process.
  • Search it for "transfer" and note whether accounts may be sold or shared.
  • Search it for "age" and note the minimum age for an account.
  • Look up the title on the Classification Board site and read the classification with its consumer advice.
  • Read the publisher's privacy notice: what is collected, what is shared, where it is stored, how to delete it.
  • Decide who in the household controls the payment method used for any purchase.
  • Decide, separately, the household's position on randomised purchasable items.
  • Write both decisions down where everyone involved can see them.
  • Bookmark Scamwatch and the ACCC for later reference.

Checklist 4 — account and first session

From Step 4

  • Choose or create an email address for hobby accounts only.
  • Compose a four-word passphrase before opening any sign-up page.
  • Confirm the passphrase is not used on any other account you hold.
  • Reach the publisher's site by typing or bookmarking the address.
  • Create the account, using a display name that is not your real name.
  • Open the verification email and complete activation.
  • Turn on two-step verification if the publisher offers it.
  • Record where the passphrase and recovery address are kept.
  • Download and install the client from the publisher's own site, declining extras.
  • Check the picture, the sound, the controls and the connection in one short session.
  • Complete the tutorial or practice mode before joining anything with other people in it.
  • Confirm that no payment method has been added to the account yet.

Checklist 5 — the long run

From Step 5

  • Write down a monthly figure in AUD you would be content to have spent.
  • Confirm no payment method is stored in the account.
  • Decide the end of a session by number of matches rather than by time.
  • Find the mute control in the game's settings and use it once to see how it works.
  • Find the chat restriction setting and decide what it should be.
  • Find the report function and note where it is.
  • Check free disk space before installing any large update.
  • Compare your card statement with your monthly figure, in AUD, once a month.
  • Once a year, confirm two-step verification is on and the recovery address still works.
  • If you stop playing, remove the payment method and decide whether to close the account.