Lack of spoiler alerts

Icallhimlecobra

I cant believe that lack of spoiler alerts in this forum. I have never actually completed the game and it seems that every corner I turn its like BAM! spoiler, KABOOM! spoiler.

Serioulsy though its not difficult to type this, ***SPOILER*** before desclosing plot points. Come on people think before you type.

Dee

Don't be rude, @Aberdash. Part of the fun for you when you first played the game was discovering everything for the first time, wasn't it?

You're right, @Icallhimlecobra. And actually, the [spoiler ] tags do an even better job of concealing "sensitive" information.

Aberdash

He's had plenty of time to play it through if he actually wanted to. The game is old enough people should not feel they have to go out of their way to avoid spoiling it for others.

Dee

Perhaps, but with the enhanced edition we're going to be seeing a lot of new players to the game, and if they don't want to spoil things for themselves they should be able to do so without having to avoid the forums themselves.

Fighting_Ferret

OK, there is a lack of spoiler alerts... that being said there is a whole category entitled: "Help for new players (no spoilers)" , but I understand that a lot of the information about the BGEE is in the general thread, and so are the spoilers, it seems like a mixed bag.

Icallhimlecobra

@Aberdash you're right I could dig out my copy, Install it, mod it and play it through. However it was seeing the anouncement of the enhanced edition that got me re-enegised about this game, I've made the decision to make playing it a fresh experience. Plus your basically saying that anyone who has become intersted in playing baldurs gate for the first time and has visted the forums out of interest doesn't have the right to not have the game spoiled for them.

Anyway I wouln't call adding spoiler alerts 'going out of your way' when it takes practically no effort to add them in.

Dee

@Icallhimlecobra
It's more that you have to take the time to remember to spoilertag your posts. The community started being active with just players who had played the game before, so we all got into the habit of being pretty up-front about the plot. It's going to take some doing to get everyone to spoilertag their posts simply because they haven't been doing it.

I'll try to remember for myself, though.

Icallhimlecobra

@Aosaw
Thanks, that all I ask

Lord_Gay

For the vets I would make a suggestion that might encourage spoiler tags. If you're on this forum, it's possibly because you want whatever new content will be in EE, but I think it probable you're buying it to encourage the chance of a BG3.

BG3 will depend in large part on sales of EE: lots of money for devs = they'll prolly make it; no money for devs = they won't make it. If new gamers come here and have their fun ruined by spoilers everywhere, their enjoyment of the game will be dampened and they might not buy the games and prolly won't recommend it to their friends. That means less money for devs which means less chance for BG3.

While not a direct link, being indifferent to whether new gamers enjoy EE and casually posting spoilers everywhere, including in thread titles, will IMO play a role in reducing the likelihood of a BG3.

ajwz

There is a help for new players section with no spoilers allowed. Perhaps it should be expanded to be a general discussion forum without spoilers.
There is not that much to spoil tbh for most people.
When BG:EE is released however, I imagine that people would want to change to rules on the general forum so that discussion of the new content is in spoiler tags.

Aberdash

Lord_Gay said:

but I think it probable you're buying it to encourage the chance of a BG3.

Why do people think there will be a BG3? The Bhaalspawns story is over.

Dee

@Aberdash a BG3 game doesn't necessarily have to be in the same storyline or with the same characters as the Bhaalspawn saga. BG3 is basically a catch-all term for "whatever game Overhaul wants to create after they've enhanced BG1 and BG2".

Ashendil

The game is quite old and most people here have played it already, probably multiple times even. So, normally, I am all for spoiler tags, but in this instance I think the interests of the people who know the game counts for more. That being said... yeah, a spoiler free general forum for the newbies would be a good idea.

Dragonspear

First of all I apologize in advance about this as I have been rather bad myself with these, especially in the solo no death run forum.

With regards to the topic, I think the best thing I ever heard regarding spoilers and BG/BG2 is that "Just because a game is old enough to drink doesn't mean that spoilers aren't spoilers anymore"

Shin

A division of the forums into spoiler and no-spoiler areas seems like the only remotely plausible way to approach this. Expecting everyone to spoiler-tag all sensitive information for a game that came out 14 years ago isn't realistic.

Besides, no matter how much you announce a no-spoiler policy short of sending people with guns to the houses of all forum members, there will still be those who miss it and post spoilers anyway. If you really want to be on the safe side, just don't visit the forums until you've played the game yourself. It's a tried and true tactic, and there's very little essential info on these boards that can't also be found elsewhere.

Permidion_Stark

Of course there are spoilers. It's a site for people who want to discuss the game. What did you think people were going to be talking about?

mlnevese

I really don't think it's realistic to expect people not to discuss a game they know so well.

There's a spoiler free area in the forums and of course anyone who posts spoilers there would be automatically wrong and should change their posts or have them edited by a moderator. In other areas of the forum? I think everyone should feel free to discuss the game.

The only new thing left to be spoiled for everyone is the story of the three new NPCs.Everything else is old knowledge available all over the Internet.

If I'm playing a new game and enter a forum for it, the topic name is more than enough for me to decide if there may be spoilers in it. No tags required.

Jalily

I think there should be a spoiler tag on the forum itself. When a new player clicks on the Forums link on the main site, they get taken to a page listing all forums and their descriptions. "General discussions" could be changed to something like "General discussion of the Baldur's Gate series - SPOILERS."

mlnevese

That would requeire a new player to identify himself as a new player when creating his account and on the forum software allowing it, but a good idea.

Maybe color coding the forums would be even simpler... Make spoiler free forums have blue titles, for instance.

Greenman019

It's a 14 year old game, it's pretty natural to assume that people interested in this enhanced edition will have already played the original; It'd probably be best to avoid the forums or play the original, you're in the unfortunate minority, I wouldn't expect the forum to change.
Sorry :{

Jalily

@mlnevese It wouldn't require special coding or even an account. New visitors to this site already enter the forums through forum.baldursgate.com, the page I was talking about. Just change the existing description.

I also think the new player forum should be moved up to just under General and renamed "Spoiler-Free Help and Discussion." It would encourage more people to post there.

Roller12

what this forum needs is an easy way to put tags in the post, its really horrible as for now. Not only spoilers..

mlnevese

@Jalily That would be simple. I thought you wanted an alert every time a newbie entered a non-spoiler free forum or something similar

kilroy_was_here

If you had played this game years ago like the rest of us you wouldn't have this spoiler problem. Get with the program!

(Not being born early enough is no excuse, just you being lazy)

:P

Shin

In essence what @kilroy_was_here said. As BG, in spite of its qualities, was never a huge mainstream game, there's always been a certain acceptance for people who didn't bother playing it, because every BG player knows it's relatively rare to find someone else who feels the same way about it. What do you think would happen if you went to a Diablo 2 forum and got annoyed with the people there spoiling the plot?

Still, it's not enough reason to not be considerate, but as has been stated, a clearer compartmentalizing of the forums would be needed for this-

Lemernis

For a game this old, new players risk reading spoilers right and left in General Discussion. I agree with Jalily's excellent suggestions above:

Jalily said:

I think there should be a spoiler tag on the forum itself. When a new player clicks on the Forums link on the main site, they get taken to a page listing all forums and their descriptions. "General discussions" could be changed to something like "General discussion of the Baldur's Gate series - SPOILERS."

Jalily said:

@mlnevese It wouldn't require special coding or even an account. New visitors to this site already enter the forums through forum.baldursgate.com, the page I was talking about. Just change the existing description.

I also think the new player forum should be moved up to just under General and renamed "Spoiler-Free Help and Discussion." It would encourage more people to post there.

The link to "Spoiler-Free Help and Discussion" could be also featured in the General Discussion forum description and at the top of the forum.

Zinodin

We have a non-spoiler forum for newcomers.

But generally, people want to discuss the upcoming changes. :P

Space_hamster

Pity me for I have only ever played the BG demo. With great courage and fortitude I scoured the well worn Candlekeep grounds, dispatched rats to their doom with the pointy end of a dagger, rescued sentimental treasures from the clutches of bovine monsters, ferried ancient tomes for sages of wisdom, fenced with a sword saint, dabbled in dark arts with phantasms summoned from the nine hells, nourished bonds of kinship, and confronted mortality with blood-quickening terror from a nefarious interloper.

What wonders await beyond the mighty keep gates, across the deep moat, through the intertwined brush, beyond the horizon? I fear I may soon find out.

Jalily

Thanks, @Lemernis. I've posted my suggestion in Community Support. I have a feeling it will get even fewer views than here. :P