Jump to content

BioWare's stance on "spoilers"?? IN GAME


Suromir

Recommended Posts

I've already played through every class story..so personally can't be "spoiled" by anything...but I'm curious.

 

I've seen (and have done myself) someone ask a question and the answer or a remark made afterwards may have "spoiled" a part of a class story...like a betrayal..a merging..an end boss...etc...even if the person saying the "spoiler" wasn't doing so out of malice or intent to "spoil" anything..just responding/answering...

 

so I'm curious, again, what BioWare's stance on this is....I've seen all kinds of insults and yelling come out afterwards towards the person that (may or may not have meant to do so) "spoiled" a part...and seen threats of reporting..etc.

 

anyone know? devs/mods?

Edited by Suromir
to specify I meant "in game" not on the forums
Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Dev Post

I think this is a tricky question to answer, but I think the general rule is that we are very sensitive of spoilers and will do everything we can do avoid spoiling the story for anyone else. Let me give you some examples:

 

  • We will always use the "spoiler" tag in blogs and forum posts when applicable.
  • We will encourage forum goers to avoid spoiling things, to use the spoiler tag themselves, or to designate spoiler in their subject line.
  • In patch notes, we will be a bit cryptic when possible to avoid spoilers. EX: "Made a change to the final encounter in The False Emperor."

As for as how we treat forum users, etc. and spoilers, we simply do our best to create best practices for all of you to be respectful of each other when it relates to story, and discussions which could spoil that. Again, I am not sure I can qualify this as a "company stance" but it is definitely a goal in our own communication to alert folks to spoilers as best as we can.

 

Hope that answers your questions!

 

-eric

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Not sure if he was referring to another thread I saw earlier but in the game itself...the start of the Makeb storyline is available at level 47 and spoils some of the story.

 

In the thread I saw, the player was playing the sith warrior storyline and hadn't finished it yet but clicked on the makeb quest given in the ship through the holo and it spoiled the ending of his story for him.

 

The makeb quest probably shouldn't be triggered until you finish your main class quest.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Sorry I should have been more clear. My fault. I meant <IN GAME>

 

thanks though :)

 

is it a general rule in game? or how do you deal with "spoilers" in general chat (sometimes an answer/remark is a spoiler even if the person didn't do so intentionally)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I've seen (and have done myself) someone ask a question and the answer or a remark made afterwards may have "spoiled" a part of a class story...like a betrayal..a merging..an end boss...etc...even if the person saying the "spoiler" wasn't doing so out of malice or intent to "spoil" anything..just responding/answering...

If you're answering a question in general chat that could be considered a "spoiler" then you can easily answer the question by sending a whisper to the person asking the question rather than broadcasting the answer in general chat.

 

The makeb quest probably shouldn't be triggered until you finish your main class quest.

They can't really do that. Makeb isn't a class quest. There are people who leveled to 50 and never finished their class quest and didn't really care that they didn't finish it. You couldn't tell people who bought ROTHC and were at level 50 that they couldn't do any of the ROTHC content unless they finished their class quest. If a few people don't pay attention and start up the Makeb questline before their class story is finished, then so be it....but that's better than gating the content.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

If you're answering a question in general chat that could be considered a "spoiler" then you can easily answer the question by sending a whisper to the person asking the question rather than broadcasting the answer in general chat.

 

 

They can't really do that. Makeb isn't a class quest. There are people who leveled to 50 and never finished their class quest and didn't really care that they didn't finish it. You couldn't tell people who bought ROTHC and were at level 50 that they couldn't do any of the ROTHC content unless they finished their class quest. If a few people don't pay attention and start up the Makeb questline before their class story is finished, then so be it....but that's better than gating the content.

 

that's all well and good but does nothing to answer what I asked. Of course you could have done that. I'm asking what their stance is on spoiler's that are (inadvertantly or not) mentioned in general chat in game.

 

Sometimes people ask a question that can't be answered without a spoiler...and sometimes, without thinking, you answer something you know the answer too without giving it a second thought. That doesn't make that person bad at all..it was unintentional. Course it's also done intentionally as well..and those guys are jerks...but still. Most people don't stop and consider whether it's a spoiler or not when they see something asked....someone asks..they see it..know the answer..respond..and just go about doing what they're doing...no harm was meant..they were trying to be helpful.

 

understand now?

Edited by Suromir
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Ive heard you get some kind of ban for intentionally giving out spoilers in game. I think has to be with the intention of trolling or ruining it for other people. Im not 100 % sure though
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Ive heard you get some kind of ban for intentionally giving out spoilers in game. I think has to be with the intention of trolling or ruining it for other people. Im not 100 % sure though

 

I doubt that's true

 

How can you tell the difference between someone that is genuinely trying to help but doesnt know about the spoilers rule and someone that is trolling but is wearing their best poker face? I played TSW shortly after it was released and there are a lot of missions in there that require you to think and yes even research online the answer to questions. But without thinking people would just blurt out in general chat the answer to some of those puzzle missions which would ruin it for anyone who happened to be watching general chat.

 

Easy solution (but not the best one) if you dont want your story being spoiled turn off general chat.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Neither the Terms of Service nor the Rules of Conduct (links for both at the bottom of the page) makes any mention of "spoilers".

Yeah, and what could they do about spoilers in chat? What has been seen cannot be unseen. I would view it as a pretty frivolous report if someone reported a player for giving spoilers in chat.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

there are also occasions in certain flashpoints and higher level quests where some events are spolied. personally it didn't annoy me, but in the battle of ilum/false emperor flashpoints, for instance, which i was able to enter from the GF queue, references were made to events i hadn't actually seen yet as i hadn't completed the ilum quest series that was a prequel to those flashpoints.

 

also, when i hit 50, i hadn't actually completed even chapter 2 of my class quest, yet some of the higher level quest givers were talking about how i'd brought the rift alliance to the republic when i hadn't. granted not everyone is going to be so out of sync between level/progress but it shouldn't be too hard to put in a few pre reqs for quests to make sure you aren't doing quests where people mention stuff you haven't done yet.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Yeah, and what could they do about spoilers in chat? What has been seen cannot be unseen. I would view it as a pretty frivolous report if someone reported a player for giving spoilers in chat.

Consequences from rules are there to prevent the rule from being broken, not to beat and batter someone who already has. It's still followed through on, though, so that it maintains legitimacy (or else no one would pay it any heed).

Link to comment
Share on other sites

×
×
  • Create New...