Step 6 of 7
Classification, in-game purchases and parental controls in Australia
Australia classifies computer games through a national scheme, and that classification — not a storefront's own age badge and not a review score — is the reference point for suitability here. This step explains where to look it up, how chance-based in-game items differ from ordinary purchases, and which controls are worth setting on a shared machine.
Short answer
Look the specific title up through the Australian Classification Board rather than relying on a storefront label, because storefronts sometimes display ratings from other countries. Treat any purchase whose contents are decided by chance as a separate category of spending, and set the controls at the platform level rather than inside each game.
How classification works here
Computer games distributed in Australia sit within the national classification scheme, which is administered under Commonwealth legislation and applies to games sold or made available in the country. The Classification Board publishes classification decisions and maintains the searchable database of them; its website, classification.gov.au, is the authoritative place to check a title and to read what each classification category means, including which categories are legally restricted.
Two practical points follow. First, a title can carry different ratings in different markets, so an age label seen on an international storefront or a trailer is not necessarily the Australian classification. Second, digital games may be classified through more than one process, so a title's presence or absence from a search result is worth checking on the Board's own site rather than inferring.
Concept Base does not state the classification of any specific game, including the title it covers. Classification decisions change, they are the Board's to publish, and repeating one second-hand is exactly the kind of claim a reader should not have to trust us for.
Purchases that are decided by chance
An ordinary in-game purchase is a transaction with a known outcome: you pay, you receive the item shown. A chance-based purchase — a crate, case, pack or container whose contents are randomised at the moment of opening — is a transaction with an unknown outcome, and the difference matters for three reasons.
- Cost is unpredictable. The price of a specific desired item is not the price of one container; it is the price of however many containers it takes, which is knowable only as an average.
- The mechanic resembles gambling to some players. Whether it is gambling in a legal sense is a question for regulators, but the behavioural similarity is the reason the area attracts scrutiny.
- It is the subject of ongoing regulatory attention in Australia. The treatment of games containing paid chance-based items has been considered by government in recent years, and the Classification Board is the source for the current position and how it affects a title's classification.
Where a household includes younger players, this is the mechanic worth discussing before installing anything, rather than the violence level that classification categories usually foreground. The eSafety Commissioner publishes material for parents and carers on gaming, including spending and in-game pressure, and is Australia's regulator for online safety.
Controls worth setting once
- Operating system accounts: a separate, non-administrator account for a younger player, so that installing software is a decision an adult makes.
- Storefront controls: most PC storefronts offer a family mode with spending limits and purchase approval. These apply across every game on that storefront, which is why they beat per-game settings.
- Payment: remove stored cards, or require a password or code for every purchase. Most accidental spending stories start with a card saved for convenience.
- Chat and contact: decide whether voice and text chat with strangers are on, and whether the account's profile is public.
- Screen time: platform-level limits are more consistent than promises about "one more match".
- The conversation: an agreement about what may be bought and who approves it is more durable than any control, and it survives the child learning to work around the controls.
Common questions
Who classifies computer games in Australia?
Computer games made available in Australia are classified under the national classification scheme, administered under Commonwealth legislation. The Classification Board makes and publishes classification decisions, and its website explains the categories and which of them are legally restricted.
Where can I check the classification of a specific game?
Use the Australian Classification Board website at classification.gov.au, which holds the searchable record of classification decisions. A label shown on an international storefront may be a rating issued in another country rather than the Australian classification.
Does a classification tell me whether a game contains in-game purchases?
A classification is primarily about content such as violence, language and themes. Consumer advice published alongside a classification may mention in-game purchases, but the reliable source for what a particular game sells, and how, is the vendor's own store information and the in-game shop itself.
Are randomised in-game items treated differently in Australia?
Paid items with randomised contents have received specific attention from Australian government and regulators in recent years, and the treatment of games containing them has been considered as part of classification policy. The Classification Board website is the place to check the current position rather than relying on a summary.
What parental controls are available for PC gaming?
Controls exist at three levels: the operating system account, the storefront or launcher, and the individual game. Storefront controls are usually the most effective because they cover spending and purchase approval across every title installed through that storefront. The eSafety Commissioner publishes guidance for parents and carers on setting these up.
What can I do if a child made in-game purchases without permission?
Contact the storefront or publisher first and ask for a refund, explaining the circumstances, and keep a written record. If that is refused, Australian Consumer Law may still apply to the transaction; the ACCC explains consumer rights and the state and territory consumer protection agencies handle individual complaints. Your bank or card issuer is a separate avenue where a payment was not authorised.
Why a storefront badge is not the same thing
Digital storefronts serve every market from one page, and the age indicator shown next to a game is often whichever rating system the storefront defaults to for your account, or a self-declared indicator supplied by the publisher. It may coincide with the Australian classification. It may also be a rating issued by a body in Europe or North America, which uses different categories and different thresholds, and which carries no legal weight here.
The gap shows up most clearly at the edges. A game rated for teenagers under one system can fall into a legally restricted category here, and consumer advice lines — the short phrases published with an Australian classification describing the content that drove the decision — have no equivalent in some other systems at all. Those lines are frequently more useful than the category letter itself, because they name what is actually in the game.
The habit worth forming is to treat the storefront badge as a hint and the Board's record as the answer, and to check once per title rather than once per purchase. It takes a minute, it applies to every player in the household, and it is a far better basis for a conversation about whether a game is appropriate than an argument about a trailer.
What to watch out for
Sites that claim to sell in-game currency or items cheaply, outside the publisher's own shop, are a persistent problem in this category and are frequently either scams or a breach of the game's terms that costs the buyer the account. Reports can be made to Scamwatch. Equally, treat any message claiming a purchase problem and asking you to sign in through a link as phishing until proven otherwise, and reach the storefront through your own bookmark instead.
Where this leads
Classification answers the suitability question; it does not answer what happens when a purchase goes wrong, a service is not delivered, or a publisher will not respond. That is a matter of consumer rights and of knowing which body handles which complaint, which is step seven and the last stage of this path.