Home Gaming FFD: How much info can spoil a game?

FFD: How much info can spoil a game?

2 min read
78

Ffd spoiler

I love my husband very much, but he has a terrible flaw – he is a rampant spoiler. He enjoys reading all sorts of things on the internet, often preferring to read a plot synopsis online than experience the original media. Of course, he tells me all the things and has ruined many stories for me. I have learned to stop him before he starts (especially around other people who aren’t as used to it as I am), but I’ve also learned that enjoying how a story is told is often more important than the actual story itself. Spoilers don’t bother me as much as they used to… but they can still irritate me.

When we cover various news topics, we will often give spoiler warnings. If you want to experience a game “un-spoiled”, you might want to avoid certain trailers, interviews or achievement lists. Or, maybe you don’t mind knowing the basic idea of a trophy as long as it doesn’t ruin the story outcome.

I’ve been playing The Witcher 3 (yes, I know I’m very late to the party) and some how I’ve managed to avoid most spoilers. As a result, I made a series of horrible decisions (that I thought were good) in the Red Baron storyline. I was seriously upset by the outcome, even though it did make sense. That wouldn’t have been possible if the story had been spoiled for me – and that’s a good thing! It’s a wonderful thing when a game can get to you, can upset you, can make you question all your choices and decision.

That’s why I get very upset if people spoil certain games for me. Pretty much anything with a branching storyline, I want to discover for myself. But for more linear, straight forward games? I honestly don’t mind. I can usually predict the secret villains or plot twists, and if I can’t it’s not like I can do anything different in the game to avoid it – might as well know about the spoiler and just experience the game on its own merit.

Then again, I think back to all the games I played before I was really active on the internet, how many twists and surprises seemed to come out of nowhere and really shock me. Sure, there were some games I played that were awful and I could have avoided if I’d been clued up, but it was still cool to experience games in a totally unspoiled state.

How “fresh” do you like to be going into games? Do you watch all the trailers, read all the info you can? Or do you prefer to go in relatively blind?

 

Last Updated: September 23, 2016

78 Comments

  1. Alien Emperor Trevor

    September 23, 2016 at 10:40

    I guess it all depends on how detailed the spoilers are because it’s nice to be surprised.

    Like with your Red Baron example – I wouldn’t have minded someone telling me the various endings to the quest, but I wouldn’t want to hear the steps taken to get to each ending.

    Reply

  2. Milesh Bhana

    September 23, 2016 at 10:40

    I prefer not having plot twists revealed. I’d watch a trailer, but tend to avoid Let’s Plays. However, I end up spoiling it for myself later because i like knowing how far I am in a game, the mission/level list on a game faq/wiki gives me a good indication. Later mission names often spoil parts.

    Reply

  3. Dungeon of JJ

    September 23, 2016 at 10:44

    The only info that has ever really spoiled a game is false info fed to the public through marketing to create hype and generate sales based on features and content that do not exist.

    Reply

  4. Mossel

    September 23, 2016 at 10:46

    Never ever watch a comedy trailer. It shows you the 5 funniest scenes in the movie.

    Reply

  5. Pariah ???

    September 23, 2016 at 10:47

    I HATE SPOILERS. Cannot stand them. Literally the most annoying thing, it robs you of that joy of experiencing that moment for yourself. It’s literally stealing the reason you’re playing a story heavy game away from you. And IS a crime.

    Reply

    • Dungeon of JJ

      September 23, 2016 at 10:48

      At the end of Star Wars ep VII Han Solo turned out to be a WOOKIE!

      Reply

      • Mossel

        September 23, 2016 at 10:49

        This is true. I’ve seen it.

        Reply

      • Pariah ???

        September 23, 2016 at 10:49

        I KNEW IT

        Reply

        • Dungeon of JJ

          September 23, 2016 at 10:50

          That would explain why he’s a scruffy looking nerf herder.

          Reply

          • Alien Emperor Trevor

            September 23, 2016 at 10:54

            Because he wasn’t groomed for success.

          • Pariah ???

            September 23, 2016 at 10:55

            Technically, he had to consistently shave to maintain the human appearance. Therefore had to groom every day.

          • Dungeon of JJ

            September 23, 2016 at 10:55

            I know the struggle.

          • Pariah ???

            September 23, 2016 at 10:54

            ha ha. ha ha ha. *chortle*

    • Mossel

      September 23, 2016 at 10:49

      Punishable by DEATH!

      Reply

      • Pariah ???

        September 23, 2016 at 10:49

        Death or Cake…

        Reply

        • Mossel

          September 23, 2016 at 10:50

          Yeah or cake. But like really stale cake. With old icing.
          And no milk to help you get it down.

          Reply

          • Pariah ???

            September 23, 2016 at 10:57

            Or Spinach and blue cheese cake. 😀

          • Mossel

            September 23, 2016 at 10:59

            wow…just wow. Why don’t you just add pineaples to it as well you monster.

          • Pariah ???

            September 23, 2016 at 10:59

            Good idea! Yes!!! I’ll call it the Spoiler-Free Cake. <3

      • Dungeon of JJ

        September 23, 2016 at 10:49

        I must agree. I hate bastards who post spoilers (mostly purposefully). Because you know what, a movie that you haven’t watched yet, or a book that you haven’t read yet, is a brand new one.

        Reply

  6. Mossel

    September 23, 2016 at 10:47

    I played Bioshock Infinite without any knowledge of the game and of the first 2 games as well. I literally got back into gaming and heard this random game was good so I bought it. Best. Decision. Ever.

    Reply

  7. Ghost In The Rift

    September 23, 2016 at 10:50

    To each his own i guess, some people wanna know everything of the bat, some don’t even wanna know it exists. I like teasers, gives you enough to rattle your brain with.

    Reply

    • Dungeon of JJ

      September 23, 2016 at 10:51

      Cyberpunk has a nice teaser trailer. Gives you some mystery, gives you some awe but doesn’t share any info that could give you incorrect expectations.

      Reply

      • Mossel

        September 23, 2016 at 10:52

        Yes! And the fact that it’s made by CD Projekt also helps the hype.

        Reply

        • Dungeon of JJ

          September 23, 2016 at 10:53

          Yea.

          Reply

        • Pariah ???

          September 23, 2016 at 10:56

          I’m one of the few that really, really don’t get the hype around CDPR.

          Reply

          • Ghost In The Rift

            September 23, 2016 at 10:57

            Basically major respect for the developers who think of gamer’s and what they want instead of how much is in their wallets.

          • Pariah ???

            September 23, 2016 at 10:58

            I’m aware of their reasoning. I don’t agree with it.

          • Ghost In The Rift

            September 23, 2016 at 11:00

            Then please clarify what CDPR did to get on shit list xD

          • Pariah ???

            September 23, 2016 at 11:01

            They’re not on my shit list lol. They’re just not on my “auto good graces” list either. 🙂 Like, they’re not perfect, they can still fuck up at any time. They’re at where Blizzard was shortly before the release of WoW. Blizzard lost a lot of rep since then.

          • Dungeon of JJ

            September 23, 2016 at 11:02

            Blizzard also released the broken-ass Diablo 3 on pc, which is also always online. So they’re still not great.

          • Pariah ???

            September 23, 2016 at 11:05

            Oh no, Blizzard have consistently lost rep since then. It started with WoW, then SC2, then D3. And only recently have they started to claw that rep back. Overwatch and Legion should both help. But it’s a long road.

          • Ghost In The Rift

            September 23, 2016 at 11:04

            lol understandable, i also don’t hail them as gods of the digital fictional area, just have respect for ballsy approach they took in our current time where every developer wants a quick buck from you.

          • Pariah ???

            September 23, 2016 at 11:06

            ballsy? No, that’s just customer-centric. Which is rare, I’ll admit. But it’s what should be. It should be the norm. We’re the ones who keep them in business, so making us important is always a good business strategy. And make no mistake, it’s their business strategy. It’s what makes them money.

          • Ghost In The Rift

            September 23, 2016 at 11:12

            With the internet as it stand today? i call it a ballsy move to release a game without DRM in this torrent world, people went and bought the game to show respect to the devs instead of pirating it, imagine Rockstar did it with GTA 5, do you think their sales would have been what it was if they released the game DRM free?

          • Pariah ???

            September 23, 2016 at 11:15

            Yes. Yes I do. Most of their sales came from consoles. Which automatically require DRM. No matter what. And PC gamers don’t pirate because of DRM. They don’t NOT pirate because of it either. DRM has little effect on piracy and the people who do pirate. And I do have to say, pretty much every DRM has been cracked. So it makes no difference. Even Denuvo has been cracked. Took 6 months, but that’s not really the issue.

          • Ghost In The Rift

            September 23, 2016 at 11:25

            I guess it depends where you are in the world though, i know friends who pirate only cause the don’t have internet to activate the DRM so they hand of the games trough a group,and lost of them wanted the witcher cause they herd they don’t have to activate it if they don’t want to, either trough GOG and steam so that’s the game they copied the most, for 3rd wold countries like us that type of stuff is gold in the eyes of gamer’s here, like i said, if your in a country where internet is fast and cheap DRM is not gonna be an issue.

          • Pariah ???

            September 23, 2016 at 11:27

            I’ve lived in SA all my life lol.

          • Ghost In The Rift

            September 23, 2016 at 11:40

            And we in Namibia get all our gaming related stuff from SA, plus VAT and all markups, you pay 1200 for a game, we pay between 1300-1500 lol don’t get me started on hardware xD

          • Pariah ???

            September 23, 2016 at 11:42

            1200? What games are you buying? I pay on average R200 a game. I buy on Steam. And then there’s the Humble Monthly at US$12 a month, which has provided 10 times that value in games that I’ve installed (so not counting the non used keys and those I’ve given away). So 1200 is almost my annual gaming budget. Maybe a little under, but not by that much. And I ALWAYS have something to play. I have 5 games sitting, installed, that I have yet to get into. Many more not yet installed.

          • Ghost In The Rift

            September 23, 2016 at 12:07

            Uncapped internet is to expensive for us to afford with our salaries so steam and online retail is not the best option for us middle class citizens,like if i want to buy Wolvenstein from steam i don’t have the cap for 60GB of downloads, most of us gamer’s don’t, so we have to buy physical copies 70% of the time at either CNA or Musica, BT Games has been open for a while and they are a blessing with cheaper prices, but cause of Zumas crap we got hit with heavy prices for games and has been like that for a few months and has prices has not deflated since then.So yeah, not keen for the future lol

          • Pariah ???

            September 23, 2016 at 12:13

            I am lower middle class in my earnings. I don’t live in luxury. I’ve never had uncapped internet. But even when I had a 3GB cap on 3G internet I managed to game without pirating a single thing. Games on Steam. I just had to be more selective about which games I played. I couldn’t, for instance, play Bioshock Infinite, which was a 35GB download. I can now, because I have a lot of cap on my ADSL line. But it’s still capped internet. Rationing data cap with a low cap is necessary, but easily manageable. And it’s still a damn sight cheaper than 1200 of any currency. Except Zim Dollars. That’s toilet paper money.

          • Ghost In The Rift

            September 23, 2016 at 12:52

            Lol i don’t want to know who buys games in Zim and what they pay for them, but our problems aint just limited to internet and capp’s, what hit us the most is our housing issue, hence most of us cant afford internet cause we have to fork out 5000 grand for a 1 bedroom flat minimum, then water and electricity yadda yadda you have enough money left for those 2 min noodles lol

          • Dungeon of JJ

            September 23, 2016 at 11:42

            Damn man. So it’s cheaper to save up, fly down for a day, buy 10k worth of stuff and fly back 😛

          • Ghost In The Rift

            September 23, 2016 at 12:09

            Yeah it would be, just pay the tax on the hardware and don’t have to pay the markup/transport this side lol

          • Dungeon of JJ

            September 23, 2016 at 11:00

            Ubisoft forces Uplay on you, regardless where you buy your games from. And Uplay doesn’t always work.
            EA games can only be bought on Origin and they’re usually riddled with MTs, with boring plots and limited basic content.
            Square Enix has now also adopted MTs into SP games.
            Rockstar jacks up their prices before sales as to not have to sell their games for cheaper during sales.
            CDPR has never done any of those and Witcher 3 was DRM free. So I can understand a bit of the hype for them.

          • Dutch Matrix

            September 23, 2016 at 11:02

            And Steam? Or are we suckling on the teat of Gabe again?

          • Dungeon of JJ

            September 23, 2016 at 11:03

            What?
            Steam isn’t a developer, it’s a gaming client.

          • Dutch Matrix

            September 23, 2016 at 11:12

            Oh forgive me! And here I was thinking Steam was developed by Valve, to force us all online so we can play Half Life 2, a game they had developed, at a time when ADSL connections and the like was a dream.

          • Pariah ???

            September 23, 2016 at 11:16

            Oh my word! NO! Don’t bring up facts here dude, this is the internet!!!

          • Dungeon of JJ

            September 23, 2016 at 11:16

            Haha. You’re funny.

          • Pariah ???

            September 23, 2016 at 11:18

            Were you around for that? I was. Having to redownload the 5GB install files, even though they came with discs, on 56k modems at the time? We had a friend use work internet after hours over a week to get the files for us to distribute amongst our group.

          • Dungeon of JJ

            September 23, 2016 at 11:19

            Of course I was, and I remember that, but he’s going apeshit about me having an opinion, and that’s funny.

          • Pariah ???

            September 23, 2016 at 11:21

            Lol, he was just being sarcastic. XD “apeshit” is a bit of an overreaction. XD

          • Dungeon of JJ

            September 23, 2016 at 11:22

            *returns to suckling at Gabe’s teet*

          • Dutch Matrix

            September 23, 2016 at 11:26

            No, I am not going apeshit. It just gets my goat that there is all this hate for any company out t here having a client of their own, but Steam gets a free pass for what? Being the little bastards that started DRM?

          • Dungeon of JJ

            September 23, 2016 at 11:29

            Hey man. I HATED Steam when it first started, like proper hate. 🙂
            So they definitely don’t get a free pass from me (and I never actually once said that they do, come to think of it). But I do like that it’s a community with many different aspects apart from just buying, downloading and playing games. I understand that’s not everyone’s thing, but for me it’s a tool more than just an app to run my games through.

          • Pariah ???

            September 23, 2016 at 11:04

            DRM free, but you had to link your account to Steam or GoG to get any updates. So not entirely DRM free. I get the hate for the others. But at the same time Ubisoft have released great games. Child of Light, for example. So outright hate would make a person lose out on those. Ubisoft can still make great games. Same goes for EA. Origin is so far the best game DRM client on the market. It’s better than Steam. And their customer support is top-notch. Plus, they also release some great games. The outright hate, while I understand where it comes from, would make me lose out, again.

          • Dungeon of JJ

            September 23, 2016 at 11:08

            Well, it’s 2016 so downloadable patches are a necessary evil. Which I really don’t mind, because it improves the experience when they fix little bugs, or give you free DLC and content.
            Child of Light was brilliant, but when will we see anything from UbiArt again? Valiant Hearts was also amazing, but those games were in a different league to other Ubisoft games…and dare I say, with a more indie “feel” which is why they were better.
            I hate Origin though, I can’t agree with you there. It looks like it was made for 5 year olds, and the fact that EA can just “discontinue” service of old games (which they’ve done a few times now), means you sit with greyed out games in your Origin library that you’ll never be able to play again.
            Don’t get me wrong, GOG Galaxy is by far the worst client out there, but I wasn’t talking about clients here, I was talking about devs and publishers.

          • Pariah ???

            September 23, 2016 at 11:11

            What’s so different about greyed out games? I have 2 huge boxes full of old games that don’t work on my current windows. Some of which haven’t worked in almost 15 years (since windows xp). At least they’re not just taking up space on a shelf.

            And while I’m aware of the hate – the fact remains that all of the above, including CDPR, do what they do because it makes them money.

          • Dungeon of JJ

            September 23, 2016 at 11:18

            I don’t know. There are so many third party patches out there to make most of those old games work, so I haven’t had that problem yet.
            I’m not trying to defend them or say that they’re the best, I’m just saying that so far they haven’t done anything that has negatively affected me. That’s all.

          • Pariah ???

            September 23, 2016 at 11:19

            Sure, they haven’t done too much bad. But they’re not infallible. Which is really what my point about all that was to begin with. Lol. I get sidetracked.

          • Dutch Matrix

            September 23, 2016 at 11:00

            It is statements like these that make me want to love you like a brother man! Like a BROTHER!

      • Ghost In The Rift

        September 23, 2016 at 10:55

        Like No mans Lie, that shit has really shaken me up for the future if others adopt the same approach, irrelevant if they didn’t had a PR person, lies still stay lies, even in trailers.

        Reply

        • Dungeon of JJ

          September 23, 2016 at 10:57

          But the thing is, apart from bad reviews and a refund, there’s nothing a consumer can do about having received a product that didn’t have what was told it would. And the industry doesn’t punish those devs for it either.
          Imagine buying a car that has all the bells and whistles and then when it gets delivered it doesn’t have any of those features.

          Reply

          • Alien Emperor Trevor

            September 23, 2016 at 10:59

            But people still buy BMWs even though they don’t come with indicators.

          • Dungeon of JJ

            September 23, 2016 at 11:01

            Huehuehue.
            That’s because BMW drivers are also “shipped” with fewer features than other human beings 😛

          • Ghost In The Rift

            September 23, 2016 at 11:00

            Here is brand new car…….with a carrot and a stick, donkey is paid DLC xD

  8. konfab

    September 23, 2016 at 11:03

    Spoiler-esque plot moments are there because the writers wanted the player to feel something at a specific time, with a specific context with a specific atmosphere.

    For example, Episode 7’s big scene is a thing of beauty. Spoiling the point of it by revealing the plot robs the viewer of a very specific moment of feeling that cannot be given back.
    https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/736x/7b/14/a0/7b14a0085061aaf4c3aae9608d357c57.jpg

    It numbs the feelings that the creators want you to feel, which to me destroys the artistic nature of whatever you are experiencing.

    Reply

  9. Archdruid Kromas

    September 23, 2016 at 11:11

    Topic should read “Can spoilers ruin a game?”

    I think most people would have loved way more info about NMS before they regrettibly purchased it.

    Reply

    • Dane

      September 23, 2016 at 11:21

      Depends if you consider the mechanics of a game, with no story, worth being surprised by. Personally I wouldn’t.

      Reply

      • Archdruid Kromas

        September 23, 2016 at 11:35

        Well let us take this as an example. I really really wanna know more about how the mako performs in the new Mass Effect. But if someone leaks the ending I would be very unhappy.

        Reply

        • Pariah ???

          September 23, 2016 at 12:03

          Spot on.

          Reply

  10. R1ker

    September 23, 2016 at 11:15

    I would have been very pissed if someone spoiled Bioshock for me. I loved the ending of that game.

    Reply

  11. Dane

    September 23, 2016 at 11:18

    Definitely as few spoilers as possible, if possible. I mean I don’t like going blind into games I might not enjoy, but I’m not one for progressing through a story that’s already played out in my mind.

    Reminds me of a time I watched the most mediocre of movies, “This Is The End” with S. Rogan, J. Franco, etc. The only thing I knew about the movie was it’s name and two of the actors. Watched it with a mate and when “the thing” happened we were completely annihilated with shock. It was pretty awesome.

    Reply

  12. DragonSpirit009

    September 23, 2016 at 11:29

    I don’t like spoilers really. But I’m not to fussed about it when someone spoils something for me either. If someone did spoil a movie or a game for me, I just simply ignore them until I’ve experienced that said game/movie for myself. Besides it helps that I have a crappy memory. Forget a lot of thing XD

    Reply

  13. Craig "Crios" Boonzaier

    September 23, 2016 at 11:44

    I tend to not mind spoilers. If i find out about what happens, then I enjoy the plot build up to said point. It’s like reading a book then a movie is made, you know whats gonna happen in the movie, but how the get their is also part of the experience.

    Reply

  14. Lu

    September 23, 2016 at 13:04

    I despise spoilers, but I happen to be a damn magnet for them.

    Perfect example (spoiler free):
    I started watching a show on Netflix. After finishing season 2, I wanted to know if there was a season 3, so I headed to Wikipedia….
    HUGE Mistake.
    While scrolling to get to the episodes list I skimmed the character bios and BAM:

    Character Name:
    blah blah blah blah LOSES HIS ARM IN SEASON 3 EPISODE X blah blah blah.

    That’s literally how I read it.

    I terms of gaming spoilers for Final Fantasy VII meant I totally neglected grinding to train a character knowing that they would die anyway, so the entire game changed.
    Same thing with Dragon Age Origins and Mass Erect (Fortunately only the first one. Got to experience RGB first hand XD).

    Game spoilers tend to rob you of certain path choices you would never take knowing where they end.

    Reply

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Check Also

Friday Flamebait Debate: What popular foods just aren’t worth eating?

Because I’m a grumpy old bastard, there are few things in life that give me great pleasure…