Step 2 — Will your desktop run it

Unit 02-1
Why this step is about desktops

The game this course uses as its example runs on desktop computers — Windows, macOS and Linux. It is not a phone or tablet game and it is not a console game. "Desktop" here means the kind of operating system, not the shape of the box: a laptop running Windows counts, and so does a Mac laptop.

That restriction is worth taking seriously at this stage rather than later. A great deal of frustration in this category comes from people registering an account on a phone, then discovering the thing they registered for will not open on the only device they own. Confirm the device first; the account can wait ten minutes.

Unit 02-2
The five numbers that decide it

Published requirement tables look intimidating because they are written for people who already understand them. They almost always come down to five things.

Operating system. Which system, and which version. A requirement that names a version is naming a floor: older than that and the game may refuse to start at all, regardless of how fast the machine is.

Processor, or CPU. The general-purpose chip that runs the game's logic. Requirement tables name a model, not a speed, because models differ in ways that a gigahertz figure hides.

Memory, or RAM. Working space, measured in gigabytes. Too little and the computer starts shuffling data to disk, which is the usual cause of a game that stutters every few seconds rather than running slowly all the time.

Graphics hardware, or GPU. The chip that draws the picture. This is the number that most often decides whether an older machine copes, and it is the one people most often cannot find.

Free disk space. How much room the installed game needs. Note that this is free space on the drive the game installs to, which is not the same as the size of the drive.

Unit 02-3
How to find them on your own machine

Everything below uses tools already built into the operating system. Nothing needs to be downloaded, and you should be wary of any site that tells you to install a utility to answer this question — the information is already on your computer.

1. Operating system and version. On Windows, open Settings, then System, then About. On macOS, open the Apple menu and choose About This Mac. On Linux, open your desktop's settings application and look for an About page.
2. Processor. The same About screen names it. Write the whole line down, model number included — "Intel Core i5" on its own is not enough to compare against anything, because that name has covered a decade of very different chips.
3. Memory. The About screen gives installed RAM in gigabytes. Write the figure.
4. Graphics hardware. On Windows, open Task Manager, choose the Performance tab, and look for GPU in the left-hand list; its name appears at the top right. On macOS, About This Mac lists the graphics chip, with more detail under System Information. On Linux, the settings About page usually names it.
5. Free disk space. Open your file manager, find the drive where programs install, and read the free space. Write down free space, not total size.

Keep all five on a single line of paper or in one note. The whole point of this step is being able to compare them in one pass instead of scrolling back and forth.

Unit 02-4
Minimum, recommended, and the honest reading

Most requirement tables have two columns. "Minimum" generally means the game will start and be playable with the picture settings turned down. "Recommended" generally means it will look and feel as the publisher intends. These are the publisher's own definitions, not a standard, so read any footnote they attach.

The honest reading is this: if your machine meets the minimum but not the recommended, expect to play at reduced settings and expect that to be fine. If it falls short of the minimum in one line — usually graphics — expect problems in that specific area rather than a flat refusal. If it falls short in three lines, the sensible conclusion is that this is not the machine for this game today.

There is one more honest point. Requirement tables are written for the game as it is now. Online games are updated, and requirements can rise over the years. A machine that sits exactly on the minimum today is a machine that may sit below it in two years. That is not a reason to avoid the game; it is a reason not to treat "just scrapes in" as a permanent state.

Unit 02-5
What to do if you fall short

Nothing in this course says you must upgrade anything. There are four reasonable responses and three of them cost nothing.

Play anyway, at reduced settings. If you are short only on the recommended column, turn the picture settings down and see. This costs nothing and is reversible.

Free up disk space. If disk space is the only failing line, this is the easiest one to fix: remove things you no longer use before you install anything new.

Use a different computer. If another machine in the household meets the requirement, use it, and revisit step 1 — a shared computer changes the household rules in step 5.

Decide not to. Entirely valid. Write it down with the date and the reason, so that in a year you know what you concluded and why rather than re-deciding from scratch.

If you do consider new hardware, remember the figure you wrote in step 1. A game that charges nothing at the door can still cost several hundred dollars if the honest answer to this step is "only on a new computer". That number belongs in the yearly figure, not outside it.

Unit 02-6
The connection, which nobody lists

Requirement tables rarely say much about your internet connection, but an online team game needs one continuously. Two qualities matter and they are different things. Speed is how much data can move; latency is how long a single message takes to get there and back. For a game played against other people in real time, latency usually matters more than speed, and it is affected by distance — which is a real consideration from Australia, depending on where the game's servers are.

You cannot settle this before you play, and no honest source would promise you a figure. What you can do is note whether your household connection is shared with heavy use at the times you intend to play, and treat the first week as a test rather than a verdict.

Unit 02-7
The worked example household

The hypothetical household writes out its five numbers in about ten minutes. The operating system is current. The processor is older but within the minimum. Memory is comfortable. Free disk space is tight but fixable. The graphics chip, which is integrated into the processor rather than being a separate card, sits below the minimum column of the requirement table they are reading.

They do not buy anything. They write: "graphics below minimum — try at lowest settings, review in a week", clear 30 gigabytes of old files, and add "possible graphics card, cost unknown" to the step 1 sheet without committing to it. That is a complete step 2. It does not claim any outcome, because the household is an illustration and no result is being reported.

Unit 02-8
Step 2 specification

Unit 02-9
Checklist for step 2

• Confirm the computer runs a desktop operating system: Windows, macOS or Linux.
• Write down the operating system and its version number.
• Write down the full processor line, model number included.
• Write down installed memory in gigabytes.
• Write down the graphics hardware name, and note whether it is integrated or a separate card.
• Write down free space on the drive where programs install, in gigabytes.
• Open the game's published requirement table and compare all five lines in one pass.
• Mark each line as meets minimum, meets recommended, or falls short.
• If any line falls short, write which of the four responses you are choosing and why.
• If new hardware is even possible, add its cost to the yearly figure from step 1.
• Note who else uses this computer; step 5 will need that.