Poll: Is There A Statute Of Limitations On Spoilers?

[Drathnoxis]

So there's been a bit of a debate about Jim Sterling giving spoilers about FFVII without warning in one of his recent videos.

Spoiler: In particular that

Sephiroth kills Aeris.

It's been claimed that since the game has been out for 18 years, anybody who wanted to play the game should have already done so.

It's also been said that since everybody already knows about it, it's open season for spoiling.

This is the case for many older stories: Star Wars, Citizen Kane, Sixth Sense, Soylent Green, Planet of the Apes, Harry Potter, etc.
They reach a certain point where all constraint breaks down and no thought is given to spoiling people who may not have experienced it for whatever reason.

So now it's up to the Escapist to determine the truth. Is there a cutoff date when everybody who hasn't already seen something should be spoiled. If so, how long is the cutoff? Or should spoiler warnings be given indefinitely for works decades or even centuries old?

 

[Cette]

Generally I say spoilers are fair game if something is well known and more than 10 years old. If it's niche enough that you can reasonably expect it hasn't been spoiled by obsorption into pop culture jokes then I Try not to. Also if it's a work that's 90% built over tension on how events play out the spoiling is a sick move even if it's old.

So not usually but it depends?

 

[Evonisia]

I think in that case given it's both a very well known, well selling game from 18 years ago, and that particuar scene is arguably the most famous from the game.

But I agree with what Cette said on the general subject.

 

[Queen Michael]

Anything that's meant to surprise the reader shouldn't be treated as something you're sure to know already. For instance, my brother, my dad and I watched Planet of the Apes years ago, and we were all shocked by the ending. So I say you mustn't spoil anything that people are still likely to watch at some point.

 

[Auberon]

Spoilers: Jesus dies and comes back.

If it's completely new, spoilers are reasonable. But Hobbit is possibly older than grandparents of those who saw it and not obscure enough that it's plausible someone might have never heard of it... much like Final Fantasy VII and Darth Vader. ASOIAF is heading that way too, now that HBO raised it from obscurity of fantasy and everyone is more or less caught up to current events.

 

[Scarim Coral]

I only keep thing spoilers in spoiler tags when it was a recent thing like e.g. The stuff that happened in Pixar film Inside Out. For stuff like FF7 or Fighter Club etc I would spoiler it seeing how they out years ago thus you had the time to played or watched it. Even if you try to keep yourself unspoiler, it will be very hard to do so when you used the internet unless you choose to lived under a rock.

 

[Keoul]

I just offer spoiler alerts for works within the year.
Any older and they should've stopped and warned me that they haven't watched it yet.

 

[soren7550]

Depends on what the media is, the nature of the possible spoiler, and the quality of the work.

Oh, and also where the possible spoiler is being discussed.

 

[RJ 17]

Yeah, 10 years is my official "I don't care if you think I'm spoiling this for you, you've had 10 years to experience it yourself and clearly you're not interested enough to do so."

So yeah, if you didn't know that Sephiroth kills Aerith - one of the most famous and iconic scenes in the FF series - then you're more than welcome to kiss the fattest part of Jim's glorious god-blessed arse because he didn't spoil anything.

 

[Thaluikhain]

Eh, it's not like spoilers have any real rules to them. Doesn't hurt to use spoiler tags when discussing anything. There's always someone that didn't know.

 

[Lightknight]

Aerith's death is common knowledge. It is especially no longer a spoiler. It's practically as dumb as warning people that the Titanic sinks.

Recent shows and movies are good to provide spoiler warnings for. But even a year out and it's fair game.

I will provide spoilers for particularly good twists. Just out of respect for good writing. But in general most plot reveals aren't that good.

 

[Sniper Team 4]

I try to be nice with most spoilers. If someone says that they haven't seen/read whatever, I will do my best not to spoil it for them. Even if I give them a dumbfounded look.

However, if I'm just casually talking about something that has been out for years, then it's fair game. For example, read below. Fair warning: Spoilers for Arkham Knight.

Spoiler

My coworker asked me about Arkham Knight, and I asked him if he was ever going to play it. He said no, so go ahead and spoil it. Three other people were in the room and I said very loudly, "Is anyone in here going to be playing Arkham Knight?" No one answered, so I asked again, again very loudly. So I started telling him about it, and revealed that the Knight is Jason Todd. One of the guys in the room got mad at me, "Dude! I haven't played it yet." I immediately shot back that I had asked twice if anyone was going to play, and everyone else in the room had said they had heard me. Still, I felt a little bad, but I continued. I then told my coworker where Jason originally came from, and how Joker beat the snot out of him with a crowbar and how comic book readers called in to decide Jason's fate. Again, the same guy got upset. That time I told him it was all on him. Jason's death had happened decades ago in comics. If he didn't know who Jason was or what had happened to him after all this time, that was his problem.

So yeah, a situation like the end there, I won't feel bad if I ruin it for someone.

 

[Worgen]

All I can say is that I kinda wish Citizen Cain hadn't been spoiled for me by the simpsons, its a fantastic movie and I wish I had been able to experience it cold, but its also like 70 years old. So I can't really hold it against them.

 

[happyninja42]

Spoiling has a time limit in my book. Like many have said, if the product has been out for a very long time, and the material in question is something that has become common knowledge, or if another bit of material has pre-spoiled the reveal (Anakin Skywalker becoming Darth Vader in the prequels for example), then I have no issue with someone not giving me a warning. I still might be bummed that I saw this, but I'm not going to pitch a fit and blame the person who gave this information. We are under no law or regulation, stating that we must protect people from spoiling things. It's a courtesy we try to provide to others, so we don't minimize their enjoyment of a product. But anyone that acts like someone who spoiled a game/movie/book detail is some kind of criminal that should be flogged, can just go fuck off and get over themselves. Your life will go on just fine, even if I tell you that Wash dies in Serenity, or that Bruce Willis is a ghost. Or any number of other spoilerific things.

 

[FalloutJack]

That which has been out for years does not deserve a warning anymore.

 

[Something Amyss]

I look at spoilers like this. Once it enters major public awareness, it's not worth "spoilering" anymore.

The Vader reveal in Star Wars? No. The twist in the Sixth Sense? No. The identity of God in Dogma? Maybe.

 

[lacktheknack]

I crowdfund my spoilers.

If five people talk about the event without spoilers, then I do the same.

 

[tyriless]

It depends on the media and context.

If it's a new movie you've got a month or two to see it, especially if you claim you care enough to keep the topic of the film off limits. However, there are mitigating circumstances to this such as a friend of mine who is a new mother, and is considerate enough not to take her infant/toddler to a movie theater. In that case, I would a be dick to keep to those standards since raising the next generation > talking about pop culture.

If it's a tv series, there is a little more leeway as the there is about 6 to 12 times the content to get through and there is so much more out there then there was ten years ago. It's nigh impossible to see everything. Nailing down an acceptable time for spoilers is much harder for that. Spoiling a TV show while it's on the air while someone is watching the series is out. Spoiling a series accidentally after the season had it's run is acceptable most of the time, but doing so on purpose is never okay. Seriously, there is likely something else to talk about.

 

[ObsidianJones_v1legacy]

I look at spoilers like this. Once it enters major public awareness, it's not worth "spoilering" anymore.

The Vader reveal in Star Wars? No. The twist in the Sixth Sense? No. The identity of God in Dogma? Maybe.

I'm on Zachary Amaranth's mindset about this. Once it reaches the Stream (how I'm coining all of this easily accessed interconnectivity that we all must be plugged into) that you're apart of, things should be fair game.

I mean, if you subscribe to Netflix and you don't know the twist of Who's Framed Roger Rabbit... yet you always wanted to see it, why haven't you? It is at your disposal.

However, I do like to be fair. I do start every conversation I'm going to have with "Did you see/read/hear X?". But that's because I'm going to have a one or one conversation. For the OP's example of Jim Sterling, he reaches hundreds of thousands of people per day. If he's talking about a topic that's so ingrained into our lexicon that it's almost going to be two decades old... well, he can assume that the majority of people have played or dealt with it. Given all the remakes or chances to play it, it is unfair to ask him to have that discretion, especially if his point that's supposed to reach a wide audience hinges on it.

But yeah, we all love twists. We should try not to spoil them.

captcha: do it now! You are the coldest ***** ever, Captcha.

 

[Drathnoxis]

Spoilers: Jesus dies and comes back.

If it's completely new, spoilers are reasonable. But Hobbit is possibly older than grandparents of those who saw it and not obscure enough that it's plausible someone might have never heard of it... much like Final Fantasy VII and Darth Vader. ASOIAF is heading that way too, now that HBO raised it from obscurity of fantasy and everyone is more or less caught up to current events.

What does everyone having heard of a story have to do with anything. Just because everybody has heard the title and maybe the premise doesn't mean that they have actually read the story or have heard major plot points. If everybody knows about something, isn't that that where spoilers should be kept secret, since it's permutation into culture means tons of people will be reading it for the first time every day?

Yeah, 10 years is my official "I don't care if you think I'm spoiling this for you, you've had 10 years to experience it yourself and clearly you're not interested enough to do so."

So yeah, if you didn't know that Sephiroth kills Aerith - one of the most famous and iconic scenes in the FF series - then you're more than welcome to kiss the fattest part of Jim's glorious god-blessed arse because he didn't spoil anything.

Not everyone is the same age as you, though. Some people may have been born 10 years ago and are just getting old enough to enjoy the work in question. It may have been 18 years for everybody else, but someone who was born 10 years ago would have only had 2-3 years that they would even possess the basic reading capabilities needed to play the game. But first the kid would have to have found out about the game somewhere, the most likely place being the internet. So it's very likely the kid would have been spoiled at the same time that they even find out about the game in the first place. How is that fair?

Aerith's death is common knowledge. It is especially no longer a spoiler. It's practically as dumb as warning people that the Titanic sinks.

This is circular logic. Aeris's death is common knowledge because it's been spoiled by everyone, leading everyone to believe it's okay to spoil which means they will continue to spoil it for everyone, etc. If people wouldn't give out spoilers without warning, then Aeris's death wouldn't be common knowledge in the first place!

SERENITY SPOILERS!!!

Frick! I had just finished watching the series and was about to watch the movie soon! I'm serious. My life will go on, sure, but my experience of Serenity will be diminished now that I can no longer be suprised at that particular moment.

Anything that's meant to surprise the reader shouldn't be treated as something you're sure to know already. For instance, my brother, my dad and I watched Planet of the Apes years ago, and we were all shocked by the ending. So I say you mustn't spoil anything that people are still likely to watch at some point.

I just wish the people who designed the DVD cover shared the same opinion.

Spoiler: Planet of the Apes SPOILERS