Social Media and Its Spoilers
It is almost impossible to completely avoid seeing spoilers when it comes to games or tv shows on Twitter or other social media sites. People like to talk about media with their friends online and off. Some even prefer to talk about their favorite media while they are watching or playing through them. This makes me ask the question: is social media ruining the full experience of playing a game or watching a show for the first time? Granted, if you are lucky enough to watch a show, movie or play a game as it is released or aired, you can join in on the conversations online as they are happening or avoid the socializing altogether if you want and experience it all for yourself. However, for the poor souls who have to TiVO the latest episode or wait a week to play the latest game, the choice seems to be to either risk finding out spoilers and feeling left out in all of the fun conversation online or completely avoiding social media entirely.
I am going to wait probably about a month before I am able to get to Mass Effect 3. I have yet to play through the first two and know it will take probably a good month to get through them. Granted, I could play ME3 on its own, but with a game that is so big on story, it seems short-sighted to skip the first two just to try to keep up with industry talk.
Responsibility is on the individual to avoid spoilers. I DVR WWE Raw every Monday night because I don’t get home from work until it is over, so come 9PM, it’s a Twitter blackout, because I follow a number of people I know are going to be talking about what’s happening. And why shouldn’t they?
Nothing pushes my buttons harder then people that bitch about spoilers. If you know there is something big going on that you want to watch or experience on your own, use the internet at your own discretion. I’m not going to take tabs on who already knows about what and whether or not they want to know about it yet. If we’re sitting around a lunch table or just shooting the shit and someone says “hey, no spoilers,” that’s one thing, but that’s about the only time I will ever be sympathetic.
When I don’t want to be spoiled, I don’t get spoiled, because I am responsible enough not to go places that I can see things I don’t want to see. If something comes up along the way… that’s on me.