What do you think is the acceptable grace period regarding spoilers in a game?

[WestEgg]

In order to avoid derailing certain other threads, I thought it may be better to create one dedicated solely to this topic, as it is relevant to the community and different people have different feelings on the subject.

What constitutes a spoiler in itself can be subjective, and different people have different sensitivities. For example, many consider spoilers to only pertain to pivotal plot developments in a story, so when talking about a recent game saying that

Spoiler: Breath of the Wild Plot Spoilers

All the champions are dead at the start of Breath of the Wild

would count for most people, but saying

Spoiler: Breath of the Wild Gameplay Spoilers

Lynels from Zelda 1 are back and extremely difficult, or you can buy a house in Hateno Village

might not count for most people. But there seems to be a generally agreed upon rule that the longer a game has been out, the more acceptable it is to openly discuss what would previously have been considered a spoiler. For instance

Spoiler: Final Fantasy VII and Super Mario Bros. Plot Spoilers

Aerith dies and the Princess is in another castle the first 7 times

are pretty large plot spoilers for these games, but are very common knowledge and discussed casually.

So, I suppose that brings up a few questions:

1. Do spoilers have an acceptable grace period, after which point, it is on the player to have experienced the game by then or risk being spoiled?
2. If so, how do we define what this grace period is? Obviously, as spoilers themselves are subjective, there is no definitive answer, but it will at least get people talking about the range of opinions on the subject.

One last thing, since this is a spoiler thread inviting people to talk about their feelings on spoilers, especially those with strong feelings on them, please use spoiler tags when needed.

 

[Alek]

I never really tell anyone crucial plot spoilers in any game but after a year or so I often talk about the game a bit more openly. For instance I described the opening to RE7 to some friends recently without hesitating.

I would never tell anyone about the big late game events of FF7 though.

 

[WestEgg]

I think it may be worth considering the attitude of the developers themselves towards spoilers. For instance, sequels often work under the assumption players have played the previous game, so it may become hard to discuss a sequel without spoiling the original if the plots are connected, which they usually are. And then you have Smash, which is an absolute spoiler bananza for certain games like Mother 3, which hasn't even seen a western release.

 

[Glio]

It depends on the spoiler and the game.

Things like Aerith are practically like the end of Titanic or The Sixth Sense, general knowledge.

 

[Segafreak]

Spoilers stay spoilers, always, unless they're general knowledge like Aeris' death.

 

[V_ac]

If it's been a year or so since the most recent release and you're just talking about the game casually with people who have also played the game or aren't interested in playing it at all, then I feel it should be fine to mention and talk about spoilers.

If you're talking to someone who is going through a game the first time, though? Unless they specifically ask for spoilers, best to not talk about them.

 

[Dracoonian]

It's really hard to pin point the time aspect but generally, when I'm talking about something I try to not explicitly tell ANY story bit even after, say, 20 years. Even regarding movies, shows etc. Because someone in some time period might have not experienced it.

As far as mechanic, item, world introductions, best approach would be asking first "Where are you now, in the game?" and go from there. I wish more people would consider not spoiling "end of the movie/game" deaths and events even after years of their original date. We have very easy tools to compensate for that in many online communities. Face to face conversations, of course, would differ from this as I'm talking specifically about online discussions.

 

[-PyramidSong]

After i finished it.

 

[higemaru]

There's a 10 year grace period imo. Fewer if it's a big spoiler (Snape kills DD, Aeris, Rosebud is the sled). Being spoiled isn't or shouldn't kill your enjoyment of anything, especially a video game. If it does, your priorities are whack. It being a "surprise" isn't really that interesting of a conceit, what they do with and how you respond to it is far more important. We hype up spoilers so much like they matter, but in truth they don't. Plot's just plot.

I used to be super concerned about spoilers and now I realize I don't care and am much happier about that.

 

[DontHateTheBacon]

Posting spoilers to anything is something you should always tread lightly on. I always start by saying, "hey spoilers for <whatever>" or "did you play/watch/read <whatever>?"

I actually just did this with The Wire recently and that show is old as hell, but the person hadn't watched it yet but actually was planning to give it a shot that week.

Time is weird. Some people have a lot, some not so much, and everyone doesn't operate on your schedule. Just be considerate, that's all.

 

[Duxxy3]

Small game - 6 months. Big game - at least 3 years.

 

[Tali'Zorah]

It really does depend. It's not really a spoiler to talk about the death in FF7, or the bait and switch in Metal Gear Solid 2, or even the end of Red Dead Redemption 1, because these are general knowledge by this point, even though they're technically spoilers they're fine to talk about because they've been spoiled for everyone - it's the videogame equivalent to everyone knowing that Vader is Luke's father, which is technically a spoiler for the end of Empire but no one cares because everyone already knows.

Similarly, I'd say once a game has been out for.. 5 years, those who actually wanted to play and cared enough to not want to be spoiled on any plot point have had more than enough time to do so. Not to say it's fine to go around spoiling everything without a care but I feel at that point you can be a little more lax on censoring your spoilers.

 

[Deleted member 7450]

About 5 minutes after the game launches.

 

[sbkodama]

None, a spoiler stay a spoiler.

 

[Glio]

Small game - 6 months. Big game - at least 3 years.

Click to shrink...

It does not make sense, the logic says that the big game will have more exposure and the spoiler will become more known. On the other hand, the small game is more likely that nobody knows it.

 

[dunkzilla]

Probably a couple of weeks and then it's fine for me. If I get spoiled after that it's usually my fault.

 

[Duxxy3]

It does not make sense, the logic says that the big game will have more exposure and the spoiler will become more known. On the other hand, the small game is more likely that nobody knows it.

Click to shrink...

Less people are likely to notice a spoiler from a small game. Less of an uproar as well.

 

[Umbrella Carp]

Naturally there is a cooling off period.

If someone spoiled RE2 or KH3 right now in this thread, I would consider it a huge dick move. If someone spoiled the ending of Game of Thrones from 2 years ago, I would consider that a slightly less severe dick move.

On the other hand, anyone who makes a big deal over spoiling something like "I am your father" or "would you kindly..." is just making themselves look like a dick.

 

[VectorPrime]

6 months

 

[Kyuuji]

Considering how easy it is to omit spoilers from titles and/or wrap them in tags I don't really think there's a reason to not mark them, outside of OT's and spoiler-marked discussions. It's just some common sense and nuance has to be applied as with most rules and recommendations.

 

[Link83]

The main problem I have is when people post spoilers in thread titles. I often browse the forum to read the latest gaming news - I dont expect to have a game I haven't had chance to play yet spoilt just from reading thread titles, no matter how old the game is.

 

[Leonadar]

I'm of the mind that there is no statute of limitations on spoilers. If I'm discussing any game with friends, I always ask if they care about spoilers before discussing major plot points/twists.

 

[scare_crow]

I'm not sure, but I do know that you go "inside" the moon at the end of Majora's Mask.

 

[Reyes]

6 months to1 year thats all people get

 

[atomsk eater]

Any number seems arbitrary to me. Some people really feel like as soon as something is out it's fair game. Whether something is a month old or a decade old, there are people who don't/didn't have the time or money to play it ASAP, and people who by virtue of being younger don't even get the opportunity to indulge in something before it reaches a certain age. I see people on social media already having to ask others to be considerate about KHIII spoilers as they play. Some platforms let you mute keywords so you can prevent stuff like that happening. I don't think resetera has a setting for that, but it might be nice to get that at some point. Or a browser plugin or something. Anyway, spoiler tags are as close as we get so use 'em.

I try to stay out of threads that have to do with games I haven't played yet but plan to at some point. For that reason I think spoilers in topic titles are a dick move, no matter how old the media is. Exceptions made for stuff that becomes embedded in pop culture/memes like Aeris dies or "Luke, I am your father." I also got into it for a bit with someone who was upset about trailer talk, because they were on media blackout. I can't remember if they were just in a general topic for the game in question or if the title talked about what happened in the trailer, though.

I think it may be worth considering the attitude of the developers themselves towards spoilers. For instance, sequels often work under the assumption players have played the previous game, so it may become hard to discuss a sequel without spoiling the original if the plots are connected, which they usually are. And then you have Smash, which is an absolute spoiler bananza for certain games like Mother 3, which hasn't even seen a western release.

Click to shrink...

I think this is also a good point. When discussing a sequel people might have a looser attitude about spoilers for previous games, and I think that's fine too.

 

[Kneefoil]

Spoilers are spoilers no matter how long it's been. Old games reach a new audience all the time because

Spoiler

new people are born every year and old games get re-released all the time.

I'm not comfortable saying that spoiling stuff becomes acceptable after X amount of years. I'm fine with publicly discussing things that somehow just became commonly known among gamers, like the Aerith thing from FFVII, or the Sheik thing in OoT, but I still wouldn't be OK with spoiling everything else about those games (not that OoT even has much to spoil).

And obviously you shouldn't bring up even the commonly known spoilers if you know you're talking to someone who doesn't know about them but is playing the game.

 

[Kyuuji]

I'm not sure, but I do know that you go "inside" the moon at the end of Majora's Mask.

Click to shrink...

Show me the moon, what was in the moon?!
...
What's in the moon? WHAT'S IN THE FUCKING MOON?!

Spoiler

 

[whiskas_fanatic]

Be real. One year is enough. If you still haven't played that game after one year - it's your problem to avoid spoilers. It's possible, I played Bioshock Infinite three years after launch, and just abandoned every thread or news bit if the game was mentioned. And I went in witout knowing anything.

If you want to be mad at people because of Aerith death spoiler - just shut up.

 

[Sword Familiar]

As long as spoilers are marked and you don't just post them anywhere, it doesn't bother me. Posting spoilers in a thread title is a very in-your-face move that is bound to upset some people, no matter how old the game is.

Remember, there are people being born this year who will grow up and some of them may not want to get stuff spoiled when they're old enough to consume media freely. Saying that you've had so and so many years to play a game is not an excuse to spoil it freely imo since it doesn't apply to everyone.

Just have some tact and common sense about it.

 

[Big G]

Probably a year, two years at the absolute max. If I haven't played a game by that point, I blame myself for being spoiled.

 

[LossAversion]

I'll always use spoiler tags when talking about major story elements from a game regardless of how old that game is. Unless the thread title clearly indicates that the contents of the thread will contain spoilers. That's just me though. It doesn't take much effort to wrap some spoiler tags around this kind of stuff. I'm not going to be upset at someone if they spoil the ending of an old game that I haven't played yet though. For newer games, I think a year is a good amount of time to avoid talking openly about major spoilers as a rule of thumb. The thing that really annoys me is when someone will throw a spoiler out there in a seemingly unrelated conversation.

"I really enjoyed the new hamburger at Burger King. I imagine a burger that good would have stopped Kratos from biting the head off of that bat in the third act of God Of War. Then maybe he could have avoided turning into Ozzy Osbourne during the final boss fight!"

 

[Kwigo]

Depends on the game.
Uncharted 4? About a year. Anyone invested in the Uncharted series' story will have played it by then.
Nier: Automata? 5 years. It's more niche and a lot of people might pick it up late after having heard about it somewhere.

Also, afters 5 years I think that anything should be able to be discussed freely. You got plenty of time to learn about the existence of the game and playing it.

 

[Reyes]

Depends on the game.
Uncharted 4? About a year. Anyone invested in the Uncharted series' story will have played it by then.
Nier: Automata? 5 years. It's more niche and a lot of people might pick it up late after having heard about it somewhere.

Click to shrink...

It sold like 4 million, thats not niche.

 

[Kwigo]

It sold like 4 million, thats not niche.

Click to shrink...

It's not niche anymore, but the 4 million certainly weren't in the first year, unlike games like Uncharted.

 

[Kirksplosion]

Spoilers stay spoilers, always, unless they're general knowledge like Aeris' death.

Click to shrink...

Yep, this is how I feel about it. Don't spoil anything no matter how old it is. Some things are cultural touchstones that are common knowledge so it can't be helped (Aeris, Luke Skywalker's parentage), but they're really the exception and usually obvious.

So, no, there's no statute of limitation on spoilers.

 

[Nax]

You should never talk openly about spoilers, unless you've clearly stated they will be discussed beforehand. There's no grace period of any kind. There are plenty of games I still wanna play that are 10+ years old.

 

[Gold Arsene]

I feel like if a sequel or spin-off freely acknowledges spoilers then it should be fair game at that point.

Spoiler: Persona 4

Adachi being the killer should be fair game at this point. The freaking Dancing game shows it.

 

[Brakke]

Release date. Who cares.

Spoiler whiners only ever derail a discussion. This is a discussion board.

 

[defaltoption]

To me spoilers are always spoilers but if someone accidentally says something about a game, show, etc that's over 3 years old and I didn't tell them I'm about to consume said media I can't be mad. If I'm like hey I'm about to play FF7 for the first time (which is over 3 years old obviously) then they're like wow *bla bla spoiles ending bla bla* even if on accident I'd pretty freaking annoyed. But if I had no plans then no big deal but I'd still prefer we just keep spoilers spoilers.

 

[Kyuuji]

Spoiler whiners only ever derail a discussion. This is a discussion board.

Click to shrink...

People putting spoilers in tags for the sake of a couple of taps or clicks doesn't stop it being a discussion board. I mean hell just put (Spoilers) in the title and you have some of the more active discussions on the forum without even needing to!

 

[Reyes]

Release date. Who cares.

Spoiler whiners only ever derail a discussion. This is a discussion board.

Click to shrink...

This too.

Especially people lost there minds on the last thread with Goofy "dying" in KH2

 

[Gold Arsene]

This too.

Especially people lost there minds on the last thread with Goofy "dying" in KH2

Click to shrink...

Thanos in Guardians of the Galaxy is still the worst thread IMO.

(Just in case you thought this only happened to games.)

 

[Pancracio17]

Depends on the game. Id rather not spoil story based games until theyre ancient or the story is common knowledge (Aerith in FF7 for example).

When the story is not the big draw for the game, I dont really care. Not a lot of people will care about story spoilers for DMCV a year after release.

 

[Reyes]

Thanos in Guardians of the Galaxy is still the worst thread IMO.

(Just in case you thought this only happened to games.)

Click to shrink...

God I never saw that thread.

 

[Kingpin Rogers]

Never, you should spoiler tag everything because it's not hard.

 

[Moff]

Some like Kotor Id never spoil.

 

[Kirksplosion]

Also, afters 5 years I think that anything should be able to be discussed freely. You got plenty of time to learn about the existence of the game and playing it.

Click to shrink...

But most people don't just play video games. There's a lot of media and content in the entertainment world, from books to TV shows to movies to games etc. It's obviously impossible to experience everything worth discussing in all those mediums (Hell, even one for some) in five years.

I mostly just don't understand why people have these arbitrary "Spoil by" dates for entertainment. It's not that hard to be discreet when discussing big, revelatory moments that are better experienced as a surprise.

 

[Reyes]

I feel like if a sequel or spin-off freely acknowledges spoilers then it should be fair game at that point.

Click to shrink...

And an anime too its fair game at this point.

 

[Deleted member 33533]

Why not just be considerate when discussing spoilers from any game when posting to a public forum? It isn't that hard to add spoiler tags nor is it difficult to read them.

Xenoblade 2, for example, came out over a year ago. I don't think that means it's not a dick move if I openly start discussing the major end game plot points in a thread right now without giving some sort of warning or spoiler tagging my post. Sure, I could just say "it's been a year, you should've played it by now" but I know I'm just being a dick and trying to excuse myself. Just a tiny bit of consideration of how others may feel goes a long way.

Release date. Who cares.

Spoiler whiners only ever derail a discussion. This is a discussion board.

Click to shrink...

Spoiler tags exist for a reason. Open spoiler threads exist for a reason.

Your discussion doesn't need to be derailed.

 

[Hampig]

I'll always tag endgame/big spoilers. Smaller things I think it becomes after a few months or so. Nobody likes talking about stuff with that person that's constantly spoiling endings out of nowhere.