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Tim Just Spoiled The Ending Of Red Dead For Me
I haven't beaten Red Dead Redemption yet. It just came out two months ago and it's a massive game, so I was slowly working my way through it. Now, thanks to Tim Turi, I don't need to worry about finishing; in an email, he casually ruined what happens in the closing minutes of John Marston's Wild West adventure. Because I'm a better man, I'm going to keep this post spoiler-free, but the incident got me thinking about two things. 1) What is the best way to take revenge on Tim, and 2) How soon is too soon to talk about pivotal moments in games?
I'll leave the whole "take revenge on Tim" thing for another day. For now, I want to know when you think it's appropriate to just talk about the twists and turns taken by many recent titles. For instance, talking about the surprise in Knights of the Old Republic or the character death in Final Fantasy VII are totally fair. If you haven't played those games by now, you clearly don't care enough about the stories – otherwise, you would have already known what happens. But how much time does it take for a game to cross the threshold?
To get back to my grievance with Tim, two months is way too soon. When we do our end-of-the-year lists in the magazine, we consciously avoid spoilers when talking about the characters and moments from the best games – some of which came out as many as 12 months ago. So, I think a year after release is still too soon. After all, some people need to wait for price drops before they can add a game to their collection, so it's not fair to assume that everyone who wants to play a game will get a chance in the first few months.
So, what factors do you need to take into consideration? If a game is popular, is it okay to talk about it sooner? What about games like BioShock and Heavy Rain, where knowing the twist could totally ruin an entire playthrough – do you wait longer for those? Let me know what you think.
Also, give me ideas on how to get back at Tim.
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