A knowledge base for desktop online games

Where to start, depending on what brought you here

Four words that cause most of the confusion

Latency

How long a packet takes to reach the server and return. Distance sets a floor; bandwidth does not change it.

Single opt-in

A registration that creates the account in one step, with no separate confirmation required first.

Premium currency

Tokens bought with money and spent in the game. Convert one bundle into AUD per token and prices become readable.

Consumer advice

The line beside an Australian classification naming the content behind it, often more useful than the letter itself.

The one title described in detail

World of Tanks is the game this site has a commercial relationship with, and it has its own entry page. That page reproduces what the publisher's affiliate programme materials say — an online multiplayer tank action game built around team battles — and labels it as the vendor's description rather than a verified account. It states no price and no classification, because both belong at their own source.

The programme lists desktop platforms only — Windows, macOS and Linux — and pays on creating and activating an account.

What "desktop only" means in practice

A title restricted to desktop computers has no mobile or console client, so the only route in is a computer running a supported operating system. That sounds obvious until someone buys a tablet expecting it to work.

Support across Windows, macOS and Linux also does not mean the three are equivalent: each gets its own build and its own requirements, and on Linux an officially supported client is a different thing from a title that merely runs through a compatibility layer.

Money inside a game is not one thing

The gap between two players' annual spending on the same game can be large, and the mechanism is rarely one big purchase. It is the accumulation of small ones, denominated in tokens rather than dollars, at moments when the alternative is hours of repetition.

Separating the categories makes the decision easier. Cosmetic items change appearance and affect nobody else. Time-savers trade money for hours of grinding, and their fairness depends on how long the unpaid path takes. Randomised purchases, where a fixed price buys an uncertain outcome, deserve a decision made in advance rather than in the moment.

Australian sources worth bookmarking

Each is a government body with a specific remit, linked because a reader with a real problem should end up at the source rather than a summary of it.

• Australian Classification Board — the national classification database, where you can search a title and read the consumer advice attached to its classification.
• Australian Competition and Consumer Commission — guidance on consumer guarantees and on how the Australian Consumer Law applies to purchases, including digital ones.
• Scamwatch, National Anti-Scam Centre — current scam patterns and the route to report one.
• Australian Cyber Security Centre — practical account and device security guidance for individuals, and the national cybercrime reporting route.
• eSafety Commissioner — family guidance on online gaming, device controls and the statutory schemes for online abuse.
• Office of the Australian Information Commissioner — the Australian Privacy Principles, your rights over your personal information, and how to complain.

How coverage here is decided

Category entries are chosen by the questions a reader in Australia would plausibly type before installing a game: what will this cost me, will it run, what am I signing up to, is it suitable for my child, and what do I do when something goes wrong. Coverage of individual games extends only to titles Velox Network has an advertising relationship with, and at present that is one title.

Factual claims are sourced to the body that publishes them or written as general guidance, and vendor claims are attributed to the vendor. The about page states the method in full.

Questions readers arrive with