I like your analogy a lot. But it doesn't carry over to the subject of spoilers. Because "So-and-so dies at the end of such-and-such" isn't up to interpretation. You're revealing the end of such-and-such by telling someone that So-and-so dies. If they didn't want to know that, you've ruined the ending for them.
You can then have a discussion about the importance of spoilers and what really matters, but the premise is the same: you've given away a major plot detail to something that someone else might have wanted to experience for themselves.
The significance of that revelation may wane with time as the subject matter enters the public consciousness, but definitions don't really care about degrees. The acceptability of something is related to the definition of that thing, but it doesn't change it.
Another analogy, less silly this time: A hot dog is made up of mechanically separated meats. Some people like hot dogs. Some people don't like hot dogs. Some people know they probably shouldn't like hot dogs but they like them anyway. Whether people like hot dogs or not doesn't change the ingredients in the hot dog; if anything, it's the other way around (they make hot dogs out of chicken, and turkey, and all-beef, and all-pork, and tofu, and some people like some or all or none of those varieties).
But also, my working hypothesis is that a person whom comes to gaming fora knows the score - games may be discussed in detail.
I would of course still perso try and flag if I am spoiling big-time, and I think it could come as a shock in context of the conversation. I think here a one-panel featuring Homer Simpson - cannot recall where I saw it - walking out of a premier of "Empire Strikes Back" and blurting out that Luke thing in ear-shot of the queue going in...
I do meanwhile certainly laud well done here to have a "no spoiler" space, actually.
This said, to me, personally, spoilers should not matter that much, at the end of the day, if the story telling and the game-world are compelling.
Each and every plot point of, say, Baldur's Gate series or Dragon Age series could have been spoilt to me, but the games are still way good. I mean: I replay them, total spoiler fest and all! ;-p
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You can then have a discussion about the importance of spoilers and what really matters, but the premise is the same: you've given away a major plot detail to something that someone else might have wanted to experience for themselves.
The significance of that revelation may wane with time as the subject matter enters the public consciousness, but definitions don't really care about degrees. The acceptability of something is related to the definition of that thing, but it doesn't change it.
Another analogy, less silly this time: A hot dog is made up of mechanically separated meats. Some people like hot dogs. Some people don't like hot dogs. Some people know they probably shouldn't like hot dogs but they like them anyway. Whether people like hot dogs or not doesn't change the ingredients in the hot dog; if anything, it's the other way around (they make hot dogs out of chicken, and turkey, and all-beef, and all-pork, and tofu, and some people like some or all or none of those varieties).
But also, my working hypothesis is that a person whom comes to gaming fora knows the score - games may be discussed in detail.
I would of course still perso try and flag if I am spoiling big-time, and I think it could come as a shock in context of the conversation. I think here a one-panel featuring Homer Simpson - cannot recall where I saw it - walking out of a premier of "Empire Strikes Back" and blurting out that Luke thing in ear-shot of the queue going in...
I do meanwhile certainly laud well done here to have a "no spoiler" space, actually.
This said, to me, personally, spoilers should not matter that much, at the end of the day, if the story telling and the game-world are compelling.
Each and every plot point of, say, Baldur's Gate series or Dragon Age series could have been spoilt to me, but the games are still way good. I mean: I replay them, total spoiler fest and all! ;-p