The GHZ Forum

I found this interesting article on spoilers in video game journalism and Would like to discuss it

Wait. Wait. What the hell. Aeris dies?

Um. Can spoilers really ruin a game? Maybe, maybe not. If you watched Return of the Jedi before The Empire Strikes Back, would you enjoy the latter less because you already know Vader is Luke’s father? It’s hard to say, and I think it’s a terrible analogy, so I’ll abandon it. I will, however, suggest that a truly excellent game, or movie or book for that matter, is one that can deliver everything it meant to deliver even if the reader already knows what’s going to happen. Otherwise we wouldn’t reread or re-watch our favorite books and movies. So even if I might scrounge for every bit of new info for Twilight Princess, if I can thoroughly enjoy the game after experiencing all those spoilers, I don’t see a problem.

I've known the author of that article for years and am personal friends with him, but I kind of disagree with his final point. Not everyone is as bothered by spoilers as he is, obviously, which is why they're so rampant in today's game journalism. If more people took spoilers as seriously as he did, then journalists would be forced to be more cautious with what they reveal. So no, I don't think it's as big of a problem as he makes it out to be.

If the creators intended something to be a surprise, spoiling it changes the experience they intended to portray. It can be fatal to stories that hinge on surprises, like mysteries. The whole thing obviously stems from a need for advertisement, so what we're seeing is a marketing balancing act between showing enough to garner interest but hiding enough, in games where there's something to hide, to keep from ruining a surprise.

I think game designers have been working with this in mind for a while now. In the case of Zelda, I'm sure they intended the twilight realm and the wolf transformation to be used as the preview, and so didn't intend its revelation during gameplay to have a strong impact. I expect to see it within the first 2 hours.

Senbei wrote:Um. Can spoilers really ruin a game? Maybe, maybe not. If you watched Return of the Jedi before The Empire Strikes Back, would you enjoy the latter less because you already know Vader is Luke’s father? It’s hard to say, and I think it’s a terrible analogy, so I’ll abandon it.

GAHTHINKBEFOREWRITE

Spoilers can be annoying, and if it's a game I care about (say Shenmue III gets announced), I'll go out of my way to avoid them. I like discovering new things in games myself.

Well, spoilers may have ruined Klonoa's ending for me. I was spoiled on how everyone says it's impossible to not cry at the ending.

I swear I didn't cry.

Well, spoilers may have ruined Klonoa's ending for me. I was spoiled on how everyone says it's impossible to not cry at the ending.

I swear I didn't cry.

You monster.