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Family and age: what to check on a shared computer
Written for a parent or carer looking at a game that someone else in the house wants to install on the family desktop. It covers where to look up an Australian classification, what randomised purchases mean for a household, and which controls exist.
Short answer. Look the title up in the national classification database rather than relying on a store listing, treat any game with purchasable randomised items as unsuitable for a child playing unsupervised, remove stored payment details from the account the game will use, and set the platform’s own spending and time controls before the install rather than after.
On this page
Looking up the Australian classification
Australia has its own classification system, and it is the one that applies here regardless of what rating a game carries in another country or on an international storefront. Classifications and the consumer advice that accompanies them are published by the Australian Classification Board, which maintains a searchable national database of classified titles.
Search that database for the exact title. What comes back is the classification, the consumer advice lines that explain why it was given, and the date. Consumer advice is the more useful part for a parent: it names the specific elements — violence, themes, language, online interactivity — rather than compressing them into a letter.
This site does not publish a classification for any game, including the one advertised here, and will not repeat one second-hand. Classifications can change, they differ by platform and version, and a figure copied onto a third-party page is exactly the kind of claim that should not be relied on. Look it up at the source, which takes under a minute.
Randomised purchases, and why they change the answer
A large part of this genre is built on acquiring characters through a chance-based draw, and in most titles the currency for those draws can be bought with real money. That combination — paying an amount of money for an outcome decided by chance — is the single most important thing for a parent to understand before a game goes on a shared machine.
The practical consequence is straightforward. A game that sells randomised rewards is not something to leave a child playing unsupervised with a payment method attached, whatever its classification says, and this site does not present any such title as suitable for a minor. The arithmetic behind those purchases is set out in working out what it costs, and it is worth a parent reading it before a child does.
The eSafety Commissioner publishes guidance for parents and carers on games, including on in-game purchasing and on talking with children about it. That guidance is free, Australian, and written for exactly this situation.
Payment controls on a shared computer
Most unintended charges come from a stored payment method plus a purchase flow designed to be quick. Removing one of those two removes the problem, and removing the stored card is the simpler of the two.
Do these before the game is installed
- Remove saved cards from the account the game will use, and from the browser profile on that computer.
- Turn on the requirement to authenticate for every purchase, not just for the first one. This is a setting on the platform account, not in the game.
- If the machine has a shared login, give the child a separate user account on the computer rather than sharing yours.
- Check whether the platform offers a spending limit or a purchase approval flow for child accounts, and set it up.
- Turn on transaction notifications from the bank or card provider, so a charge is visible on the day it happens rather than on the statement.
- Keep the purchase receipts. They are what a dispute rests on, and they arrive by email automatically.
Where a charge was made by a child without authorisation, raise it with the platform or the publisher first, in writing and with the receipts. The ACCC publishes consumer guidance on the Australian Consumer Law and on where individual complaints go in each state and territory.
Controls that already exist on the machine
Windows and macOS both include family controls that work across every application rather than only inside one game, and both are free and already installed. They are more effective than anything configured inside a game, because a child cannot switch them off from within the game.
Between them the platforms offer separate child accounts, limits on screen time by day and by application, approval requirements for purchases and installations, and activity summaries. Setting them up takes perhaps twenty minutes once. The specifics differ by version, and the current instructions are in each platform’s own support documentation rather than reproduced here, where they would go out of date.
Worked example: setting the machine up before the install
- Create a separate child account on the computer, rather than letting the game run under an adult login.
- Attach that account to the platform’s family group so approvals and limits apply to it.
- Require approval for new installations and for any purchase.
- Set a daily time limit that matches whatever was agreed in the conversation below.
- Install the game from the publisher’s own page under that account, and look up the classification while it downloads.
- Sit through the first session together. The tutorial is where the shop is introduced, and it is the natural moment to talk about it.
The conversation worth having first
Controls set limits; a conversation sets expectations, and the second is what survives a child moving to a computer where the controls are not configured. Four points cover most of it, and they are easier to make before the game is installed than in the middle of a disagreement about it.
Four things to agree in advance
- How long per day, and what happens on days when the game asks for more — the time budget worksheet gives a realistic figure to negotiate from.
- That purchases are asked about first, every time, and that this is not a trust question but a household rule about money.
- That the draws are chance-based, that a run of unsuccessful ones is normal and not a sign that the next one is due, and that this is how the system is built.
- That anyone asking for the account password, offering free currency, or wanting to move the conversation to another app is to be reported rather than answered.
What to watch out for
Things that catch households out
- Relying on a store listing’s age label instead of the Australian classification. They are different systems.
- Assuming a classification covers purchasing or chat. Consumer advice may mention online interactivity, but a rating is not a statement about spending.
- Leaving a card stored because the game is free to install. Installing and spending are separate decisions.
- Setting controls inside the game rather than on the computer. In-game settings are reachable by whoever is playing.
- Offers of free currency aimed at younger players. These are a standard route to account and credential theft — see protecting a game account.
- Discovering the spending on a monthly statement. Transaction alerts make it same-day.
The title advertised here
Raid: Shadow Legends is the game this site is paid to link to. Its publisher describes a battle collection RPG with Champions, dungeons, Clan Boss fights and a fully-voiced campaign across twelve locations. That description does not state an Australian classification, does not describe the game’s purchasing or chat features, and does not address suitability for any age — so nothing of that kind is asserted here, and this site does not present it as suitable for children. Look the title up in the national classification database and read the consumer advice before making that decision for your household.
Paid link. If you register and start the tutorial after following it, the affiliate programme pays ITmatters s.r.o. a fixed fee. You are charged nothing. This page is written for an adult making a decision for a household, and the fee did not change what it says.
Visit the Raid: Shadow Legends websiteSources
Australian classifications and consumer advice are published by the Australian Classification Board through the national classification database. Guidance for parents and carers on games, in-game purchasing and online contact, and reporting of online harm, is published by the eSafety Commissioner. Consumer rights and complaint routes are published by the ACCC. Platform family-control features are documented by the operating system vendors and change between versions. Last reviewed 16 September 2026.
Chat, clans and contact with strangers
Cooperative content in this genre usually means joining a group of other players, and those groups generally come with a chat channel. That is contact with people the household does not know, which is a separate consideration from the game’s content and is often not reflected in a classification beyond a general note about online interactivity.
Check what the game offers: whether chat can be disabled, whether it is moderated, whether players can be blocked and reported, and whether the group can be set so that joining requires approval. Then agree what is shared — not a real name, not a school, not a location, not a photograph, and never an account password, which no legitimate group ever needs.
The eSafety Commissioner is the Australian body for online safety, publishes guidance for parents on gaming and online contact, and accepts reports about cyberbullying and image-based abuse. It is the right place to go if something happens, and the right place to read before it does.