How long until spoilers no longer apply to videogames?

Dalisclock

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Inspired from a post on another thread(In the Current Events section), I posted a spoiler about Bioshock and got called on it. I marked it spoilers out of courtesy but I honestly didn't think a 15 year old game(which is fairly well known) really warranted spoiler warnings at this point.

Which begs the question: At what point should it be fair not to mark spoilers for vital plot points in a video game, especially ones that are meant to be a twist of some sort? One can argue that after a certain point you would have played a game or else you're probably not interested but OTOH there's about 10 bizillion video games out there and nobody can play them all. Also the fact that someone may not become interested in a series or game for a long time and this were more or less unaware of it's big reveals(and also wants to remain unspoiled). LIke I didn't play Dragon Age until THIS YEAR despite the most recent game being 8 years old at this point but it was nice not knowing every twist and turn(though some of the big ones I already knew, such as the big event DA2).
 
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Hawki

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Coming to us for answers? Don't you know that a man chooses and a slave obeys?

But in seriousness, don't know. My personal view is that it's more an issue of personal responsibility in avoiding spoilers rather than hiding spoilers. Close to release? Sure. But if we're talking about BioShock for instance, I don't think people should reasonably be expected to use spoiler tags for a game this old. That's especially true for threads or wikis. For instance, I generally dislike spoiler tags in wikis, because if you (general you) is coming to the wiki, they should accept responsibility for potential spoilers in this case, not the editors. Or to use threads as an example, a thread named "BioShock discussion" shouldn't require spoilers, since the topic is obvious for anyone coming in.
 
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Dalisclock

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Hawki said:
Coming to us for answers? Don't you know that a man chooses and a slave obeys?

But in seriousness, don't know. My personal view is that it's more an issue of personal responsibility in avoiding spoilers rather than hiding spoilers. Close to release? Sure. But if we're talking about BioShock for instance, I don't think people should reasonably be expected to use spoiler tags for a game this old. That's especially true for threads or wikis. For instance, I generally dislike spoiler tags in wikis, because if you (general you) is coming to the wiki, they should accept responsibility for potential spoilers in this case, not the editors. Or to use threads as an example, a thread named "BioShock discussion" shouldn't require spoilers, since the topic is obvious for anyone coming in.
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i'm kind of the same mind. Posting major spoilers without warning a month after release is a bit of a dick move. 10 years......I mean by this point the big plot points have probably diffused into the public consciousness if the game is at all notable. It's kind of impossible to know about MGS2 and not know about Col Campbell glitching out because it's kind of a big part of that games presence(and of course whole meme thing).
 
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SilentPony

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Jokes and memes aside, I think this is a very important, at least emotionally, question. Now would you kindly follow my train of thought. I think when it comes to a movie, after the movie is released on DVD/Blueray/streaming its fair game. Video games after that year's game awards show, when the video game cultural zeitgeist moves away.
So....18 months. A year and a half. At that point if you haven't seen the movie or at least read about the game, you're unlikely to ever, and it doesn't appear to have been a priority.
Like is it fair to talk about Avatar 2 spoilers? Nah, that shit just came out. But like...BlackWidow or Spiderman No Way Home? That shit has been out long enough.
 
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RhombusHatesYou

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Dalisclock said:
Which begs the question: At what point should it be fair not to mark spoilers for vital plot points in a video game, especially ones that are meant to be a twist of some sort?
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Can't help you there, I got so used to having all media spoiled on the net months before the Australian release date back in the late-90s that I don't even really notice it let alone pay attention to it.
 
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Silvanus

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I don't think it only concerns the amount of time passed; it also concerns how well known the art is within its genre/within the community you're talking to.

Bioshock is (and was) very well known and you're on a videogame forum. So for that, I'd say about 5 years is more than enough. But more obscure examples would need longer.

Similarly, LOTR is very well known, so its open season... but Gormenghast is not open season, even though it was written earlier, because its less widely known.
 
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Baffle

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A few years, tops. I think it's pretty much impossible to avoid spoliers for things within a genre you're interested in enough to play games in, so, like, shit or get off the pot or something.

A space rock killed the dinosaurs.
 
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