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

[Ryan.]

If it's a popular game and I'm posting in the OT I'll spoiler tag stuff, but eventuall after a couple of weeks the tags get annoying. General comments a month maybe 2 tops.

Movies are quicker though. They're cheaper and take up less to go see. If we're 3 weeks into its screening and you haven't seen it then that's your fault.

 

[Dr Steve Brule]

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.

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I don't personally care about spoilers because story is not at all important to me, but I understand that not everyone is like me and so I would never post unmarked spoilers regardless of how old a piece of media is. Also, not everyone was alive and into games when every game was released, so there's no way its a person's fault for not having experienced a game within a certain number of years. New people get into the hobby every day, why risk ruining their enjoyment of a great game because you're too lazy to mark a spoiler?

 

[LiK]

Zero. Don't spoil shit for people who haven't experienced it.

 

[Natsunoyuutsu]

Never, you should only discuss spoiler to people who want to participate.
It's not hard to ask someone if they want to hear or discuss stories in a game.
It just like please knock before entering, try to think for others, don't be that selfish.

 

[Deleted member 33533]

But again where is the line drawn? If I'm talking about Persona 4 Arena a game that takes place after Persona 4 am I excepted to still spoil P4 spoilers? Because sometime it looks like people expect you to do that.

The trailer for Avengers Endgame literally spoils almost all of Infinity War so am I still expected to not talk about that?(not even getting into the monkey wrench the Spider-Man Far From Home trailer throws into the whole thing.)

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This "line in the sand" that you view as this great unsolvable riddle is a problem you're making up or at the very least, blowing way out of proportion.

It's your own fault for hanging out in a thread about a sequel if you don't want spoilers about the film/game/whatever before it. Like obviously, Infinity War details are going to be discussed in a thread about Endgame. It's impossible not to. Even beyond that though, no one is expecting that you not talk about Infinity War period. It's almost like there was a thread specifically for talking about the movie but you are making it seem like these people are everywhere, slapping your hands away from your keyboard or phone whenever you try to talk about Infinity War.

Spoiler tags and warnings are not difficult. They exist so you can talk about that. Personally, I've never found it to be a burden to just have a little common courtesy.

I don't negotiate with terrorists.

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I mean, I get it if you don't care. But you know, there's no law against that, right? So you can just admit you'd rather be a dick than to be considerate of others. I think I can accept that more than the weird rationalizations people are making here for why they should be able to openly spoil stuff for people.

Just mark spoilers

Marking spoilers or asking "have you seen/read/played ____ yet?" is easy and in no way impedes any discussion I take part in.

If your mindset is "you can't 100% avoid spoiling stuff for people," realize that mindset is immature in all contexts (e.g. "You can't live forever, so why exercise?")

It is "I'm not a part of this system"-level vicarious embarrassment for me seeing people try to argue against marking spoilers.

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Right? I keep seeing people in this thread argue that because there are some people who will irrationally treat even the tiniest of details as a spoiler and complain, that means that there's no point in trying to hide any spoilers and it's your fault if you get spoiled. It just takes one extreme and takes it in the complete opposite direction.

Like you, I've never had problems discussing spoilers here because spoiler tags exist and people even have Spoiler threads. The arguments people are making just seem way too complicated for what should be a simple thing. Like, I'm just imaging going up to a coworker and asking if they've seen a movie and then when they say no I'm like "Oh too bad... it's been 3 weeks since the movie came out so here's how it ends..." Then when they're like "no, don't spoil it for me!", I'm like "Hey, you should've seen it by now if you really cared, this is your fault" and proceed to spoil it. That person would have every right to see me as a dick, so I don't know why it shouldn't be any different on the internet.

 

[MrNelson]

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.

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I'm going to have to disagree with you there. Just because something has been out for awhile doesn't mean that there aren't people out there experiencing it for the first time for various reasons. Someone could not have the means to play a particular game at the time of its release, or not gain an interest in a game/series until being exposed to something that brings it to their attention, or even simply being too young (or not even born yet) to be able to experience the initial release. As a personal example, I didn't discover the Metal Gear Solid series until the run-up to the release of MGS4 when I caught an episode of GameTrailers TV on Spike late one night and they were talking about the MGS Essential Collection that was about to be released that bundled 1, 2, and 3. What I saw there got me interested enough in the series without spoiling anything. Now, the reason why I wasn't into the series before that was because I was 6 when MGS came out in 98, I didn't own any Sony system until I got a PS2 in 2005, and I wasn't really "plugged-in" to gaming news until the late 00's, with Nintendo Power being my only source of gaming info. Yes, there was Twin Snakes, but what I had read in NP didn't pique my interest at the time, it took me seeing it to take notice.

Also, on your Red Dead point, I don't think it's as widely known as you think it is. I joined GAF about a year after it released, and I managed to finish it just a few months ago without having the ending spoiled for me in the almost 10 years it was out. I've never seen it just casually mentioned like I do FF7's scene.

 

[Deleted member 15428]

No grace period

 

[Deleted member 896]

Based on the rest of your post, it sounds like "try not to be a dick" is your hard and fast rule. It applies to every scenario you described, and it doesn't seem like you're of two minds about this at all.

The fringe cases where someone attacks someone else for something that isn't reasonably a spoiler don't really change that it's a better practice to mark spoilers. Seems less like a chicken and egg situation and more of a cycle with an easily avoidable beginning.

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I think that this is a disingenuous breakdown of what I typed. I do think "try not to spoil stuff" is a good starting point. But the "try" there implies that this can't reasonably be expected to happen all the time. If I wanted to argue what you claim I was arguing I would have said "don't ever spoil stuff." I don't concede that this is as easily avoidable as you claim all the time. Sometimes people just slip up. Other times people just earnestly don't think that what they're typing is in fact a spoiler. I think it's easier to try to be accommodating to people that dislike spoilers if in turn they don't always react as though the person who just said something they think is a spoiler is some asshole who just delights in the misery of others.

We are reaching a point where some people act as though "literally anything that any one person would consider a spoiler should contain adequate warnings or spoiler tags or else you're violating etiquette and thus deserve derision" and this is not reasonable.

 

[Spring-Loaded]

I think that this is a disingenuous breakdown of what I typed. I do think "try not to spoil stuff" is a good starting point. But the "try" there implies that this can't reasonably be expected to happen all the time.

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I read your post, but I need to isolate this part, because that's exactly the core of my post. You can't avoid spoiling stuff all the time (or being spoiled), but when it does happen, you can always "try not to be a dick."

Most people don't write off others who spoil something as being assholes, just like with any other slight or any other inconsiderate act. It becomes a problem when people dig in their heels and try to act like they're being subjugated because someone else voiced how they were bothered/insulted/hurt/etc. by what they did.

Again, it not being 100% avoidable is inconsequential when it comes to "how should I generally act?" It seemed like you understood that.

 

[Deleted member 896]

I read your post, but I need to isolate this part, because that's exactly the core of my post. You can't avoid spoiling stuff all the time (or being spoiled), but when it does happen, you can always "try not to be a dick."

Most people don't write off others who spoil something as being assholes, just like with any other slight or any other inconsiderate act. It becomes a problem when people dig in their heels and try to act like they're being subjugated because someone else voiced how they were bothered/insulted/hurt/etc. by what they did.

Again, it not being 100% avoidable is inconsequential when it comes to "how should I generally act?" It seemed like you understood that.

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I've been having this discussion for years and my main issue is that I don't feel like a lot of the people on the "the simple solution here is don't spoil shit!!!!" side are willing to concede that self-reflection and potential behavior modification is something that both sides should consider. Yes, I think when you bum someone out by spoiling something for them that they didn't want to know it's a good idea to think "I wonder if I could/should have avoided doing that." On the flip side, I think that the definition of what even is a spoiler and also arguments like "there are no statutes of limitations on something being a spoiler" shows a certain amount creeping expectations where I do think it would be beneficial sometimes if people did some self-reflection and questioned "am I being reasonable in expressing frustration at this particuar revelation?" before they call out perceived egregious behavior.

 

[Omanisat]

Only time I think it's wrong to post spoilers is if you get an early copy prior to launch. As soon as it's available to the general public then as far as I'm concerned it's open season and if you care about that sort of thing the onus is on you to avoid them.

 

[TubaZef]

By default: it'll always be a spoiler.

It stops being a spoiler when it becomes a joke like Aeris in FF7.

 

[TreIII]

Only time I think it's wrong to post spoilers is if you get an early copy prior to launch. As soon as it's available to the general public then as far as I'm concerned it's open season and if you care about that sort of thing the onus is on you to avoid them.

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Yeah, my opinions, exactly.

Once the thing is available widely, it's inevitable and acceptable that peeps will talk about it. It's why the earlier example about the Sopranos finale resonated with me, because EVERYBODY was talking about it the next day at school/the watercooler/etc. You had to either get out of dodge if you missed out and didn't want to be spoiled, or you had to deal. And that same thing still happens, now.

 

[Yasuke]

Only time I think it's wrong to post spoilers is if you get an early copy prior to launch. As soon as it's available to the general public then as far as I'm concerned it's open season and if you care about that sort of thing the onus is on you to avoid them.

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Pretty much.

Like yeah, don't include spoilers in thread titles ever, but a year after a game comes out, just talk about it freely within said thread. Anyone who hasn't played yet should be avoiding that stuff like the plague if they really give a shit. I'm not about to complain that some internet users didn't wait for me to catch up with them. That's extremely pretentious.

 

[Kirksplosion]

It's especially funny when that person's whining ends up putting it into a context that makes the otherwise innocuous comment a spoiler.

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Ha. Kind of unrelated, but I once told a good friend of mine that I started reading a book he'd read. His response was "Oh, nice. The big twist blew my mind!"

Goddammit.

So for the rest of the book I couldn't help but obsess over trying to guess the twist, which of course I did guess because now I was fully expecting it. There's no way in hell I would have seen it coming otherwise. That surprise reveal should have been a perfectly crafted gutpunch, but for me was just a, "Yep. There it is."

So did my friend ruin the book for me with such a small hint? To some degree, yeah. Do I think he should be raked over the coals for the simple crime of telling me there was a twist? Hell no. But it did keep me from ever hinting about twists to anyone. You live and learn. I'm not taking anyone to Spoiler Court over this shit. Just saying, hey, you might make someone's movie/show/game/book experience far less enjoyable if you spoil stuff. That's not the end of the world, but there's no reason not to extend a small amount of courtesy their way.

 

[NCR Ranger]

Context is king. An OT or LTTP thread? Yeah I will be careful with spoilers. Thread titles for games that are less than 5 years old? Not as careful but still careful. A 20+ year old game? You are on your own.

There are old games that I haven't played that I want to, but it would be nonsensical for me to expect people to tiptoe around spoilers for game that is old enough to vote every time they talk about it because people like me haven't played it yet.

 

[blinky]

I think it's courteous to just revealing spoilers period, no matter how long ago the game came out. You never know when you'll accidentally reveal something that takes some of the shine off the game for somebody else. That said, if I am playing a game that's over a year or so old, I just assume that I should avoid discussion forums. I don't think I can reasonably expect the community to keep spoiler tagging a game that most of them played months ago.

Spoiler

Also, Rosebud is a sled, Bruce Willis died in the first scene, and Kevin Spacey was Keyzer Soze all along.

 

[banter]

If it is about the story, spoiler tags for anything current generation. Last gen gets spoiler tags for games released on the tail end, until the new gen becomes the main (2 years in or so). The whole thing with lynels being back, that's not a spoiler to me. If they post a picture or something, that's more of a spoiler to me than just saying they are back. I mean, it isn't going to be detrimental to anyone by being extra safe with a spoiler tag though, so when in doubt, spoiler it out.

 

[Professor Beef]

Five years. Maybe even less with how quickly media is consumed.

 

[Kcannon]

Reyes and dabri have spoilers on their avatars. Should we tell them to change it?

 

[xxracerxx]

One year or so.

That isn't to say post them openly everywhere. Just be courteous and know what is being discussed and what is acceptable.

Like don't come in here and openly post RDR2 spoilers, hide that.

 

[Spacejaws]

Ten. Whole. Days.

Like the whole days, 24 hours. Not like nighttime on the tenth day or any of that pish.

 

[Spring-Loaded]

I've been having this discussion for years and my main issue is that I don't feel like a lot of the people on the "the simple solution here is don't spoil shit!!!!" side are willing to concede that self-reflection and potential behavior modification is something that both sides should consider. Yes, I think when you bum someone out by spoiling something for them that they didn't want to know it's a good idea to think "I wonder if I could/should have avoided doing that." On the flip side, I think that the definition of what even is a spoiler and also arguments like "there are no statutes of limitations on something being a spoiler" shows a certain amount creeping expectations where I do think it would be beneficial sometimes if people did some self-reflection and questioned "am I being reasonable in expressing frustration at this particuar revelation?" before they call out perceived egregious behavior.

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I must not have made it clear: "try not to be a dick" applies to everyone. All you did was reiterate what I said posts earlier.

"don't be a dick" and neglect to use spoiler tags, or just ask before going into a story

"Don't be a dick" by attacking someone for merely posting a spoiler and instead ask them to tag it for others

does that make sense? I said it applied to every scenario you described, which includes all the actors in it.

You openly admit to presuming people who are for tagging/marking spoilers somehow aren't considering "the other side" is capable of wrongdoing. Do you think that "side's" transgressions aren't getting enough exposure and people who don't mark spoilers are getting too much negative attention? Because even though this overall situation can be alleviated by all people generally being more considerate, those aren't going to garner equally negative responses when one side is (indirectly) affecting the other. Why get so stuck on that point?

 

[huggers]

like Aeris in FF7.

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Wait what?!

 

[Reyes]

Reyes and dabri have spoilers on their avatars. Should we tell them to change it?

Click to shrink...

I tell them to fuck off before they try to remove my Pudding avatar.

Wait what?!

Click to shrink...

She dies.

 

[Velezcora]

Embarrassingly bad take.

When I was a "less economically able" kid, I read FAQs for games I couldn't afford for fun. Today you can watch any game full thru on YouTube.

If you can't afford (in cash or time) to keep up (and literally nobody can), then don't *choose* to care about spoilers.



I don't negotiate with terrorists.

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Or...

and I know this is crazy idea...

...people just warn about spoilers and still get to talk about what they want and people who don't want spoilers can avoid them more easily?

Sounds like a lot better scenario than you being an asshole just because.

 

[Alienous]

There is no grace period, but some spoilers do enter into mainstream knowledge.

You just don't spoil stuff. There isn't really a context where you need to spoil stuff but can't preface doing so with a question like 'have you seen' / 'do you care'. Outside of being the creator of something I don't think you should be entitled to spoil anything freely.

That said it isn't a crime. Feel free to take the risk, but even if it's the end of a movie from two decades ago if someone calls you out over spoilers you're at fault.

 

[Deleted member 9971]

Never some people play old games decades later spoilers should always be tagged in non spoiler threads.

 

[beetlebum]

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.

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Came here to write something like this. That's pretty much it.

Personally, I try to never spoil anything. The other day I was talking about that big twist in The Empire Strikes Back, which is almost 40 years old at this point and extremely well-known in pop culture, and the thought I might be ruining it for someone present immediately gave me pause. Maybe that's extreme, but hey - no reason not to err on the side of caution, especially when it comes to widely admired pieces of storytelling.

 

[Kcannon]

There is no grace period, but some spoilers do enter into mainstream knowledge.

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Case in point, Smash outright spoils that:

- Samus is a girl
- Zelda and Sheik are the same person
- Porky is Mother 3's villain
- Pit fights Palutena in ''Uprising''. Even mentions the Chaos Kin in her debut trailer.
- Mecha-Fiora
- A bunch of the Spirit evolutions like Dracula -> Soma, Tetra -> Zelda and Naked Snake -> Big Boss

All of the above are twists that Smash, a mainstream game, doesn't care to spoil to people, so I don't see why we need to be so courteous when even the games aren't.

 

[ASaiyan]

One year is enough.

I don't like being spoiled either, but some people here seem to take getting spoiled as hard as losing their dog or something. Even when the "spoiler" is just a little Easter egg, or the game is incredibly old. That "Goofy in Kingdom Hearts II" thread back on the old site was embarrassing.

 

[ASaiyan]

Case in point, Smash outright spoils that:

- Samus is a girl
- Zelda and Sheik are the same person
- Porky is Mother 3's villain
- Pit fights Palutena in ''Uprising''. Even mentions the Chaos Kin in her debut trailer.
- Mecha-Fiora
- A bunch of the Spirit evolutions like Dracula -> Soma, Tetra -> Zelda and Naked Snake -> Big Boss

All of the above are twists that Smash, a mainstream game, doesn't care to spoil to people, so I don't see why we need to be so courteous when even the games aren't.

Click to shrink...

Also the very existence/identity of Lucina, which is a pretty huge Awakening spoiler.

 

[Reyes]

Smash spoils Andros true form.

 

[Kcannon]

Is Ganondorf being in Twilight Princess a spoiler at this point? His very existence in SSBB and SSB4 would spoil that he's part of the game.

 

[Hindenburg]

There's a lot of interesting discussion here - clearly, there's no real agreement on what is appropriate regarding spoilers.

For a variety of reasons, I usually don't purchase/play games until after they've been out for quite some time. By the time I buy, the bugs have been patched, DLCs have dropped, guides and wikis are published, mods are available. I frequently end up getting a package deal that includes all of the DLC at a discount.

When I pop into threads, articles, etc. about games I'm considering, I'm usually looking for information about gameplay and mechanics, difficulty level, who is the MC, what's the world like, that sort of thing. I guess I've been fairly fortunate in that a lot of the material I read through to try to decide whether a game interests me is usually plot spoiler-free - or at least the authors make the effort to mark spoilers so I can avoid them. Even so, I still bump into some unmarked spoilers sometimes, which does put a damper on some of the fun I'd otherwise have with a game.

Basic consideration goes a long way.

 

[PrimeBeef]

2 weeks.

 

[T002 Tyrant]

Minor Spoilers - about 3 weeks
Medium Spoilers - About 6 months
Major Spoilers - Probably Never, unless it's in a discussion where the person doesn't care about playing the game or watching the film.

 

[N.47H.4N]

Never

 

[number8888]

Probably a year. It becomes hard to talk about a game if you have to tip-toe around spoilers all the time.

Still the spoiler would need to be relevant to the conversation. Don't just randomly dish it out with no context.

 

[TheBeardedOne]

Keep spoilers to yourself unless they're asked for. Use spoiler tags if need be.

There is no grace period for spoilers. Don't be ignorant.

 

[Aswitch]

Idk I think the general rule of thumb is a year for recent releases, but I tend to be pretty respectful overall. I don't tend to confide in someone about a game in the spoiler aspect if they haven't gotten through the story themselves or are ok with it.

Minor Spoilers - about 3 weeks
Medium Spoilers - About 6 months
Major Spoilers - Probably Never, unless it's in a discussion where the person doesn't care about playing the game or watching the film.

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Love this, but i have to ask what dictates a spoiler level? I'm assuming Deaths/twists are major, but can't really assess what is considered a minor/medium spoiler. Things that happen a couple hours into the game maybe?

 

[Deleted member 19533]

Just a few months. Most that really care would have played / seen it by then.

I'm sure there's some outliers out there that really care and try to wait a year plus for a steep discount, though. Still, trying to avoid something for a long time post release is near impossible

 

[T002 Tyrant]

Love this, but i have to ask what dictates a spoiler level? I'm assuming Deaths/twists are major, but can't really assess what is considered a minor/medium spoiler. Things that happen a couple hours into the game maybe?

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Major is death, plot twists anything that you personally consider if someone told you would ruin your experience playing the game.

Medium are things in the plot that don't necessarily ruin the experience of you overhead them, especially out of context. Or cool parts of the level which you'd prefer not to know in advance. They aren't completely necessary to the experience but ideally would be best experienced with fresh eyes.

Minor plot and level spoilers, self explanatory. They won't ruin people's days. Also I'll include hints regards medium and major spoilers with the person you're talking to's consent. So if my friend asks "What's the character Jeff like? Compared with the original?" I'd go "They did the original character justice, he's a right bastard."

 

[Alienous]

Case in point, Smash outright spoils that:

- Samus is a girl
- Zelda and Sheik are the same person
- Porky is Mother 3's villain
- Pit fights Palutena in ''Uprising''. Even mentions the Chaos Kin in her debut trailer.
- Mecha-Fiora
- A bunch of the Spirit evolutions like Dracula -> Soma, Tetra -> Zelda and Naked Snake -> Big Boss

All of the above are twists that Smash, a mainstream game, doesn't care to spoil to people, so I don't see why we need to be so courteous when even the games aren't.

Click to shrink...

With Star Wars embracing '[Luke], I am your father', and that entering the mainstream, it ceases to be a spoiler with any impact.

That said it's still really easy not to spoil things for others. Just assume that they they would prefer the off chance of stumbling into that plot detail rather than having it narrated to them, and ask. An official product having 'spoilers' is different to some person just sharing an unprompted plot detail because they have nothing better to talk about. Just leave people the opportunity to experience that plot moment in the way the creators of it intended.

 

[Pyro]

I think a year is good enough. Sure you might not want to talk about the ending casually, but the opening/things you really liked about it (even a specific boss fight) is OK.

 

[Aswitch]

Major is death, plot twists anything that you personally consider if someone told you would ruin your experience playing the game.

Medium are things in the plot that don't necessarily ruin the experience of you overhead them, especially out of context. Or cool parts of the level which you'd prefer not to know in advance. They aren't completely necessary to the experience but ideally would be best experienced with fresh eyes.

Minor plot and level spoilers, self explanatory. They won't ruin people's days. Also I'll include hints regards medium and major spoilers with the person you're talking to's consent. So if my friend asks "What's the character Jeff like? Compared with the original?" I'd go "They did the original character justice, he's a right bastard."

Click to shrink...

That makes total sense and is very reasonable. Well said.

 

[Brakke]

Or...

and I know this is crazy idea...

...people just warn about spoilers and still get to talk about what they want and people who don't want spoilers can avoid them more easily?

Sounds like a lot better scenario than you being an asshole just because.

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That's not an "or." You're making a different claim.

You're answering whether or not using tags is considerate.

I'm answering whether caring or complaining about spoilers makes someone a dweeb.

 

[huggers]

She dies.

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Haha I know, was of course kidding

 

[Cenauru]

Spoilers shouldn't impede casual conversation if a game has been out long enough for anyone who's seriously worried about spoilers to already have had enough time to play it. It's more understandable to me for people not wanting story spoilers, but I will roll my eyes if people complain about gameplay spoilers of a game that's been out for a while

 

[Deleted member 3815]

I will give a week grace period for a newly released media but I am not going to tip toe around people to avoid talking about a media that been out for years.