Spoilers don't really spoil anything

[Veho]

Although we’ve long assumed that the suspense makes the story — we keep on reading because we don’t know what happens next — this new research suggests that the tension actually detracts from our enjoyment.

Nicholas Christenfeld and Jonathan Leavitt of UC San Diego gave several dozen undergraduates 12 different short stories. The stories came in three different flavors: ironic twist stories (such as Chekhov’s “The Bet”), straight up mysteries (“A Chess Problem” by Agatha Christie) and so-called “literary stories” by writers like Updike and Carver. Some subjects read the story as is, without a spoiler. Some read the story with a spoiler carefully embedded in the actual text, as if Chekhov himself had given away the end. And some read the story with a spoiler disclaimer in the preface.

The results.

What does all this mean? Buggered if I know.

But next time someone spoils something for you, don't consider it a tragedy.



Source.


IT WAS EARTH ALL ALONG

 

[TheDreamLord]

I'd like that very much Mr. Spoiler dude.

 

[nryn99]

i don't think stories work just by pleasure.
i think pleasure=/=surprise.

when people read it unspoilered, sometimes they aren't ready for what happened so they feel a bit disappointed, like when

Spoiler: ttgl spoiler

kamina died

i was very surprised, there wasn't any pleasure there, though, the sadness is what you should feel. not "oh i knew he'd be dead already".

 

[prowler]

Playing FFXIII the third time round, never completed it (twice I stopped at the third disc on 360, this time PS3) know what happens, enjoying it quite a lot.

i don't think stories work just by pleasure.
i think pleasure=/=surprise.

when people read it unspoilered, sometimes they aren't ready for what happened so they feel a bit disappointed, like when

Spoiler

kamina died

i was very surprised, there wasn't any pleasure there, though, the sadness is what you should feel. not "oh i knew he'd be dead already".

At least name what you're spoiling.

 

[Chikaku-chan]

I want the car, wait Snape killed dumbledore...... damn!!!!

 

[Hells Malice]

I don't know what kind of moron this guy is, but knowing exactly what's going to happen is fucking lame. It's way, way more interesting to have suspense and spoilable moments. You've got a 3rd grade story if your story doesn't have spoilable moments.

It ruins shit for me if I find out an important spoiler for something. Really there are times I just don't feel like even completing whatever it was I was doing.

I will say sometimes knowing what is going to happen works, if it's a prequel to a movie or game or something. Crisis Core is a pretty good example of that. If you played FF7, you knew Zack was dead. So all the while playing CC, you knew how it was going to end. Though I can't say for sure if it would have been more interesting NOT knowing that fact, since of course, CC came out waaay after FF7 so it's pretty difficult to find someone who wouldn't know that fact.

But yeah, in general...spoilers suck total story ruining shit, and some moron doing a very small test isn't going to convince me at all. (really, this dude performed a highschool level study...give me a break). Not to mention taking completely different stories with possible different levels of interest from the different people can't help but bring the possibility the results are skewed due to bias. He'd likely need to test on tens of thousands of people to make an even somewhat valid point.

 

[Veho]

Whereas your observation has a sample size of one (1) person.

 

[Hells Malice]

Whereas your observation has a sample size of one (1) person.

Thank god i'm not passing it off as a groundbreaking study then.
Moron. Thanks for stating the obvious.

 

[Veho]

You don't really know how averages work, do you?

 

[_Chaz_]

I prefer surprise, and I'm sure that a lot of people would agree.

I don't want to go into a movie knowing that it was all a dream when it was written with the assumption that I didn't know. It just ruins it.

 

[Mangofett]

L dies. Takano is the culprit. It's Homura's fault.

There are some things you can't spoil without ruining a big part of the story.

 

[Rayder]

Spoilers never bothered me. In fact, I kind of like them. Someone just telling me, "Snape killed Dumbledore" doesn't explain how it came to happen and it makes me want to read about it all the more. The surrounding story leading up to that event renders a simple spoiler harmless to me.

I've always found it kind of funny when someone gets all upset like it's the end of the world when someone drops a spoiler on them. It just isn't a big deal to me. Oh, I try to respect people's wishes on the matter when I run across someone like that, but I don't really understand why they get so upset about it. It just seems silly to me to be so opposed to forehand information like that.

 

[nutella]

Personally, spoilers don't ruin stories for me MOST of the time. Like Rayder, what's more important is how the ending actually came about. In can be like reading a newspaper. The ending is given away right at the beginning, but you continue reading because you want to learn the details leading up to the incident. If someone spoils the ending for me and I find out it was a lame ending, I won't continue with the story and I'll be glad I did. For example, if the ending is "It was all a dream", it was probably a shitty story to begin with. But if the ending was interesting, of course I'm gonna want to find out how it happened.

This is simply one of MANY valid ways of thinking about it. It's all about perspective, and I think it's immature to be calling people morons over such a simple matter. But to each their own, I guess.

 

[Hells Malice]

I much prefer thinking "Man I wonder how this is going to turn out!" instead of "Oh so that's how that happened. Neat."

Ever17 was so fantastic because I was always trying to guess just what the HELL was going on, and then finally you go down the true ending and every answer just floods over you and it's just fantastic. It wouldn't have felt exciting or special at all if I was spoiled what was going on.

 

[nryn99]

@Rayder and Nutella, like in Linkyboy's examples, it depends on the spoiler, if it has a "surprise effect" with it, if it's spoiled, it's ruined a bit or a lot.

some scenes that mustn't be spoiled are those who have a specific flow or momentum, then suddenly this happened. that's the moment where you're stunned by what happened. you weren't expecting it. that's the main reason why it mustn't be spoiled for those who only wants this effect.

in animes and manga, i prefer not to be spoiled sometimes, but in some games like final fantasy, it doesn't matter much what happens, i just want to gather facts. i'm not that much interested.

so i think it goes down to personal preference.

 

[nutella]

@Rayder and Nutella, like in Linkyboy's examples, it depends on the spoiler, if it has a "surprise effect" with it, if it's spoiled, it's ruined a bit or a lot.

some scenes that mustn't be spoiled are those who have a specific flow or momentum, then suddenly this happened. that's the moment where you're stunned by what happened. you weren't expecting it. that's the main reason why it mustn't be spoiled for those who only wants this effect.

in animes and manga, i prefer not to be spoiled sometimes, but in some games like final fantasy, it doesn't matter much what happens, i just want to gather facts. i'm not that much interested.

so i think it goes down to personal preference.

Which is why I said MOST of the time.

 

[OtakuGamerZ]

"How it happened" mystery stories should never be given away. I want my mind-fuckery.
"The traitor" who out of nowhere screws everyone over. I'll enjoy flipping off that character every time.

With that being said I never want spoilers. Simple as that.

 

[ProtoKun7]

I don't generally mind spoilers either.
I decided to play through Portal 2 without knowing the ending, but that was as an experiment, and if I knew the ending I still would have enjoyed it anyway.

 

[Defiance]

The whole point of a story is that it should be an experience. There are ways to enhance this experience, such as by recognizing symbols, figurative language, and such. However, spoiling the story ruins a big part of the experience, for me anyway. Don't be a douche and decide to deprive others from the experience just because you don't see it as one.

 

[Hells Malice]

I don't generally mind spoilers either.
I decided to play through Portal 2 without knowing the ending, but that was as an experiment, and if I knew the ending I still would have enjoyed it anyway.

Hate to burst your bubble...but Portal 2 isn't story driven at all. It's pretty much 100% comedy. So Portal 2 is a REALLY bad example of "spoilers don't spoil anything." since there really isn't a whole hell of a lot to spoil.