Poll: When are spoilers acceptable?

[Oisin XD]

Spoilers are terrible. I had the endings of both Bioshock, and Portal 2 ruined by bad links. Most of you have probably felt the anger of having a game you were looking forward to spoiled, but at the same time, don't spoiler tags become redundant at some point? I mean, if i were to give away the ending to Bioshock NOW, (I won't, 'cause it might anger people) would it be necessary to put on a spoiler tag? The game is almost four years old now or something. Is it not reasonable to assume at the people who are going to play it have played it already?

It probably depends a lot on how story-driven the game is. If i had had the ending for Modern Warfare 2 spoiled? Who cares? That game was just a shooting gallery, (at least from where I'm standing) but having Portal 2 spoiled ruined that entire day, and I still see spoiler tags when people are discussing Jade Empire.

So, my question: How much time needs to pass before spoiler tags are unnecessary, and what other factors affect that time?

(I had assumed that a thread like this already existed, but i couldn't find one with the search function. If you happen to know that there is a thread like this already in existence, please link it.)

 

[TimeLord]

I never care about spoilers because if I'm told the end of something before I see it then I usually completely forget what I'm told while playing/watching a show/game.

Example; I had the end of Fallout 3 spoiled. But when I was playing it, I completely forgot and then still went "holy crap" when I reached the final mission.

 

[Saelune]

I think after a year, you can let your gaurd down, but plenty of people could still be upset about it. However after say...7 games, you do not need to worry about it. (Me mocking someone who said I was spoiling part of the new MK game)

 

[darth.pixie]

I think a respectable period would be about 2-3 years since the game was released. It's more than enough for those who were interested in it to finish and enough for those who didn't know about it to learn and get it.

Also it depends on the spoiler level...if it's something completely mind blowing, I always put spoiler tags on it even if the game is old. If it's something small or predictable, I don't expect others to bother too much and I don't either. That applies to both side quests and main quests.

 

[nukethetuna]

Depends on the person you're telling/what you're spoiling, really.

If I'm trying to convince my video game playing friend to play Final Fantasy 7, chances are he already knows what happens to our resident flower girl, just because it's widely known in the hobby.

Likewise, if I'm trying to convince someone who has never played a video game to play it, I'll avoid that like the plague, because ruining the experience to someone who has a chance to legitimately experience it would be meeeeeean.