Step 4 / 5

Step 4 of 5

Installing it and setting up your first session

This step is deliberately generic. Every game's installer looks a little different, so what follows describes the shape of the process rather than any one publisher's buttons, and it works whichever title you end up choosing.

Where an installer should come from

There is one rule here and it covers nearly everything: get the installer from the publisher's own site, or from a large distribution platform the publisher itself points you to. Type the address yourself or use a link you arrived at deliberately, rather than one from a search result you did not look at closely.

The reason is not that your computer is in trouble — it is not, and nothing on this page suggests it is. The reason is that a popular free download is an attractive thing to imitate, and the imitation costs you nothing to avoid if you form the habit now. General guidance on installing software safely for individuals and families is published by the Australian Cyber Security Centre.

Three signs that you are not in the right place: the page offers a “download manager” or “installer helper” rather than the game; the file you are offered is very small for a game of this size; or the page bundles unrelated software with the one you asked for. None of these is proof of anything by itself, but any of them is a good reason to go back to the publisher's own site and start again.

The installation, step by step

What the launcher is doing while you wait

A first download in this category is large, and the progress figure often moves unevenly: fast at first, then apparently stuck, then fast again. That is normal. The launcher is usually doing three jobs in sequence — fetching compressed data, unpacking it on your disk, and checking that what arrived matches what was meant to arrive. Only the first of those uses your connection, which is why the figure can stall while your disk works hard.

Two settings in the launcher are worth finding on the first day. One is a download speed limit, which lets the game take the spare capacity of your connection without making video calls stutter for everyone else. The other is whether the launcher starts automatically when your computer starts, which most people eventually turn off.

Expect updates. Online games patch regularly, and a patch that arrives when you sit down to play means a wait before you can start. If that is going to irritate you, open the launcher half an hour before you intend to play rather than at the moment you intend to play.

The settings worth changing before you play

Five minutes here prevents most of the annoyances that make people give up in the first week.

Picture

If Step 2 told you your machine sits between minimum and recommended, start lower than the game's default. Lower the resolution first, then shadows, then anti-aliasing. It is much pleasanter to start low and raise settings than to start high and spend an evening wondering why everything stutters.

Sound

Turn the master volume down before the first launch. Games in this category open loud by default, and the first thing you hear should not be the reason someone else in the house complains.

Chat and who can contact you

Most online games let strangers message you by default. Find the privacy or social settings and decide deliberately who can send you messages, who can invite you to groups and whether your profile is visible. The eSafety Commissioner publishes material for families on online safety in games, including how reporting and blocking generally work.

Notifications

Games often ask to send you desktop notifications or emails about events and offers. You can say no to all of them on day one and change your mind later. Saying no first is the version you will not have to undo.

Payment

Do not save a card. If you later decide to buy something, enter the details then. This single setting removes almost all of the risk of an unintended purchase, which is the subject of Step 5.

What the first hour is actually for

Not to be good at the game. The first hour is for finding out three things: whether your computer is comfortable running it, whether the controls make sense to your hands, and whether you enjoyed yourself. Any of those three coming back as a clear no is a complete and respectable reason to stop, and you have lost nothing but an evening.

Most games in this category open with a guided introduction. Let it run even if it feels slow. It usually also opens up the parts of the interface you will need later, so skipping it tends to cost more time than it saves.

Keep a note of anything that confused you. In a week you will have stopped noticing it, which is exactly when it would have been useful to tell someone else.

When something goes wrong

• The game will not start. Restart the computer first; it resolves a surprising share of first-run problems. Then check that the launcher finished, rather than appearing to.
• The picture stutters. Lower the resolution. Close other programs. Check nothing large is downloading in the background.
• The download stalls. Pause and resume it in the launcher. If it stalls repeatedly at the same point, a restart of the launcher usually clears it.
• You cannot sign in. Confirm the account was activated. Use the publisher's own password reset rather than any link sent to you.
• You want it gone. Uninstall through your operating system's own applications list, then check the install folder you noted in the procedure above for anything left behind.

The household example

Our example product, again at the source

Everything above is written for the category, not as a walkthrough of any publisher's interface, because interfaces change and ours is not the place to document someone else's. The installation details for the product behind our paid links are published by the vendor: visit the World of Warships website. The arrangement covers desktop Windows and macOS computers only.

Paid link. A commission is paid to Mimo-mind s.r.o. if you follow it and create and activate an account. Nothing changes for you, and nothing in this step was written to steer you there. Full explanation.