Step 4 of 5

Step 4 — Installing it and checking the first session

This step is a general procedure that applies to any large desktop game, written for Windows and macOS. It does not describe any particular product's screens, because those change and because a description of one publisher's interface would be out of date within months. The shape of the task, though, is the same everywhere.

What to have ready

Three things, all of which come out of the earlier steps: the six values you wrote down in Step 2, the email address you chose in Step 1, and the decisions you reached in Step 3. Add a fourth: an hour in which nobody else needs the computer, because the first download is the longest one.

A note on the machine itself. The procedure below assumes a desktop or laptop computer running Windows or macOS. The example title used in this course is offered for those two systems only and is not offered for Linux, so if the computer in front of you runs Linux this step will not end in an installation of that title whatever else you do.

The installation procedure

1. Open the vendor's own website directly. Type the address you noted in Step 1, or use a link you have already checked. Confirm the address bar shows the publisher's domain and a secure connection before going further.
2. Create the account before downloading anything, if the site allows it. Doing the account first means the long download is not sitting in the way while you read a sign-up form.
3. Choose the Australian or Asia-Pacific region if you are asked. Account regions are hard to change afterwards, and the region usually decides which servers you connect to.
4. Activate the account from the email the publisher sends. Open it from your mailbox rather than from any link on a third-party page. Until this is done the account generally cannot be used.
5. Download the client from the publisher's own download page. Save it rather than running it straight away, so you can see where it went.
6. Check the downloaded file before opening it. It should have the name and extension the publisher's page described — typically an installer for Windows or a disk image for macOS. If the name or size looks unlike what the page said, delete it and start again from the vendor's site.
7. Run the installer and read each screen. Note where it proposes to install, and change the location if that drive is short of space. Decline any additional software offered alongside the game.
8. Let the first update finish before trying to play. A launcher will usually download a large amount of content after installation. This is normal and is not a fault.
9. Sign in, then stop and set up security before playing. The next section covers what that means.

Making the sign-in hard to steal

A game account becomes a target as soon as it holds anything worth taking. The protections are ordinary and well documented; the Australian Cyber Security Centre publishes free, plain-language guidance for individuals on passwords, multi-factor authentication and keeping software current, and it is a better source than any summary here.

Three things do most of the work.

A password used nowhere else. The reason is simple: when some other service is breached, attackers try the same email and password combination everywhere. A long passphrase of several unrelated words is easier to remember than a short tangle of symbols and is not weaker for it.

A second factor. If the publisher offers two-factor or multi-factor authentication — a code from an app, or a physical key — turn it on during the first session rather than later. Write down or safely store any recovery codes it gives you at the same time.

A protected mailbox. Whoever controls the email address controls the account, because password resets go there. If the mailbox itself has no second factor, that is the weak point, and it is worth fixing before the game account exists.

Five settings to check in the first session

Once you are in, the temptation is to start playing. Five minutes in the options screen is better spent. Every large game has these settings somewhere, under names that vary.

1. Graphics preset and resolution. Start lower than you think you need. A game that runs smoothly on medium settings is more enjoyable than one that stutters on high, and you can raise it later from a position of knowledge.
2. Frame rate limit and vertical sync. Capping the frame rate often makes a laptop quieter and cooler for no visible loss. If the picture appears to tear, vertical sync is the setting that addresses it.
3. Audio levels. Set the master and voice volumes before your first match rather than during it. Many games default to a louder level than a home room wants.
4. Chat and communication. Find out how to mute an individual player, how to turn off voice chat entirely, and whether text chat from strangers can be restricted. Do this before you need it. The eSafety Commissioner, Australia's independent regulator for online safety, publishes guidance and reporting routes for serious online abuse, including in games.
5. Purchase and account settings. Check whether any payment method is stored, whether a purchase confirmation step exists, and where the store section sits. If the account will be used by a young person, this is the setting to decide on with them.

Visit the World of Warships website Paid link. Pure Stanza is paid a commission when a reader creates and activates an account through it. The procedure above is deliberately general and applies to any desktop title. How this site is funded.

When something goes wrong

Most first-session problems fall into a small number of shapes, and knowing the shape tells you where to look.

The installer will not finish. Usually disk space, occasionally a security program blocking an unfamiliar file. Check the free space figure first, because it is the quickest to confirm.

The game starts but looks wrong or runs slowly. Lower the resolution and the graphics preset, close other programs, and if it is a laptop, plug it in. If a game was running acceptably and then stopped, a pending graphics driver update on Windows is a common and ordinary explanation.

The game will not connect. The launcher may still be updating, the publisher's servers may be down for maintenance, or your own connection may have dropped. Publishers usually post maintenance notices on their own support pages or status accounts.

The sign-in is rejected. Check that the account was activated from the confirmation email, and that you are signing in to the same region you registered on.

In every case, the publisher's own support pages are the right destination. A general-purpose guide written by anyone else, including this one, cannot tell you what a particular error code means.

Things not to do

• Do not download the client from a file-sharing site, a forum link or a search advertisement. The vendor's own site is the only place with a reason to be correct.
• Do not install "boosters", "optimisers" or third-party tools promising better performance or free in-game currency. At best they do nothing.
• Do not sign in to your game account on any site that is not the publisher's, however convincing the offer attached to it.
• Do not store a payment method in the first session. Decide about spending in Step 5, with a clear head.
• Do not reuse the password from your email account, your bank or anything else.

A worked example

Before you move on

Step 4 checklist