Entry · Australia

Classification and parental guidance

Computer games sold or distributed in Australia are classified, and the decision comes with consumer advice describing why. This entry explains how to find that information at its source and what it does and does not tell a household about an online game.

Who classifies games, and where the decisions live

Classification of computer games in Australia is administered under the national classification scheme, and decisions are published by the Australian Classification Board. The Board’s site is the authoritative place to look up a title, see the classification it received and read the consumer advice attached to it. It also sets out the classification categories themselves and explains what each one signals, along with which categories carry legal restrictions on sale and supply.

That last point is worth stressing rather than paraphrasing: this site does not restate the categories, thresholds or legal effects, because a summary written elsewhere ages badly and because the Board publishes the current position itself. Look it up there. It takes a minute and it is correct by definition.

Consumer advice is the useful part

A classification is a single label, and on its own it compresses a great deal. The consumer advice printed beside it is the part that answers a household’s actual question, because it names what drove the decision — the nature and frequency of violence, language, themes, and whether the game contains in-game purchases or online interactivity.

For a naval combat game the advice usually concerns depicted military violence, which in this genre is delivered at a distance: ships, shells and explosions rather than people. Whether that framing makes a difference for a particular child is a judgement a parent is better placed to make than a label is, which is exactly why the advice line exists alongside the category rather than instead of it.

Looking a game up before it is installed

1. Go to the Board’s site at classification.gov.au and search the exact title.
2. Note the classification and read the consumer advice in full, not just the category letter.
3. Check whether the entry mentions in-game purchases or online interactivity, since both change what the household is agreeing to.
4. Open the publisher’s own site and read what the game sells, and whether any of it is randomised. The economies entry explains those mechanisms.
5. Decide about chat and voice communication separately from the decision about the game itself. They are different questions with different answers.

In-game purchases in a household decision

Where a game sells items for real money, and particularly where it sells randomised containers, the household question is broader than age suitability. Purchasing mechanisms deserve their own conversation and their own controls: which payment method is attached to the account, whether a purchase requires a second authentication step, and whether store-level parental controls are enabled on the platform the game is installed through.

A game containing purchasable randomised items is not something this site would describe as suitable for a minor on the strength of gameplay alone. That is a decision to make with the classification, the consumer advice, the publisher’s shop and the household’s own view of the mechanism all in front of you. The eSafety Commissioner publishes practical material for parents and carers on games and online play, and it is written for exactly this situation.

Controls that exist regardless of classification

Platform-level controls

Operating systems and game stores provide parental controls covering installation, purchases and time limits. These are set once and apply across titles, which makes them more reliable than per-game settings.

Account-level settings

Most online games allow chat to be limited or disabled, players to be muted and reports to be filed. Going through these at account creation is easier than after an incident.

Payment controls

Removing a stored card, or using a prepaid method, converts an open-ended purchasing arrangement into a fixed one. This is the single most effective control on unintended spending.

Shared arrangements

Agreeing in advance what may be bought, and from whose money, avoids the common situation where a purchase is discovered on a statement rather than discussed beforehand.

If content or conduct is a problem

Different problems go to different places, and sending one to the wrong body mostly costs time. Questions about a classification decision itself belong with the Board, whose site explains how classification decisions may be reviewed. Serious online abuse, threats or image-based abuse go to the eSafety Commissioner, which has statutory reporting schemes. Misleading claims about what a game or a purchase includes are a consumer matter for the ACCC. Mishandling of a player’s personal information is a matter for the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner.

In every case the report is stronger with dates, screenshots and account names recorded at the time. That is unglamorous advice, and it is the difference between a report that can be acted on and one that cannot.

Where to read next

For the mechanisms behind in-game purchases, read free-to-play economies. For the account-side protections that go with a household decision, read account safety.