Thinking about trying a free online multiplayer game?

Start with the essentials

• Free to start, optional to spend

  “Free-to-play” means no upfront purchase. Many games then offer optional in-game items. Knowing the difference protects your wallet.

• Your account is the valuable part

  A unique password and two-factor sign-in matter more than any in-game purchase. Most losses come from account takeover, not the game itself.

• Classification tells you the audience

  Games sold and promoted in Australia are classified. The rating is a guide to suitability, not a legal guarantee about content.

• You keep your rights

  Australian Consumer Law applies to digital products. A “free” game does not sign those guarantees away.

What you will find here, and how to use it

Corvus Digital is published for readers in Australia who are weighing up whether to try a free-to-play online game, and who want plain information before they hand over an email address, a password, or a payment card. We are not a game studio, a store, or a news desk. We describe the category, set out the practical questions worth asking, point to the Australian bodies that can actually help, and — where a game is one we cover commercially — say so openly and link to the vendor’s own site.

The category we focus on is free-to-play online multiplayer games played on a desktop computer. These are games you download and play at no upfront cost, usually after creating an account, and often with optional purchases available once you are inside. That model is popular for good reasons: you can try a game before spending anything, and the community around a large title can be substantial. It also raises questions that a paid, boxed game does not — about accounts, about in-game spending, about who a game is suitable for, and about what to do if a purchase does not work as described.

You do not need to read the pages in order. If you are brand new to the idea, begin with how the free-to-play model works. If you already play and mainly want to protect your account, go straight to staying safe. If you are a parent or carer checking whether a game suits a younger player, the classification page is the place to start. Each guide is written to stand on its own and links to the others where they connect.

A game we cover: World of Tanks

World of Tanks is one of the titles we describe in this category. According to the material supplied by its affiliate programme, it is an online multiplayer tank action game with more than 160 million registered players worldwide, in which teams of players face other teams in armoured combat across a range of maps. The programme describes modern graphics produced with its Core engine, destructible objects, 30 maps remade in high definition, and a new soundtrack. It is a desktop game, available for Windows, Mac and Linux, and it uses a single sign-up: you create and activate an account to begin. We have not independently verified the player figure or the technical claims; they are the vendor’s own, and we say so on our dedicated page.

If you would like to look at the game yourself, you can go to the vendor’s website through the link below and decide there. Our World of Tanks page sets out what is and is not stated about it, and how it sits alongside the general guidance on this site.

Visit the World of Tanks website

This is a paid affiliate link. If you create and activate an account through it, Corvus Digital may earn a commission. It does not change what you pay, and it does not affect our coverage.

Where to get help in Australia

When a question is bigger than a single game — a suspected scam, a privacy concern, a dispute you cannot resolve with a vendor, or a worry about a younger player — Australia has public bodies whose job is to help. We link to them throughout the site and gather them in one place so you can find the right one quickly.

• Scamwatch, run by the National Anti-Scam Centre, for reporting and recognising scams.
• The eSafety Commissioner, for online safety issues including harm to children and young people.
• The Australian Cyber Security Centre, for practical advice on securing accounts and devices.
• The Office of the Australian Information Commissioner, for privacy complaints.
• The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission, for consumer rights.
• The Australian Classification Board, for how games are classified.

Our help page explains what each of these does and when it is the right one to contact.

How we decide what to cover

We are open about our scope because a claim of broad independence that is not real would itself be misleading. Coverage on this site is limited to a small number of games in the free-to-play online category, and some of those — including World of Tanks — are ones with which we have a commercial affiliate relationship. That relationship is how the site is funded. It does not buy a better write-up, a higher position, or a softer description: the money is paid only if a reader chooses to sign up, and the same facts appear whether or not that ever happens.

What determines the order and content of what you read is straightforward: relevance to a reader in Australia, whether we can state something accurately, and whether a claim can be traced to a source we can name. Where a fact comes from a vendor, we attribute it to the vendor. Where it concerns your rights or your safety, we link to the Australian authority that sets the position. Our About page describes this method in full.

Common questions