SPOILER ALERT: There are no spoilers in this post.
I was riding back home with my friends last night when we got into a conversation about the movie Avatar. At one point, we were joking about how the planet in both Avatar and video game Borderlands is called Pandora. They were about to say something about the game's ending when suddenly one of them stops and says that maybe they should stop, since I have not yet completed it. When I turned around and said that the game might have been spoiled since the ancient myth about Pandora's Box was told, my friend asked, "Are you sure?" Instead of trying to answer, I suggested we move onto another topic, which we did.
It seems ever since I started college, my friends and I are very sensitive to spoilers. Whether it's a video game, a movie, or even a TV show (ever been to work on a day following a big episode on a show like The Office and you haven't seen it yet?), we're all going to talk about what we enjoy to watch and play. With that territory comes the risk of talking about something which one or more people may not have yet seen or played. Say one thing about a particular plot point that takes away the surprise, and you've changed one person's perspective of a TV show, game, or movie forever.
Sure, once you've already played through or seen something once, you know what's going to happen. And yeah, there is only a small handful of stories that have been adapted time and time again (ie, damsel in distress, the double-crosser, the real killer, etc.). But I think that the first unveiling of the surprise should be for the viewer to find, not to be told.
I think that, regardless of the predictability of plot, I can suspend my disbelief and enjoy the ride, at least once for myself, before anyone else can spoil it for me. The hard part? What's a spoiler for one person may not be a spoiler for someone else. This post just reflects my views of spoilers, so I still need to be careful with what I listen to and what I read. It's not like you can tell people to stop talking about games just because you haven't played that particular one, but maybe you can take care in what aspects of a game or movie you talk about with others around.
