Guide

Joining an online shooter and getting to the first match

Registration, email confirmation, installation and a first session, described in the general form they take across desktop multiplayer games. The specific screens belong to each vendor; the sequence and the places it goes wrong are largely the same everywhere.

Most of the time lost at this stage is lost to three things: a confirmation email that was never opened, a launcher account confused with a game account, and a download begun at the worst possible hour of the evening. None of them is difficult to avoid once the shape of the process is clear.

Before you begin

Two decisions made in advance save most of the difficulty later.

Decide which email address the account will live on. This address becomes the recovery route for the account, often the only one. An address tied to a workplace or a school is a poor choice, because access to it disappears when the job or the enrolment does, and with it the ability to recover the account. A personal address with its own strong passphrase and second factor is the sensible option, and the account safety guide covers how to set that up.

Check the machine, not the phone. The category covered by this site is desktop software: Windows, macOS and Linux computers. A game distributed for one of those will not install on a phone or a console, and a compatibility layer on macOS or Linux may or may not be supported by the title's anti-cheat system. The vendor's system requirements page is the only reliable statement of what is supported.

The registration sequence

1. Create the account on the vendor's own site

   Type the vendor's address into the browser yourself, or follow a link you can see the destination of. Registration normally asks for an email address, a password and an acceptance of terms; some titles add a display name at this point, and a display name is public, so it is worth choosing one that carries no personal information.

2. Confirm the email address

   A confirmation message follows within a few minutes. Until its link is opened, many accounts exist in an incomplete state: they can sign in but cannot play, or can play but cannot be recovered. If nothing arrives, check the spam folder, and check for a typo in the address before requesting a second message — a mistyped address is the most common cause and cannot be fixed by resending.

3. Install the client

   Download from the vendor's site or from a storefront the vendor names. Installers offered by search advertisements, download aggregators or video descriptions are a well-documented route to unwanted software; the Australian Cyber Security Centre publishes general guidance on obtaining software safely.

   Downloads in this category are frequently tens of gigabytes. On a connection shared with a household, starting one at eight in the evening is a decision the rest of the household will notice, and on a plan with a data allowance it is worth checking the allowance first.

4. Sign in and complete first-run setup

   The first launch usually involves a further update, a shader or asset preparation step, and sometimes a separate launcher account. If the game asks for credentials twice, read the screen carefully: a launcher account and a game account are different things, and creating a second account by accident at this point is common.

5. Set up before playing, not during

   Before the first match, set the graphics preset down rather than up, confirm the audio device, check the key bindings, and find the report and mute controls. A first session spent adjusting settings mid-match is a poor experience and, in a team game, an unpopular one.

The first week

A few habits established early prevent most of the administrative annoyances that follow.

• Turn on multi-factor authentication if the vendor offers it, and record the backup codes somewhere that is not the same device.
• Note which email address and which display name were used. This sounds trivial until a support request needs both.
• Read what the game's store sells, if it has one, before spending anything, and see the guide to spending and consumer rights for what applies in Australia.
• Find the block, mute and report controls before they are needed. In team games they usually are.
• If the household includes younger players, set expectations about voice chat and spending at the start rather than after a disagreement. The eSafety Commissioner publishes guidance written for exactly that conversation.

None of these habits is about the game itself. They are about the account, which usually outlasts the interest in any particular title and is the part that causes trouble when it is neglected.

Connection from Australia

Physical distance sets a floor under latency that no hardware removes. A player in Australia connecting to a server in another hemisphere will feel it in any game where timing matters, and a shooter is the clearest case. Where a title offers a choice of region, choosing the nearest one is almost always better than choosing the busiest one.

Within the home, the variables worth checking are ordinary: a wired connection rather than wireless where that is possible, no large download running in the background, and the router in a sensible position. Beyond that, latency is mostly a property of geography and of the game's server placement, and it is one of the questions this site suggests putting to a vendor before installing, because vendors rarely volunteer it.

Leaving cleanly

Games get abandoned, and the account usually outlives the interest. Before walking away, remove any stored payment method, check whether a subscription is running, and decide whether to close the account or simply stop using it. An abandoned account with a saved card and a reused password is the version of this that causes problems later.

If a vendor offers account deletion, the request normally goes through its support channel and takes time. If personal information is involved and the vendor is covered by the Privacy Act 1988 (Cth), the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner explains what access and correction rights apply and how to complain if a request is ignored.