Entry 03

Accounts, sign-up and activation

What a registration form in this category asks for and why, what the word activation means, how account recovery actually works, and the handful of decisions at sign-up that are difficult to reverse later.

An account in a persistent online game is the container for everything a player builds. The character, the horses, the items, the purchase history and the friend list are all attached to it, and none of them exist independently on the device. An account that cannot be recovered is progress that cannot be recovered, which makes the few minutes spent at registration more consequential than they appear.

What registration asks for

The fields vary by operator, but the categories are consistent across the genre.

Email address

The account identifier and, almost always, the only route to a password reset. It is also where activation, billing and security notices are sent. An address that a parent can access is worth more here than one a child chooses.

Password

The credential. Game accounts are reused targets for credential stuffing, where passwords leaked from unrelated services are tried against game logins, so a password used nowhere else matters more than a complicated one used everywhere.

Date of birth

Usually determines which features the account may use, particularly chat, and sometimes whether a parent's involvement is required. Entering a false date to unlock features removes protections that were applied for a reason, and it cannot normally be corrected without contacting support.

Display or character name

Visible to other players in the world. It should not contain a real surname, a school, a suburb, a birth year, or anything else that identifies a person offline. Name changes are often limited or charged for.

Country

Affects currency, available payment methods and sometimes content availability. It is generally difficult to change afterwards.

What activation means

Activation is the step that confirms the email address given at registration is real and belongs to the person who used it. The operator sends a message containing a single-use link; following it marks the address as verified and, in most titles, is what allows the account to play.

It exists for three reasons. It stops accounts being created against addresses the registrant does not control. It establishes a working channel for password resets before one is needed. And it gives the operator a verified contact point for billing and security notices, which matters when a payment method is later attached.

When the activation email does not arrive

1. Check the spam, junk and promotions folders. Mail from game operators is filtered frequently.
2. Confirm the address was typed correctly, particularly the domain. A typo here produces an account that can never be activated or recovered and usually needs support to resolve.
3. Wait a few minutes before requesting a resend. Repeated requests sometimes invalidate earlier links, leaving several dead messages in the inbox and confusion about which one is current.
4. Check whether a school or workplace mail filter is involved, if the address belongs to such a domain. A personal address is a better choice for a game account in any case.
5. If nothing arrives, use the operator's own support channel. Never search for a third-party “activation service”; no legitimate one exists, and pages offering it are collecting credentials.

Keeping the account recoverable

Recovery depends almost entirely on the registered email address remaining accessible. The practical measures are few and they are all worth doing at the time of registration rather than after a problem.

• Register with an email address an adult in the household can open, even if a child plays the account.
• Use a password that is not used for anything else, and store it where the household can find it.
• Turn on two-factor authentication if the operator offers it. This is the single most effective protection available for a game account.
• Keep the activation and purchase confirmation emails. They are the evidence of what was bought and when, which matters if a refund is ever sought.
• Record which store or site the account and any membership were purchased through, since that determines where they are managed.
• Give one account to one player. Shared accounts cannot be recovered cleanly and cannot be attributed when something goes wrong.

Changing the registered address afterwards

Most operators allow the email address on an account to be changed, and most require the current address to confirm the change first. That ordering is a security measure rather than an obstruction, and it has one consequence worth planning around: an account whose registered address has been closed or forgotten is far harder to update than one changed while the old address still works. A household moving a child's account from a school address to a personal one, or from a parent's address to the child's own, should do it while both are reachable rather than afterwards.

The same applies when a household changes internet provider and abandons an address supplied by the old one. Those addresses stop working on a date somebody chose, and any game account still pointing at one quietly loses its recovery route on that date.

Privacy at registration

Registering creates a record held by the game operator, and in this category the operator is frequently based outside Australia. The Privacy Act 1988 (Cth) and the Australian Privacy Principles govern how organisations covered by the Act handle personal information; the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner explains the Principles and handles complaints, at oaic.gov.au.

Whether a particular overseas operator is covered depends on its circumstances, which is not something this site can determine for any given company. The useful step is the one that works regardless: read the operator's own privacy policy before registering, specifically for what it collects, how long it keeps it, and whether it discloses to third parties. A policy that cannot answer those three questions is itself informative.

Star Stable Online and the activation step

The advertising material available to this publisher states that playing Star Stable Online involves creating and activating an account, and that the game is available on desktop, mobile and tablet devices. The specific fields on its registration form, its current two-factor options and its recovery procedures are published by the operator and are not described here, because they are not in that material and they change.

Visit the Star Stable Online website Paid link. Infiniti Hub receives a commission from the advertiser when a reader registers after following it. Your costs are unchanged, and the account advice on this page applies whether or not you use this link.

Related entries

• Online safety and parental controls — what to set once the account exists.
• Devices and system requirements — where the account will actually be used.
• Glossary of terms — activation, two-factor authentication, credential stuffing and related terms.